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Thinking About RIM, its people and its future

Jose HC — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:59:26 +0000

First of all let me tell you something that has been heavily on my mind over the last week or so – RIM is NOT Nortel. I will write more about that later on, but I believe that Research In Motion and its BlackBerry line of products and services has a long life left in them. This is not an obituary. We are just taking a break from mobility to think about our friends and the lives being affected one way or another by the ‘reset’ that RIM is going through right now.

It has been 4 days since Research In Motion announced a large scale reorganization, the retirement of Don Morrison and 2,000 layoffs. The news, however, did not hit home until late Tuesday afternoon when I first got wind of the names of some of those being let go. The folks released are far more senior than I originally anticipated. It definitely hit home because I worked very closely with ‘some’ of those people in my past. If you check LinkedIn you can already see profile changes and people who were previously inactive are much more active now.

Prior to my current role, and before and after my time at RIM, I worked in large-scale reorganizations, layoffs and process re-engineering. One thing I can tell you is that the tension will always be present in this type of situation.

It is inevitable; it is unavoidable. It is part of the process.

I have seen and personally tried all kinds of ‘change management’ techniques and at the end of the day there are always casualties far beyond the actual people that are let go. What RIM is going through right now is painful; very painful. And it is ugly. Very ugly – especially on a personal and human level.

But it was necessary. The market changed. Competition became real. If you are a current employee this may even be impossible for you to understand – but if this is executed correctly RIM will be a stronger company by the end of this current quarter. Believe me when I say that no one at the top took this decision lightly. In fact, I would go out on limb and tell you that even Jim Balsilie and Mike Laziridis lost sleep over this. I have coached executives through this kind of thing before and the ones that suffer the most are those that built the company with their own hands (i.e. founders, entrepreneurs). In my opinion, both Mike and Jim will try their hardest for this not to happen again. It does not feel good and it penetrates to the deepest parts of a founder’s ego. In some ways they may even perceive this as their own personal failure.

Regardless of your opinion of them – Mike and Jim have worked very hard over the years and have sacrificed much on the personal side as well. How much they sacrificed only those closest to them really know. Bottom line – this is not easy for anyone. It goes to the core of an organization’s heart… and everybody hurts. Everybody.

Unfortunately as humans we sometimes need big shakeups to bring about true change. We need to be shocked out of complacency and comfort zones in order for us to bring up our game.

So far the execution of the ‘changes’ has hit among other areas sales, marketing and product management. Of course, as an outsider I do not have complete visibility into what is going on and I am sure there are other areas being affected. My hope is that these folks are not merely scapegoats but that RIM will truly use this time to refocus and leverage the enormous talent and capacity that is still in house.

I left RIM three years ago and I have only good memories from my time there. Although today my main device at work is the BlackBerry Torch I do have an iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy S at home and my work Playbook is on order (I actually just returned my iPad so I could have a Playbook instead). Despite all of its shortcoming I still consider my Blackberry an invaluable productivity tool for work. But here’s the catch – I only use 3 applications outside of email, contacts and calendaring (LinkedIn, Twitter and Globe and Mail Politics). For anything else I use my wife’s iPhone or my Android device.

So I close this post and this week with RIM in my mind and on my heart. I want to firmly position myself in the corner of those that believe that RIM is NOT dead. If all goes well Research In Motion will be a stronger company by next quarter and will release new products and services that will enable them get back on track.

Do you want to know what RIM’s secret weapon is? Even today the BlackBerry platform differentiates itself from all others through its BlackBerry Enterprise Server and the thousands of implementations. If there is one player that can instantly dominate the Mobile Device Management space in one swoop is RIM. With their acquisition of Ubitexx they should be able to get there relatively soon. Will write a separate post on this early next week.

Of course all the hopes reflected in this post are also predicated on my belief that RIM will refresh its devices with QNX to the point of making them more competitive and that their product design and release cycles will be compressed and enable them to come to market faster.Similar Posts:

Network As A Service: A Carrier’s Differentiator

Jose HC — Sat, 08 May 2010 14:57:46 +0000

I briefly interrupt my slumber to highlight an announcement from yesterday.

Over the years our attention has shifted away from the carriers/operators. We only remember them to complain about them or to comment on AT & T’s iPhone exclusivity. Shiny devices from iPhone to Nexus One to RIM’s devices have made our eyes sparkle. In some respects you may have even discounted or written off the carriers. But they are doing things behind the scenes… things that will impact the way you and I interact with our devices and with people across networks. Exciting stuff so they can finally shed the dumb pipe moniker.

