[donovanj]

Interesting article from Toms Hardware on the recent Blackberry world show.

BlackBerry World: Six Ways RIM Messed Up Its Own Party : Missed Opportunity

I have to say I agree with a lot of these.

[donovanj]

While I love my BB, my Bold has seen a lot of use and will need replacement in the near future. I was hoping that the Bold replacement 9900 would be out by now and if mine dies before they can get these out to carriers late this year I'm not sure what device I will replace it with.

[brandonaybar]

I still have faith that RIM can learn from its "mistakes" and forge ahead.

[fourstringfuror]

I don't understand the incessant comparison to iPhone. They are not the same device. Different purpose, different market, different uses. I did not want an iPhone when I bought my BlackBerry.

Every so-called expert, blogger, and commentator says the same thing: "I love BlackBerry, but it's not as good as my iPhone4." This article boils down to the same sentiment.

[stevetaz]

Originally Posted by fourstringfuror

I don't understand the incessant comparison to iPhone. They are not the same device. Different purpose, different market, different uses. I did not want an iPhone when I bought my BlackBerry.

Every so-called expert, blogger, and commentator says the same thing: "I love BlackBerry, but it's not as good as my iPhone4." This article boils down to the same sentiment.

I must say that while I understand what you mean I really did not get that impression from this particular article. Sure there is mention of Apple and of Android, but I came away feeling as though the author was genuinely disappointed with what he perceived as decisions made by RIM, but not as compared to what Apple does or doesn't do. It seemed to me the article was pointing out failures of RIM to make use of strengths they already had or opportunities they created to leap ahead.

However, I have been wrong before and I will be wrong again.....

[fourstringfuror]

I can see that.

[ifonline]

What, that the article wasn't really comparing RIM to Apple, or that stevetaz is wrong a lot?

[stevetaz]

Maybe both.......

[ifonline]

True. True.

[DaveTheA]

I was all prepared to disagree with what the article had to say [yup, gonna be more BB bashing...] but in fact I think it makes a lot of good points. RIM has made mistakes...

The whole world of smartphone progress reminds me a lot of the days of the OS wars in the '90's. A lot of developers were purely and simply guessing about where the technology was going, and where the market [ie. consumers] wanted to go. Some of them guessed right and succeeded, others guessed wrong and failed, or got relegated to niches...all despite having viable and attractive technology. If RIM makes too many bad guesses about where the market is going, their technological excellence won't matter. It's kind of a crapshoot...

[donovanj]

Originally Posted by DaveTheA

I was all prepared to disagree with what the article had to say [yup, gonna be more BB bashing...] but in fact I think it makes a lot of good points. RIM has made mistakes...

That is what I found really interesting with this article in particular... It clearly is not written from a fanboy point of view but rather an objective and truthful critique of the mistakes RIM has made lately. A lot of these mistakes have been pointed out here on these forums but it seems, more often than not, those posts get bashed by BB fanboys. As much as I like their devices (been using BB since the 850 pager and my current phone is a 9000 bold) I can't help but feel like RIM is following Palm to some degree. IMHO without some major improvements they will continue their downward trend.

My own case is a good example. I have an aging 9000 bold that has been great hardware wise but has never had rock solid software to back it up. I have tried various versions of 4 and 5 OS's and they all have major issues (some "official" versions even have basic functionality flaws like the ringer stops working). Trying to find decent software is a pain because RIM refuses to put any release notes or even what changes or fixes each build has. I am very patiently waiting on the real replacement to my phone (bold 9900). I am hoping that it will not be delayed too long and it has good software. If it does not, I will probably be looking elsewhere for its replacement....

I think that is the point of the whole article. You can only make so many mistakes in this fast moving industry...

[canvasback13]

Originally Posted by fourstringfuror

I don't understand the incessant comparison to iPhone. They are not the same device. Different purpose, different market, different uses.

I am not so sure the markets are that different. I work at a big financial services company. We are rolling out secure mail apps for people to use on iPhones & iPads. It will allow employees to get corporate email through an application on their personal devices. It will also allow access to work specific applications that are password protected. Currently if you have a blackberry, they completely cripple the device and you cant text or have personal email on it. (I know Blackberry Balance is inteneded to address this). If you want work and personal email here the only way to get down to one device will be on an iPhone. I realize this is because of a strict security policy on BBs, not a hardware issue. But the result is going to push people over to iPhone untill a similair option because available on BBs here.

My point is that iPhones are breaking into the corporate market. The two largest brokerage firms have implemented and continue to develop apps for both clients and employees to use on the apple os. Blackberrys will continue to be supported, but the iPhone is now an option.

I have always loved Blackberry but and going to try the iPhone option in the pilot group. It will be interesting to compare how it works.