There's not a single point of failure when looking at RIM. Rather it's a series of strategic mistakes and a lack of vision that ultimately caused the company to fail.
I still remember the BlackBerry Storm, the first all touchscreen device from RIM. It was years behind the iPhone. The UI felt rushed and clunky, the keyboard was unusable and there wasn't any app support. It didn't even support WiFi, something the original iPhone did, and it tanked performances. It was an exercise in cargo cult at best and really showed that they didn't understand the technical aspect at all since they allowed their competitor to have 2 years of advance on them.
They were wrong on Moore's law (So was Microsoft who moved Phones to WindowsNT too late) and very wrong on ergonomics (Physical keyboards are NOT essential).
I think RIM focused way too much on its existing userbase and on pleasing carriers rather than looking at were the market was going to be in 3-5 years. Even back in 2008-2009 I remember execs showing off their iPhones and as soon as the BlackBerry users saw one most of them wanted in. And these were the buyers of the flagship models RIM shipped at the time, not the cheaper phones aimed at teenagers.
Finally, they failed to attract talent. The type of folks who interned at RIM generally didn't end up working there.
Apple (and Google with Android) both shipped platforms. RIM kept shipping a tool.
I still remember the BlackBerry Storm, the first all touchscreen device from RIM. It was years behind the iPhone. The UI felt rushed and clunky, the keyboard was unusable and there wasn't any app support. It didn't even support WiFi, something the original iPhone did, and it tanked performances. It was an exercise in cargo cult at best and really showed that they didn't understand the technical aspect at all since they allowed their competitor to have 2 years of advance on them.
They were wrong on Moore's law (So was Microsoft who moved Phones to WindowsNT too late) and very wrong on ergonomics (Physical keyboards are NOT essential).
I think RIM focused way too much on its existing userbase and on pleasing carriers rather than looking at were the market was going to be in 3-5 years. Even back in 2008-2009 I remember execs showing off their iPhones and as soon as the BlackBerry users saw one most of them wanted in. And these were the buyers of the flagship models RIM shipped at the time, not the cheaper phones aimed at teenagers.
Finally, they failed to attract talent. The type of folks who interned at RIM generally didn't end up working there.
Apple (and Google with Android) both shipped platforms. RIM kept shipping a tool.