Will Blackberry Be the Next Business To Fail

The Blackberry company Research in Motion began in 1999 and earned over $15 billion in the last 8 years. Many businesses fail after great success because they forget that maintaining success requires continual creation of new products and services. Keep your existing products but frequently improve on them and provide additional products that compliment your existing products.

I have a blackberry curve 3G but hate seeing that timer stall sometimes for 30 minutes trying to display a web page. Blackberry is great for accessing email but the world is constantly changing and users require more features all the time but it seems that blackberry hasn’t been able to keep up. The iPhone has forced companies to step up their technology advances but blackberry hasn’t kept up. Many blackberry owners are switching over to the Droid or iPhone to get additional features and faster download times.

We live in a time when innovation is the key to obtaining and maintaining company success. If you have an older blackberry in some cases are unable to read common attachments such as PowerPoint, Adobe and flash files. The operating systems are not comparable to Microsoft or Unix operating systems and in some cases users get an error message stating that a feature, program or file is unsupported.

Due to the continued effects of the recession and company and government budget cuts many companies are phasing out or reducing the use of company issued smartphones. Employees that are issued phone are choosing models other than blackberry.

Users are more mobile than ever and need devices that can meet their needs anytime anywhere. Users need smartphones that can access their email quickly, download common file types quickly and allow them to view reports and presentations for meetings. Blackberry does not provide those features which makes it seem like the dinosaur of smartphones.

Blackberry needs a complete product overhaul, needs to survey existing customers about new features they would like to see, ensure fiascos like the outage incident in October 2011 doesn’t happen again, hire a new sales and marketing team and hire the brightest information technology college graduates to bring fresh new ideas and implement some of them.

I will begin my search for a new smartphone that will allow me send text messages, be able to download files in less than 60 seconds, watch videos, view common file types such as Word, Excel, .pdf and PowerPoint and view reports and that weighs a few ounces. Will you keep your blackberry or switch to another smartphone company?

Are Smart Phones As Safe as Computers

I must admit, I was not a supporter of smart phones. I was quite happy with my cell phone that I only used to make phone calls or send a few texts. Then, my cell phone died and I was forced to get a new one. I got a new one for personal use then decided to get a smart phone for business use. I went shopping and got excited at a sale that offered me a free phone with access to the internet, texting options, applications, fun games, video recording, a camera, the ability to access my email and more. I was hooked. Now I am a big fan of smart phones and because of that I never let my smart phone out of my sight.

I don’t make transactions on my smart phone, I don’t text personal information, SSN, addresses or account numbers on my smart phones and I don’t fill out application forms, i.e. contests, event registrations, etc. on my smart phone. Some smart phones owners believe they can use their smart phone just like their computer, unfortunately you can’t. Many smart phones have high security risks such as the Android and iPhone. In addition, you don’t how the company stores the data, where the data is stored, if the data is encrypted, If the data is backed up on a regular basis, how long the data is stored, etc.

According to a Trend Micro Inc. survey in 2009, only 23% of smartphone owners use the security software installed on the devices. If a smart phone is lost or stolen, sold, repaired, recycled, or has a removable SIM card data can be quickly exposed without the previous owners’ knowledge. If you store personal information on your smart phone your life could be ruined.

Smart phones are also exposed to hackers, worms, viruses, trojans and malware just like computers. Most smart phone owners don’t bother backing up their data or downloading the latest software. Here are 9 common risks with smart phones to be aware of.

1. Password. Not creating a password for your phone allows anyone to pick up your phone and access your texts, emails, calendar, and other personal information. When entering your password make sure no one is watching you. Create a password with letters and numbers with no repeat values.
2. Inactivity/Lock. Enable the auto lock feature on your phone to prevent someone from accessing information on your phone. You can also set your phone to lock after short periods of inactivity.
3. Encryption. Contact your vendor to find out if the company uses encryption to protect customer data. Most major smart phones vendors use encryption.
4. Data. Don’t store or enter personal information on your smart phone. Don’t make purchases on your smart phones. Even if the website you are using is secure, it doesn’t mean you smart phone is secure.
5. Software. Check at least once month to ensure your smart phone has the latest version of software and patches.
6. Storage. Delete old emails and text messages at least once a week from your smart phone even if you have paid for ample storage to minimize security breaches.
7. Shut down. Cut your phone off each night to reduce exposure to security risks.
8. Downloading. Downloading applications from unknown websites increases your exposure to worms, viruses and malware.
9. Texting. Texting your smart phone number to get ring tones, advertisements, alerts or notifications or to vote also increases your exposure to security risks as well as telemarketer advertisements. Your personal information is sold to telemarketers including your smart phone number.