President Barack Obama reacts to a BlackBerry message in the Treaty Room office in the private residence of the White House, March 21, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
- Research In Motion experienced more turmoil last week as the BlackBerry franchise continued its descent. The company's new CEO appears to be waving the white flag and looking for a triage sale. Part of CEO Thorsten Heins plan involves full-on retreat from the consumer market and focusing on corporate, government, and developing nations. One RIM insider suggests moving towards Microsoft by adopting the Windows Phone platform. I think that's about right. Only an alignment with Microsoft can save the BlackBerry brand. Heins' strategy is no more than a deathwatch.
- Nokia has adopted this Windows Phone-centered strategy. AT&T is planning a major rollout of Nokia's Lumia 900 this week. Anecdotal, of course, by my oldest teenage daughter is a huge fan of HTC's Windows Phone and she's no slouch when it comes to these things.
- So we all know President Obama famously carries a presidential BlackBerry. With RIM's troubles, will he stick with it?
A recent survey indicated that the BlackBerry is still the favorite smartphone on Capitol Hill, but the Globe and Mail warns that change is in the air.
"In Washington’s watering holes and at expensive restaurants where lobbyists power-lunch," writes Koring, "Droids and iPhones are obviously making inroads."
I've been a BlackBerry user for ten years now. I'm looking at Android and Windows if RIM doesn't get it together, and I mean quick. Perhaps the President is considering the same thing. Politically, the narrative of moving on to new and better things could have some currency.
- Foxconn, the Chinese company that manufactures for Apple, has promised to implement the recommendations of a Fair Labor Association audit:
"Foxconn has participated fully and openly in this review of Apple-focused business groups at our Longhua and Guanlan campuses in Shenzhen and our campus in Chengdu and this process is part of our long-standing commitment to working together with our customers to ensure that our employees are treated fairly and their rights are fully protected," Foxconn said in a statement.
The review was commissioned by Apple.
- Speaking of Apple, the next iPhone (possibly this Fall) is likely to have 4G LTE and possibly an even better camera than the 4s. The question is what will they call it?
- Google's Linux-based Android platform continues to lead the market share battle:
Nielsen revealed that the majority of U.S. smartphone subscribers (about 48 percent) are using Google's Android devices, while 32.1 percent are using Apple's iPhone. The rest of the market is made up of BlackBerry owners (11.6 percent) and users of "other" smartphones.
Nielsen's numbers align closely with similar research conducted by comScore and released on March 6.
- A telling statistic:
The era of smartphones has officially arrived. More were shipped globally last year than client PCs for the first time ever, according to Canalys.