With the BlueTooth enabled 7290 and the Blackberry 7100 series (Charm), there will be a lot more consumers who will demanding more software, and the number of BlackBerry applications being developed is accelerating and currently at about 5-10 times the pace it was just 12 months ago. Just recently, somebody posted that a company is experimenting with Bluetooth peripherals (Bluetooth GPS), which would be a good sign for BlackBerry's future in the ability to provide bonus features beyond its most important advantages.
At the other end, other handhelds are catching up in providing similiar push email, such as Goodlink on TREO handhelds, as well as some other email solutions. Another thing is that RIM Blackberry Connect is going to gradually become available for Palm/PocketPC smartphones. Some people will prefer the cool factor of a camera phone! RIM will stick to some really good strengths of BlackBerry, so a genune BlackBerry will still have advantages over a handheld that is running Blackberry Connect. This may frustrate people who would like RIM to add features more quickly to BlackBerry, but people familiar with RIM knows they will be very cautious to protect their core markets.
There are some that legitimately need multiple platforms at this time. There are some organizations that have deployed solutions that coexist between BlackBerry, PocketPC, and PalmOS.
One thing for clear, is that the Blackberry application disadvantage is definitely going to greatly diminish during Year 2005; with a very large third-party software explosion. It used to be that PocketPC had a big disadvantage relative to PalmOS in application availability, but the difference between the two of them is relatively small compared to three or four years ago. There is nothing stopping BlackBerry from eventually becoming a serious competitor in terms of application availability.
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