As someone who did Blackberry development professionally for the better part of a year, the sentiments on developer friendliness really resonate with me. Working alongside iPhone and Android developers, I truly felt like I'd been relegated to working with stone tools.

As a prime example, making a network connection is a black art using their SDK, and every developer ends up rolling their own connection manager to do so. If you join the Blackberry Internet Alliance (~$1,200 a year IIRC), they'll make this easy on you by letting you use BIS (Blackberry Internet Service). This is ridiculously constraining when it comes to creating useful apps.

Another major point of pain is their code signing tool. To produce a build that's deployable to a device, you have to sign the COD file using their remote code signing server. The server was down almost daily leaving me dead in the water during critical testing periods.

Lastly, if you decided to make use of certain API facilities like persistent storage, a device reboot was required after every deployment. Given a five minute reboot time on many devices, this could consume an hour or more each day of my dev time.

I'm not sure what RIM's future plans are, but making things easier on developers would definitely be a step in the right direction if they want to remain viable.

This exec is completely off the mark as there's actually no hope for RIM in the current game. Current game being the key phrase here. They are going up against Microsoft, Apple and Google the three largest tech companies in the world that are treating mobile at near top strategic priority. This means they're able to leverage their resources from other profitable divisions to aid in the development efforts. For a company like RIM that only has mobile they'll get further and further pushed to the sidelines.

So RIM has one of two choices. They can either do a Nintendo and follow a Blue Ocean Strategy and just completely change the game, and change the market. Or they can do a Sega and go 3rd party - meaning not developing the end to end solution and instead providing hardware and software for one of the other main players.

Based on SEGA and Nintendo's experiences, the Blue Ocean Strategy is preferred - but you better be sure you can pull it off. Changing the wireless game is a big bet... though if you saw the OnLive CEO's talk posted on Engadget yesterday you'll see that there is the potential for some revolution in the wireless game. If RIM were to buy OnLive or exclusively license their new wireless tech, that would be the kind of game changing thing that would not only give them a fighting chance, but take the lead.

To conclude - if RIM tries to fight Google, Apple and MS in classic metrics such as the OS, features, hardware and services - they will lose and die. RIM has to change the rules of the game, and one way is to buy Rearden Company's new wireless technology (if it works as stated).

I actually think this strategy is a bad one for RIM. You aren't going to beat Apple at its own game (UX/consumer market), you need to change the dynamics of the engagement.

One area that RIM/Blackberry is still king is the enterprise. Apple hasn't even attempted to enter this market, for good reason.

I think a viable - although controversial - strategy would be to simplify the offering and the company into a provider of enterprise communications devices. Beef up BES based on customer feedback, pull all blackberries from consumer shelves (i.e. Joe public can't buy one), focus on owning the market for devices with large organizations that provide phones to their staff as a cost of business. Expand into high security, high risk areas like the military and government (Obama doesn't have an iPhone, does he?).

This would also have the effect making owning a blackberry a sign that you are an "elite member of a large group that can afford them", like it was in the later 90's. Owning a blackberry has no cache anymore, because any 16 year old can go buy a pink curve and look as cool as you do.

This is the exact opposite of what this exec is looking for, but in the end will make for a stronger (although smaller) RIM, I believe.

The strategy suggested by the exec is a recipe for disaster.

During my 3-year at RIM, one of the first things I noticed was point #6. Anyone (almost) who had been at RIM for 5 years were likely to be Managers, 7-8 years, Directors, 10+, VPs. This was true regardless of competence. It came as a result of hyper-growth but it was never corrected once things began to slow down. If you started at RIM in mid-late 90s as an Analyst, you would proress to Intermediate 6 months later, then Senior within another 8-12 months. Within 2 years, you were a Supervisor/Team Lead and on and on it went. Very few talented people wanted to live or commute to Waterloo during that time. RIM hired who they could, gave away stock options, made employees wealthy and continued to promote them.As a result, the company is now top-heavy (VPs are almost numberless) primarily with people who had grown up in the system and have little external perspective.

To add to this, RIM also takes -forever- to make some decisions. I don't believe I'm able to disclose specifics for legal reasons, but even though RIM was a partner for years, they took months and months to respond to an offer that other mobile companies JUMPED at (for good reason). There is -definitely- something wrong at their senior level, and the majority of BlackBerry users I know are only holding on out of ignorance ("it has business features"), or because of BBM (which will soon change due to Apple's messenger). There has been zero intelligent innovation out of this company for years, and my friend at RIM makes money shorting their stock. The entire culture is out of whack, and I doubt they can restructure this by themselves.

I remember an article here a few days ago, about how Silverlake (I think it was Silverlake) did some crazy restructuring. RIM is dying. Their best hope is for an external firm to step in and overhaul things completely.

Platforms that tightly coordinate with carriers were highly successful in the previous mobile cycle (prior to wm 6.1- so anything before 2008 really).

