About a week ago, there was an anti-Apple protest outside a retail store of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in which the flash mob carried signs that said “Wake Up”. As you could imagine, Samsung was immediately blamed for the act because both firms are bitter rivals who have taken each other to court numerous times. However, it was quite a shock when Samsung denied all accusations and did not comment on the matter.
Then all eyes turned to RIM, who apparently did commit the “Wake Up” protest. The company released a statement on Monday admitting their role in the protest at the Apple Store in Sydney, Australia. The Blackberry parent, Research In Motion Limited (TSE:RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM), said that the flash mob was simply carrying out a new Australian campaign to revive the already dead Blackberry. The “Wake Up” signs had to do with the firm’s new Blackberry 10 mobile OS reports The Age.
This is an obvious sign that Research in Motion is desperate after numerous failed revival attempts. I have written pretty extensively on RIM and those of you who follow my writing know that I am not a fan of the company by any means. Now they are getting flash mobs together to promote the new phone. Look, RIM has been saying their new latest phones will destroy the competition and that they will put the company back on top. Not even one phone has been able to deliver the hype that the executives have promised.
The other part is that people have lost faith in the management. They are still out of touch with the consumer and have not delivered anything to the firm. If Blackberry has a chance to get back into the smartphone world and make its presence known, then they must find new management.
Unfortunately, when you continue to sit around boasting about the new smartphone, only to have it been a dive is unacceptable. Blackberry has two great examples to pull from: the Android and iPhone. I am not suggesting that Blackberry should copy the Android and iPhone but rather look at what works, look at what the consumer likes then redesign it and make it unique. This has not happened yet and who knows if it ever will.
The bottom line is that RIM used to be a great firm with a great product, now it has neither. On top of that, they are using flash mobs to promote their new Blackberry while infront of Apple stores. Could Blackberry 10 be the last straw?
