As a founder of a Waterloo startup this pisses me off to no end. If RIM hadn't taken such hostile actions Kik may very well have been a Next Big Thing. I mean, Kik might still achieve that - and I damn hope they do - but it will be in spite of RIM's hostility.
Now for Waterloo region which has been trying to make a name for itself in the tech/startup world, having a Next Big Thing coming out of it would have been huge. It would have benefited the region from a financial standpoint (think PayPal mafia) and it would have benefited the region from a talent attraction standpoint.
RIM's actions are not only an assault on Kik they're an assault on Waterloo's startup community as a whole.
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As a founder of a Waterloo startup this pisses me off to no end. If RIM hadn't taken such hostile actions Kik may very well have been a Next Big Thing. I mean, Kik might still achieve that - and I damn hope they do - but it will be in spite of RIM's hostility.
Now for Waterloo region which has been trying to make a name for itself in the tech/startup world, having a Next Big Thing coming out of it would have been huge. It would have benefited the region from a financial standpoint (think PayPal mafia) and it would have benefited the region from a talent attraction standpoint.
RIM's actions are not only an assault on Kik they're an assault on Waterloo's startup community as a whole.
I think they still will be the next big thing. This will buy them more publicity than any kind of PR budget.