Blackberry Pearl Case free essay sample

MARKETING ENGINEERING FOR EXCEL †¢ CASE †¢ VERSION 1. 0. 5 Case Positioning the BlackBerry Pearl by Mahima Hada Arvind Rangaswamy 1. Before beginning any case, students should familiarize themselves with the model being used. Marketing Engineering for Excel comes with tutorials that demonstrate the capability of each model. The tutorial can be found under each model within the ME>XL menu after starting Excel. These tutorials are designed to work with the OfficeStar examples, which are located in the My Marketing Engineering directory, usually installed in My Documents during software installation. The data required for this case are located in one file in the My Marketing Engineering directory (usually located within My Documents): BlackBerry Pearl (Positioning). xls RIM Introduces the BlackBerry Pearl In September 2006, Research In Motion (RIM) introduced an extension to its best-selling BlackBerry phone, the â€Å"BlackBerry Pearl,† with the hope that it could move the original BlackBerry beyond the boardroom and executive suites and into more consumers’ hands. It is the first BlackBerry that comes equipped with the usual features of high-end smartphones, as well as a camera and media playback, yet still provides all the e-mail functions that made Blackberry a hit among executives. Background Research In Motion (RIM) launched the BlackBerry wireless, handheld device in 1999. The BlackBerry heralded the launch of smartphones for business users by supporting push e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, Internet faxing, Web browsing, and other wireless information services. BlackBerry made headway in the marketplace by first concentrating on e-mail and capturing the â€Å"Boardroom† market segment. Although it included the usual PDA applications (e. g. , address book, calendar, to-do lists), as well as telephone capabilities on newer models, the BlackBerry’s reputation grew primarily because of its ability to send and receive e-mail anywhere it has access to an appropriate wireless network of a cellular phone carrier, as well as for its built-in keyboard, optimized for thumbing, or using only the thumbs to type. Its primary competition came in the form of the Palm Treo, a line of smartphones originally acquired and developed by Handspring. However, since Palm’s purchase of Handspring, Treos have been manufactured and maintained by Palm, Inc. In its early years, the market for smartphones thus was dominated by Palm and RIM. In summer 2006, Motorola launched its Motorola Q, touting its thin design, and positioned it as an attractive alternative to the BlackBerry. By fall of 2006, the Blackberry faced competition from a number of smartphones, including several Nokia models (E70, E62, 9300), the Palm Treo, Copyright  © 2008 by DecisionPro, Inc. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, go to www. decisionpro. biz. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded, or otherwise—without the express permission of DecisionPro, Inc. and the Motorola Q, all of which offered multimedia capabilities as well as email connectivity (see Appendix I). The Strategic Rationale for the Blackberry Pearl In 2005, world shipments of mobile phones totaled approximately 800 million units, and smartphones represented about 4. 7% of these. At the end of 2005, within the smartphone category, Nokia had the highest market share (54. %), followed by Palm (9. 2%) RIM(7%), Motorola (4. 6%) and Sony Ericsson (0. 