[SimonMac]

PC Pro: News: RIM "developing touchscreen device to rival iPhone"

RIM is rumoured to be working on a brand new operating system and handheld device to meet the challenge of the iPhone.

The BlackBerry maker is said to be developing a new 9000 Series platform that will be targeted at the consumer market, according to Carmi Levy, an analyst at AR Communications.

"The 9000 is supposed to be a touchscreen device, very similar in form factor to the iPhone," Levy says in an article for Unstrung. "Which means that it is not an enterprise-friendly device."

Now i think this is complete **** as when I spoke to Mike Lazaridis he was cool on the idea of a touchscreen device. I think they will bring out more "commercial" devices along the lines of the Pearl but I doubt they'd go the whole hog.

[ArgonNJ]

Originally Posted by SimonMac

PC Pro: News: RIM "developing touchscreen device to rival iPhone"



Now i think this is complete **** as when I spoke to Mike Lazaridis he was cool on the idea of a touchscreen device. I think they will bring out more "commercial" devices along the lines of the Pearl but I doubt they'd go the whole hog.

Nokia was anti touch screen as well and guess what, Nokia is doing touchscreens. Never say never. While I like the hardware keyboard, there is a market segment that doesn't need them.

[mas90guru]

See what you guys get for running a photoshop...

BlackBerry 9000 whispers in our ear | The Boy Genius Report


Worth noting that the source for the article appears to work for a copyrighting firm. I'm not sure how he would have run into such information other than surfing the regular stuff that everyone does.

[fishkake]

I hate touch screens... I've had various HTC devices, and not liked any of them.

I work for a company who provide industrial handhelds with Windows CE and Windows Mobile (I won't say which one in case I get accused of spamming!!), all with touchscreens, and a substantial number of our customers ask for the touch screen to be turned off. If the buttons are easy enough to get to, there's no need for it - the original BlackBerry trackwheel was fantastic for this, and although I'm not used to it, the ball mouse on the pearl and others seems pretty good too.

I'm reminded of a line from Jurrassic Park, for some reason... "We spent so long thinking about whether we could, we never stopped to consider whether we should" - touch screens are everywhere now, and in most cases entirely unnecessary.

Thats my opinion. Don't worry, no charge.

[ArgonNJ]

Originally Posted by fishkake

I hate touch screens... I've had various HTC devices, and not liked any of them.

I work for a company who provide industrial handhelds with Windows CE and Windows Mobile (I won't say which one in case I get accused of spamming!!), all with touchscreens, and a substantial number of our customers ask for the touch screen to be turned off. If the buttons are easy enough to get to, there's no need for it - the original BlackBerry trackwheel was fantastic for this, and although I'm not used to it, the ball mouse on the pearl and others seems pretty good too.

I'm reminded of a line from Jurrassic Park, for some reason... "We spent so long thinking about whether we could, we never stopped to consider whether we should" - touch screens are everywhere now, and in most cases entirely unnecessary.



Thats my opinion. Don't worry, no charge.

The major problem with touch screens, especially Win Mobile touch screens is they really aren't made to be used one handed or without the stylus. Looks like the iphone is more finger friendly. I would hope RIM would go this route with any possible touch screen model they might have in the pipe.

[BryanHarig]

The biggest issue with current WM touch screens is the lack of 'finger friendlyness'.

-They are sunken into the phone where they should be flush with the body of the phone.

-They are made of soft, vulnerable materials.

The iPhone fixes both those issues as well as introduces an operating system designed for finger interaction. Just as RIM has optimized their OS of scrollwheel and trackball use Apple has optimized theirs for fingers. HTC is leading development into similar optimizations for WM.

Apple has an advantage right now because they started with a clean slate and they employ some very good interface designers. Given time I am confident RIM and the WM developers will be able to follow their lead and develop touch screen that are actually useful for the average consumer.

[nonsequitur]

any consumer oriented device will be labeled a competitor to the iphone by the industry news media, even if the only thing the two have in common is a gsm radio and a camera.

