RIM Answers Open Letter with an Open Response
Research In Motion usually doesn't do something like this but under these circumstances, they had to. Via an official BlackBerry Blog post RIM has responded to the anonymous open letter from a RIM employee that has caused some stir in the BlackBerry universe. After questioning the letter's integrity by saying it is "particularly difficult to believe that a “high level employee” in good standing with the company would choose to anonymously publish a letter on the web rather than engage their fellow executives in a constructive manner," RIM goes on to mention how, among many things, all these things that have been pointed out are issues they are aware of. One thing they do not do is deny what this anonymous writer had to say. Whether that was to simply avoid an annoying, bickering open letter fight or because those claims actually had merit is beyond me.
I personally appreciated the fact that this time RIM didn't sit back and try to let this go by without getting involved somehow. The response was quick, brief and to the point.
Here's the full reply as quoted from the BlackBerry Blogs.
Quote:
RIM’s Response to “Open Letter”
An “Open Letter” to RIM’s senior management was published anonymously on the web today and it was attributed to an unnamed person described as a “high level employee”. It is obviously difficult to address anonymous commentary and it is particularly difficult to believe that a “high level employee” in good standing with the company would choose to anonymously publish a letter on the web rather than engage their fellow executives in a constructive manner, but regardless of whether the letter is real, fake, exaggerated or written with ulterior motivations, it is fair to say that the senior management team at RIM is nonetheless fully aware of and aggressively addressing both the company’s challenges and its opportunities.
RIM recently confirmed that it is nearing the end of a major business and technology transition. Although this transition has taken longer than anticipated, there is much excitement and optimism within the company about the new products that are lined up for the coming months. There is a fundamental business reality however that following an extended period of hyper growth (during which RIM nearly quadrupled in size over the past 5 years alone), it has become necessary for the company to streamline its operations in order to allow it to grow its business profitably while pursuing newer strategic opportunities. Again, RIM’s management team takes these challenges seriously and is actively addressing the situation. The company is thankfully in a solid business and financial position to tackle the opportunities ahead with a solid balance sheet (nearly $3 billion in cash and no debt), strong profitability (RIM’s net income last quarter was $695 million) and substantial international growth (international revenue in Q1 grew 67% over the same quarter last year). In fact, while growth has slowed in the US, RIM still shipped 13.2 million BlackBerry smartphones last quarter (which is about 100 smartphones per minute, 24 hours per day) and RIM is more committed than ever to serving its loyal customers and partners around the world.
Was RIM right for answering an anonymous letter? What'd you think of their response?
