Week 14 Segmenting and Targeting Markets.



RIM Co-CEO, Jim Balsillie

RIM target market at the beginning were just the business consumers where they can connect mobile with, Echange, Lotus Notes, Novell Group wise and others BlackBerry Enterprise Server Secure. In 2004 RIM added a new target market in the company which is the general consumer by released their 7100 series of BlackBerry. Nowadays 9000 series phones RIM has expanded the BlackBerry capabilities with the addition of full HTML support for WebPages, the ability to receive RSS feeds, and many enhanced online social networking capabilities such as Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, AOL Messenger and BlackBerry Messenger which establish the psychographic segmentation of this target market because with the different social network that BlackBerry cellphone have that can be identify with people personality, and lifestyle.

In order to identify the business consumer RIM use demographic segmentation to define age as one of their target market since the majority of current BlackBerry users are between the ages of 25. The majority of current BlackBerry users are business professionals, who are very busy and enjoy the efficiency of BlackBerry, however more recent BlackBerry sale have been represented by the general consumer market.

Week 13 Developing and Managing Products.



BlackBerry Style 9670

RIM have 3 categories of new products, the company will have a new product line with the BlackBerry PlayBook coming out in the next year. The idea generation for this product was base on their competitors that have been selling well this type of products such as Apple with their Ipads and Samsung with their Galaxy tabs. The second category is additions to existing product lines; RIM apply this every 3 months when the company add a new cellphone to their existing product line, on this month the last addition to the BlackBerry cellphones product line was the BlackBerry Style 9670 and on August the company added the BlackBerry Torch 9800 indicating that RIM constantly adds new products in order to sustain growth and increase their revenues.

The last category is improvements or revisions of existing products, RIM use this concept when the company improve their cellphones in order to satisfy customer with new technology on the BlackBerry cellphones changing quickly an example of this is the BlackBerry Curve series begun with Curve 8300 series and constantly improve by Curve 8500 series, Curve 8900 series and the last improved BlackBerry Curve 3G



BlackBerry Curve 8320,  BlackBerry  Curve 8520,  BlackBerry Curve 3G



BlackBerry Black Friday

RIM is offering a big saving on authentic BlackBerry accessories like cases, chargers, batteries and wireless headset this promotion is 50% off on any BlackBerry accesories not on cellphones but it's still a good deal because this promotion ends the next friday not just for this Black Friday.

Extra: Samsung B3210 trying to imitate BlackBerry Bold 9700

Side by side with the Blackberry Bold 9700, the Samsung B3210 shares much more than its basic shape and glossy black exterior, as the position of the menu keys and curvature of the QWERTY keyboard are very similar, and the rim around the base of the keyboard seem familiar too.

Week 12 Customer Relationship Management

Mobile CRM for BlackBerry at CRM-expo 2009

RIM interacts with customers in a direct communicatrion channel which  is the internet, the company do this via email  when users can register by putting their emails and name on the website to receive email on news cellphones or applications available and users can provide feedback on cellphones or apps, this satisfy the touch points witht customers in the company. RIM concern about customer relationship Jim Balsille co-ceo  of RIM says" we want to make sure that any customers that are using BlackBerry can get directly to RIM for technical support to ensure that any issues that arise in their environment can be addressed as quickly as possible" to a newspaper in Canada, making it clear that the company really worry about customer relationship.In order to satisfy customers and engage them with the compamy RIM use this service that BlackBerry users can go to the RIM website to find out why a BlackBerry device is not working as they want if they can find the answer on the website, users are referred to a page where they can describe the problem and a representative of the team of experts assembled by RIM will reply the solution via e-mail.

Week 11 Integrated Marketing Communication

RIM uses the AIDA concept on their product in order to get more customers and increase sales. RIM use "A" Attention by creating awarness and gain attetion for the new brand extension the BlackBerry PlayBook and now RIM is advertising and promoting their ads on television, in magazines and on the internet in order get more customer attention. RIM "I" Interest part was made when they show the new features the PlayBook can do with it's integated cameras like taking pictures and record videos in HD and also make video calls this create a interest in this tablet rather than their competitor Apple's Ipad which doesn't have a camer. RIM satisfied "D" Desire section by telling potentional buyers that BlackBerry PlayBook  is the first professional tablet and it creates and brand preference with adapting cameras back and front in the tablet, extended-life battery, adding BlackBerry Messenger on the tablet, and other better features than their competitors dont have. RIM "A" Action is create it when the company promote this new product line of tablet by making commercials, and promoting the ads on television and internet.
RIM have a blog called Inside BlackBerry "blogs.blackberry.com" in which make users submit their opinions on how to get more out of their device and the company assembled a team of experts who will provide tips and advice to help BlackBerry users. RIM use the different tactics to promote the upcoming product, the company use a pull strategy by creating a demand for the BlackBerry PlayBook through the exposure of BlackBerry PlayBook ads.

