Kagan agreed that RIM has indeed faced marketing challenges and has also been dinged for a poor browser in its smartphones and for other technology problems.

He said RIM should "refocus on their core customer group, the business community," while also updating the browser and beefing up the BlackBerry application store. "They have to refresh their brand in the fast-moving marketplace before they are lost forever," he said. "RIM is currently running in so many different directions that they have no focus."

Llamas said RIM needs to "get QNX right" with smartphones in 2012, after having a rocky 2011. "RIM completely missed a smartphone cycle by not releasing a smartphone for the first half of the year," he noted.

Kagan said Nokia's move to lower-cost smartphones puts them in a better position to succeed than RIM. "If RIM cannot update their technology and bring their smartphone technology up to speed, I am afraid to say they may indeed be in serious trouble."

Llamas said both RIM and Nokia need to make big changes. "This is the reality of things," he said. "You have to shift your entire paradigm. It's going to be big and it's going to hurt and take time and resources. Paradigm shifts are not without growing pains."