Introduction of the New Blackberry 10 by Research In Motion as a Major Event in the Firm's History - Case Study Example

Critical Marketing Analysis The Launch of Blackberry 10 Introduction The recent case of Blackberry is bound to catch the eye of not only an investor but also the curious marketer. Modern way of doing business has shifted from the adage selling concept to a strictly marketing concept. Marketing concept is responsible for the philosophy behind organisations decision to first establish consumer’s needs and later set to satisfy them (Cahill, 2006). Blackberry’s intention to introduce a new line of smart phones going with the name Black Berry 10 and an operating system of the same name that the C.E.O Thorstein Heins says has high chances of restoring Research in Motion’s lost glory. The case of Blackberry displays a myriad of issues to marketers and the choice of marketing system basically in regard to its efforts to maximise consumer satisfaction, choice and life quality. Marketing mix, being the set of tools, components, elements that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market, will be the centre of this study (Belch, 2004). Overview of the article The article demonstrates that introduction of the new Blackberry 10 by Research In Motion (RIM) will be a major event in the firm’s history. The company enjoys just 4.6 % of the global market for smart phones with concerns that the firm has now resulted to survival strategies as opposed to earlier dominance. The firm is presenting the new elements of the new phone and their operating system. (Dawes, 2008). The article makes it known that Mr. Heins, along with other executives at RIM, have been consulting with other audiences for four months and the general response has been impressive, there was a consensus ,‘that Blackberry 10,which arrives more than a year behind schedule, was worth the wait. Blackberry 10, which is a one-touch screen model that has similar features to many other phones and a hybrid, comes with a keyboard just like the one on the current BlackBerry in addition to a touch screen. BlackBerrys’ real revolution has been presented as the ability of the phone to manage clients business and personal information (Brassington and Pettit, 2007).Concerns among analysts involve ability of the BlackBerry 10 to bring back the RIM’s fallen glory. Real marketing challenge exists in regard to the competition by Microsoft, Apple and Google and other Android partners. Integration and collaboration efforts were cited as the cause of the delays that affected the late BlackBerry 10 launch. Mr Heins displays his cards saying that his hopes are pegged on the roughly 79 million global customers to upgrade citing possible challenges in addressing the aspects of place marketing element mix. (Cravens and Piercy, 2009). Analysis of the article 3.1 Product Loyalty Concerns in Blackberry loyalty is evident in the U.S market which has been the leader in appreciating Smartphone trends where about 11 million users switched to other phones in the years 2009 and 2010.The company has recently continued to increase its subscriber base in developing countries like Indonesia and Nigeria. This has been possible from sales of low-cost handset acknowledging that the initial phones will be unaffordable for potential users in the developing world regions. The launch of the BlackBerry 10 debut in North America and Europe may have confused loyalties since most of the demonstrations capitalised on the touch-screen version (Cravens and Piercy, 2009). It will continue being challenging for phone companies in the modern business world since we are living in a world where what is new and exciting today quickly runs out of fashion due to newer more efficient or just unique products. The key is continuous value addition on the product. As Friedman notes, the new technologies’ ‘Steroids’ the future of mobile technology will be shaped by the first to imagine how their devise can amplify all the forms of collaboration like uploading, in sourcing, off shoring and information sharing among others (2005). 3.2 Marketing mix Marketing mix in this case refers to the set of marketing tools that the RIM pursues to achieve its marketing objective in its target market (Belch, 2004). BlackBerry 10 has at its disposal a set of controllable marketing variables that it blends to produce the response it wants in the target market. Modern business demands that individual companies identify the impact of emerging technologies on themselves. RIM has to learn big lessons from the world’s most innovative companies, as one study found out, that innovation pays off big but only for innovative corporations. The average profit margin for the most innovative firms is 3% which is higher than the average firm (Brassington 2007; Lamb and Daniel, 2011). 3.2.1, Product The BlackBerry 10 quality and design features are unique and are a target of the high class. The phone’s server-enabled software will enable corporations to manage and control information on their employees’ iphones and Android phones. The article demonstrates that corporate information technology heads can use the phone to segregate business-related data; the system has the capability to block users from copying or forwarding information from their work side of the phone. Messages by e-mail, social networks and instant messaging are linked to the accounts and automatically sent into a single in-box that the firm calls BlackBerry. This displays a heightened level of applied research (Porter, 1985). Customer value may raise a concern especially for the consumers in the developing countries. Low income customers are price sensitive and therefore will pay for the phone it delivers the worth of the money however care as a high quality product that is available only at a high price might as well not be perceived as a good value (Homberg, Koschate and Hoyer, 2005). BlackBerry prices begs the question of whether the pricing reflects the consumers view of the quality they are willing to pay since there are concerns already that customers will only be delighted by better, not just good. For instance, the price of BlackBerry Z10 in the UK is £534. This is high considering that it presents little extra features over competitor high-end smart phones. Product warranties are implied and these have gone a long way into confirming the quality and performance of the BlackBerry phone (Silk, 2006). Iphone 5 costs £529 in the UK. This is slightly lower than that of BlackBerry Z10 yet iphone 5 offers more features. 