I'm not convinced about whether they'll go under or not. I guess we'll see.
They're definitely not popular with the American blogosphere at the moment. But as a company, they've still got 75 million customers, they've got no debt, billions in cash reserves, and their products are still selling (though not nearly as fast as iOS or Google phones).
My understanding is that when looking at their revenue, cash reserves, sales, profit, and assets, their stock is currently undervalued.
They have to improve their marketing, and get QNX onto their darned phones. If they ever get this Playbook 2.0 update out, then it speaks positively to their survival, given Blackberry devices will be able to run Android apps.
At the moment, the iPhone's not cutting it for me as a business phone. I'm not 100% a touchscreen Android will fix my reservations about typing on glass. The business apps I've found for iOS aren't as strong as the business ones I had on my Blackberry just two years ago. So I might go back.
Of course, if RiM gets weaker, or gets purchased or whatever, then it'll be a moot point.
So we'll see, I guess.
EDIT: The other factor is that there may be a lot of political pressure on the current government to prevent RiM from completing an implosion. They've taken a big perception hit in some ways by their failure to do much of anything to save Nortel, yet their willingness to give taxpayer funded money to help save Chrysler/GM/Ford, who are American companies, who *I think* employed fewer employees *in Canada* than Nortel did. And consequently allowed IP derived through Canadian research (much of it also subsidized by taxpayer money) to basically be snapped up by foreign companies. The current ruling party is big on doing things that keep them in power, and if they see that they're taking political hits by standing by while RiM goes down the drain, watch them change their tune.
But, again, we'll see. I'm not delusional. I know they're in trouble. I just think the problems may be a little blown out of proportion. I highly doubt they'll ever get back to top spot. Apple and Google are just too big, and too popular. But they could be a comfortable third. That'll all depend on if they can get their act together. They've got serious issues about being unable to make and then keep timelines, at the moment, and it's just killing them.
Banshee
