3rd Place is a disturbing yet amusing coloring book really meant for adults.
Click the photo to find out more.
A conversation I had with a friend circa April 2011, shortly after I posted this article:
Friend: So why’d you leave? Was it the money?
Me: Are you kidding? The money’s awesome. In fact, the money’s making it hard to leave.
Friend: It was the incident*, was it?
Me: Actually, no. Even right after “the incident” [I made “air quotes” with my fingers while saying this], I was quite sure I was going to stick around for a while.
Friend: So what was it, then?
Me: A bunch of things. After everything that’s happened, I figured I was due for a change. Plus, there’s the whole being-the-Windows-Phone-guy thing. I’ve done too many 14-hour days and a lot of slogging around for what? A distant third place…if we’re lucky.
* The incident is a good story, best told in person over drinks.
“We have a clear shot at being the number three platform on the market. We’re not just another open platform on the market, we are BlackBerry.”
“Why go for the gold when you can go for the bronze?” said no one, ever.
To be fair, later in the article, it says:
Asked why he wasn’t aiming for one or two, Heins said “you climb a mountain step by step.”
That’s actually pretty reasonable. The next 18 months will tell the rest of the story, but the trends aren’t with them right now, according to Dan Frommer, who reminds us how far RIM has fallen with this graph:
Maybe RIM can borrow a page from AVIS’ book and come up with a slogan like “We’re number three, so we try harder”…
