Blackberry 9000 (Bold) photo courtesy of Boy Genius Report:
Listen Blackberry, I was a proud owner of the Blackberry Pearl. It was a fantastic phone, I loved it until the scrollball decided it didn’t want to work anymore. But you guys are in some deep poo. Seriously. Apple has backed you guys into a corner and you didn’t even see it coming.
Apple is readying it’s second generation iPhone which is rumored to have both a 3G chipset and possible GPS support. Along with the release will come the next edition of the software with support for enterprise features like exchange support, push e-mail and calendering, as well as security features like remote wipe. Along with the software development kit that was released allowing for businesses to write specific enterprise apps, as well as games and social apps. Not only will this increase the marketshare of the average cellphone user, this will place the iPhone squarely in the domain of the enterprise, the stronghold of RIM, the makers of the Blackberry.
It’s obvious that the people up in Cupertino have spent an inordinate amount of time developing the iPhone, but the task of perfecting it was put to the early adopters. iPhone version 1 was nothing more than a modern day beta test. They knew they had the hardware and design ends down, but they released it with a general lack of features compared to most handsets. Apple wanted to see exactly what people REALLY wanted and needed in a phone, so that instead of filling it with useless and endless numbers of features, it has exactly what people want and need.
The jailbreaking community proved that consumers want 3rd party apps and that people we’re willing to develop for the platform. The unlocking community proved that there is a market for an unlocked model of the phone. And businesses clamoring for enterprise support on the device proved that there are inroads that can be made in the marketshare of Blackberry and Windows Mobile.
Unfortunately for RIM, this puts them in the position of having to play catch-up with Apple’s iPhone, a position that has been problematic for nearly every company put into the position. Microsoft, Creative and Sandisk are companies that have tried to make inroads into the iPod marketshare with very little success, and it’s all for one simple reason. The only company willing to take chances with design and functionality is Apple.
Apple is willing to break the mold as it were. The iPhone eschewed the standard flip/slider/qwerty model for a phone with only one button and a beautiful large touchscreen. It isnt that the technology didn’t exist, it’s that Apple was the only company really willing to try. Of course Windows Mobile had been doing touchscreens for years, but unfortunately they were still stuck in the mindset of PDA’s from previous generations. Though you could use a finger on those screens, they were made for easy to use styluses. There was no multi-touch capability, and the whole process was clunky to say the least. Apple was willing to put in the time and research and money to EVOLVE the cellphone from where it had kind of stalled.
It’s obvious to anyone that Apple could have simply put a cellphone chip into an ipod and used the click wheel to dial or text. Or perhaps stolen a slider design from LG or Samsung and called it a day. It’s silly, and I’m sure that a prototype in those fashions were built. But it’s simply not Apple’s style. What they have now isn’t perfect however. I’ll be the first to agree that typing on the iPhone is far from perfect, but you can expect that it will be worked on and fixed in the next version or two. Apple very rarely leaves “good enough” alone. They make sure to move the game forward with any product they release, forcing everyone else into the position of either cloning what they do, or sticking with an old and clunky model of working, and proclaiming that the future is bad and the old way of doing things is better.
Coincidentally (and unfortunately) RIM is doing both.
Take a look at the Blackberry 9000 at the top of this article. Those rounded edges, that chrome bezel. What does it look like? That’s right, the iPhone. But what else is there? That QWERTY keyboard. So they are aping Apple’s industrial design but keeping the general Blackberry style that has served them so well in the past. Is it just me, or is this the worst possible thing they could have done. It’s basically admitting that they don’t know what to do about the iPhone, so they just kinda make the new device look like it, except that it’s just the same old Blackberry with a new skin on it. Sure it’s pretty but it’s just basically a “here take my marketshare” card from RIM to Apple. What is necessary from RIM is a device that is a generational leap ahead of anything they are probably working on.
Chances are in the RIM labs now they are researching just how to make a nice looking multitouch phone, instead of thinking about how to get AHEAD of the game. They are being forced into that classic post-Apple role of playing catch up. It also looks like every other cellphone company is on the same track, with LG, Samsung, and Nokia all making touch screen iPhone clones, though some with sliding keyboards, and some with speakers and all sorts of wierd things that are a sad attempt at making their products seem better than the iPhone.
It’s as simple as this, Apple joined the game in first place. They set the trend for years to come, and as long as companies are trying to out-do this years iPhone, instead of thinking ahead. It looks like Apple will be at the head of the class for the forseeable future.
This is why RIM is in serious trouble. If the iPhone takes off in the enterprise like it should, you can expect that RIM will be mortally wounded by it. Samsung, LG, and Nokia have no problem making the low-end free phones and othe rmodels that will keep them in business for years, but RIM makes e-mail based smartphones. That’s it. If they go right up against Apple and the iPhone without taking risks and experimenting, they are as good as out of business.
Tags:
Apple,
Blackberry,
Cellphone,
iPhone,
LG,
Nokia,
Samsung 
