Rita McGrath’s blog at Harvard Business Review is entitled Back to the Boneyard — Palm, Flip…and now RIM?. “Things move quickly in technology, which is why technology companies are fascinating to strategists the way fruit flies are for biologists — you can see an entire life cycle in a very short span of time. The latest story to make me think of this is a recent piece in the New York Times that observes that RIM (Research in Motion) has cut its forecasts for its Blackberry products and that it is struggling to offer new ideas relevant to an iPad world where just being able to get your email on a handheld device is a yawn. It reflects a pattern that I often talk about: When a company discovers something that is truly exciting, others copy and follow, to the point that what was once the object of techno-lust becomes a non-negotiable prerequisite. Expensive to develop? Sure. Difficult to deliver flawlessly? Of course. Making a competitive difference? Unfortunately, only if your offer isn’t as good as the other guy’s and then only in the negative. To read the entire post, click here.