RIM’s bread-and-butter business comes from selling BlackBerry services to enterprises looking to give 24/7 mobile communications access to their workforce. Not the college kids that fill the databases of Facebook.
So it may seem counterintuitive that RIM would develop a Facebook application to leverage their handheld devices.
Two important things RIM is doing here:
- Giving consumer-oriented devices like the iPhone some much needed competition. This is happening as RIM must morph into a consumer-friendly brand to maintain growth
- Providing immediate value to America’s next business leaders to adopt a BlackBerry before entering the workforce.
In short, RIM is wisely aiming for growth and stability. RIMM is trading near an all-time high (largely due to an outstanding 4Q) but it’s going to have to diversify its subscriber-base to stave off healthy-challenges to its current dominance.