If you’re a developer opportunities are already out there to be leveraged in this space. Be ahead of the curve and not behind it.

This is yesterday’s announcement as retold by TechCrunch Europe:

Aepona, the Belfast-based developer of a software engine that powers the “Network as a Service” (NaaS) business model for mobile operators, has just raised a $10M round, led by new investor BlackBerry Partners Fund, a Toronto-based global fund focused on applications, services and supporting infrastructure for mobile platforms.

Existing investors Amadeus Capital Partners, Polaris Ventures, Innovacom, Nordic Venture Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures also participated in the round.

The company provides the software engine that powers the “Network as a Service” (NaaS) business model for mobile operators allowing them to monetise assets and functionality within their networks – such as billing, location, messaging and voice communications – to open up new revenue opportunities.

Aepona, whose revenues grew 50% year-on-year from 2008 to 2009 with positive EBITDA, will use the new round to accelerate growth, and invest in additional sales and business development.

Below are portion of the Press Release from Aepona’s website:

Aepona is a market leader in the NaaS marketplace through its deployments with more than 20 Tier One mobile operators around the world, together with its pioneering work on the GSM Association’s OneAPI initiative and the launch of the Canadian OneAPI commercial service, which is at the forefront of the Mobile Cloud Computing market.

Commenting on its decision to invest in Aepona, Marc Faucher, Partner at BlackBerry Partners Fund said, “Aepona’s proposition is constructively aligned with the strategic goals of mobile operators, and the company is ideally positioned to capitalize on the major trends that are shaping the future of the mobile industry.”

Among these key trends are:
· Mobile operators looking for ways to re-assert themselves in the applications value chain to address increasing competition from web-based service providers.

· The proliferation of high-end smartphones enabling a new generation of applications and services that combine advanced device functionality with core mobile network functionality, creating significant additional value for the end-user compared with the device-only applications that are prevalent today.

· The arrival of Cloud Computing into the mobile domain meaning that application providers can now quickly and easily access mobile network capabilities across multiple operators. This reduces market fragmentation and is vital for driving mass adoption of applications on a global scale.

“Aepona’s solution directly addresses these trends, and it’s for this reason that BlackBerry Partners Funds believes the company is poised for significant growth. We look forward to working with Aepona, and providing insight and support that will help the company realise its full potential in the mobile eco-system,” continues Faucher.

“We are delighted to welcome BlackBerry Partners Fund on board as a new investor in Aepona,” said Al Snyder, CEO of Aepona. “The Fund shares our vision for the future of the mobile industry – one in which mobile operators can adopt a two-sided business model, delivering differentiated, network-enabled applications through their retail channels as well as directly monetizing their network and billing assets to open up new wholesale revenue opportunities from the Mobile Cloud. We especially look forward to leveraging the relationships that BlackBerry Partners Fund shares with the handset and application developer communities, to develop new propositions that combine the unique capabilities of the mobile device with the power of the mobile network.”

All this to say what?

Keep an eye on it… others are. If I get a chance I will try and write more about this (and if you are interested).Similar Posts:

Zoompass Announcement Falls Short of ‘my’ expectations

Jose HC — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:17:11 +0000

I am not sure I get it at times. I know that the technology is limited and that a lot of the talk that sometimes goes around is more dreaming than real possibilities.

Today’s Zoompass announcement however strikes me more as a step backwards than a forward one. This is what happens when the initiative is carrier-lead instead of bank lead. I realize that these comments are not popular among some of my readers (I know where you work) but as a consumer I am still on the side of banks dealing with my money.

There are two things that dampen my excitement about this announcement:

The first thing is the following phrase: “payment is automatically drawn from the user’s Zoompass stored value account.” This means that you and I have to manage yet another account. However easy this may be for you… for me it is a hassle. I want the money to come out of my bank account directly! Otherwise for me it is just as easy to load my Starbucks card… or my Timothy’s card at the counter from my debit card. Am I missing something here?
The other thing is the little sticker… this could almost get me ranting a la Ewan on Foursquare. But I will not. A sticker to me seems like a step backwards. Although they talk about its attractiveness with phrases like “sleek and appealing sticker” … to me it just isn’t.

