More Employee Letters to RIM Surface...

Gotta tell ya, as I type this from my iPhone, I wasn't happier to stop using blackberry after having faith in the storm 1 and then settling for the storm 2.

All content works better on a phone NOT named blackberry at the moment. How can you have loyal customers without loyal employees?

I bought a blackberry phone because of Mike Lizarditis' first commercial which seriously impressed me. Then after getting a bb and getting addicted to bb messenger (which none of my friends have anymore), I excitedly installed leak after crappy leak.
But the official releases were even worse.
The bugs were so blatant that it was like my phone ran 10 notches slower after installing. Carriers seemed to do end to end testing way better than RIM and that's when I lost my respect.

I was going to buy a playbook even after getting an iPhone just to witness it can't even compete with the iPad 1 or the droid (insert random manufacturer here).

Whatever... It's just sad it took this long for someone to speak out. What's even more pathetic is a response letter belittling everything that was said. This company is officially garbage.

RIM being managed improperly is undeniable. Their lack of performance for the last 4+ years is a fact and not opinion. Many companies in North America and apparently Canada suffer management by people who don't give a rats ass about employees or the company, it's all about personal gain and achieving the most for the least amount of effort. You may feel the need to argue the merits QNX or Android as solutions and you may be right. Only problem with sliming the product line and improving the software is these things will never happen with the present leadership. They have displayed complacency in their respective roles and apathy towards US, the customers for a number of years now. For them to put RIM in such a disarray they had to knowingly make bad decisions like promoting people for personal reasons and dumping too much work on people who do possess talent and who never got promoted. For them to change these mistakes they will have to admit making them in the first place and THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN as long as these two clowns are pulling in millions and required to produce nothing. This is a common problem in the corporate world. People who skim ALL the cream off the top and constantly pester the people doing the work to find new ways to lower their standard of living and make the work place less efficient and less productive to save money.

"We know about the problems but we have done nothing to fix these problems and will not speak of any solutions in our reply to the employee letters".

I do not approve of people like this and consider them to be Thieves. Because of this, my next device will not be a 9900 or a Monaco as I had hoped.

Kevin,

I think your political correctness has interfered with you voicing what you really think. "They know about the problems and want to fix them" but as you say "No actions equal business as usual" as is typical in the often corrupt world of big business.

The short version is RIM will have to be completely destroyed by the current leaders before anything changes.

The letters themselves dont really mean anything. If the only evidence we could see was a couple of letters from "employees" I too would call BS but the letters are not the only thing out there. RIM is falling behind and they basically have the email as a claim to fame now. I still have my Bold but it gets harder everyday to justify keeping it. The field that i work in has apps that are available on both Android and Apple but not for the blackberry. They need drastic changes to catch up and then move ahead to be the dominant force they used to be.

I think these letters are probably real and probably from people within RIM who are frustrated with the lack of new product. I love my Torch but it is a bit slow and I love my Playbook but I thought we "would have Torch 2, Bold Touch in our hands by now and a 10" Playbook announced for Christmas already. Instead all I see is nothing confirmed, nothing official and a lot of RIM bashing from the media which is never a good thing.

I really hope the AGM has something good in store. I would hate to see RIM go the way of Palm and Nokia.

It strikes me as odd that BGR is the only direct recipient of the letters. RIM employees know of Crackberry too so why not post their open letters here as well?
A dozen or so letters by what are possibly disgruntle (ex)employees out of what...15000? Who cares.
Everyone I talk to that still works for RIM is happy with their career. Then again I don't know more than a dozen personally so my opinion means about as much as the dozen stupid letters BGR claims are authentic.

IMO this could be a real employee who is frustrated with the lack of progress RIM is making compared to competitors. It sounds like he wants to be a part of RIM and wants RIM to succeed. What if he feels like this is the only way left to get their attention? I think he is simply stating what everybody else is thinking. I am a big Blackberry fan who is growing impatient myself with the lack of products that compete with Apple and Android. Blackberry needs to step up and show us the latest and greatest that they keep talking about or they will start to lose the most loyal customers. If these letters help to put a fire in RIMs butt then it is what needed to be done.

Every job has internal issues, what job doesn't? Get another f*cking job.

