Okay, so this is just a bit of rambling off the top of my head, but it occurred to me that there is a solution out there for RIM that might save the BlackBerry as well as open a door for another company. The solution is that Amazon needs to buy RIM. I hate to say it because it would be yet another example of a Canadian company going south of the border, but I think the partnership between the two will be mutually beneficial and give BlackBerry the biggest piece missing from it’s offerings: content.
When I look at what RIM’s biggest problem is, it is that people have stopped buying their product. (This is not entirely true-in many markets BlackBerry is still growing, but they have squandered their commanding lead.) Why? Because people want more from them.
After doing a very non-scientific survey of BB owners and non BB owners, many have simply said they will not buy a BB because they are behind in both hardware and software. But I would argue that there was a time where iPhone hardware was behind BB and yet people still went out and bought them in droves. The motivation IMO was the experience. People wanted to have a futuristic touch-screen device. People wanted something that was cool and exciting. And people wanted apps. But people have stayed with the iPhone and adopted Android because they have continued to offer more.
Apps are easy to port or copy and can be delivered as webpages are now (i.e. not through an ‘app store’). And the RIM hardware will catch up, as will the OS (with QNX next year). Apple have seen the long term plan and have realized that these devices (and the future devices that won’t be in our pockets, but around our houses, in our cars and eventually everywhere) are going to just be windows into a world of content: web pages, social feeds, music, video, magazines, books, etc. So really, whoever has access to the best content and the best experience accessing it are going to be the company that people want to buy their device from (just like how easy access to loads of apps helped make the iOS and Android platforms.)
Currently, there is an online content race happening. With Netflix splitting their DVD mail service off (genius if you ask me, for this reason), Amazon stepping up their offerings, Blockbuster, iTunes, Redbox, Hulu and more, you can bet that partnerships will develop between devices and content services. And as I mentioned before, those devices that come with access to great content will be more popular.
So, with the future of devices being content, there is still great hope for BlackBerry. How? They need content. And who has great literary, music and video content? Amazon. I think that a partnership between BlackBerry and Amazon would give BlackBerry an advantage that really only Apple currently has.
Amazon + BlackBerry = success.
Jesus, I ramble sometimes.
