Blackberry has had an annus horribilis. They started when Apple came along and threw a perfectly engineered bomb into the bit of its business that deals with business.For at least a decade, besuited city types spent every spare minute twirling their way through corporate emails and pecking out responses.But then the iPhone arrived. After spending a year or so turning the consumer market upside down, it went after the the office inbox. Apple beefed up iOS's exchange server compatibility and threw in some additional security. The result was rapid adoption.It should probably have come as no big surprise to RIM that middle-aged gents who work in finance would be seduced by the pretty glass and aluminium gadget, just as asymmetrically-haired graphic designers were. However, Blackberry had a new play thing by that point. Normal folk had discovered its devices.Aggressive pricing, both on contract and pay-as-you-go, earned it friends among those who wanted a taste of smartphone functionality without the financial outlay its rivals demanded. There were also genuinely innovative features, principally Blackberry Messenger, which fulfilled the long-held dream of replacing expensive text messaging with all inclusive IP-based chat.Unfortunately, the service proved so popular with the youth that it became an invaluable tool for the rioters who tore up London and other English cities in August 2011. For a handful of people, such a connection may have given the company some kind of edgy appeal, but the net PR result wasn't good - “Blackberry, the hooligan's friend”. Blackberry has broadened its appeal beyond business users.Then came the epic loss of service of October 2011. The causes and effects are still being played out. But the disgruntlement of its customer is palpable. If Blackberry stood for anything, it was reliability. Its complex multinational server system was more-or-less impossible for the layman to understand. But the upshot was, it always worked. Now that image is looking tarnished and there is one less reason for fickle customers to stick around. Android, iPhone and Windows Phone are all lurking, seductively.The company's list of woes extends further: the lacklustre reception for the Playbook tablet, the slipping market share and precipitously declining share price. It is unfair to berate RIM for not coming up with the products that Apple created. That understates the power of the revolution that began in 2007.Certainly others have met the challenge in a more sure-footed fashion. Google has made all, or many of the right moves with Android. Blackberry simply lost its momentum. It drove the first smartphone revolution, but didn't seem prepared for the second one.Its real weakness has not been a failure to innovate.Ironically, it is poor communication that has often damaged Blackberry and its owner RIM.The company's limp response to crisis situations has almost become an industry byword for bad public relations.
