A Letter to RIM

Dear Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie:

Please read this letter carefully for some ideas on salvaging your reputation and survive as a company if you do a few simple things. Especially with the fiasco last week, you need to understand that the world is watching how you interact not only with your best customers but the message you’re giving the market.

Quite frankly, your user base is questioning your smartphone status as a premier provider. During our hereiam™ sales process over the last few months- and in particular this last week- some of the ‘street level’ conversations are extremely alarming. If I ran RIM, I’d want to know what your customers are saying. You’re off the beam, guys, not just in differentiating your services and features but in managing your customer base.

You’re off message and out-of-focus. You seem to think that everyone remembers why they have Blackberries in the first place. Do you remember why the millions of people bought your product? HERE’S WHY:

- Your mobile devices have by far the strongest security features of any commercially available smart phone. Big problem last week but with some spin, you can keep this differentiator.

- You save clients a lot of money in data usage charges because of your server-side compression, which keeps data bills low and far cheaper than iPhone or Android.

- The QWERTY keyboard is REALLY important, especially over iPhone and Android touch-screens.

On the first point, you’ve really let the market down. Forrester Research analyst Stephen Mann said in his blog “RIM couldn't have mismanaged customers' expectations more poorly if it tried”. He goes on to say that “RIM has not only now fully opened the front door to its competitors it has also invited them in and provided them with a pipe and slippers." You need a really good PR firm as quickly as you can guys!! Mike, your contrition on YouTube didn’t cut it at all. Hire a PR firm that specializes in this stuff.

On the second point, the ability to save your customer money has really been lost. Talk to anyone who has switched from a Blackberry to an iPhone or Android and they’ll tell you about ‘data shock’. If you don’t sell this competitive advantage, Blackberry users will leave in droves. You may have noticed the iPhone 4S sales numbers last weekend- 5 million. Another reason why you need a PR firm badly!!

On the third point, we’re flabbergasted you haven’t communicated this advantage as well as you could. For people doing a lot of email and SMS, the keyboard speed/ease of use is a deal-breaker for a lot of users. Here’s yet another reason why a PR firm can highlight the competitive advantages for you. Your customers are so adept at using the Querty on Blackberries that they can type almost as fast on its keyboard as on a computer (almost). The Android and iPhone all-glass keyboard doesn’t stand a chance against the BB Querty keyboard.

In closing, PLEASE get yourself a good PR firm as quick as possible before you self-annihilate. Second, "stick to your knitting" and do what you do best. And tell the market!! Don’t assume anything. And yes, we ARE waiting for your next OS and Playbook enhancements but we’re just assuming that this stuff is coming down the pipe. Getting ‘back on beam’ and communicating properly will make or break your company.