6%). In exploring options to expand its market base beyond the corporate boardroom in the United States, which the Blackberry already dominated, RIM management considered the Blackberry Pearl a strategic opportunity. With the Pearl, RIM expected that it could expan d its customer base, combat growing competition from rival phone makers, and retain its dominant position in the growing market for multifunction wireless communication phones. According to Larry Conlee, Chief Operating Officer of RIM, â€Å"It really is our attempt to take BlackBerry out of the boardroom. We listened to the research, we talked to focus groups and our carrier partners, and we asked what was needed to take BlackBerry out of the boardroom and to a broader audience. † Research showed that in 2006, camera phones accounted for approximately 85% of the mobile phone market, and 23% of phones offered mp3 capabilities. A survey of consumers who own a phone with mp3 capabilities indicated that 13% use the mp3 feature on their phone everyday, and 70% use it at least once a week. With the Pearl, RIM expects that BlackBerry will finally catch up with its competition in the multimedia department, with features like a 1. -megapixel camera, a music and video player, and more stylish looks. In November 2006, RIM commissioned marketing research studies to assess the performance of BlackBerry Pearl and to plan future marketing activities and programs to expand its appeal. The data in Exhibits 1 and 2 are based on surveys of a sample of U. S. customers that the company commissioned to understand its target segments (only data from 100 respondents, who currently do not use the original Blackberry, are included in this case study). The three sub-segments in Exhibit 1 (denoted Segments I, II, and III) are based on information provided by a market research supplier. Exhibit 3 summarizes publicly available information about the competing products. Finally, Exhibit 4 details demographic and psychographic data about the three sub-segments, compiled from a large population of data available to the market research supplier. EXERCISES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Describe the two (or, if applicable, three) dimensions underlying the perceptual maps that you generated. According to these maps, how do people perceive the Blackberry Pearl in the three segments? Does Blackberry Pearl appeal to segment(s) other than business executives, as the company hoped for? Why or why not? Is the Pearl well-positioned to be successful? If not, to which segment(s) would you target and how would you re-position it? Briefly describe the marketing program you would use to target the chosen segments. Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of the software provided for this exercise. POSITIONING THE BLACKBERRY PEARL CASE 2 /10 Research Data Exhibit 1 Survey results: Average perception and average preference ratings (Scale: 0—9) Brands/Attributes Push e-mail availability E-mail folders synchronization Instant messaging availability Speed in accessing e-mail Software selection Display size Ease of use for navigation Ease of use for typing Voice/call quality Comfortable to call User friendliness Media quality Camera quality Compact Quality of display Finish Product image Brand image High prestige Value for money Average user rating (CNET) CNET editor’s rating Segment I Segment II Segment III RIM BlackBerry Pearl Palm Treo 700p Motorola Q Nokia 9300 Sidekick3 Sony Ericsson M600i 8. 8. 0 7. 2 6. 4 7. 0 6. 5 5. 5 5. 7 5. 6 7. 4 6. 6 6. 1 5. 7 6. 9 7. 5 7. 4 5. 9 8. 6 7. 2 6. 0 8. 0 7. 3 8. 4 5. 5 5. 6 7. 4 7. 1 5. 1 6. 5 6. 8 6. 5 6. 5 6. 2 8. 0 6. 9 7. 2 7. 0 6. 2 5. 7 6. 3 5. 5 5. 4 8. 5 6. 9 5. 4 7. 5 7. 7 7. 0 4. 5 4. 3 6. 4 6. 3 5. 3 8. 0 6. 5 7. 4 6. 1 7. 4 4. 8 6. 1 7. 3 6. 9 6. 6 6. 7 7. 3 7. 4 4. 9 7. 2 6. 8 4. 2 6. 2 8. 0 7. 9 3. 1 4. 7 6. 4 6. 4 6. 7 6. 3 6. 3 6. 4 4. 2 4. 5 7. 8 4. 2 4. 1 5. 9 0. 5 4. 5 5. 1 6. 1 5. 0 6. 5 5. 5 4. 6 7. 3 6. 3 6. 2 7. 2 4. 4 4. 5 1. 2 7. 2 6. 2 3. 0 7. 2 3. 6 6. 8 6. 3 3. 1 4. 0 6. 4 4. 2 3. 6 3. 8 5. 2 4. 0 3. 0 1. 2 5. 3 6. 3 7. 3 2. 9 3. 4 7. 0 6. 0 6. 2 1. 5 8. 6. 5 7. 3 6. 1 5. 0 8. 0 5. 2 6. 0 7. 8 1. 3 5. 1 6. 2 5. 1 4. 1 4. 5 4. 0 4. 0 6. 4 7. 7 5. 4 3. 6 4. 