Beginning this week, Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry, launches a software development drive called the BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour. Starting in Toronto and London, the seminars and workshops will eventually reach 11 cities and are intended to help enterprise developers design apps to better enable their clients to access and secure data that resides behind the firewall. RIM will teach developers how to make full use of its tools for the BlackBerry 10 operating system so they can create solutions involving company intranets, databases and other areas for storing confidential data.

Tarifica’s Take

While the tech press has been beating the drums of doom for RIM lately, we would caution industry participants not to count it out just yet. Enterprises, less fickle and emotional than consumers, still give the BlackBerry a respectable amount of good will. Moreover, many continue to rely on its handsets and service to a reasonably significant degree. In our opinion, RIM’s current initiative is well-aimed, as teaching third-party developers how to create apps tailored to the needs of their enterprise clients is a smart move to cement loyalty and regain relevance in the mobile world. The emphasis on security features is particularly savvy, considering the importance corporate clients place on protecting their proprietary information.

While RIM definitely has a long way to go and could still end up falling by the wayside, at this point we believe it is too early to give up on the company. Due to its track record, reliability, installed base and reputation for security, it remains in good standing with enough enterprise customers to have a chance at regaining market relevance and a more favorable competitive position.