CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY

Blackberry case analysis

By Ling,Stephanie,Yana,Mat,Mahran

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

Table of Contents
Case background........................................................................................................ 3
RIM Company history.............................................................................................. 3
RIM is the fastest growing company in the world.................................................3
Critical problem the RIM faces................................................................................. 3
company strategy...................................................................................................... 4
define the business mission................................................................................... 4
Competition analysis............................................................................................... 5
Swot analyse

.6
STP(segmentation, targeting, positioning)
analysis7
Segmentation....................................................................................................... 7
Targeting.............................................................................................................. 8
Positioning............................................................................................................ 8
Growth strategy.......................................................................................................... 8
Market development............................................................................................... 9
Strategic business units........................................................................................ 10
Market mix............................................................................................................... 11
Product strategy.................................................................................................... 11
Price...................................................................................................................... 13
Place...................................................................................................................... 14
promotion.............................................................................................................. 15
brand value........................................................................................................ 13
brand strategy................................................................................................... 13
Recommendation..................................................................................................... 17

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

Case background
RIM Company history
RIM is the fastest growing company in the world

Year

RIM Events

1984

1992

1998

1997

toronto stock
exchange

1999

balckberry 850

began the small

entrepreneurial
business
The first
product
first blackberry

Blackberry
features

two-page pager

: wireless hand
six lines of text
display,
basic e-mail

explosive
demand ,
voice and date
transmission
Internet
limited

Business
professionals

organizer,
contact
manager,
a computer,
an internet
device,
a telephone

2001

2009

1250
employees
7000
employees
Blackberry
Curve8330
Blackberry Pearl
8120

Consumer

Over 14 million
consumers
Over 135
countries

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

Critical problem the RIM faces

RIM has experienced high development in the mobile communication and
entertainment market. To keep its leadership in the market, they have to
think about following questions:

What kind of product strategies in the future?

How to keep the unique compared competitive advantages?

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

company strategy
define the business mission
Research In Motions company mission is to provide mobile wireless solution
for their costumers through hardware software and services.
Most of their products are aimed at more business minded individuals that
need to get time sensitive information such as emails, phone call and text
messages
. Recently Research In Motion has also started to develop products for other
people with their more everyday phone the black berry storm, which is in
direct competition with the popular Iphone by MAC.

Competition analysis
In the multiple wireless communication device market, iphone 3G is the
powerful competitor to the Blackberry. Lets compare the two products as
follows:

Position
Feature
Price
Market share
Sales volumn

Blackberry
Business professionals
Powerful function for
processing the information

Iphone 3G
Individuals
Fashionable design

$19 billion in 2007

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

Heres the spec rundown, with the advantages in bold

Spec
Size
Weight
Memory
(Ignoring OS
consideration
s)
Battery Life
Network
Supprt
Other Comm
Display

Media Support

Camera
UI
Web
Email

iPhone
4.5 x 2.4 x .46
4.8oz

BlackBerry Bold
4.48 x 2.6 x .55
4.69oz

up to 16gig storage

1gig storage + Expansion

8 Hour talk time

5 hour talk time

Quad-band EDGE

Quad-band HSDPA/EDGE

WiFi, Bluetooth, USB via WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, USB via miniDock Connector
USB
480320 touchscreen 480320 non-touchscreen
Audio: .3gp, MP3, WMA9 (.wma/.asf),
Auido: AAC, Protected
WMA9 Pro/WMA 10, MIDI, AMR-NB,
AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR,
Professional AAC/AAC+/eAAC+;
Audible (formats 1, 2,
Video: DivX 4, Div X 5 & 6 are
and 3), Apple Lossless,
partially supported, XviD is partially
AIFF, and WAV; Video:
supported, H.263, H.264 and WMV3,
.m4v, .mp4, and .mov
syncs with iTunes but likely not as well as
file formats
iPhone
2 megapixel
2 megapixel with flash
Touchscreen, Apple
non-touchscreen, trackball + BB Menu
MoJo
confusion
Mobile Safari
Dont look directly at the screen
iPhone Mail client needs
BlackBerry == email power
lots of taps

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

SWOT analyse
Environment
Internal

Evaluation
Positive
Strengths
leading brand in the multiple
wireless communication
market
more than 10 years
experiences in the market
own a lot of loyal business
customers
excellent technology
research and integrated
capabilities
the ability of knowing the
needs of customers
excellent marketing
Products that attract the
attention of both consumers
and business professionals
One of the only trusted
phones for the business-class
mobile e-mail
RIM core technology centers
on radio technology and
mobile communication
Growing Smartphone Share
Worldwide market Leader in
North America
Healthy Financial
performance