Week 10 Product Concepts

RIM products can be classified as either business or consumer product, it is a business product because the cellphone companies like T-mobile, AT&T , Verizon and so on, purchase BlackBerry cellphone in order to resell to other customers. RIM objectives on their products is to satisfy an individual's personal wants. BlackBerry cellphones  are shopping products because they are expensive and it takes some effort on process of comparing through the different cellphone companies and their price they offer in order to buy the product.

RIM use to have a single product line which is their BlackBerry cellphones but now the company add a new different product  the BlackBerry Playbook the world first professional tablet, this product create a product mix on the company.RIM frequently launches new BlackBerry cellphones making the idea of modification as a planned obsolescence because with the new technology of BlackBerry cellphones changing so quickly that those cellphone that have already been sold become obsolete.The company established a product line extension when every 3 months they added a new BlackBerry cellphone to their product line. For example on August they added the BlackBerry Torch 9800 and in this month  they added a the new BlackBerry style 9670. RIM has a global brand that in recognize in many countries of different continents, in fact more than half of the company revenue came form outside their country.Research In Motion owned 3 trademarks BlackBerry ®,RIM ® ,Research In Motion ® and are used under license which mean that protecte by the trademark that prohibited from using this brand without permision, another trademark protection that RIM has is the identification of the BlackBerry is their Catchy phrase "Love what you do" 

Week 9 Sales Promotion and Personal Selling

Research In Motion offers sales promotion to customer as a incentive to buy a BlackBerry cellphone, the company offers rebates to the retailer in their product when you buy a BlackBerry cellphones you have to mail the rebate form and the receive of your purchase in order to get your 50 dollar visa card or check but this is not immediately it takes up to 3 week to receive it from the manufactures which means the retailer or cell phones companies is not responsible for the rebate.There are some retailers that offers RIM rebate like T-Mobile, Sprint, at&t and metro PCS most of then have the same rebate depending on the type of BlackBerry cellphone you purchased. RIM also offers premiums to the retailers providing them with hands free device or case for the cellphone that customer will receive for free when they purchase a BlackBerry cellphone.


RIM use email to register customers for the loyalty programs customers can register  by going to their website which is "blackberry.com" and filling up your personal information that include your email where they can send you notifications, updates to the system or any special rebate or premium on their accessories for the BlackBerry cellphones. 


On October 26 at Adobe Max RIM President and Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis made a promotion announced that could be seem as a contests and sweepstakes for the BlackBerry users because the promotion plan is to provide one Free BlackBerry Playbook to every registered vendor with a BlackBerry App world approved, the intent is to reward developers and designers who are working on apps in advance of the product  launch. Another promotional program that RIM  provide to their users is Sampling they don’t  have product to try for free, but the company got one particular service that customers can try it for free which is the applications or apps that you can download a trial for a limited time and if you like the app you can purchase at the BlackBerry App World.

Week 8 Advertising and Public Relations

In the last fiscal year RIM spent nearly $ 380 million on marketing and advertising its BlackBerry, the revenues that those advertises produce is a 3.60 %. RIM create advertises promoting their products and applications. Most of the ads are relatable to the customers in their everyday situations, those ads also show the exclusive BlackBerry Messenger "BBM" that only BlackBerry cellphones have which could  be the advertising appel for customers, since BBM it is a unique service that can be used for voice messages, capturing and sharing photos or just chat. RIM's recently advertise is their new product BlackBerry Playbook which is the first professional tablet, for RIM this is a new market in this type of product but the Playbook has better features that make a huge different from the compettitor, the playbook is expected to arrive in the US in the next year.



Wall Street: Money nerver sleeps

RIM belief in the idea of product placement which is a strategy that involves getting one's product, service or name to apper in a movie, TV shown, radio program, magazine, video games, or at special events. RIM product "BlackBerry cellphones" appears in those recently movies in this year: Valentine's Day, The Town, and Wall Street: Money never sleeps this movie was a good example of product placement because every bankers has a BlackBerry giving the apperance that BlackBerry phones are for businees people.

