MichaelMace

Windows was already established as the desktop OS standard before Linux became prominent. Windows had a huge base of apps and massive network effects. Saving money on the cost of the OS was not enough of an advantage to make most users switch away from Windows.

Mobile is very different. There is no single established OS standard, and in fact most phone buyers don't even know what the OS is in their phone (I am talking about average users, not the folks who are reading this comment). Cellphone companies will sweat blood in order to cut ten cents out of the parts cost of a phone. Eliminating ten dollars in cost is a huge deal to them.

Add to that the marketing power of the Google brand, and Android looked very attractive to mobile phone manufacturers when compared to Windows Mobile and Symbian, which were the other main choices at the time.

Sorry for the confusion. What I was trying to say was that I think neither the rise of Android nor bad marketing are likely to be the death of RIM. They may well be damaging, but in my opinion they are a sideshow compared to the central problems.

Android is obviously an important competitor to everybody else in the mobile market, but in my opinion the market is heavily segmented, so it's possible for several companies to grow simultaneously.

And RIM's products sold well for years despite the company's lame marketing. Yes, Apple has raised the bar on smartphone marketing, but if (as BusinessWeek implied) you have to out-market Apple in order to succeed in smartphones, everyone else ought to pack up and quit now.