Negative
Weakness
Blackberry has become the
symbols of business
professionals, so it is not
easy for company to reach
the individuals market
Not good at the appearance
design
Weak position in Consumer
Mobile Device Market
Weak Touch user Interface
Running out of space to
expand R&D department
Limited amount of physical at
RIMs Waterloo campus
Limited Consumer
Application, Immature
Application Store
High prices
The Internet service should
be faster to login to email
system

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

External

Opportunities
Great product with advance
technology
Lots of features in BlackBerry
Brand Loyalty
They were first in the market
Growth in Consumer and
Small and Midsize Device
market
Success of Integrated, Endto-End Mobile Solution with
Consumers
Availability of Multy-Tiered
Pricing and More Affordable
data Plane
R&D talent is getting
increasingly sparse

Threat
Powerful competence Apples
I-phone are increasing its
market share
Competition and
Commoditization in Wireless
E-Mail
Competition for employees is
very competitive in the global
software development
industry
Global economic recession
will cause the decrease of
demand for expensive
Blackberry
The fast change of
technology may lead to the
emerge of other new
products (like the I-pod
replace the walkman)
Product Portfolio

STP(segmentation, targeting, positioning) analysis

Segmentation
According to the mobile communication markets features, we combined the
occupation, behaviour and income three factors as the multiple segments to
describe the consumers of mobile communication market.
Segment
method
Occupation

Segments

Demand

Business
professionals

Quickly access sales, product and

organizational data in any database

Access Key Performance Indicators

(KPI) while on the go

Remove the requirement to be near

a desktop to view critical data

Support decision-making with

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

automatic alerts and automatically

refreshed data

VALS:beha
viour
segmentati
on

Income

Provide at-a-glance performance

monitoring for accelerated action
and decision making

Be willing to pay more for the

newest products that provide the
function they need

Innovators :
Successful,
take
charge people
High self-esteem
Change leaders
Very
active
consumers
Purchase
reflect
cultivated taste for
finer things

Pursue
the
most
fashionable
products with advanced technology
Like the fashionable design
Like to purchase the products of
leading brand
Be willing to pay more for the
newest products

Above $70,000/year

Purchase the expensive personal

products
Pursue the fashion products

Targeting
Blackberry provide the solution to target market combined with the business
professional ,innovators and high income segments .

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

ih
in

ih
in

ng
ho

ng
ho

v
ia
t
n
co
or

v
ia
t
n
co
or

sm
e

sm
e

Blackber
ry
targeting
market

Positioning
Blackberry cell phones are a device that have taken convenience to another level
for business travelers. These phones allow easy access to email accounts, and all
the functionality of a cell phone. The Blackberry has become more than a business
tool though. As the price has dropped to make them more affordable, individuals are
purchasing Blackberry phones for their own personal use as well.
The Blackberry makes it easy to communicate with a large group of people at once.
By checking your email you can access mailing lists from your office to send a
message to everyone; this is much more reliable than texting, as each individual
might not have texting on their cell phones

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

Growth strategy
Market development

global strategy: RIM have established the global markets to sell their
products.
92% percent of its revenues come from outside Canada.
New segment: RIM are increasing the new segment ,such as individuals
markets, to increase the market share.

Business professional
s
high
Individuals

hig
h

Potential

low

iphon
e

Blackberr
y

low

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

Strategic business units

Figure 1-1
RIM established the strategic business units. Each units perform independently.

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ftw
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Advantages about strategic business units:

o Each unit is a profit centre,clearly responsibility and duties
o Each units perform the different tasks,and they can support each other

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

Market mix
marketing decisions generally fall into the following four controllable categories:

Product

Price

Place (distribution)

Promotion

ProduictePlace

P ro m tio n

prodvualcteG-inboarsedpricng
Product strategy

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

Product diversitification : through establishing the product diversitification to

meet the different market needs.

item
Blackberry storm

Different features

Customers needs
Powerful function

Large, 3.25" touch

screen displays over
65,000 colors
3.2 MP camera with
video recording
Easy switching
between applications

Blackberry curve

A sleek new twist on a

classic style.
keep your finger on the
pulse of whats important
to you with the
BlackBerry Curve
8900 smartphone

style

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

Blackberry peral

Small,stylish
Enjoy fun and functionality
in a small, stylish device.
offer everything you're
looking for from a mobile
phone, without sacrificing
the full BlackBerry.

Blackberry bold

Elegant design
embodies elegant design
without sacrificing the
features or functionality
you expect

Blackberry tour

Blackberry 8800 series

World phone capabilities

on 3G networks
Enhanced multimedia
features
the stylish way to get
things done
Catch up with family
using email, phone or
instant messaging, before
utilizing GPS to help you
get to that meeting.
ensures that you stay
connected to work, life
and everything in
between.

