Summary:

• Research in Motion has launched a tablet, competing with the iPad
• But the Playbook does not have the app base that iPad has developed
• RIM's focus on its "core" IT customer, without spending enough energy focusing on Apple and other competitors, it missed the shift in mobile device user needs
• Now companies, like Abbott, are starting to roll out iPads to field personnel
• RIM's future is in jeopardy as the market shifts away from its products
• You cannot expect your customer to tell you how to develop your product, you have to watch competitors and move quickly to address emerging market needs

Research in Motion has launched a new tablet called Playbook to compete with the Apple iPad.  But will it succeed?  According to SeekingAlpha.com "Playbook Fails to Boost Research in Motion Price Targets." Most analysts do not think the Playbook has much chance of pushing up the market cap at RIM – and except for home town Canadian analysts the overall expectation for RIM is grim.  I certainly agree with the emerging consensus that RIM's future is looking bleak.

Research in Motion was the company that first introduced most of us to smartphones.  The Blackberry, often provided by the employer, was the first mobile product that allowed people do email, look at attachments and eventually text – all without a PC.  Most executives and field-oriented employees loved them, and over a few years Blackberries became completely common.  It looked like RIM had pioneered a new market it would dominate, with its servers squarely ensconced in IT departments and corporate users without option as to what smartphone they would use.

But Apple performed an end-run, getting CEOs to use the iPhone.  People increasingly found they needed a personal mobile phone as well as the corporate phone – because they did not want to use the Blackberry for personal use. But they didn't pick Blackberries.  Instead they started buying the more stylish, easier to use and loaded with apps iPhone. Apple didn't court the "enterprise" customer – so they weren't even on the radar screen at RIM.  But sales were exploding.

Like most companies that focus on their core customers, RIM didn't see the market shift coming.  RIM kept talking to the IT department. Much like IBM did in the 1980s when it dropped PCs in favor of supporting mainframes – because their core data center customers said the PC had no future.  RIM was carefully listening to its customer – but missing an enormous market shift toward usability and apps.  RIM expected its customers to tell them what would be needed in the future – but instead it was the competition that was showing the way.

Now RIM is far, far behind.  Where Apple has 300,000 apps, and Android has over 120,000, RIM doesn't even have 10,000.  RIM's problem isn't a device issue.  RIM has missed the shift to mobile computing and missed understanding the unmet user needs.  According to Crain's Chicago Business "Chicago CEOs embrace the iPad." Several critical users – and CEOs are always critical – have already committed to using the iPad and enjoying their news subscriptions and other applications.  According to the article, Abbott, which has provided Blackberries to thousands of employees, is now beginning to roll out iPads to field personnel.  RIM's Playbook may be a fine piece of hardware, but it offers far too little in the direction of helping people discard PCs as they migrate to cloud architectures and much smaller, easier to use devices such as tablets.

RIM followed the ballyhooed advice of listening to its core customer.  But such behavior caused it to miss the shift in its own marketplace toward greater extended use of mobile devices.  RIM should have paid more attention to what competitors Apple and Android were doing – and started building out its app environment years ago.  RIM should have been first with a tablet – not late.  And RIM should have led the movement toward digital publishing – rather than letting Amazon take the lead (Kindle) with Apple close behind.  Creating valuable mobility is what the leading company with "motion" in its name should have done.  Instead of merely providing the answers to requests from core IT department customers. Now RIM has no chance of catching up with competitors.