BlackBerry loggt sich aus

The SMS 2.0 plan was a throwback to RIM’s move a decade earlier to form partnerships with mobile providers and share revenues. It was a chance to make BBM the dominant chat messaging service, and would have created a new story for the BlackBerry brand […].

But the plan deeply divided the company. BBM was still an important driver of BlackBerry sales. Making it widely available to competitors represented an added threat to RIM’s faltering handset business, led by Mr. Heins at the time. Many inside the company felt a cross-platform BBM made sense, but only when BlackBerry 10 was out. Mr. Balsillie and proponents of his plan felt that would be too late […].

A few weeks later, Mr. Heins killed the SMS 2.0 strategy, backed by Mr. Lazaridis.

Sean Silcoff, Jacquie Mcnish und Steve Ladurantaye | The Globe and Mail

'Inside the fall of BlackBerry: How the smartphone inventor failed to adapt' ist ein (brutal) nüchterner Abschiedsbrief. Der (grandios) gescheiterte Start des BlackBerry Messenger für Android und iOS in der vergangenen Woche ist in diesem Kontext nur eine kleine (aber ins Bild passende) Randnotiz.

Als Sekundärliteratur empfehle ich den Podcast-Rückblick auf die BlackBerry-Geschichte mit Kevin 'Crackberry' Michaluk .