4 POSITIONING THE BLACKBERRY PEARL CASE 3 /10 Exhibit 2 Individual-level preference data, measured on a scale from 1 to 9, with higher numbers representing greater preference. The last column indicates the segment to which a respondent is assigned based on a segmentation analysis of the preferences. Respondents /Brands 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 RIM BlackBerry Pearl Palm Treo 700p Sony Ericsson M600i Motorola Q Nokia 9300 Sidekick3 Segment 5 8 6 6 8 9 8 5 5 8 9 9 5 7 8 8 9 9 9 7 6 9 5 5 6 7 6 9 5 7 4 5 8 5 8 5 2 6 5 6 5 6 9 6 7 5 4 7 7 5 5 6 6 9 3 5 5 6 7 9 8 5 6 2 4 2 7 5 5 2 9 3 7 4 2 5 4 9 3 5 6 6 5 5 3 8 4 9 3 3 5 8 9 5 2 9 7 7 3 9 8 6 8 9 8 3 2 6 2 5 4 9 3 8 4 3 4 6 6 1 9 4 5 5 5 7 3 2 4 7 8 5 7 8 5 6 6 7 8 5 6 8 6 6 4 6 6 7 8 5 8 5 7 4 3 5 8 5 7 7 8 3 7 6 8 4 4 7 3 5 5 6 1 4 3 4 3 7 4 4 5 3 3 3 2 3 1 1 1 5 4 4 6 3 3 3 6 7 5 4 2 4 2 4 7 4 3 4 6 6 8 7 9 3 3 4 4 5 4 4 5 6 5 3 3 7 4 9 3 6 5 7 3 5 8 4 1 7 3 5 5 8 4 5 4 3 3 3 6 5 7 4 4 6 5 4 3 4 /10 I II I II II III I I II II I I I II I I I I I I III II I II III III I II I II II II III I II I III III III III III II II POSITIONING THE BLACKBERRY PEARL CASE Respondents /Brands 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 RIM BlackBerry Pearl Palm Treo 700p Motorola Q Nokia 9300 Sidekick3 Sony Ericsson M600i Segment 5 9 9 9 9 7 5 7 7 9 5 5 5 4 6 6 5 9 8 5 8 6 9 8 4 8 8 5 6 6 8 5 9 8 5 8 9 8 8 9 5 9 7 9 6 6 5 5 8 4 7 4 8 9 3 2 6 5 9 6 3 2 5 3 2 3 7 5 2 7 5 9 5 4 6 8 5 3 6 4 3 8 7 3 9 8 5 8 8 6 9 8 9 7 4 4 3 8 3 8 6 8 7 5 4 9 2 9 3 3 4 3 5 5 4 9 3 4 5 5 9 9 4 4 6 2 4 5 6 3 6 8 4 9 9 8 6 9 1 9 4 8 2 4 3 5 9 5 5 5 6 7 4 4 6 6 7 7 6 8 7 5 7 8 7 9 5 6 7 5 6 8 4 6 6 5 4 6 7 6 7 3 5 8 6 7 7 7 5 9 6 6 6 3 5 6 3 3 2 5 2 6 6 5 3 3 2 3 3 4 8 3 4 5 3 8 2 4 1 2 4 7 3 4 9 6 5 3 5 1 7 3 1 3 2 4 4 4 4 1 4 8 7 7 4 5 5 6 2 2 5 4 4 4 7 4 3 4 4 5 4 3 6 5 5 5 4 4 6 4 5 5 4 4 4 7 3 6 3 5 5 6 7 5 6 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 5 /10 II I I I I III III I II I II II II II III II II I II III I II I I II III I II III III I II I I III I I I I I II I II I II III III III I POSITIONING THE BLACKBERRY PEARL CASE Respondents /Brands 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 RIM BlackBerry Pearl Palm Treo 700p Motorola Q Nokia 9300 Sidekick3 Sony Ericsson M600i Segment 9 7 7 6 8 5 4 5 8 7 4 5 6 4 5 4 9 5 3 5 6 4 6 8 7 3 8 7 5 3 7 1 2 6 5 2 6 8 8 2 7 3 3 3 5 5 4 I I III II II III III III Exhibit 3 Smartphone specifications RIM BlackBerry Pearl $275 3. 2 4. 2 x 2 x 0. 5 240 ? 260 v2. 0 Quad EDGE Yes No Short 64 MB microSD 3. 5 15 Extendable 1. 3 megapixel Yes Yes, all formats No Palm Treo 700p $475 6. 4 4. 4 x 2. 3 x 0. 9 240 ? 240 1. 2 Dual 3G/EV-DO Yes Yes Full 60 MB SD/MMC 4. 5 12 No 1. 3 megapixel Yes Yes, all formats No Motorola Q $200 4. 3 4. 57 x 2. 52 x 0. 47 320 ? 240 1. 2 Dual 3G/EV-DO Yes Yes Full 60 MB Mini SD 4 4 No 1. 3 megapixel Yes Yes, all formats Yes Nokia 9300 $300 5. 9 5. 2 x 2. 1 x 0. 9 640 ? 200 1. Tri EDGE Yes No Full 80 MB MMC 7 8 No N/A Yes Yes, limited formats No Treo Sidekick3 $300 7 2. 4 x 0. 9 x 5. 1 240 ? 160 1. 2 Tri EDGE Yes No Full 64 MB miniSD 4. 5 3 No 1. 3 megapixel Yes Yes, only MP3 No Sony Ericsson M600i $400 4 4. 2 x 2. 2 x 0. 6 240 ? 320 A2DP Tri UMTS Yes No Short 60 MB microSD 7. 5 14 No N/A Yes Yes, all formats No Price (Average) Weight (oz. ) Size (inches) Display size (pixels) Bluetooth Bands Connectivity Office applications Editing for office applications QWERTY keypad Internal memory Memory expansion Talk time (hours) Standby time (days) GPS system Camera specifications Media player Music player Video recording POSITIONING THE BLACKBERRY PEARL CASE 6 /10 Exhibit 4 Segment data 1 Segment I Segment size Age group Education Predominant employment Characteristics of employment Heavy users of email Persons per household Percentage women Percentage married Read business magazines Read technology magazines Read entertainment magazines Watch business news Watch sitcoms Have travelled abroad Frequent flyer program member Own an American Express card Own investment funds 42% 25-45 College graduate, post-graduate Business professionals Executives and managers 75% 2. 