Not even the two outgoing CEOs of RIM would argue that the company’s ill-fated BlackBerry PlayBook tablet was a success. In fact, as far as tech flops go we’d argue that it’s right up there with the HP TouchPad.
Now that the Canadian firm has a new man in charge following the resignation of Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis it will be hoping for better things to come. If the Wall Street Journal is correct, that might involve anther crack at the tablet market with another PlayBook. Yep, they’re at it again!
Sandwiched inside a report about the CEO shakeup currently going down at RIM, the WSJ claims that the BlackBerry smartphone maker is once again hard at work to come up with a follow-up to its poorly received PlayBook tablet.
Seemingly undeterred after its first foray into the tablet market, Research In Motion could possibly learn from its initial mistakes, though we’re not entirely convinced that is on the cards given the firm’s apparent inability to realize where it is going wrong in the smartphone market. Having once been the king of the hill when it came to phones that did more than just call people, RIM has slid to the role of also-rans behind the might of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. With the pair already eating up the tablet market, is it really possible that RIM can come in and make an impact?
The WSJ article says that the new tablet is one of two big projects that RIM is currently working on, with the other believed to be the new operating system that BlackBerry owners have been clamoring for – BlackBerry 10. With release dates slipping for that new software and accompanying phones however, it will be a race against time to get them in the hands of users while RIM is still relevant in a market that just will not stand still.
One thing is absolutely clear though – 2012 is potentially going to be the most important year of Research In Motion’s history. Get it right and the Canadians could be on the up once again. Get it wrong, and we might not have a RIM to speak of this time next year.
Interesting times ahead indeed.
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