[kwlug-disc] Orion Electronics

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

Business, local or not, deserve criticism when they have practices that warrant
it. Being local does not give a business immunity from criticism just
because they
are local, or there is a lot of nostalgia for them.

The big example is RIM/Blackberry: they had a large majority of the smart
phone market, but became overconfident, arrogant, complacent and oblivious
to market changes. They saw Apple in 2007 introduce a new paradigm (no
physical keyboard, interaction by touch only, short battery life) and saw all
that as a fad that is going to fail. They missed the App Store concept. Then
a year later Android was released by Google with similar concepts (App Store,
many free apps, free SDK) and still talked themselves into : businesses will
never stop using our BlackBerry, we are the most secure, ...etc.

At that time, they were so popular, kids would send their BB ID to message
each other. Governments around the world (including the US Congress) were
dependent on them.

Mike Lazarides was so focused on the hand sets, he bought an Apple iPhone
when it first came out and dismantled: he always thought users would want
physical keyboards and a battery life of several days. He missed the ecosystem
part.

I had friends who jumped from whatever company they were in to RIM at the
height of their dominance, only to be laid off or jump back after their demise.

Where are they today? Last I checked they had 0.4% market share, and that
was a couple of years ago.

A reporter wrote an article, and later a book, on how this once dominant
company declined in the span of less than 5 years.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-inside-story-of-why-blackberry-is-failing/article14563602/

On Sun, Jul 15, 2018 at 5:57 PM, Chamunks <chamunks at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm all for trashing local business if they're taking you for a ride.  I
> have fond memories of being a youngin working on PCB kits with my Dad in
> grade 3/4[ish?] making little alarm things etc that we got from Orion.  Also
> my first TV was purchased with a Toonie I had available in my change jar
> down the street it was a black and white little tv on a swivel stand and it
> only had a dial for 13 channels.  We bought a coaxial to RF adapter and a TV
> channel box thing so I could watch cable on it eventually.  I think my dad
> thought it was absurd so he eventually bought me a 20"(ish) color tube TV so
> I could play my Nintendo in my room in color :P I bought the little black n
> white so I didn't have to share my consoles with my sisters, very different
> times.