It makes me laugh a little when some of the blackberry die hard fans on here stick up for RIMs CEO's because they claim they dont need bells/whistles just the functionality of a phone, if thats the case stop paying $30 something for a data plan and go get a cheap flip phone that just does standard functions, now Im not saying I'm a blackberry hater because I own a bold 9700, but here we are paying high smartphone prices that are more than a internet plan at home, so our smartphones should have some "bells and whistles", they shouldnt restart on us, browser close on us, buggy OS, not be behind in the times, we are in 2011, smartphones can face chat, stream netflix, NFC, touch screen, turn by turn directions, if RIM is gonna continue to leave lots of things out and low hardware specs, no new innovations, not having meetings with 3rd party support like other products are doing, then guess what? whether you like it or not the youth who are wanting smartphones and the older are gonna want to get with the times and use those "bells and whistles" and RIM will cease to exist, so just because a few thousand are gonna stay die hard and wanna miss out on new innovations, the rest of us wont and RIM wont have "Money/Net Growth" to make it to the future. so in the best interest of blackberry addicts you better hope RIM does innovate and add those bells and whistles or its gonna be Game Over, "Innovate or Die"

As a RIM fan, who will be first in line when the 9900 comes out, I have to say you need to be transparent. I think it would be a dis-service if you don't post negative news. RIM needs to wake-up. I am glad employees are protesting and forcing RIM to react. Look how long it took them to react to Apple!

Kevin,
I think you should continue to post it, but without real confirmation that these are from real employees, you would do well to file them as simply rumor. Not that I don't believe that these are real, I just feel that without real confirmation (not just BGR saying that they confirmed the source), it's easy for anyone to write a letter. Heck, we get letters from employees and ex-employees talking things just like these. One difference is that where I work, those people put their names on the letters.

These things happen at every large company, there's always someone that feels like they can run things better than they're being run. I can appreciate that these guys have ideas and don't want to discourage them for trying by whatever means they can. It is possible that they prefer to wrote to BGR instead of to anyone else because maybe BGR gets more traffic or has better communication from RIM (after all, they do seem to get more hands-on and their hands on more leaks then anyone else).

Just keep posting your posts like you do, let us choose (as I'm sure we do already-I know I do) what we want to read.

I really enjoy coming here to read your 'stories' and those of the rest of the crew. Thanks for keeping us informed. I guess I am bias because I do love my BB, and that's even though it is old and it is probably the least 'popular'. i really feel that my Storm2 has served me very well. That doesn't mean that I won't shop around when the new ones come out .

P.S. I love my "unfinished" PlayBook too!

i say leave this stuff in the forums. I dont see this as news. anyone coulda wrote those. without proof it's a RIM (ex-)employee all these posts are doing is painting a bad picture of RIM for no reason. Stop supporting doom and gloom without proof! RIM's having enough trouble fighting off the negative media without CrackBerry jumping on the bandwagon.

Sounds like some Rim worker are pretty mad.
and if they get fired...
Sounds like they are going to take some of rim data and sell it to other companys.
Like our private email and data that go thru BIS.

Uh... To those that agree with these stupid letters, I have but one comment. Many large comapies are like this - everyone has their opinion of management, direction, whatever. Those on the lower end of the totem pole will always complain about it. Its just more of the same... Just more public.

I'm pulling for you RIM but this is pathetic.

So what different from every other company in the world? Other than some one put pen to paper on the net.

All big companies have these type of issues. Some one just finaly had the balls to step up and say something.

The second letter is on point, upper management needs to change. Poor leadership and execution, time after time. They created a great buzz with the bold touch, but then don't launch it 2 months later? Email client within 60 days after playbook launch. They need to slow down, concentrate on fewer things and get it right. I love blackberry, it's sad seeing Mikey boys ego ruining a great company.

Why are these letters only surfacing through BGR? Hmmmm...

Personally, I feel that an unsigned letter isn't worth the paper (or bandwith) its sent on. If you want to be taken serously you have to put your name on your opinion or grievence. If that puts your job in jeopardy than you have to decide which is more important to you.

I really could care less about either of these letters or employees who do not sign their names to letters. Either you're going to have enough guts to address it, or if you're not, then I don't want to read your anonymous letter.

Actually I'm a different type of RIM user anyway. I have been toying with the idea of going with Android/Verizon because of the amazing connection to my blackberry playbook when I tried it. But since I can't afford a blackberry and another device, I'm just going to skip that (maybe) and try a Verizon blackberry. I know that the blackberrys don't have 4G but I'm hoping by just switching to Verizon I will be able to get a slightly better bridge or tether browsing than what I'm getting with Sprint, for those few times when I need a connection but have no wireless access.

But after giving it some thought, I decided that all those bells, whistles, and apps get old really quickly, and at the end of the day, I want the functionality of my blackberry. I don't care about a lot of dog and pony show "innovation" that others are clamoring for. I don't consider it being "behind the times" when you can give me the functionality I need. Sure there are lots of things about the Playbook that need tightening up, and they need to be tightened up in the near future. But when it comes to phones, just keep giving me the email, phone, contact, and calendar functionality in a straightforward way where I don't have to swipe here, there and everywhere just to make a call.

