Samsung has posted a new advert that mocks RIM’s BlackBerry phones for being devices that are only used by corporates that are unable to use their personal devices at work.
The amusing ad spot, set within the offices of a fictional game developer, includes shots of its BlackBerry devices which are unpopular with most of the staff featured. The video promotes Samsung’s SAFE (Samsung Approved For Enterprise) technology which allows consumer devices to be hooked up to a company’s network and used as work devices. Samsung launched SAFE in the US in June 2012, and it expanded into Europe in November.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5fcUf4d-Y3s
RIM is already aware of its weakness and perception as a work-only solution, that feedback has been key to the development of its upcoming BlackBerry 10 devices, which will be launched at the end of January. Though the new devices — which will include touch screen phones and those sporting QWERTY keyboards — certainly appear to be a major improvement on RIM’s older phones, it remains to be seen whether the Canadian firm can shake off its past reputation and launch a successful comeback.
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In the meantime, evidence continues to pour in suggesting that RIM is losing large chunks of its enterprise business. Samsung and Apple, in particular, are seeing their share of corporate clients increase as a culture of bring your own device (BYOD) continues to grow among employees and employers worldwide.
An IDC report from November suggested that iOS devices had surpassed BlackBerry on volumes shipped to enterprises by the end of 2012. That doesn’t just apply to smartphones and tablets are proving popular too. Barclays Bank, for one, snapped up 8,500 units of the Apple tablet in November in what was one of the largest corporate rollouts in the UK to date.
The strength of the iPad might just be Apple’s key trump card in competing against Samsung and RIM for corporate clients. With the tablet established as the preferred choice for CEOs and business execs, the company may be in a position to leverage deals and lay ground for future iPhone rollouts with companies that deploy iPads.
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