3.2.1 Place As Silk demonstrates, physical distribution of the product to the developing countries that had to come from product differentiation is a sure effort to meet customer needs and wants. BlackBerry clients of U.S and Europe are expected to be keener on product mix. Mr. Heins restructuring initiatives, which started with cutting 5,000 jobs in an effort to cut production costs, appears to have paid off (Silk, 2006). RIM’s large capital reserves places it at an advantage since it does not have to invest so much in working progress mainly due to the efficient supply chain which supports just-in-time deliveries (Friedman, 2005). 3.2.1 Promotion Bringing together all the key players namely the acquisitions, analysts and former RIM staff contributed to delay in launching the Blackberry 10.The public is blunt on the ability of the company to prove itself given that the competition is tough with the tight marketing from Microsoft and from the partnership of Apple plus Google and its Android partners. (Homberg et al., 2005). Personal selling as have been demonstrated by Heins and other RIM executives’ need to make better use of consumer generated media (CGM) which consumers generate themselves (Kobberling and Wakker, 2001). Being consumer based, consumers trust this marketing method more compared to other traditional forms of promotion.RIM should therefore perform behavioural targeting which is a form of observation marketing that mines data on the web using IP addresses. CGM originates from podcasts, blogs, email portals, shared photos and videos and discussions through Usenet newsgroups (Lamb and Daniel, 2011). 3.3 Collaboration and integration Collaboration with BlackBerry 10 started with its operating system progressing to rebuilding the company through acquisitions. The best companies are good at collaborations with the simple reason being that the next level of innovation is becoming so complicated that no single firm is going to master them all alone (Ben and Jerry n.d.). Collaboration is demonstrated by the fact that its operating system comes from QNX software systems, Astonishing Tribe of Sweden are responsible for the user interface while the touch-screen technology came from smaller companies, now a part of RIM (Friedman 2005; Cravens and Piercy, 2009). Marketing theory model on blackberry and their main competitors The marketing model that is evident in Blackberry is that of social system theory. Over the years of its operation, Blackberry faced a number hurdles in order to penetrate the market where a host of its competitors had been flourishing in the market. Therefore, the social system theory has a long standing tradition for solving the marketing problem of Blackberry. For instance it has solved the problem of invigorating demand by setting up new products, by marketing and selling and by pricing goods to attract customers both locally as well as globally. Secondly, this marketing theory has aided the ease of physical circulation to serve demand. Unlike its competitors one of which is Apple Inc. This company has adopted a more radical model of marketing theory. Under this theory it is in constant development of its products by coming up with new products that are technologically oriented. Through this the market gets to feel its presence and virtually the products promote themselves. This explains the reason why Apple Inc continues to enjoy a considerable share of the market. Conclusion RIM’s BlackBerry 10 brings on board a one touch- screen model and a hybrid with a keyboard and a small touch screen. The main delight in the new product is in its software that helps in managing personal information and business. Efforts by RIM to empower the consumer to manage his errands at the comfort of the palm actually make the consumer to feel that the product was tailored for his specific needs (Adcock, Halborg and Ross, 1998). Continued success of the Blackberry 10 will rely on partnership because the more knowledge pools continue connecting with each other the more innovation will be spawned. Since the industry relies much on putting different specialities together in a new and different way, the need for a synthesizer, that is people who can see the complexity of things yet explain it with simplicity, is required. RIM should consider establishing innovation laboratories to replace research and development programs essentially because idea labs focus on increasing the speed of innovation. The company could also seek the expertise of consultants who come in and determine whether a company has a balanced portfolio in light of their product mix and at the same time suggest new product ideas (Lamb and Daniel, 2011). Reference Adcock, D, Halborg, A, Ross, C and Bradfield, R 1998, Marketing: Principles and Practices, 3rd ed. Financial Times. Pitman Publishing: London. 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