The model has changed, however. Today, it's android & iphone that are driving the industry forward. These are platforms that don't coordinate as tightly with carriers.

Frankly, RIM's problem is that their leadership is stuck in the old model. There was a generation of senior executives in the mobile industry who truly knew better than the nerds: Regardless of your passion for development & openness, it was the carriers who make or break you. RIM's risk now is to replace one extreme attitude with another extreme (too open, too independent) and then completely self-destruct.

IMO, the key to success is not anything listed in this letter. They need to reboot their leadership structure with folks who understand that a good relationship with carriers is critical, but you don't cling to them for survival. Android & iPhone are vulnerable in this space. They're spending too much time giving carriers the finger.

IMO, the only company that really has a shot at relevance is Microsoft: They're still playing nice with carriers & they have an incredibly easy development environment, but they're also exploring territory that hasn't been authorized by the carriers.

In the sense that they're 'failing', they're failing because they're not nurturing the development ecosystem with funding. If Microsoft set aside 50 million dollars or so for investing in INTERESTING mobile application developers, they could solve their appstore app quality problem and really make a move on the industry. Microsoft should take advantage of the fact that the carriers aren't thrilled with Apple or Google. They're really well positioned to strike, if they can just get the app quality problem solved.

Ouch. Imagine you're working at RIM and then try reading that letter. How insulting it must be to be a senior developer at RIM and to read that you're just not good enough.

IMHO, RIM's leadership is focused on the past, and on the wrong market segment. They're desperately trying to win over business users, while not realizing that they've already lost that market and will never get it back. At the same time they're largely ignoring the feature phone segment which is going to upgrade to a smartphone in the coming years, and who could be easily lured in by the current BB products, if they just make them a little bit more user-friendly.

My wife thinks her BB curve is a better phone than my samsung galaxy s2. On paper, that's a ridiculous comparison (the curve isn't even 3g). In reality, she only uses it for calling, texting, e-mail and facebook, and it's not inferior at all for those things. She doesn't want a touchscreen, she doesn't want tons of apps, and there are a lot of people like her.

Solutions seem impractical. Hire proven world class managers? Recruit better developers? You can't do these things when already in a floundering position, because why would the best people in the world want to move to come work for the loser? It's key little details like this that make or break a plan; if step 1 is disregard reality, it's just dreaming and whining, not real constructive feedback.

I'm not sure how bad is BB user-interface. Case and point: in Indonesia, BB is probably the hottest phone on the market. These people aren't the same like those in Silicon Valley echo chamber.

Point #2, #3, #6 are roughly focusing on the same principals: RIM needs smart, innovative leaders that get things done and deliver with less processes/bureaucracies. A friend of mine worked there and he said his group (including the director) complained about the internal process with respect to shipping out software: they can't just ship software, there are a few hoops they have to go through and that takes toll on their time to be productive.

Point #5 is valid. RIM insider told me that they have tons of features way before Apple or MS. Unfortunately they don't have Steve Jobs that always depict everything like the next best thing since the slice of bread.

Sometime the media and the analysts are just that: media and analysts. They need stories. They need something to focus on whether it's bad or good. To them, there's no difference between bad publicity and good publicity.

For example: I subscribe to InformationWeek and eWeek. They always sing the same song in the enterprise (for quite sometime until I get bored and thinking to unsubscribe): "Your CEO wants to use iPhone or iPad but your CIO blocked them with tons of reasons and instead ask you to stick with BlackBerry". I've got to ask iWeek and eWeek to do an unbiased poll or survey: how many companies do actually want this? Or are these companies that tell you the stories are the minorities? At the end of the day: which one is more cost-effective in terms of enterprise-wide deployment.

As someone who interned twice at RIM during their peak (Van Halen concert peak), I got the feeling my second time around that their best people had already left after making millions off of their stock options. Some of them to start up their own projects. I'd like to see it turn around, it was a great environment when I was there, I was able to get the bulk of my experience at RIM. Sort of feels like your old elementary school is closing down :(

A lot of good points are brought up here. But the writer is calling for an overhaul of the entire company culture, focus, and business priority. I'd like to see a resonse from a similarly positioned employee to get a feel for how difficult or damaging some of the suggestions may be.

The devices are great for the price you pay, but there should be a much better selection of apps and features among the product line. I was holding the torch the other day and its practically my dream phone right now, even compared to the iPhone because I know I won't need a new one every 6 months. I love having a keyboard instead of touching a screen, i love being able to tether it, I love not having to worry about using a RIM computer to properly develop for or update my device///

I also use the Blackberry SDK, specifically the Widget SDK, I love being able to use simple HTML/CSS/and Java Script to develop apps. The code signing tool can take a long walk off a short cliff though, and there are tons of bugs with even using simple black backgrounds in applications... The SDK does need to be fixed. A company with RIM's resources should dedicate lots of resources into empowering their developers, and also policing the apps in the app store more to make sure that apps don't link to shady web sites.