When it comes to sponsorship RIM decide to go for the most popular sponsorship like sports, music, or the arts, they choose to be the sponsors of big musical groups and their tours. In 2009 RIM had a big BlackBerry Love U2 campaign where they sponsored the U2 tour. In 2010 RIM was the sponsor of the Black Eyes Peas and their " The End 2010 World tour".

Week 7 Retailing

BlackBerry retail store in Michigan

As most of the companies that manufacture cellphones RIM dont have many retail store in U.S. in fact the only have one retail store in U.S. that is located in Farmington Hills, Michigan which made it impossible for me to visit it.Rim sell their product through different cell phone companies like AT&T, Verizon, T-mobile, Sprint, Boost mobile and, Metro PCS those are the company that sell BlackBerry phones in New York but there are other many cell phone companies selling BlackBerry in U.S. I research in internet for those six cellphone companies in New York and i found out that  AT&T  is the store that has more different types of BlackBerry that's why i decided to visit it.

I visited a AT&T store in Times Square, the store sells cellphones from different brands like Motorola, Samsungs, Nokia, Palm, iPhone and of course BlackBerry and also accessories for their different types of cell phones. Outsude the store has a huge iluminated sign of AT&T like most of the store in Times Square,that attract customers attention. Their business hours are from 8:30-11:00 Mon.-Sat. 10:00-9:00 Sun. maiking it accesible for everyone schedule. Inside the store it has touch screen monitors where you can find more details about a cell phone in the store, they use open tablets to show their cell phones where you can in teract with the cellphone making it a "do-it-yourself" because of the low employee density in the store.It only has 2 employee 1 as a cashier and 1 helping customers. As i was looking at the new BlackBerry Torch, I notice the soft and peaceful music that the store was playing that create a pleasant environment, the store has a cool room temperature and a agreeable fragance, and it was decorate with colors

 like orange, white and light blue that produce a feeling of warmth.

Week 6 Consumer Decision Making

BlackBerry has become an aspiration brand for the newbie's to business, status symbol for the ones in it already. It has created a very high top-of-mind-awareness for itself which is going to be tough to break for any other brand. iPhone  is still looked at as a coolness device. BlackBerry users identify themselves as a layer above, they express no desire outside to look cool, they would rather be the only-business type.

RIM have built their brand around a very strong vision. Perception in the minds of the consumer is built so strong, a Blackberry owner is a true businessman/woman, elegant. sophisticated and busy. However, a study from Nielsen and other data from RIM indicate that email is still a driving factor in the decision-making process when consumers consider the purchase of a new smart phone.While BlackBerry phones are still widely used by businesspeople, other smart phone are able to provide accesss to email, and then some.

Aside from doing mobile email well, RIM also has numbers on its side. While Apple dawdles around its 3-5 year exclusive contract with AT&T, RIM device are available through most carries in the U.S. Google's Android has had a rapid roll-out of varying devices from multiple manufactures, most of which are available through several carries, but not many of them have been marketed as a business tool. Ass mobile apps become more integrated with our daily social and consumer activity, the need for app integration on our smar phones will also become standar. RIM is already making moves in this direction with an app store and the seeking out of partners to create specific (an official) apps for  its device. Until then, targeting the yet-untapped market of non-smart phone users may be a good strategy for RIM to adopt.

Week 5 Global Marketing



A customer walks into a BlackBerry store in Munbai

Research In Motion is a successfull global company because about 52 per cent of BlackBerry's revenue came from outside the US and more than 45 percent of BlackBerry subscribes are  outside North America.The US is the single largest of RIM's markets, accounting for over half of total sales, the actual numer of BlackBerry users in the US has increased significantly, but other markets have nonetheless outpaced in terms of growth.

In a statement , company co-CEO Jim Balsillie said: "RIM achieved significant earnings growth and shipped a record 11.3 million devices during the first quarter, inclunding its 100 millionth BlackBerry smarthphone. we continue to be  focused on growing our business globally and we believe that the range of exciting new Blackberry produtcs being released in the coming months will create significant opportunites to accelerate RIM's growth  in the second half of the fiscal year(2010)."

RIM have  increased the expansion of BlackBerry in the world in the last 3 years. In 2007 RIM entered into a partnership wirth China mobile to sell its popular BlackBerry smartphone in China, about 10,000 Blackberry8700 model smarphones were distribute thought Alcatel-Lucent, BlackBerry distribution in China to China mobile customers.

In the first quarter of 2008, Russian mobile firms MTS and Vimpelcom start selling BlackBerry phones and servicing corporate clients. The permission to sell BlackBerry was granted for one year by Russian state securtiy service. Combined the two firms are expected to ship about 2,000 Blackberry phones.

