MONTREAL — The resignation of Apple CEO Steve Jobs won’t provide Research In Motion with the much-needed opportunity it needs to recover market share that its BlackBerry devices have lost to the iPhone and iPad, analysts say.
They say RIM’s best hope is to deliver new, consumer-friendly BlackBerry smartphones on time and without problems.
Apple is already working on the iPhone 6 and any effect of Jobs’ departure on its product line won’t be seen until 2013, says lead mobile device analyst Sascha Segan of PC Magazine.
“One thing that Apple understands that RIM hasn’t understood recently is: you never get a second chance to make a first impression,” Segan said Thursday from New York.
Apple announced late Wednesday that Jobs, 56, resigned as Apple’s chief executive officer in a move that seems motivated by his ongoing, yet still unspecified health problems.
Jobs will be replaced by Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer. Cook has filled in for Jobs during his medical leaves.
Segan said RIM has the opportunity to “recreate what people think of BlackBerrys” with its new generation of BlackBerrys expected to make their debut next year.
RIM (TSX:RIM) has said the new BlackBerrys will have the same operating system as its PlayBook tablet, based on RIM’s purchase last year of Ottawa-based QNX Software Systems company.
The phones are expected to be more like mobile computers.
If the new BlackBerrys offer a “dramatically” better multimedia and apps experience for consumers and Apple offers “less salesmanship” without Jobs, then RIM would be in a stronger position, Segan said.
William Blair & Co. analyst Anil Doradla said RIM’s problems are of its own making because it hasn’t been able to deliver a lot of new devices to the consumer market.
“I think that train has left the station as far as RIM having a problem because of a competitor,” Doradla said from Chicago.
Doradla noted that co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis have “mastered the science part of it” in creating an efficient, well functioning smartphone phone for business users.
“But there is a certain artistic side of it where it has to appeal to consumers, it has to awe the consumer. I think that’s one thing that they lack.”
In an effort to appeal to consumers, RIM announced Thursday it’s rolling out a new music sharing service for BlackBerry customers who use the smartphone’s popular instant messenger, which has more than 45 million users worldwide.
The BBM Music service will be years behind Apple’s industry-leading iTunes and other music services, but has a different pricing strategy and features.
RIM has had a bumpy transition to the consumer market, losing ground to both Apple and Google’s Android operating system in the important North American market.
On the other hand, Apple rival Steve Jobs has been hailed as a visionary for anticipating consumer trends and popularizing them by designing devices that are easy to use.
Doradla said Apple’s current momentum should be maintained for at least the next two years and said its iPhones and iPads account for 65 per cent of the company’s revenues.
Technology analyst Bill Kreher of Edward Jones said RIM will continue to struggle for consumers’ attention.
“While we hold out hope that the QNX-based phones will help revive the company, we continue to think that the company’s prospects will get worse before they get better,” Kreher said from St. Louis, Mo.
“At the end of the day, the success of these companies is predicated on their ability to create compelling devices and that doesn’t change with Steve (Jobs) stepping down,” he said.
“In fact, we think Apple will continue to have the best-in-class phone for the next few years.”
Shares in Research In Motion were down eight cents to $28.17 in early afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.