All or Nothing: The Blackberry Z10 & a Last Chance at a Comeback?

Melih Ertekin ITE 103-011 February 28, 2013 Student Deliverable #1

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Introduction Smart phones have become an essential part of our everyday lives. With them, we can check email, schedule appointments, use GPS navigation, social network, group chat, video chat, stream movies and use an endless array of apps and other tools. Without them, as in, when we dont have them, we feel anxious at not having the world in our hands. Smart phones are fascinating because they are constantly evolving and new features are being added with the following generation. This investigation will focus on one in particular, the Blackberry Z10, the newest development from the Canadian company in almost 4 years. Many are calling it their comeback, but its success will depend on a many things, including how secure itll be, if it could overcome legal disputes, be free of ethical concerns and not having any straining social problems. The Blackberry Z10 has already been launched in some parts of the world and is coming to the United States soon. With years of no development and falling behind other smart phone giants, such as Apple and Samsung, this may be Research in Motions (RIM) last chance at maintaining their position as a successful mobile company.

Background Information As stated before, RIM has not been making new products and updates for Blackberry in years, thus causing many to flee to Apple and Android and causing a steep drop in sales. According to Kelly (2013), the company has suffered a poor public image due to media outlets ridiculing its product, an inability to keep up with app developments from Apple and Android and over the course of a year, RIM's sales volume dropped 51%, according to the company's third quarter 2012 earnings, and in July, RIM announced plans to cut 5,000 jobs. In order to be a hit, Kelly emphasizes that the Blackberry Z10 must highlight supreme security features and

must appeal to the products key consumers, which includes regulated industries, government and financial institutions. An interesting trend within users of smart phones is the fact that people are actually carrying around 2 mobile devices, one for personal use and one for work. What has happened is that most companies that still issue the older Blackberry models to their employees are finding that they are purchasing other smart phones, such as Apple or Android, because they work better with the personal side of phone use. A challenge for this new technological development, the Blackberry Z10, will be to somehow bring these two different phones for two different uses into one device. Potential Benefits When one is analyzing a new technological development, one is identifying how it can make society a better place. With smart phones, the fundamental thing to consider is what features it will have that will not only be useful but enjoyable to the consumer. The Blackberry Z10 has a plethora of exciting new concepts that make it comparable to its competitors. The U.S. Blackberry Mobile Phones webpage creatively elaborates on the key new abilities of their new device. Chiefly among them is the use of a touch screen keyboard that is able to learn the writing style of its user & suggest words. These will apparently enable you to type faster. Blackberry Z10 will also have a physical keyboard for those accustomed to the older generations models (Kelly, 2013). Another new development is something called Blackberry Hub, which will allow the user to travel without issue from one app to another with a quick flick of the finger. For example, you could go from your calendar to your text messages to an app that you frequently use with no trouble at all. This differs a little from the Apple iPhone, where you can organize 4 apps on the bottom of the phone that you frequently use a lot,

however, if youre on one of them you and want to go to another one, you would have to close it out and click on it. The Blackberry Z10 will also have voice control, comparable to a Siri on iPhones. Two other key features on this new technology include Blackberry Mobile (BBM) Screen Share as well as a camera with time shift mode. As described on the companys webpage, BBM Screen Share functions as video chat, such as Facetime on Apples iPhone. The camera with time shift mode is perhaps the most intriguing development. When you take a photo, for example, time shift mode will capture the milliseconds before and after the photo so that if when you take the shot and the picture doesnt turn out exactly how you like it, you can use a dial function to fast forward or rewind a specific part of the image, such as open/closed eyes or smile/no smile, and edit it to your liking. This is not something available on Apples iPhone5, thus making it competitive with the smart phone giant.

Legal A key focus in this investigation is whether or not the Blackberry Z10 will be able to make a commercial comeback after years of a lack of innovation, drops in sales and consumers fleeing to other companies. Research in Motion ran into a serious legal issue when announcing this technology back in 2011. It is bad press and bad business when the new technology that youre trying to sell gets into a trademark dispute. RIM originally tried to market their new product as BBX but they quickly ran into a dispute with another company called Basis International (Ribeiro, 2011). RIM was prevented by a court to use this label to identify their future new line of smart phones and tablets, and thus they came up with Blackberry 10 right before a technology conference in Asia.

As stated before by Kelly (2013), the company had long been suffering a poor public image and this legal dispute was just another setback in their attempt at trying to maintain their position as a global provider of cellular devices. Basis International is also an IT company so RIM not knowing of their use of BBX makes their business model looks quite unprofessional and unorganized. Trademark disputes must be avoided when developing any kind of new technology. Ethical The Blackberry Z10 must not only be a successful new technology in the United States and Canada, but globally as well. It must cater to a variety of clients, cultures and business practices. Technology accessibility is an important ethical topic to consider. When a new piece of technology is developed that will make life easier, everybody deserves an opportunity to utilize it. It must be attainable by different social classes and, when speaking on global terms, but different levels of developing countries. RIM ran into an ethical development when launching their product in India. When launched in India, the Blackberry Z10 was noticed for all the wrong reasons. Nobody cared about the time shift mode feature or about the Blackberry Hub because they couldnt get passed the price. The smart phone was priced at 43, 490 rupees and this quickly sparked outrage (NDTV, 2013). The US Dollar value is approximately $720. According to the NDTV article, many Twitter trends, a common form of collective protest, resulted from this pricing, such as: #Z10, Rs. 43,490, 44K (an approximation of the BlackBerry Z10 price) and #thingscheaperthanZ10. This article also creatively posted popular tweets that expressed anger from Indians, such as one from @kaushal saying that a BlackBerry Z10 can get you a return air ticket to Europe or Galaxy S3 [smart phone] + 100 bottles of beer!

