At Tamoggemon’s, corporate policy protects our readers from political statements by our editors – which is why we have been largely unaffected by the recent hype about Mr. Obama’s mobile device of choice. As the inauguration is coming closer and closer and people start to wonder what impact his switch to WM will have on RIM, we felt that it’s time to put one thing straight:
Barack Obama does NOT affect RIM in any way!
Please allow me to back up this bold statement with a variety of facts:
First of all, Barack Obama is switching to a device regular consumers will neither want nor be able to buy. The Sectera Edge is a 3500$ brick, which is way too expensive, heavy and feature-poor to appeal to consumers. If Mr. Obama would go for a device from, say Asus (I am sure that his worst enemies won’t wish him that), the situation would be different. Customers could buy the phone…and probably would do so.
Secondarily: people attracted to Obama can usually also be reached via a selection of pop stars/rappers. The latter have turned out to be extremely fond of RIM’s devices, with a Bold even appearing in a music video. This alone provides RIM with enough “market pressure” to remain competitive – and as the competitor is out of reach and unappealing, there is no danger on this front either.
Finally, we need to think of the approx 45% of people who didn’t vote for Obama. If RIM would invest significant amounts of money into making their BlackBerry “obama-proof”, these customers would be extremely dissatisfied. As many of these are in corporate, the damage potential is high – RIM definitely doesn’t want a boycott similar to the ones happening due to Proposition 8.
In the end, I personally feel sorry for Mr. Obama, as the BlackBerry he currently uses probably is the more convenient solution for him. Even though industrial devices have become much more “bearable” in the past, they still can’t match consumer devices from a handling point of view. Nevertheless, RIM has done the right thing to let him go – unfortunately, the realities of business sometimes force companies to abandon customers…
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Supposedly the Blackberry is a “secure” device. Senators and FBI agents use it with no worries. Unfortunately the President of the US (POTUS) has to worry about assination attempts, thus the worry that a Blackberry could be triangulated and the location of the POTUS could be found.
Blackberries also come in non-camera mode. Thus many companies don’t worry about business secrets being stolen by a photograph.
Since RIM is a Canadian company, most likely a contract will be given to a Company based in the United States.
I’m sure you are forgetting that the president of the United States has PEOPLE to do all the things any handheld device can do. It really doesn’t matter if he uses a USR Palm Pilot & a Motorola Microtac, does it? He’s got a lot in his disposal than any device can ever offer.
Obama the best:) Happy New Year:)from russia with love:) Yours faithfully
Almost off topic is the way POTUS has chosen his cabinet. When he was at Havard Law Review he chose people with different views to work with his staff. In a way not having a bunch of yes men is probably a good way to staff a Cabinet.
People with the ability to think is way better than to just have access to technology….Then again the ability to choose the right choice is even more important too for a leader.