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.
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