RIM announced in February 2009 that they were expanding their global operations by opening an office and training facility in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

In 2010 after resolving the issue of data security with the government in India RIM provides corporate email and instant messaging services to about one million users in India. RIM which ealier had presence in only nine cities in India, has increased it to 70 cities.

 Research In Motion commands a 20.8 % share of worldwide smarthphones sales, making it the second most popular platform after Nokia's Symbian OS. The cosumer BlackBerry Internet Service is available in 91 Countries worldwide on over 500 mobile service operators using various mobile technologies.

Samsung's Corporate Irresponsibility



 A rally for demanding the Samsung's responsibility for the mass leukemia of the Samsung semi-conduct workers in front of kiheung factory, Samsung Electronics.

In South Korea on March 31 Park Ji-yeon, a young woman of 23, died of leukemia. She contracted a blood cancer at the age of 20 after working at the Samsung semiconductor factory in Onyang. The families and friends of electronics manufacturing workers at Samsung in Korea have discovered a cancer cluster among young workers exposed to toxic chemicals. Last month was the third anniversary of the death of Yu-mi Hwang, a Samsung semiconductor factory worker, wo died from leukemia at age 22. Since then Samsung has stonewalled. That episode of cancer was unrelated to their site they say. That rare episode of cancer, the miscarriage in the worker that came next and the leukemia in the worker that came after that, all from the same work station and all the other leukemia sufferers, 10 deaths there as well-still unrelated according to Samsung . Not so fast Yu-mi and similar coworker deaths- have motivated people to demand that Samsung:

• Accept responsibility for the hazards of semiconductor manufacturing.
• Compensate those harmed.
• Prevent future suffering and mistreatment of workers by making Samsung a toxic-free model workplace where workers are treated with dignity and respect.

Samsung denies all responsibility, and the Korean goverment has taken its side by deying compensation and even arresting and detaining the victims lawyer Yu-mi's family, co-workers, friends and other concerned people have formed SHARPS (Supporters for the Health and Rights of People in the Semiconductors industry) to demad justice for the dead and safer conditions for the workers who make our electronic gadgets.

Park Ji-yeon.

Week 4 The Marketing Environment

Traditionally, BlackBerry phones have been targeted to business professionals people only. They were not proced or developed for the every day cellular user. Nowadays RIM's target market are teenagers because they are producing cellphones with camera, Blackberry has also preloaded a series of games and applications such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter that is targetted directly to the  young and social group. RIM has also launched a new software store called BlackBerry App World with hundreds of applications that target people of every sort.

RIM is starting a tradition sponsoring big musical groups and their tours. RIM had a big BlackBerry Love U2 campaign last year where they  sponsored the U2  Tour and relased a dedicated Blackberry applications just for U2 news and concert information. The new musical group of choice this year is The Black Eyed Peas and their 'The End' 2010 worl tour. RIM is sponsoring those kind of bands that teenagers like in order to increase and maintain their target market.

Country of Origin

. Hat from New  Era made in U.S.A.
. T-shirt  from Abercombie & Fitch made in China
. Blue jeans from Hollister made in Cambodia
. Underwear from Hollister made in Vietnam
. Sneaker shoes from Polo made in China
. Sweater from Hollister made in China

Week 3 Ethics and Social Responsibility

RIM company has contribute to the welfare of his community; Waterloo, Ontarrio Canada which is the city where the company was founded because as soon as RIM's founders started making money, they started giving it away. Wells quoted the Co-CEO Jim Balsillie as saying "we're making a stupid amount of money and we want to do something constructive with it" The forum for the comment was a conference on how to spend RIM's managers own money on socially important projects in the company's Waterloo hometown.

RIM principals have donated over CDN$ 30 million of personal funds to start the Centre for International Governance Innovation, styled as key meeting place for leading minds to work on improving world governance.



Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Lazaridis and Balsillie the owners of the company have also donated a combined total of over CDN$ 120 million to start the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, attracting physicists and mathematicians from around the world wo wish to consider the essence of time, space and matter. There are other interests have received funding from RIM'S top management team, and all have very little to do with the company's day-to-day business. However, the team has stated that their goals is to make Waterloo and surrounding areas a world leader in technological development.

The top management makes the donations not for any self-interests but because they think it is simply the right thing to do.