Use everywhere in world

Stlish,

Product innovation
o RIM spend a lot of resource to innovate the technology
o
Extensive product lines
blackberry smart phones series(7100,7200,8700,8800)
blackberry Curve and Pearl series
Blackberry Storm: consumer
Develop the new product to increase the produceline depth
Product cycle

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

Price
Prices are in Canadian dollors and not exact.

Blackberry Storm 2TM

9550.750.00$
Blackberry Curve TM
8520.500.00$
Blackberry Tour TM
9630750.00$
Blackberry Bold
TM9000.800.
00$
Blackberry Curve TM
8900.600.00$
Blackberry Pearl Flip
Series400.00$
Blackberry 8800
Series..450
.00$

Place
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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

Over 21 million people use BlackBerry smartphones on over 375 wireless networks in 140
countries around the world.
When making your decision on the right wireless solution for your business, its important to
have the latest information from independent analysts and leading organizations.

Wireless Companies that carry blackberry products:

North America:

AT&T
ROGERS WIRELESS CANADA
FIDO
BELL MOBILITY
KOODOO
CELLCOM
ALASKA COMMUNICATION SERVICE
GCI WIRELESS
KTC
TELUS CANADA
NETLOS

Europe:

CENTERTEL
CLICK GSM
CTM
COSMOTE
DOLPHIN TELECOMUNICATIONS
EMT
ERA GSM
EUROTEL PRAGUE
GEOCELL
JERESY TELECOM

Asia:

MOBILE ONE

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

promotion
brand value

brand facilitate purchasing

brand protect competition
brands reduce the marketing cost
brands are assets
brands impact market values

brand strategy
manufacturer/world brand
brand name strategy
brand equity
brand awareness
perceived value
brand loyalty
blackberry inspires extreme loyalty and interest among consumers worldwide
It is not enough for a business to have good products sold at attractive prices. To
generate sales and profits, the benefits of products have to be communicated to
customers. In marketing, this is commonly known as "promotion"

Blackberry has two kinds of promotion :

Special Deals for consumers
1. Consumers can get these promotions from their wireless service
providers. These promotions are as follow:
BlackBerry Bold Smartphone FREE on the $69 BlackBerry Cap
over a 24 month contract ,$590 worth of calls included. Unlimited
BlackBerry Email and Mobile Internet (to use with almost any
personal or business email account!) Unlimited Facebook, Google
Maps and I.M. in 3s Broadband Zone

Special deals for businesss

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

2. Business can also get these promotions from their wireless service
provider or the blackberry website. :
BlackBerry Bold Smartphone FREE on the $79 BlackBerry Cap
over a 24 month contract .FREE BlackBerry server software,
Customer Access Licences and installation when you sign up 5 new
BlackBerry smartphones on BlackBerry Professional Software for
24 months ,$590 worth of calls included.Unlimited BlackBerry Email
and Mobile Internet (to use with almost any personal or business
email account!)Unlimited Facebook, Google Maps and I.M. in 3s
Broadband Zone!

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

Recommendation
RIM is one of the most successful companies in Canada. It has created and
developed great smart phone products. As its product which is Blackberry has won
award from consumers. In spite of competitive market, it is one of the fastest
growing companies in the world. Furthermore, most of RIM revenues come from
outside Canada and is truly global brand it is one of the fastest growing company in
the word.
RIM has outstanding success, but there are many challenges behind its success.
Clearly, Iphone is a creative multifunctional Smartphone and very popular in the
world. In addition, Iphone has modern designs such as touch screen and leveling
device, moreover, it has a well-known assistant is iTune. Comparatively, Blackberry
is too traditional. Now, RIM should consider product design how suitable for market
demand. In spite of it has good designs, every awarded product must come with full
range customer services.

Maintain the old consumers

preferential prices
value package
gifts e.g. accessories

Attract the new client marketing target

Promotion
Advertising
Post on magazines or news paper
celebrity endorsement

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Blackberry case analysis by Ling, stephanie, Yana, Mat, Mahran

Product Development:

Design new products with multifunction

Different styles design
High definition monitor
High quality camera e.g. Leica lens
Battery for cruising ability
Waterproof for using extreme environment
More entertainments(games download)
More assistance such as Apple iTunes

Product launch

Venture to make the investments and extent the budgets for

popularize their band and products
Make innovation
Make a market testing with a exact market position. e.g.
Fashionable products for current generation
Functional Smartphone for business people

All sided customer services

Set up extensive customer service department in different regions

Maintenance department

Expand traditional markets and explore potential markets

Belief, perseverance and sincerity for exploring

Not only focus on domestic market, but also global market extent

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