This type of pricing is outrageous for a country like India, who, although a growing economic powerhouse and international competitor, still experiences massive levels of poverty and an overpopulation problem. Is it ethical to price a beneficial new piece of technology like this to people who obviously cannot afford it? Should RIM cut the price and keep the same product or cut the price as well as cut down some features of the Blackberry Z10? According to the NDTV article, something must be done: Indonesia and India are amongst the few countries where BlackBerry has been growing over the last few years, and it is important that the company doesn't alienate its fan base here. For this, the company needs to introduce cheaper BlackBerry 10-based smart phones at the earliest (2013). Security It will be important for the sake of the Blackberry Z10s success that the product is secure. As stated before by Kelly, security will be imperative and one of the key consumers of Blackberrys is financial institutions. Many bank employers are leaving Blackberry for iPhones and Androids because they provide better security features, but RIM is attempting to resolve this issue with a new feature called Blackberry Balance (Crossman, 2013). This will allow IT departments of companies to completely divide sensitive work data and content from personal information and apps. As stated before, many employees have one basic Blackberry phone for work and another more advanced phone to satisfy their personal use of it (social networking, photos, etc). Blackberry Balance will bring these two together and separate them on one phone in a secure way so that employees can enjoy peace of mind and privacy (Crossman, 2013). Social The 2-mobile device phenomenon is all too common for Blackberry users (that is, users of the older generations of the phone). A common social issue for mobile phone users is

protecting their personal use of photos, apps (most notable, social networking, such as Facebook) and other things such as bank account information. Blackberry Balance seeks to merge the professional with the personal so that users can stick to one device, the Blackberry Z10. In her article 5 things that could make Blackberry 10 a hit, Kelly explains that Blackberry Balance splits a BlackBerry phone into two separate devices, one for work and one for personal use (2013). Although Balance can only be used by consumers connected to a server at work, this feature will allow him or her to navigate easily through personal text messages to professional work emails; from commenting on a Facebook status to checking the companys stock portfolio, all done securely without compromising social privacy. Further Required Research The Blackberry Z10 is an extremely recent form of technological development. Much more research is needed to analyze its effectiveness. For example, can it securely separate work information from personal data? Will companies who have left RIM for Apple and Android be convinced to rejoin this once successful mobile company? And most importantly, will the consumer be willing to spend money in order to go back to RIM? Conclusion The future success of Research in Motion depends on the BlackberryZ10. The features on it parallel those of Apple and Android and possess some unique ones as well. RIM cannot repeat the same mistakes that made it fall so far behind in the highly competitive world of smart phones: they must continue improving their products with updates and must consistently provide a piece of technology that will change how we live our day-to-day lives.

Reference Page With Annotations BlackBerry US. (n.d.). BlackBerry Z10. Mobile Phones at BlackBerry - US. Retrieved February 20, 2013, from http://us.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberry-z10.html This webpage from Blackberrys Z10 site was fundamental in explaining to me the new developments that happened with this technology. It is recent and comes from the source of the new technology itself, thus being very reliable. It has fascinating visuals and videos that elaborate in detail the exciting new features that this smart phone has to offer. Crosman, P. (2013, Jan 31). Will banks take to RIM's BlackBerry 10? American Banker. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1282645704?accountid=14541 I used Crossmans comments on banking institutions and smart phones to elaborate on the security section of this investigation. Part of the success that this new technology will have will depend upon how secure it will be. IT departments at banks handle a lot of sensitive information. Balancing security with personal privacy is what Crossman explains in this newspaper article. Kelly, H. (2013, Jan 30). With BlackBerry 10, struggling phone maker eyes comeback. CNN Tech. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/23/tech/mobile/blackberry-10-launch This first online news article by Kelly was essential in developing the background information section of this research paper. She explains in detail the importance of the Blackberry Z10 and how it could make or break the company. Kelly focuses on what the company needs to provide in order to maintain its stronghold in the competitive market of smart phones. Kelly, H. (2013, Jan 31). 5 things that could make BlackBerry 10 a hit. CNN Tech. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/30/tech/mobile/5-blackberry-10-features This second written piece by Kelly was useful in developing the social issues section of my work. Her analysis of Blackberry Balance and the need for consumers to be able to bring together their work life and personal life on their phones is essential in order to understand how this new technological development will be successful in America. Ribeiro, J. (2011, Dec 7). RIM renames BBX as BlackBerry 10 after trademark dispute. Computer World. Retrieved from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9222466/RIM_renames_BBX_as_BlackBerry_ 10_after_trademark_dispute

In considering the legal issues part of this project, I utilized an earlier example that was a bad start to Research In Motions (RIM) attempt at a Blackberry comeback- their naming dispute with another company. Whenever one is developing a new technology, trademark conflicts are always important to avoid. Ribeiro explains clearly the details of this legal battle and how it was eventually settled out. NDTV Correspondent. (2013, Feb 26). Blackberry z10 India pricing draws widespread criticism. Retrieved from http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/blackberry-z10-india-pricing-drawswidespread-criticism-335657 I used this fascinating article about Blackberrys pricing concerns in the South Asian country to serve as a starting point for the ethics discussion. Technology affordability for developing nations is a key topic to consider and must be included in a paper discussing how this new smart phone will be successful globally.