RIM President Mike Lazaridis and the Co-COE Jim Balsillie



                                 

Week 2 Strategic Plan

In 1999 RIM introduces the BlackBerry personal digital assitant (PDA) Lazardi and  a RIM coworker receive an Academy Award for Technical achievement, this personal digital assitant was created for business consumers where they can connect mobile with, Exchange, Lotus Notes, Novell Group Wise and others Blackberry Enterprise Server Secure. In 2004 the strategic decision of RIM was to move their market from business profesional consumers to the general consumer by released their 7100 series of BlackBerry. Then with the 8000 series, the market for the general consumer was cemented with the addition of features such as Wi-Fi capabilities, built in cameras, and memory expansion options. Nowadays 9000 series phones Rim has expanded the BlackBerries capabilites with the addition of full HTML support for wbe pages, the ability to receive RSS feeds, and many enhanced online social networking capabilities.The strategic decision of RIM have affected on their popularity becuase Today BlackBerry commands a 20.8 % share of worldwide smartphone sales, making it the second most popular platform after Nokia's Symbian OS.

SWOT Analysis

Strenghts

RIM's unique offering and strategy.- RIM was the first company to understand that mobile applications need to be delivered as part of an integrated package, including hardware, software and services, that is both complete and simple to use.

RIM's brand is now very powerfull.-  In June  According to RIM  the had sold up to 100 million BlackBerry including record sales in their first semestre, RIM now has more influence than many larger device and software vendors; so much so that BlackBerry is now almost a synonym for wireless email.

Weakness

Scalability and global coverage.- RIM's business model (selling purely through operators) means that it dependent on operators to launch the BlackBerry service. This takes time, and the cost associated with launching can be high for smaller operators. Global presence, including small and emerging markets, can be crucial to win and extend contracts with multinational corporations (MNCs). Many MNCs are trying to rattionalise their investments in mobile email by selecting a single supplier.

Touchscreen technology .- Compare with their competitors ; Nokia, Samsumg, and windows mobile that have a large variety on touchscreen cellphones RIM's company  it only has two touchscreen models. The first was BlackBerry Storm had  a built in Qwerty keyboard optimized for thumbing the use only the thumbs to type,and the recently came out  is BlackBerry Torch which have a full keyboard.

Opportunities

Differentiated offerings for several categories of mobile workers .- RIM's ability to cater for a growing range of mobile workers will be crucial in the future, as enterprises look to deploy mobile email across their diverse mobileworkforce. Enterprises now understand the value of mobile email, but fea are willing to pay a premium for company-wide deployments.

Extend the rande of third-party BlackBerry devices .- By licensing its software through the BlackBerry Connect and BlackBerry Built-In programms RIM is able to expand its presence with users who favour other form factors and device platforms.Connect  and Built-In exten RIM's addressable market and improve acceptability of BlackBerry's products in certain markets, such as Nordic countries.

Threats

Tougher competition .- RIM is facing tougher competition than ever before, the primary competitors of BlackBerry are smartphone running Android, windows Mobile, and the IPhone.

New Technology .- BlackBerry Messenger also known as BBM is a software for sending and receiving instant messages via BlackBerry PIN or barcode scan. BlackBerry messenger allows for instant messages to be sent internationally without the cost of regular text messaging. The real advantage of BBM is that much like its internet based court-parts it laso allows its users to connect to another user around the world.

Week 1 Mission Statement- RIM Company

Organization Name

Research In Motion Ltd. /Blackberry company.

Slogan/Motto

Love what you do

Description

Research In Motion company also known as (RIM) is the primarily maker and provider of BlackBerry wireless devices and e-mail services, the company also creates software for business and the operating system that allows the BlackBerry smartphone to provide mobile access to email, Im, apps, media films, the internet and more.

Mission Statement

RIM's mission is to make BlackBerry became the first most popular smartphone by expanding their product to more countries around the world. Nowadays BlackBerry commands a 20.8% share of worldwide smartphone sale. The consumer BlackBerry Internet Service is avaible in 91 countries worldwide on over 500 mobile service operators using varios mobile technologies.

Week 1 Research In Motion Ltd Company. Brief History.

Research In Motion Ltd. Compay (RIM) was founded by Mike Lazardi in 1984 in Waterloo Ontario, Canada. It is known primarily as the designer and manufacture of BlackBerry Smartphone used by million of people around the world. The first BlackBerry device was introduced in 1999 as two way pager, but it wasn't until 2002 that the Blackberry can supports push email,mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing, wbe browsing and other wireless information devices. Nowadays BlackBerry became one of the most popular cellphone because of their multiple functions like e-mail capabilities and instant messaging with BlackBerry messenger, Google messenger, Windows live messenger and Yahoo messenger.