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By: Luc Lavers, Jess Pomeroy, George Kennedy, Matt Weir, Letian Shan, Lu Wenyue

COMPANY PROFILE

Led by President and CEO Thorsten Heins

Research In Motion is a wireless equipment and telecommunications company that is based in Canada.

The company was founded by Mike Lazaridis (University of Waterloo) and Douglas Fregin (University of Windsor) in 1984.

Headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario.

Many offices around the world in North America, Asia, and Europe

PRODUCT LAUNCH

“GO PRO” launch

RIM went without a CMO from September-March 2011

Boulben stepped up to be RIM’s newest CMO

The Playbook launch was one of RIM’s worst

Adobe Flash was not enough for consumers

THE MARKETPLACE: DEMANDYear 2011

(actual)2012 (estimated)

2013 (estimated)

2016 (estimated)

Units 70.9 million

117.1 million

165.9 million

261.4 million

% Growth (From previous year)

N/A 65% 42% 56%

THE MARKETPLACE: COMPETITORS

A P P L E : I P A D

CEO - Tim Cook

Headquarters Cupertino, California

Founded - 1976

S A M S U N G : G A L A X Y T A B

CEO - Geesung Choi

Headquarters Seoul, South Korea

Founded - 1969

Playbook Samsung Galaxy iPad

$179 $249.99 $329

1 gb Ram 592 mb Ram 512 mb Ram

LCD LCD LED

3.0 mp front5.0 mp back

1.3 mp front 3.0 mp back

1.2 mp front5.0 mp back

1080p video recording Readers Hub1080p video recording

AppsBlack and White

Capacitive 4-point multi- touch screen4G LTE

WIFI

7 inch display1080p HDMI output

1080p HD video

16, 32, 64 GB Flash

1 GB RAM

0.94lb

2010 2011

2012

Worldwide sales of Media Tablets to End Users by OS

OS 2010 2011 2012

iOS 83.90% 68.70% 63.50%

Android(Samsung Acer)

14.20% 19.90% 24.40%

MeeGo 0.60% 1.10% 1.20%

WebOS(HPpad) 0 4.00% 3.90%

QNX(Playbook) 0 5.60% 6.60%

Others 1.30% 0.60% 0.50%

THE BROADER ENVIRONMENT

E C O N O M I C F O R C E S

The Playbook launched near the end of the 2008 recession.

When RIM cut the Playbooks massive price, the sales improved significantly.

The cheaper price helped RIM sell their excess supply of Playbooks.

D E M O G R A P H I C F O R C E S

Original target market business

Corporate vs. User Friendly

Bringing out the PLAY in Playbook

New approach to advertising for different target market

GOVERNMENT FORCES AND SOCIAL/CULTURAL FORCES

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

1 2 3

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Q2 2011 Q1 2012

Worldwide market share

Market Share in Canada

Android

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths: • Price of the Playbook• Customer Loyalty• Contract Manufacturing with

Quanta• Supports Adobe Flash

Weaknesses:• Price to produce Playbook• Loss of CMO mid launch• Lowered prices due to lower

quantity demanded• RIM sold their Playbooks at a

loss• Inexperienced in a new

market

Opportunities: • Re-launch the 4G LTE

Playbook• Add an LED screen• Lower manufacturing costs• Develop international

market share• Universalize the interface of

the Playbook

Threats:• New tablets hitting the

market• Manufacturing contract runs

out• Scarce advertising compared

to competition• Newer technologies

RECOMMENDATIONS

After analysing the tablet market and RIM’s input into it, we agree that RIM’s Blackberry Playbook should remain in the tablet industry.

With new markets opening in different parts of the world it could allow RIM to gain new market share.

Also after viewing our SWOT analysis we understand that the weakness and threats to RIM can be fixed or do minimum impact in the long run.

RIM has solid strengths and their opportunities can help them improve.

Moreover, RIM has a loyal customer base and with a predicted increase in demand in the industry, it shows likelihood for new customers and higher profits.