RIM’s Blackberry was supposed to be (and for a short while was) to the mobile phone industry what Kleenex is to facial tissues.   Was the debatable innovation, technical or financial missteps of RIM’s executives what caused it to go from the world’s mobile “fittest” to economic “weakling” overnight? Even passionate advocates of Social Darwinism will conceded that any form of natural selection does not happen this quickly without some external factor such as an economics-version of a tsunami or meteor storm that kills off a species in one fell swoop. So what’s the external factor at play here?

I responded to the recent news of the resignation of RIM’s Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis with mixed emotions. As a Blackberry user and fan, it signals a possible change in direction to what I saw as an arrogant disregard for my patronage and loyalty.