RIM's Indonesian CEO Charged With Negligence After Black Friday Blackberry Stampede
RIM's Indonesian CEO Charged With Negligence After Black Friday Blackberry Stampede
Posted 12/05/2011 at 11:30am
| by Brad Chacos
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Poor Research in Motion. Even when they do good, they do bad. Case in point: Indonesia. RIM launched the Blackberry Bold 9790 there on November 25th, and over 5,000 interested Indonesians showed up to buy it. Good, right? Not quite. You see, RIM was offering the phone for 50 percent off to the first 1,000 customers, and those 5,000 people turned into a stampede as folks rushed to get the deal. Over ninety fainted, three were injured, the sale was canceled, and now, several RIM representatives – including RIM’s Indonesian CEO – are now being charged with criminal negligence.
Today, police in Jakarta announced that Andrew Cobham, the said RIM CEO, has been barred from overseas travel and faces up to 9 months in prison if convicted of the negligence charge. He hasn’t been detained, though he is required to voluntarily appear at police headquarters, the Jakarta Globe reports. The publication says that a security consultant, an event organizer and the mall’s head of security could also face criminal prosecution for their roles in the event.
Police say that RIM should have known the crowd would be massive. They also say that RIM changed the details of the promotion partway through the day. Originally, customers could only obtain the phone if they had a red bracelet supplied by RIM, but RIM decided to ditch that plan halfway through the day. Waiting customers who had bracelets then became very, very angry when non-braceleted (that’s a word, right?) customers strolled out of the store with a new Bold 9790.
What do you think, Maximum PC readers: should event organizers and company honchos be jailed if low, low prices and limited offers drive massive crowds into a feeding frenzy?
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d3v
December 06, 2011 at 10:06pm
Company directors are responsible for criminal activities by a company. So yes he should be held responsible.
win7fanboi
December 06, 2011 at 7:59am
I think it was a bigger fail on the police's part and probably the store manager who didn't see this coming.
newegg911
December 05, 2011 at 5:07pm
I can see it both ways. Companies should know that using these slimy business tactics is going to result in poor people rioting to get stuff for next to nothing but people should know better than to not stampede people to save a dollar.
This is why I hate WalMart. The company AND the people that shop there usually suck.
B_H
December 05, 2011 at 1:54pm
Well, businesses have been held liable for injuries stemming from marketing promotions before. That's why early riser's get a ticket if they've been sitting outside for a week. No need to bull rush the door even during Black Friday insanity (which is what protects you by showing you had foresight and took precaution). Quitting the wrist-band thing might have opened them up, but aren't limited-time, limited quantity offers still pretty commonplace?
Can the individuals even be targeted in this lawsuit if they were acting as agents of RIM? Not that I'm a legal expert.
The guys at RIM certainly have been having some pretty bad mojo lately though, that's for sure. Not that I don't feel for the trampled masses.
blkpanthr
December 05, 2011 at 1:51pm
Holding a CEO responsible for the poor behavior of others is just rediculous.
Its like holding me responsible because a houseguest shot my wife.
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