Bottom line this does not spell convenience to me.

Managing yet another account and plastering a sticker to the back of my phone.Similar Posts:

67% Of The World’s Population Are Mobile Subscribers – What are you doing about it?

Jose HC — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:08:09 +0000

A new report published yesterday by the UN indicates that 67% of the world’s population, or two-thirds total, are mobile subscribers- far outweighing Online access.

67% of the world’s population represents around 4.6B people, up from only 1B in 2002, indicating staggering continued growth. In developing nations, however, the uptake is even more substantial with 57% of the total population in these nations being mobile subscribers, even though other technologies are scarce.

via mobilemarketingwatch.com

What’s your Mobile Strategy?

Regardless of what you do… you need to think through this. How does it affect your business? Your constituents? Your congregants? Your members?

You don’t have to be a business to have a strategy… you just need to understand that you have them right there. They all have mobile devices … what are you going to do about it?

What’s your call to action?

Posted via web from Mobile Strategy

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Mobile Strategy Posterous

Jose HC — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:17:41 +0000

We are complementing this site with a Mobile Strategy Posterous which we have parked at one of the URL’s we had sitting around – mobilestrategy.ca. The Posterous site will be used for short snippets and comments on things we see around the web and through our feeds. If you would like to contribute to the Posterous or to this blog please drop me a line.

This site will continue to include deeper content, analysis and research as we are able to.Similar Posts:

Mobile Trends 2020

Jose HC — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:18:37 +0000

Most of you have probably seen the presentation and the blog post at Rudy’s site but for those of you who haven’t I thought a good way of kicking off our first post of the year is to view this collection of predictions from the experts for the decade ahead. I offer no commentary … just the slides.

Mobile Trends 2020

View more documents from rudydw.

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Just For Fun: Google Goggles

Jose HC — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:37:48 +0000

From time to time we have a Just For Fun post. Now is the time for one. Except that this one is much more than just for fun, it is a glimpse into the future… and the future is now.

What is Google Goggles?
You do have to watch the video below, but in essence it is an Android application that takes photos, tries to recognize the subject of your photo and then presents you a search result about the subject. So far it can recognize landmarks, books, contact info, artwork, places and logos. More in the video.

This excerpt from the Google Goggles page:

A picture is worth a thousand words.
No need to type your search anymore. Just take a picture.

Find out what businesses are nearby.
Just point your phone at a store.

This is just the beginning – it’s not quite perfect yet.
Works well for some things, but not for all.

Your pictures, your control.
Turn on ‘visual search history’ to view or share your pictures at any time. Turn it off to discard them once the search is done.

Here is the video… enjoy!

Similar Posts:

Mobile Analytics Providers – Updated with Umber Systems

Jose HC — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:59:13 +0000

It has been a while since I last updated the Mobile Analytics Providers list. The folks at Umber recently dropped me a note to alert me of their company. So they have become provider number 38 on our Mobile Analytics list.

Note from their website that there is an emphasis on ‘data’ with terms like mobile data monitoring and mobile data analytics. Sometime in the near future I am supposed to talk to them to get a better grasp for what they offer.

From their website:

As mobile data usage proliferates, carriers, media, and marketers are faced with a key challenge: how to extract revenue from mobile data usage. Lack of visibility into what mobile users are doing with data, which applications are being consumed, and how usage correlates with user demographics and location have made it impossible to build actionable user profiles.

Umber® provides the first, intelligent monitoring and analytics solution that works across applications, devices, networks, and locations. Umber provides a clear, accurate, and ongoing picture of mobile data usage.

Plus their emphasis on user behavior is what really interests me…

Unlike web analytics—which monitor, collect, and analyze user behavior at a site level—mobile network analytics have been severely limited by a wide disparity of networks, devices, demographic databases, and location databases. This same level of user behavior analysis and reporting would be extremely valuable to carriers, media, and marketers; allowing them to target content for significantly more effective marketing; but accomplishing this requires a new class of technologies. This is where Umber comes in.

Umber® has created the first real-time, automated, and transparent solution for gathering insight into mobile data usage. Umber’s patent-pending monitoring and analytics solution allows marketers to understand the behavior of mobile users.

I will let you know more as soon as I know more. Visit Umber Systems here.

