RIM disappointed but hopeful with BlackBerry 10

The new

marketing chief for

BlackBerry smartphones

isn't dejected by

perceptions that his

products look ancient next to iPhones and

Android devices.

Frank Boulben, four weeks into his job as chief

marketing officer for Research in Motion Ltd.,

promises to impress people when phones running

the company's new BlackBerry 10 software are

released in early 2013, at least a year later than

analysts had expected.

RIM will tout features that current devices lack, he

said. Few details about BlackBerry 10 have been

released, but the company has said it will include

the ability to run multiple programs at once and

will let users switch between programs without

returning to the home screen. Android devices

and iPhones typically require people to return to

the home screen to start or resume an app, while

traditional computers let you jump directly to

them.

"You'll be able to flow seamlessly from one

application to another," Boulben said in an

interview Monday with The Associated Press. "The

underlying operating system is truly

multitasking."

But touting new features is just part of the

challenge. BlackBerry devices will be

handicapped because, compared with rivals, they

have fewer games, utilities and other apps

available to extend the phones' functionality.

Analysts believe RIM is running out of time to turn

itself around. RIM is holding its annual

shareholders meeting in Waterloo, Ontario, on

Tuesday, less than two weeks after announcing

disappointing financial results, deep job cuts and

the latest delay in BlackBerry 10. Its stock is

trading near a nine-year low and closed Monday

at $7.67, down 43 cents, or 5.3 percent, for the

day.

Sales of the once-pioneering BlackBerry phones

fell 41 percent in the latest quarter and likely

won't pick up again until new phones come out

next year. By then, people will have even more

choices, including a new iPhone expected from

Apple this fall and phones running the latest

version of Google's Android software, called Jelly

Bean. Phones running a revamped version of

Microsoft's Windows system are also coming this

fall.

Although BlackBerrys were once a staple in

corporate environments because of their

reputation for security and reliability, they've lost

their cachet as iPhones demonstrated that

smartphones are good for more than email. The

BlackBerry's U.S. market share has plummeted

from 41 percent in 2007, when the first iPhone

came out, to less than 4 percent in the first three

months of 2012, according to research firm IDC.

RIM portrays BlackBerry 10 as its way of catching

up. It promises the multimedia, Internet browsing

and apps experience that customers now

demand. Better multitasking, Boulben said, is one

way the new BlackBerry won't become a "me too"

product.

Boulben said the smartphone market is still new

and growing, so RIM can go after the millions of

people around the world who still don't have

smartphones. He added that people in the U.S.

replace their phones every 18 months on average,

giving RIM a chance to lure them with the new

BlackBerry devices.

"We won't be present for this year, but next year

we will be present in a larger market," he said.

Boulben also said he has developed a global

marketing strategy for BlackBerry 10. In the past,

countries and regions ran their own campaigns,

which caused conflicting messages to appear

when people searched for information online.

Centralizing marketing, he said, will reduce costs

and allow the company to take better advantage

of global social-networking services such as

Facebook. He's counting on word of mouth once

the first people get their hands on new

BlackBerrys.

But BlackBerrys will still be far behind in the

number of apps available from outside software

developers. These are the games, maps, photo-

sharing programs and other tools that extend the

functionality and popularity of existing devices.

Apple and Google each claim more than 500,000

apps for iPhone and Android devices, while

BlackBerry's app store has fewer than 100,000.

To succeed, RIM will need to excite not only

phone buyers, but also the software developers

who'd make the BlackBerry apps. Analyst Steven

Li at Raymond James has warned that the

repeated BlackBerry 10 delays could discourage

those developers from doing so.