Following an extremely disappointing year, Blackberry are consulting with Hanover, despite a pitch from Edelman, in an attempt to help build links with Whitehall, Westminster. Open Road who previously covered their PR declined a repitch to hold the account and perhaps they were leaving a sinking ship. Morgan Stanley downgraded the RIM stock which resulted in a nine year low in value. Blackberry Messenger or BBM was also found to be widely used by looters during the London riots and so representatives were invited to consult with the Home Office over ways to tackle crime through this medium. This has gave RIM extra press but perhaps not for the right reasons. They became the face of criminal interaction with a stigma from their market.
"BlackBerry Messenger was what kept RIM alive if I'm honest," said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner. "In emerging markets and in the UK, it was the reason why certain segments of the population, particularly the youth, bought BlackBerry handsets."
"Analysts at Morgan Stanley were scathing. RIM is "essentially broken", they claimed, and the only way it will remain "a viable entity" is "at a fraction of its current size". "
The Blackberry internet blackout incident which caused a loss to businesses in Latin America, Europe, India and the Middle East caused reputational damage to RIM that they haven't seemed to recover from. This was tipped to be the beginning of certain destruction.
Whether or not that is the case, it is clear that Blackberry are in trouble and in need of some drastic action. This will all serve as a severe wake up call. The new brief which is pipped to consult with Brussells and other European countries will certainly be targeting survival tactics. The hearsay that it's handset division will be up for sale will be cleared up soon enough, they may sell the entire stock. Facebook and Amazon are potential buyer but it has been hinted that interest will depend entirely on their patent portfolio. There have been suggestions that Blackberry will focus on its email and messaging networks. And so now we await the release of the forthcoming smartphone Blackberry 10 and the future decisions thereafter.
"In the three months to the end of December, RIM posted its first ever quarterly loss of $125m. It is expected to reveal further losses on Thursday, when it books a $1bn writedown on stockpiles of unsold smartphones and tablets."
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