BlackBerry 10 is “THE” thing for RIM

“I want this BlackBerry 10 to be perfect.” – That’s what Thorsten Heins quoted when he replaced co-CEOs Balsillie and Lazaridis almost exactly a year ago and he decided that the new platform would not be rushed. Despite the pressure on the company, he rightly recognized that another poor update following BB OS7 would make things worse or even would be the last nail in the coffin. This was at BlackBerry World last May. Then their was a time in 2012 when the smartphone giant and QWERTY king BlackBerry was on the verge of closing down. The fear was even more with their graving stock prices and unwanted and unexpected BB 10 release delays which of-course was the only hope for the company. BlackBerry wasn’t dead yet but their share price was languishing below on eight year low and people and analysts were counting it out of the market, but somehow it has been steadily climbing since then and hitting $15 today as the new platform comes into sight on the horizon.

As the days are coming down to the moment of light for RIM, and the positive aura all around regarding its launch, BlackBerry seems to be getting what they were possibly expecting, cash in the bags with rising stocks which has been doubled up in last 2 months. With the positive reviews and all the thumbs up from the tech analysts on the almost final device, BlackBerry 10 is “THE” thing what RIM was looking for as the last roll of the dice for them.

BlackBerry has fallen fiercely behind in the competition with iOS and Android as both have carved up the smartphone market between them and taken the smartphone arena onto the next level. Android in specific has had tremendous success with all their launches in past 3 years which has dented BlackBerry more than any other competitor. Even iOS has been shaken with so many androids around.

BlackBerry 10 OS

It’s worth remembering and appreciable that RIM has actually been adding subscribers in the last few months. It was only last quarter that RIM lost subscribers for the first time, down from 80 to 79 million. One of the best things about BlackBerry 10 is that it’s a genuine alternative and NOT a weak copy. It does look familiar to Android, iOS, or WP8, but feel very different to use. The flow, gestures, speed all appears to be well-thought out and intuitive to use. Most important thing to note is that BB 10 isn’t missing any major feature that’s standard on Android or iOS. This definitely favors RIM as if people are bored by Android or iOS then BB 10 could easily catch their attention as a viable alternative.

RIM also has got major support of developers as they have a decent pool of apps for new BB 10 customers. There’s no way the BB10 is going to catch up with iOS and Android at the 700,000+ apps, but question is, do we need 700,000 apps? Answers is, if we have all the right apps at right places, even 1000 would do, and at present, there’s a decent choice in BlackBerry App World which will keep customers happy.

Other positive with RIM is its loyal fan base of 79 million customers. If they can persuade a decent percentage of that number which will be willing to upgrade to BB 10, it will be a great start. There was a time when people used to say, “There are phones, and then there is BlackBerry”, will BB10 turn the fortune for RIM again, its worth waiting for.