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Analysis: RIM's limited iPhone fight-back optionsFri, 03/07/2008 - 08:48 — Andy Space
Right. As part of the push, RIM has reached a deal with Black Eyed Peas' artist, Will.i.am, to make that artist's content and online community Dipdive available on the BlackBerry. (Will.i.am was also behind Barack Obama’s successful “Yes We Can” video.) The company introduced Facebook software for its smartphones last autumn. RIM's in a fix. Apple's introduction of Exchange support means core Blackberry customers have a choice of devices, and with the iPhone offering extra value in terms of screen real estate, iPod and other sexy features, the Blackberry maker must struggle to preserve its market. Two-thirds of RIM's 12 million Blackberry users are government or corporate clients. In order to widen its business and resist the Apple-driven iPhone assault, RIM has little choice but to extend its product's versatility. RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie told Reuters, "The two hottest trends in wireless are social networking and multimedia, which is principally portable music." While the company continues to insist iPhone poses no competition, with economic downturn threatening sales in its key business sectors and the debut of iPhone, which threatens to clean up in the consumer market, things appear grim. Apple has already seized the number two slot in the US smartphone market, grabbing 28 percent share. Blackberry continues to dominate this sector with 41 percent, Canalsys claimed last month. In the consumer markets, a January ChangeWave survey showed a move toward smartphones, with iPhone and Blackberry competing for dominance. That survey of 4,182 consumers declared the iPhone to be the leading choice, with 17 percent of consumers planning to buy a smartphone planning an iPhone. That compares with 15 percent planning to pick Blackberry. Customer satisfaction may be key to victory. 72 percent of those surveyed who already own an iPhone said they were "very satisfied" with the product, while just 55 percent were equally satisfied with their Blackberry. The game's afoot. Apple, which sells iPhone in just four countries and has confirmed four million sales of the device so far already holds 0.6 percent of the world's cell phone market, according toGartner. This compares to RIM's 1.2 percent. With Apple planning to sell 10 million iPhones this year, its overall market share seems set for steep growth, pushing ahead of RIM. Investors are watching closely. Apple shares seem to have begun reclaiming a little lost ground on strength of last night's iPhone SDK announcements (up a few pennies to $121.36). Beleaguered RIM has lost $1.72 per share to hit $96.20 on pre-market trading this morning. Battle, it seems, is joined.
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Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
yea saw an interview the
yea saw an interview the other day of RIM's CEO. and all he could say about that iphone is that they weren't worried because they are veterens in the smartphone market. all i could think was "just you wait...just you wait." it's going to be hilarious when apple passes RIM. i give it 8 months. once 3g iphones and the native 3rd party apps hit the market, it's end game for everyone else. and i'm just stating the obvious
We've learned and struggled
We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in. - Palm CEO Ed Colligan, commenting on then-rumored Apple iPhone, Nov. 16, 2006
Blindness
It astonishes me how blind many of the non-Apple techies are. RIM isn't threatened by the iPhone?! Yeah, because everyone who has the option of full graphical touchscreen interface would just as easily consider another clunky non-Apple product. Give me a freakin' break!
Thank you, Apple, for actually designing products for human beings, not robots!
RIMM stock will go south.
Plain and simple
About time!
I live in Kitchener/Waterloo where RIM is based out of. I think they have ALOT to be worried about but I also think it's awesome. Why? I find a good majority of RIM people to think they are the be all and end all of the world. Snotty, attitude laden, holier than thou, jerks. Not all for sure... I have some good friends who are RIM employees... but many of us in KW are fed up with their attitude. Best of all.... slowly being brought down by my favorite company. I think by years ends, the tables will have turned with Apple iPhone holding over 40% market share.
I'm also in KW, around the
I'm also in KW, around the corner from RIM central. Apple is one of my favourite companies too, but i have respect for RIM too. And competition is good.
I love the iPhone, but I think the Blackberry is cool too, and RIM has driven most of pre-iPhone smartphone innovation for a number of years now. RIM employs a lot of local people, including my neighbours and friends. Many of my company's clients are dependent directly or indirectly on RIM. I've met JB and he's a good guy with a sense of humour and a strong belief in the KW community. I've heard him talk about enhancing the quality of life in KW so that people want to come and live here. Tech professionals coming here to work at RIM or for the tech industry that RIM has helped develop are the reason that we finally have some decent sushi and thai food in this town. :-)
Both Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis have invested millions of their own money into local charities and public facilities, as well as research facilities such as CIGI and Perimiter Institute which are bringing some of the brightest minds to KW and putting this town on the cutting edge of science, governance and technology. Not to mention their support for the universities.
Plus it's only a matter of time before you can root for the Waterloo BlackBerries over the Maple Leafs, if you're into hockey.