[silentmax]

ive been using my iphone for a while now and switching between the 8700 and then to the iphone is a pain especialy when sending sms

[StarKnight83]

one of the biggest complaints ive seen of the iphone is the difficulty of using the on screen keyboard - I personally would like to see a touch screen BB that mimics the looks of an iphone and think that a keyboard layout and suretype would fix the text input problems (or at least the majority of them)

[TBOLTRAM]

Why would it be news that companies are developing competition for the iPhone? Real news would be that someone is developing something that is a true step forward.

[nedzalife]

Originally Posted by StarKnight83

one of the biggest complaints ive seen of the iphone is the difficulty of using the on screen keyboard

Agreed, and the iPhone's keyboard probably would have been much more user friendly if they had made it flip sideways to a widescreen mode so that the keys could be larger on the screen. It would also make the phone easier to hold while typing on the touch screen. Trying to be accurate with no tactile response along with tiny on-screen keys make it virtually impossible to be accurate without a lot of practice.

[fkjr2]

rim please dont follow apple!

[koleary19067]

Should be interesting of what happens

[greggebhardt]

Originally Posted by fkjr2

rim please dont follow apple!

Why. RIM will do it better nad everone needs to STOP the PANIC as RIM has no plan to replace our keyboarded devices with a virtual keyboards. They are only going to give you a choice.

Many forget that not too long ago each carrier had only one BB device for it's users to choose from. We now can choose from many in each carrier!

Let RIM proceed and be calm. I trust they know what they are doing better than we do! My RIM stock sure things so!

[fkjr2]

Originally Posted by greggebhardt

Why. RIM will do it better nad everone needs to STOP the PANIC as RIM has no plan to replace our keyboarded devices with a virtual keyboards. They are only going to give you a choice.

Many forget that not too long ago each carrier had only one BB device for it's users to choose from. We now can choose from many in each carrier!

Let RIM proceed and be calm. I trust they know what they are doing better than we do! My RIM stock sure things so!

Suppose your right. Just would hate to lose any of the basic features that make BB's so great. We shall wait and see what happens. I for one will see myself always using RIM after a long battle with other devices/OS's ;)

[Sith_Apprentice]

i really doubt a physical keyboard will go anywhere. have you seen the typing tests? blackberry came out easily on top of all smart phones for typing ease of use and accuracy. guess what came in last? the might iphone.

[gqstatus05]

i think a touchscreen blackberry would be a disaster. People who purchase it, if it's ever to come out will probably end up returning it and going back to traditional ball and wheel. Imagine how hard it will be to compose an email for people who have never done it before by touching a screen. Now if they develop a state of the art way to talk to your device and have it compose an email for you, i applaud them. Kills the purpose if you're in a meeting trying to send an email though. Who knows.. probably going to be made for the younger generation. Hopefully they don't go that route

[gqstatus05]

this is coming from a 22 year old. I wouldn't even buy it.

[CurvyBerry]

Originally Posted by fishkake

I hate touch screens... I've had various HTC devices, and not liked any of them.

I work for a company who provide industrial handhelds with Windows CE and Windows Mobile (I won't say which one in case I get accused of spamming!!), all with touchscreens, and a substantial number of our customers ask for the touch screen to be turned off. If the buttons are easy enough to get to, there's no need for it - the original BlackBerry trackwheel was fantastic for this, and although I'm not used to it, the ball mouse on the pearl and others seems pretty good too.

I'm reminded of a line from Jurrassic Park, for some reason... "We spent so long thinking about whether we could, we never stopped to consider whether we should" - touch screens are everywhere now, and in most cases entirely unnecessary.

Thats my opinion. Don't worry, no charge.

I would hate touch screens too if they were HTC.... no wonder..!

[ArgonNJ]

Originally Posted by gqstatus05

Imagine how hard it will be to compose an email for people who have never done it before by touching a screen.

What??? Hard to do??? Are you kidding?