The devices also need 3D engines in them, Phones should have rich multimedia and game apps. The copy of Angry Birds you can play in HTML5 should work in BB browsers and more of these popular games should be solicited on the BB (phone) platform.

I realize security is an issue as well, I actually like the idea of the playbook, but phone makers have been losing sight of hand held phones over tablets. People are following Apple's lead instead of innovating where they fall short. Make your system more open, use better components like cameras, and make your screens larger and clearer. The 9800 model should be retired, the screen is too tiny.

The Blackberry is a pure communication device. Actually, it is only about communicating. Teenage girls use it, but also my professors. Lately, the technological gap between all the android generics and iphones is increasing, but easily resolvable. Increase the processor speed, the screen resolution and use a better camera. Also they should make the OS smoother.

People do not care as long as they do not have the feeling they are missing something.

Make the BB easy for developers that popular apps are also available for the BB, but this will not gain you any new customers, it will only avoid that you are loosing customers.

Blackberry should focus on the productivity of their customers. I want a phone dead simple but 100% perfect for communicating, 100% secure and 100% trust-able. Blackberry should offer cloud services so that people are locked-in. I use my Blackberry as I used my Nokia, most people do that.

They should leverage their BBM into a social network. They should upgrade their java, so that android developers can easily develop for BB as well. They should create an opportunity whereby carriers can earn more money, carriers are loosing ground everywhere. They do not earn money on the whole internet thing on phones nowadays. Create great utilities, some usable office software. Offer a cloud service in which you can store every message and any file you ever had on your phone. Comparable with my gmail account. So that i ve a BB archive. Focus on privacy. There's a huge chance there will be a backslash on privacy in the next 5 years. I do not trust android or iphone phones. With the first a feel too much attached too google with the second I'm Apple's prisoner. Focus on openness. I would like to connect my BB to any system available. I want to install every program I want to use. Make it a great calculation device. Do you remember the HP 12c calculator. I should have the same kind of feeling with my BB somehow. Not by replicating the calculators functions, but by somehow making it a swiss knive.

OK, nice letter, but. Why would RIM spend a boatload of money investing in QNX going forward? They already wasted enough buying it.

Why not bite the bullet and adopt Android across the board? Instant developer network, Google support, huge non-North American user base, etc, etc.?

I'd buy a BlackBerry and a Playbook running Android tomorrow if they existed.

To all RIM naysayers: use a Blackberry and be delighted. Yes the web experience kinda sucks, but other than that Blackberries are all around fine phones with months of uptime without a single malfunction. I still wait to see that from any other vendor.

So in summary:

    1) Focus on the End User experience
    2) Recruit Senior SW Leaders & enable decision-making
    3) Cut projects to the bone.
    4) Developers, not Carriers can now make or break us
    5) Need for serious marketing punch to create end user desire
    6) No Accountability - Canadians are too nice
    7) The press and analysts are pissing you off. Don’t snap. 
       Now is the time for humility with a dash of paranoia.
    8) Democratise. Engage and interact with your employees.

Blackberry does not have the same end user as the iPhone. Blackberry's end users are corporations - its the default device that is shelled out to every single employee of large banks and consultancies. The 'Enterprise End User' thats what BB has to retain and capitalize on. RIM should look for synergies with other enterprise application providers. A cool looking twitter application is not the answer to their woes. Its seamless integration of a enterprise Yammer with the BB mailbox or an application that makes it easier to navigate ugly sharepoint sites.

The author talks a lot about their developer centric culture and what needs to change within it. What he totally misses on, especially when comparing to Apple, is that there is a serious lack of design centric culture. Yes he says they should focus on the customer and user experience but I don't think he fully understands that an almost cult-like passion for design is why Apple wins in this area.

I do not see RIM suddenly gaining in this area and being known as the place really good designers go.

If it is real, the letter is an impressive piece of soul searching at RIM. It bodes well for the company that within its ranks, a senior person is willing to put these thoughts to paper in the hopes of steering a change. How much follow-up will happen is anybody's guess. The whole Co-CEO deal is pretty strange to begin with...kinda defeats the "buck stops here" position of the Chief. Imagine two US presidents trying to run the country...

"How long do you give him?...About a week!" (Jerry Maguire)

except for still having such naive execs around, the situation sounds typical for an, astronomically speaking, burn-out, starting to collapse, company, a glowing star of yesterday. Who've been at Sun, Siebel, Compaq, Palm, etc... know the feeling. The situation at Nokia, btw, sounds the same...

"Canadians are too nice"

Come on, as if the practice of holding on to people isn't widespread. It's called "office culture".

People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it (it's cliche but it's true).

It's sad when you can't be candid in a company and have to resort to sending an external letter to get through to management.

I think lack of candour when problems abound is the kiss of death for many companies.

Eddie Murphy said it best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpPdgrr5diM

All that and no mention of iMessage...

RIM == Yahoo!