Curse of the BlackBerry: Why RIM Should be Worried [OPINION]

RIM seems to be fighting an uphill battle with its flagship brand, BlackBerry, after more bad publicity - this time with serious, human consequences after a man was stabbed in the neck at a press party in London.

The smartphone makers have had repeatedly bad press and the general consensus points to the BlackBerry brand as struggling to survive as not much can improve its floundering reputation.

BlackBerry has lost $7bn (£4.1bn) in value in 12 months. Stock prices over the same period are down more than 75 percent.

The BlackBerry event that saw one partygoer rushed to hospital with serious neck injuries after he was stabbed with a broken bottle was poorly managed and overcrowded. It was billed as a press event but turned into a free-for-all and was swamped with teenagers taking advantage of the free spirits and beer on offer.

The result? Reports of people who were sprayed with blood and images emerging online of pools of it on the floor in the bar area. As well as a man in critical condition in hospital with glass in his neck.

This may not be RIM's fault directly. Rather, it just seems to be the Curse of the BlackBerry - the hardest of luck amongst tech giants.

The platform's highly attractive BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) system was partly blamed for being used as a tool in the August riots across English cities last year. That was not something the company could pre-empt but it brought a lot of unwanted attention.

Two months later, widespread service outages left the company red-faced. It blamed a server crash in the Slough data centre. Thousands of BlackBerry users were left without any service at all. They were also left stranded with little to no response from RIM as the issues continued.

In December 2011, two RIM executives were left stranded after their drunken behaviour forced a plane en route to China to land in Canada. The pair had to be restrained with handcuffs.

They were both sacked, of course, but the damage had been done to the brand. And the PR disasters continued.

That very week, RIM was under investigation in Indonesia after a cut-price set of smartphones nearly caused a full-scale riot in Jakarta. Several people ended up in hospital as a result.

The list goes on: the dreaded PlayBook, which was given more negative reviews than Bio-Dome; a compromising letter leak; and some dubious leadership decisions.

So, tech companies, heed the warnings of RIM. The Curse of the BlackBerry could strike at any time.