Kevin in seems to me that you can love the products & still be concerned about the state of the organization that produces them. It sounds to me that there are some problems that need to be dealt with and if they aren't then the future of our beloved BBs could be in jeopardy. Continue to be an advocate for the device and a forum where good quality debate can happen.

Kevin thank you for reporting on it. Yes BGR is always questionable when it comes to information about rim but I applaud those within rim that are fighting the bureaucracy. Sure there are bound to be disgruntled employees here and there, every company has them. However the underlying issue is that investors are nervous about rim potential for future growth and rim really needs to get smarter about competing...

PG

Let me start by saying that I have been using a Blackberry for 10 years, and want RIM to do well. For that to happen, RIM has to deal with its issues head on, not with its head in the sand. We who support the platform need to hold RIM accountable for dealing with its issues. These issues are well known, even in the regular press and RIM has acknowledged them. They include but are not limited to the loss of market share, the disgruntled shareholders, the increasingly successful incursion of other brands into the sacred (to RIM) corporate space, the not-quite-as-smart-as-the-other- guys' products, the by now regular delays in product releases and buggy products on release, etc.

Obviously, many of those who have commented haven't worked at RIM, nor are they very knowledgeable about how corporations work. Much of what has been said in the letters -- real or fake -- rings true. RIM could well have developed an ossified bureaucracy. As for its leadership, it does seem too self-satisfied and lacking in customer / market focus. An increasing number of shareholders seem to have strong opinions on that. Happily, there is now an agreement to address that problem in a rational manner.

Comments like: "Witch hunt" or "the first sign of trouble" are naive at best and not helpful; neither, by the way, is Kevin's seeming unwillingness to lead / foster an intelligent and thoughtful debate about this, which could be a responsible and valuable source for RIM as it works its way through the major challenges it faces.

You can find the same crap at any company that's having a rough time. I'm sure someone could go back and find some letter from an Apple employee in the mid 90's talking about how the moronic management waited too long to license the Mac OS -- like Microsoft had done with Windows. I mean, at the time it sounded like good advice.

Processes and procedures, and "process engineering" is one of the biggest tragedies I've ever seen hit the corporate/government world. They always promise efficiency, but never deliver. And SAP is just a way for a company to spend a lot of money on software and get little ROI and less efficiency. All I hear from people after it gets implemented somewhere is how it slows things up. Sure it generates pretty graphs and metrics for management, but never makes work for the people below them better.

RIM is going threw a rough patch and it actually care about them and their products you will back them and not whine about this and that. I say let them whine and just ignore them they arnt loyal RIM/BB users if at the first sign of trouble they do this...

BGR is pure trash, and I'm a little disappointed that Kevin and Crackberry are publishing bgr's material.

As long as my Crackberry works, I don't care what goes on behind the curtain....now if the 9900 keeps getting delayed and OS-7 is full of bugs, then I'm going to be angry.....

Fake. But then again it could be just a discruntled American working at a Canadian company.

See the spelling of Organization compared to the letter from yesterday.

It's also interesting how these letters contain no reference or insight to projects within RIM. Everything they comment about is what has been run by tech blogs.

Here's my take on it:

http://marcparadise.com/a-word-on-the-open-letter-at-bgr-com/

The original comment posted is here:

[url]http://www.bgr.com/2011/07/01/more-letters-to-rim-employees-rally-alongside -anonymous-exec/#comment-239948767[/url]

And the witch hunt continues...

RIM employs how many people?

I'm sure finding an unhappy employee or two is really "tough"

:s

Its all a bunch of sour grapes tbh. This happens all the time when ex-employees decide to try to take a parting shot. These letters really come with no real context, and should be summarily disregarded.

Yeah, now it's getting sadder. Why give BGR traffic for goofy letters?

They should really take responsibility and sign these letters. If you are an ex-employee, you shouldn't be in fear of losing your job and for those still employed and have complaints, do as the Nokia employees did and protest what you believe to be a problem. This anonymous letter deal is never good and can only make matters worse before they bare any fruit.

Who cares!! BGR is crap and am suprised kevin believes anything from them! Why post negative articles on a blackberry site?? Especially after the Nortel deal? You don't see BGR saying crap about that!

Sounds kind of like an old-school version of "Anonymous" hacktivism....typical RIM. LOL

RIM should start licensing like webOS

RIM should start licensing like webOS

Great!

first letter released yesterday, and JSG announced these 2letters yesterday and Today 2nd letter has "As the other writer said,"