Appatic

It is so sad what situation RIM has got into the past 5 years. In a way it reminds me about Sony stumbling for the same amount of years. I also believe that at this point it is not just making the wrong decisions. It is also about having a sheer lack of vision. Not just today the news still was that RIM will not be able to call the next QNX based BB-OS as BBX because they lost a lawsuit. And instead of coming up with something better they are just calling it BB10??? Jeeze...

Now about RIM getting Blindsided by Kindle Fire pricing as reported by +John Paczkowski is also something i am not surprised about.

RIM Blindsided by Kindle Fire Pricing

Less chance to be surprised when you consider how clueless they were when launching The Playbook.

The Playbook launch failure was not just about the glaring omission of not having the apps needed for it. It was also the lack of a Plan B and not taking serious enough the lack of the apps they needed for it and compensating accordingly.

There were really only two things they could have done once it became evident that they could not have the apps and the platform ready for launch:

1.-IF they wanted to release The Playbook starting at $499, then they must had offered something to make it up for the early adopters and to avoid getting slammed to the ground by a quite merciless Tech Blogosphere. Specially the one that is U.S.A based.

They could have easily offered it up for $499 if they had added a sleeve and a case, a dock and the still long delayed keyboard.

What they did? NOTHING. They offered up NOTHING for the premium asking price for a new platform and new hardware THEY KNEW was not ready for the planned launch date. Yet they expected that people would line up for The Playbook!!

So much they expected and thought nothing was wrong that put out some of the most aggressively bullish advertising about it. One that almost looked as if it had been made by whoever did the one for the Motorola Xoom.

2.-They could have instead taken out all accessories but the USB to microUSB cable and offer up The Playbook starting at $299 for the 16gb version

Simple.

They may have not made money on the 16gb version. But what would had happened?

THEY WOULD HAVE SOLD. Thing RIM knows now. As The Playbook started to move once it got down to $299. Who would have thought it?!

Because after all. The Playbook is an actually very good piece of hardware, with a very good 1.0 OS. I know, as i got a friend who let me use one for a day.

What strikes me as eerie about The Playbook launch screw up by RIM. Is that HP launched the HP Touchpad in almost the exact same dumb way. Because just like great minds think alike. dumb minds also think alike.

So while there is no need to be as harsh to RIM as some U.S.A based Bloggers seem to like to be. There is also no need to feel pity for a company that screws up after having screwed up. Without even realizing it.

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