So whether one cool smartphone or the other gets a bit more market share than the other is meaningless, it's just a gadget. But just because the RIM sales reps snapping each other with towels in the change room at the gym are just about the most obnoxious fops on the planet, doesn't mean that RIM is arrogant and obnoxious.
And hey, we have an annual weeklong celebration of public drunkenness, and RIM supports that too, I don't know whether to love 'em or hate 'em for that.
that's just it though. it's
that's just it though. it's not just a gadget. it's a fight over the next major platform. apple will win, that's a promise
RIM is the suck.
RIM is the suck.
RIM: RIP
RIM: RIP
It's a phone. It's a music
It's a phone. It's a music player. And it's a web browser. Yeah, the iPhone is awesome.
But iPhone sux as a text entry platform.
RIM's products aren't so sleek as Apple's, but they excel at what they do - text based communications.
Yeah RIM has added in web browsing & music player, and their next OS rev (4.5) promises a lot more multimedia integration. But that's all secondary to why BB owners have them - text communications.
Apple chose to forego an actual keyboard and instead utilize their nifty touch technology. And that's great, if typos don't count. But when you're reassuring a corporate client that their big purchase is gonna go without a hitch then crappy typing does count, heavily, against you.
iPhone is kewl, but BB gets it's job done.
Crappy grammar and crappy
Crappy grammar and crappy proofreading counts heavily against you just as much as crappy typing does. For example, you mean its, not it's.
$300 for a text device?
That's funny to hear that you'd say that the BB does it job well... yes, the fixed keyboard is probably better when typing a lot fast. But to say that spending how many hundreds of dollars a year extra for a QWERTY keyboard, where the device stinks at multimedia, gaming, and internet communications- not sure how RIM could win this one without a major revamp of their products and their software. Apple is investing HEAVILY into this platform because they want to create products that THEY want to use- maybe if RIM had the same passion now, they'll remain relevant longer.
iPhone Typos?
I have an iPhone, and have been using it since Jan '08. I have not had any typos on it yet. This includes emails, searches and text messages. I have also typed on a blackberry. It takes a person at least 2 minutes to find the digits to dial a number (vs. the 15 seconds on the iPhone). The buttons are so small you can't see the letters, numbers, character keys etc. My boss always has spelling mistakes and she uses a BB.
Bottom line: Whatever device you type on, smartphone, laptop etc. you must always double check your writing, especially if you are doing business. It's really up to the individual, not the device!
By the way: The iPhone autocorrects/autofills typos and mistakes. It also learns your "slang" and autofills.
Something the Blackberry
Something the Blackberry does have up on the iPhone though, is choice of carrier. There is a blackberry for just about every carrier out there. Right now, in the US anyway, the iPhone is stuck with AT&T.
yeah...
true iPhone works only on ATT but give it till the end of the contract. I think maybe then Apple will realize that they can hold their own, and the "exclusivity" wont be it. Then carriers will compete on services provided for a price- people will choose the networks on their merits finally and not on what type of phone each network has.
I think they should appeal
I think they should appeal to the industry's bottom line. iPhones are not cheap, and we're sot of experiencing a downturn in the economy. I think that RIM just can't compete with all the bells and whistles like music and games, but they can compete by undercutting the iPhones $300 price. Lets say you are a company and you need to supply 1000 employees with phones $50 of less a phone is a lot more appealing that paying $300 + when you are trying to pinch pennies
The game's over for RIM
Just in case you got to the party late: The 'iPhone' is actually the 'Newton', redux. There are so many big strategic differences between the RIM and iPhone platform a comparison is embarrassing. But to net it all out, iPhone is on Mac OS X platform with multi-touch. The RIM?
And now that the iPhone SDK (it's sweet by the way) is available and $100,000,000 of VC funding is too, well - game over!
iPhone will win
Its pretty simple: iPhone will win. I suspect in about 1 year's time, the iPhone and Blackberry will trade market share. Last I heard iPhone was like 28% and RIMM 41% in smartphone market. The arrival of the 3g iPhone along with the new Enterprise features and awesome SDK will make all the difference. I read on a post at Personafile product page, http://www.personafile.com/products, that iPhone 2.0 software is geared up to support a 3g iphone. I wouldn't want to be RIMM at this point.
iPhone will not win if Apple
iPhone will not win if Apple stays with the "one Provider per Country" policy. My Company which is in the Top 10 of the "The Forbes Global 2000" will not switch to O2 in the UK nor to AT&T in the US just to have the opportunity to buy the iPhone. We'll stay with our chosen Provider and therefore Apple already looses a lot of potentil customers...
If the want to be more succesful than RIM they have to open up the market for everyone!
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