31% 43% 85% 43% 37% 84% 34% 72% 87% 58% 24% Segment II 33% 30-50 Professional, postgraduate Business professionals Professionals (e. g. , doctors, lawyers, researchers) 60% 3. 8 22% 73% 68% 31% 23% 72% 46% 45% 45% 32% 35% Segment III 25% 18-25 High school, college graduate Students, whitecollar, entry-level jobs Students, various jobs 30% 1. 42 47% 18% 23% 58% 73% 27% 77% 26% 3% 40% 12% This case describes a real business situation using a mix of real and hypothetical data. Information sources include www. Wikepedia. com, www. cnet. com, and http://mobileopportunity. blogspot. com/ by Michael Mace. POSITIONING THE BLACKBERRY PEARL CASE 7 /10 Appendix I Competing products Blackberry Pearl Competition Sony Ericsson M600 Motorola Q POSITIONING THE BLACKBERRY PEARL CASE 8 /10 Sharp/T-Mobile Sidekick3 Palm Treo Nokia 9300 POSITIONING THE BLACKBERRY PEARL CASE 9 /10 Appendix II Attribute definitions Push e-mail availability E-mail systems that provide always-on capability, such that when new e-mail arrives, it is instantly and actively transferred (pushed) by the Mail Delivery Agent (MDA) (commonly called mail server) to the Mail User Agent (MUA), also called the e-mail client. The original Blackberry could only be used through an Enterprise Mail Server set up by a company that had adopted the BlackBerry service. However, BlackBerry Pearl offered push e-mail capability to any user through a telecom carrier such as T-Mobile. Ability to coordinate multiple in-box mail folders onto smartphone from a PC and vice versa. Ability to log into Web IM clients, such as ICQ, Yahoo, and MSN, for instant messaging and chatting Perception of speed with which e-mails and attachments can be downloaded to the smart phone. This speed is highly dependent on the network provider. Software availability for viewing and editing standard files like Word and PowerPoint, as well as software for organizers, to-do lists, calendars, and other PDA functions. Size of the display of the smartphone and its suitability for reading e-mails and attachments Ease with which menus can be navigated, options can be used, emails can be opened, calls can be made, and so forth. Ease of typing e-mails and messages using the keypad Quality of voice, received and transmitted through the phone. How comfortable the phone is to hold against the ear and talk. Ease with which the phone can be used for office applications; making, accepting, and rejecting calls, and overall user friendliness Perception of the number of media formats supported, the quality of songs and video played back, and so forth Perception about the quality of pictures taken with the camera, which depends on clarity, sharpness, and colors captured. Refers to the design of the phone with respect to sex appeal, style, and so forth Overall size of the phone, and whether it is small enough to fit into the back pocket Whether the display is clear and sharp and provides vibrant colors; also indicates the number of colors the smartphone supports in its pixel resolution. Overall texture and outer finish of the cell phone, such as rounded edges and glossy or matte Impression about the product in the marketplace Impression about the brand in the marketplace Does the brand offer a sense of prestige or status for the consumer? Does the smartphone deliver value for the price paid? Average of all ratings provided by smartphone users on cnet. com Rating given by editor of CNET in a review of the phone. E-mail folders synchronization Instant messaging (IM) availability Speed in accessing e-mail Software selection Display size Ease of use for navigation Ease of use for typing Voice/call quality Comfortable to call User friendliness Media quality Camera quality Stylish Compact Quality of display Finish Product image Brand image High prestige Value for money Average user rating (CNET) CNET editor’s rating POSITIONING THE BLACKBERRY PEARL CASE 10 /10