As all PlayBook users already know, RIM’s QNX based operating system is superb aside from the few missing features that RIM is known for. We all know that RIM will not release any phone ever without proper email, calendar, and BBM. Blogs that have posted otherwise are just trying to start controversy because apparently RIM bashing is the thing to do recently. The PlayBook is a superb device that is now showing it’s true power with all the games being released over the past month. The browser is also my favorite non laptop browser I have ever used. That being said, sales have been higly disappointing. There are 3 reasons for these disappointing sales.
- PlayBook’s month after month delays
- Lack of Native email, calendar, and BBM
- Terrible Marketing campaign
Now, I think the first 2 reasons I just mentioned were the main cause for reason number 3. RIM realized it would be a waste of money to market an incomplete product. In turn, I think RIM actually turned the PlayBook into a mass produced beta project like we’ve never seen before. What I mean by this is that when iOS was released with the iPhone, it was a make or break situation. When Palm released WebOS, they couldn’t afford any extensive testing or they would fail, which they did anyways. The other example is Windows Phone OS. Many people I know that tied themselves into a 2 year contract with a Windows phone are very disappointed and can’t wait till their contract is up.
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For RIM, they released their new make or break OS on a Tablet that really doesn’t affect the mindset of their phone consumers. They changed the name of their OS from the PlayBook OS to BBX for when their phones are released, which was step one in a new marketing mindset. When the phones are released, people won’t be thinking about the PlayBook, but RIM will have had around a year to fix many of the PlayBook OS problems and perfect them for the BBX phone release.
When RIM finally does release this new highly anticipated BBX phone, die hard BlackBerry owners and the tech community will be interested, but the average customer won’t care about a new name. What RIM needs to do is take a book from Apple and market this phone more than they have ever marketed anything before. Sponsoring band’s tours isn’t going to do anything. What they need to do is start working on a ground breaking marketing campaign today and come up with the greatest marketing push the world has ever seen. People buy iPhones because of what they see on TV.
Most of us call tissues “Kleenex” and mp3 players “iPods”. There was a time when people called smartphones “Blackberries”. What RIM needs to do is get the consumer back into that mindset. I’m not a marketing genius and apparently no one at RIM is either. RIM needs to spend as much money as they can to come up with the greatest marketing campaign we have ever seen and they need to start coming up with ideas today. They have 6 or more months before we will actually see a BBX phone, plenty of time for them to change the game.