As Research in Motion begins to circle the drain, there is one last bright spot for the company that may prevent an all-out collapse: US President Barack Obama. While it may seem somewhat silly, Obama's continued use of his BlackBerry is indicative of a large group of core users that have not abandoned the platform by and large: government.
Obama came from a generation of politicians that found their BlackBerries indispensable tools in the day-to-day business of politics. The smartphone has become so commonplace in Washington that our President famously refused to give up his own device upon taking office in 2009.
While RIM has lost a few of these contracts in recent months, it still is a dominant force. This widespread use extends to state-and-local government agencies as well. I can share from personal experience that a good portion of our municipal government here in Sinking Spring, Pa. uses the platform.
Something that my colleague Tim Conneally did not point out in his piece late yesterday was the fact that as part of its restructuring, RIM will focus on business consumers. This was the core customer base for the company. While some may be ready to sound the death knell for RIM today, it is a bit to early.
Let's think about it. Consumers are a fickle bunch. We upgrade our phones every one or two years, and follow the trends. BlackBerries, once the must-have accessory of the who's-who of society, have fallen by the wayside. The numbers show we have moved on. In business and government it's different.
These segments of the market are not -- and cannot be -- as fickle. Migrating from one platform to another is not as easy for dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people. Thus changing from one platform to another is much more difficult.
Hate to turn back to the Borough of Sinking Spring again, but if you want evidence of the glacial pace that government moves, look at the computer systems they use: on average five years old, running Windows XP, and in some cases software that's far outdated (Quickbooks from 2003, for example)! By the way, yes I am advocating them getting with the times, in case you are wondering.
Government will save RIM, just like it did with iDEN and Nextel. iDEN is a technology far past its prime, yet has survived on for years due to entrenched use among government and first responders. I have a Nextel phone here for emergencies: when there's an issue in the borough, we use Direct Connect to keep communication lines open.
RIM is getting the same treatment. It will be many years before the company could die just due to use in government alone. President Obama is RIM's last hope, and the minute he puts down the CrackBerry, that's when I'd start to worry.
That has not happened yet.
Editors note: Ed Oswald is a councilman in Sinking Spring, Pa. He was elected to a four-year position in November 2009.
Photo Credit: The White House