“It’s OK—we’ll be fine.” Those were the now famous words of Research in Motion’s (RIM) co-CEO Jim Balsillie open being shown the newly announced iPhone on Jan 9th, 2007. Things weren’t fine. Today, September 28th 2016, just shy of 10 years later and after several attempts to regain lost ground, RIM has officially thrown in the towel, announcing they will no longer design nor manufacturer Blackberry devices.
It’s OK—we’ll be fine.
For all the hate Apple has received from late-comer, Google with their Android phone OS that still to this day looks like Windows 3.1 for mobile, they hold the majority responsibility for RIMs demise. RIM even tried using Android on their own devices in an attempt to gain lost grounds.
What now?
RIM will outsource the creation of their devices to third-parties in an attempt to cling on to their shrinking share. To HTC? Foxconn? Samsung? Who will design and manufacture the next Crackberry? Indonesia-based BB Merah Putih. The intent now is to create software and attempt to create a secure version of Android. The once-ubiquitous devices are now rarely seen, replaced with Apple’s iPhone and variants running Google’s insecure and privacy infringing Android OS.