BTW – It has slowly and almost by accident become a policy that if you reach out to me and want to talk about your product or service, and I believe it adds value to the mobile ecosystem, I will attempt to write about it. You can reach me via this Blog, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Commentary on Google’s Acquisition of AdMob

Jose HC — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:24:07 +0000

As you can probably tell I have been away. But before I get to the summary of the Mobile Money Conference (in the next post) I want to get this out of the way to avoid any distractions. What can be better than my opinion on Google’s acquisition of AdMob? Well … the opinion of those smarter than yours truly. Our Mobile Analytics Provider list will undoubtedly change in the aftermath of this deal … but for now below are four excerpts of expert commentaries for you to read and follow to their source.

1. Open Gardens’ Ajit Jaokar -

But why is this acquisition such a big landmark?

The Admob acquisition and growth reflects a deeper trend by the customer towards Mobile Web and Mobile Apps. It indicates that Mobile Web and Mobile Apps are becoming the most significant elements of the Mobile industry surpassing both Voice and SMS in importance.

Why? We all know that Mobile Web and Mobile Apps are a significant(if not primary) mode of access to the Web for many people .. but the Admob figures indicate that the manner of access is significant ..

Historically, the belief was – people accessed the Mobile Web with an ‘intent’ (such as ‘find my nearest’) .. If that were the case, we would never have seen such a large number of ad impressions. So, the Mobile Web access has become pervasive .. instead of ‘intent based.’ In other words, the Mobile Web (and Mobile Apps) have arrived.

Read entire post entitled ‘The acquisition of Admob by Google is as big as the launch of the iPhone‘ here.

2. Gartner’s Nick Jones

Unlike me, Google has started its Christmas buying early, having splashed out $750M on Admob this week. Google also just announced an upgrade to Latitude that supports location history tracking and location alerts (e.g. to notify you when friends are in the vicinity). These events are related. They’re moves in a massive emerging war to own mobile contextual information and applications which will include location-specific advertising and many other location-related business models. Apple are behind in this location game, but I expect MobileMe will get more sophisticated. Expect a future mega-vendor battleground between Google, Nokia, Apple, maybe Microsoft and a few others.

Read entire post entitled Bah Hambug! here.

3. Mobile Marketing Watch

Think about it- if an app developer decides to monetize his app via in-app advertising, who do you think he’ll chose as his provider; Google or one of the many cookie-cutter mobile ad-networks that have popped up all over the place…

When looking at the two most talked-about mobile OSs — the iPhone and Android — Google already dominates the mobile search functions on both devices, and now with it’s acquisition of AdMob, will dominate mobile app advertising on both devices through their respective app stores as well.

Read the rest of the post entitled ‘Google’s AdMob Deal Solidifies It’s Future Mobile Marketing Dominance‘ here.

4. Sensidea’s Jaafer Haidar

[AdMob has] built up quite an impressive business in a few short years; not only becoming the largest mobile ad network, but also amassing an amazing amount of data on how people are using and engaging in mobile applications… Google now has access to a ton of competitive data that will bode well in the mobile platform war just heating up with Apple. I’m not discounting AdMob’s ad business but if it was the ads Google wanted then why did they wait so long to make the buy?

Read entire post entitled ‘Google Buys AdMob. What Took So Long?‘ here.Similar Posts:

Mobile Becomes A Social Media Lifeline

Jose HC — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:10:42 +0000

Beautiful Sunday morning here in Toronto (Mississauga to be precise).
As I catch up on reading and wait for the family to wake up before we head to church I thought I would share this post from Harvard Business. David Armano writes a Conversation Starter on the Six Social Media Trends for 2010… and these are:

Social media begins to look less social
Corporations look to scale
Social business becomes serious play
Your company will have a social media policy (and it might actually be enforced)
Mobile becomes a social media lifeline
Sharing no longer means e-mail

Of special interest to some of you will be #5:

With approximately 70 percent of organizations banning social networks and, simultaneously, sales of smartphones on the rise, it’s likely that employees will seek to feed their social media addictions on their mobile devices. What used to be cigarette breaks could turn into “social media breaks” as long as there is a clear signal and IT isn’t looking.

I certainly hope that most of you reading this realize that the value of mobility goes way beyond social media. In fact it is my opinion that social media as a business tool is not for every role/position. It can certainly be a waste of time. Believe me … been there and done that. Unless you see an ROI you truly need to have social media policies in place.

Head over there for the full post by clicking here.Similar Posts: