RIM: BlackBerry is still alive
2012-05-24 11:16
Cape Town - Research In Motion has insisted that the company is on a good footing despite the departure of key executives and growing market competition with devices based on Google's Android operating system.
On Wednesday, the head of global sales, Patrick Spence resigned from RIM as the company prepares to launch its much-anticipated new device.
His departure follows Alan Brenner, senior vice president for the BlackBerry platform, as well as Alistair Mitchell, who was vice president for the BlackBerry Messenger platform.
The BlackBerry maker has come under pressure as its market share declines, particularly in developed markets and recently, new CEO Thorsten Heins announced that the firm was focusing on business customers in the face of consumer market competition.
The company revealed its BlackBerry 10 operating system at the BlackBerry World conference in May and expectations are that the update is a make-or-break deal for the Canadian-based company.
Developers
RIM said that developers continue to invest in apps for the platform.
"There has been a clear commitment from BlackBerry to developers, with tools focused on usability and ease of development; increased involvement and contribution to open source; [and] reinvigorated community event involvement over the last six months," RIM told News24.
Some developers have praised the BlackBerry platform and the company has often touted its security as being superior to that of competitors.
The BlackBerry 7 platform won security certification and the model range running the latest operating system has been listed by the US Defence Information Systems Agency (Disa) on its unified communications approved product list.
"What excites me most about the BlackBerry platform is the clear pursuit of web standards and their passion for open source. Combining the tools that developers love most with the security and stability of an enterprise platform is where the magic happens," said Andrea Mutz-Mercier at Verivo.
The company reported a 21% increase in BlackBerry smartphone apps, along with a 68% increase in vendors registered on App World.
About 177 million BlackBerry apps are downloaded per month.
The company still has a huge mobile presence in developing countries like India and South Africa, due in part to the BlackBerry Internet Service offered with the devices.
It is estimated that there are about nine million smartphones in SA, of which 65% are BlackBerrys.
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