RIM is crashing -- this time, literally
The BlackBerry maker faces a network outage on the same day Apple's iPhone 5 is released.
By Alyssa Oursler
The few people who still own a Research In Motion (RIMM) BlackBerry -- once a must-have gadget -- may have gotten a final push away from the device Friday.The company is facing a network outage, which has been confirmed in Europe, the Middle East and Africa so far, and comes almost exactly a year after a similar outage in 2011.
The issue is quite the opposite of what the company needed: a boost, any kind of boost. Shares were off about 5% as it is, thanks to the official release of smartphone king Apple's (AAPL) highly anticipated iPhone 5.
Plus, earlier this week, Yahoo (YHOO) announced that its employees will receive phones and released a list of models to be offered. RIM devices were nowhere to be found.
And that's just this week's woes. The crumbling company's stock has lost more than 55% since the start of the year.
RIM's share of the cellphone market stands at a decent 12%, but other numbers point to a much bleaker future. RIM captured a mere 2% of worldwide smartphone sales last quarter and is responsible for only 1% of Web traffic.
And when you compare the aforementioned market share with those of Google's (GOOG) Android and Apple's iOS systems -- 51% and 31%, respectively -- it begins to lose any slight shine as well.
It's far from breaking news, but I think it's pretty safe to say RIM is indeed on its way out.
I still remember when being able to BBM (BlackBerry-message) friends was a cool inner circle that I was on the outside of.
Oh, how times have changed. Now that I finally have an iPhone (albeit not the newest model), the tables have turned and the BlackBerry looks more and more like a laughable antique, especially on a day when many users can't even use the product to begin with.
As of this writing, Alyssa Oursler did not own a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
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I own a BlackBerry Bold and did not suffer an outage. I too love my BlackBerry and have no desire to exchange it for an iPhone or Android. In fact, my old Curve died and the Verizon Rep recommended a Droid. I didn't like it at all.
So we'll see. I'm old enough to remember when all the "experts" sore that Apple would go out of business. My guess is that RIM will make a come back or be aquired, and if it's the later, I reckon the platform must be of value.
I got rid of and Andriod last year due to the hang up, reboot problems and got a Blackberry. I love it! the Andriod used to randomly make calls to numbers that were not even stored in my phone. I hope that there will really be a good model with BB10. Until then, I will wait out any switch.
My GFs Andriod needs rebooting and hangs all the time. She has had three, and they all do it. Almost as good as running Windows Vista!!!
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