Like a high jumper in basketball, RIM once soared above expectations, not until it’s stocks went Jack and Jill last Friday and came tumbling. Does this therefore spell the end of the Blackberry? would they mimic the same fate of Apple that were able to show resiliency when they launched the iPhone, iMac, and iPod (Steve Jobs’ brainchild)? well we would never know especially in this era of the great tech wars.

The newest Blacbkberry 10 OS release has been pushed further due to the collapse in the market. This is what could have been a good competitor had it been released a lot earlier. Is it really too late for RIM to step up their game? Along with its slump in the stock market, it has also been reported that they have been cutting down 5,000 jobs (not something you’d want to be a part of).

How RIMs fate would end up is something difficult to predict, this is not unless they step up their game and improve on their smartphones appeal and functionality most especially their software. Also, RIM should be learning from this and I’m sure they’re learning the hard way. But once in a while, company’s need to fail before they succeed.

For now, it’s all about the marketing, how do they plan to grab the spotlight from Apple’s iPhone frenzy, Samsung’s “S”capades, and Nokia’s struggling comeback? I’ve personally found the Blackberry a phone for businessmen and Enterprises (user friendly is another thing that I don’t see in their phones), Apple has sophisticated phones and top caliber operating systems, Samsung has the technology focus by making all their products “Smart”, and Nokia? well for me they’re still a phone manufacturer (unless they start moving into other things such as TV’s).

Now how does RIM compete against these great companies? Innovation and sophistication of design, interface, Operating System, usability, flexibilty and versatility of the phones would be a great start. And they have to move quickly before the wave of slump stays with them and they lose their market share. Being down by some 72 cents isn’t a good way to pave the future, and definitely won’t get them back above the rim.