Research-In-Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) sells one of the most popular smartphones in the world. The Blackberry does well because it allows business people to have an easy system that makes their e-mail portable. The software and hardware make the product an absolute necessity for many professionals.
All of that is well and good until the Blackberry systems fail. Yesterday, RIM's system was down. That took away all of the reasons for owning the device, at least for a day. It also gave competition from companies like Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Palm (NASDAQ:PALM) a little foot in the door to convince business users that the Blackberry may not be the most reliable device on the market.
With customers who want 24-hour service, having the system down is monumentally frustrating. Similar problems have happened before. But if RIMM can't improve reliability, it leaves itself vulnerable to a host of customer defections.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
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