[Czar_of_Berry]

Marty --


Let me say that I'm far from an apple fan boy...but I respect the iphone and have owned the original, 3g, and 4. I'm currently using the 9900 and I think it's the best phone $$$ can buy. For every feature you say is lacking I can name one that was superior to other phones that were out when the current was released. They had an amazing media player, a desktop comparable web experience, great camera for the time, and literally invented the concept of apps. Sure they lacked cut and paste (tough to defend lack of mms really...) And are still behind in terms of profile management and notifications but I personally think it was FAR superior to anything available at the time of it's initial release.

[_StephenBB81]

Also... I would disagree what the majority of early users were people that had never used a smart phone. I think a lot of the early adopters were tech nerds or young tech fans. The "sheep" crowd came along well after, maybe really gaining momentum after the 3GS, and of course now every mom and grandpa carrying ios devices...

I would put it about 50/50, were gadget geeks, and others were Apple fans looking for something new Apple had to offer. and coming from a feature phone the first iPhone was decent but The Pearl 8100, or the 8800 both easily out featured the first iPhone

[_StephenBB81]

Marty --


Let me say that I'm far from an apple fan boy...but I respect the iphone and have owned the original, 3g, and 4. I'm currently using the 9900 and I think it's the best phone $$$ can buy. For every feature you say is lacking I can name one that was superior to other phones that were out when the current was released. They had an amazing media player, a desktop comparable web experience, great camera for the time, and literally invented the concept of apps. Sure they lacked cut and paste (tough to defend lack of mms really...) And are still behind in terms of profile management and notifications but I personally think it was FAR superior to anything available at the time of it's initial release.

I don't mean to down play the significance of the first iPhone, But it was a media player and a phone slapped together, it was a significant phone, but not a great phone, it had great marketing

[Czar_of_Berry]

We can agree to disagree on if it was "great". We can agree that the marketing was amazing and apple is 2nd to none in that regard

[Czar_of_Berry]

I did own the 8800 for work when I had the original iPhone... I personally thought the experiences weren't comparable in terms of which was the better phone. I significantly preferred the iPhone. To each their own however!!

[_StephenBB81]

We can agree to disagree on if it was "great". We can agree that the marketing was amazing and apple is 2nd to none in that regard

I did own the 8800 for work when I had the original iPhone... I personally thought the experiences weren't comparable in terms of which was the better phone. I significantly preferred the iPhone. To each their own however!!

We'll have to agree to disagree I suppose.

I was Running Windows Phones back then, as Excel and Calendars where what I used the most and WinMo was the best

[avt123]

Yes. Purchased on day 1. Was very happy with it until I upgraded to the 3G a year later (now that was a bad phone). The battery was decent (not having 3g helped). I remember hating that it didn't have mms.. But was overall blown away. Compared to today's phones it's obviously lacking but compared to the phones of 2007 it was king of the hill imo. I think you could argue the original was the greatest iphone when compared to the phones available at each release.

No. Sorry. I loved my 3G, 3GS and iPhone 4, but the original iPhone was not better than the other top of the line smartphones on the market. Absolutely not.

It was revolutionary, but not the best. BlackBerrys and WinMo did more. The only thing the iPhone had better at that time was a smoother UI, built in iPod and a much better web browser. No push email and barely any other features.

[Tre Lawrence]

No. Sorry. I loved my 3G, 3GS and iPhone 4, but the original iPhone was not better than the other top of the line smartphones on the market. Absolutely not.

It was revolutionary, but not the best. BlackBerrys and WinMo did more. The only thing the iPhone had better at that time was a smoother UI, built in iPod and a much better web browser. No push email and barely any other features.

I actually agree. I thought my 8320 was better back then.

[BlackBerry Guy]

The original iPhone wasn't that "great". The Bold 9000 was compared quite favorably to it back in the day.

The iPhone got people buying it because it was something different...it had a full touchscreen, had a great mobile browser, and it had built in iPod functionality. That was why people wanted it at first, so they could have their music on their phone. The iPhone didn't even have an app store until a year later (remember Apple was trying to convince everyone web apps was all you needed). It also didn't hurt that it was easy to use.

Apple's since expanded the functionality, and improved the hardware with each generation. In doing so they've re-defined the smartphone and the consumer expectations of one.

[avt123]

I actually agree. I thought my 8320 was better back then.

Same. I got the 8330 instead.

[Czar_of_Berry]

Blackberry guy -- the blackberry 9000 didn't even come out till the fall of 2008. The original iphone came out in summer 2007. Not a fair comparison.

[avt123]

Blackberry guy -- the blackberry 9000 didn't even come out till the fall of 2008. The original iphone came out in summer 2007. Not a fair comparison.

Yea the Bold came out after the 3G, and was the last hardware competitive device RIM put out. Lacked a GPU but was still in the hardware race.

[BlackBerry Guy]

Blackberry guy -- the blackberry 9000 didn't even come out till the fall of 2008. The original iphone came out in summer 2007. Not a fair comparison.

True enough, though for all those comparisons you read around the net, the 9000 was always used to represent BlackBerry, since it was the flagship device of that time.

I guess what I was getting at is today you'll rarely see an iPhone vs BlackBerry comparison, now it's usually some high end Android device. The last BlackBerries that were truly competitive and received mostly positive reviews were from 2009, the 9630 and 9700.

This is all going back to derusett's post about how the iPhone slowly became a great smartphone rather than always being one, and of RIM's declining momentum and popularity during that same time. Apple's marketing got people interested in the iPhone, and kept people interested enough to allow it time to become a great smartphone. On the other side, RIM came upon the consumer market based upon their initial popularity in enterprise, not through marketing. Now they need to resort to marketing in order to revitalize the brand, something they haven't traditionally had to do or do well in.


Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[phonejunky]

It's not just marketing. RIM has long stated that their first two priorities for new devices is to make the carriers happy, and make CIO's happy. This is now backfiring horribly in the US. Carriers here have stop pushing Blackberry at all, and CIO's have caved to BYOD. Why are people wanting to BYOD and spend their own money for corporate use? Because Apple and Android have focused to make the end user the priority. Until RIM makes the end user the number one priority when building and designing a device, all of the marketing in the world won't get end users to buy them.

I think most people can tell if they read this by how many likes this post has the author hit the hammer on the nail. This is in my own personal opnion though. RIM must stop doing for the people who don't care about them because it is leading to their demise. Do you think Apple cares about the carrier heck no, and companies putting out Android device SURELY! don't care with how feature rich and data hogs their devices are. So RIM tell me why do you?

[phonejunky]

I found an interesting article regarding marketing and brand loyalty being likened to human relationships ... good and bad.

LINK : "This is why you fall in love with brands."

We all know how poorly RIM markets their products!

Those that are in a long term relationship with RIM will support BB10. For others that have had a bad past relationship with BB it may be to late.

For those newly-weds and those in a committed relationship with iOS/Android it may be too late. Will BB10 be able to get them to cheat on their existing relationship? Might have to show some keyboard!

After reading this article (which was a very good read by the way thank you op) I can see why people love Apple so much and are converting to them with nothing but loyalty. At first it was because of how much cooler Apple was then RIM, but Apple slowly evolved their marketing from their is an app for that to we are here for you and can connect you with loved ones and be your middle man for everyday interactions and fun. Also having great customer service to aid your billion dollar ad campaigns showing that Apple cares about you kind of leaves Blackberry up against an unbeatable opponent according to this article. RIM is very hands off with it's customers in my experience and you have to jump through hoops and get a ticket number to get anything done. While on the other hand Apple is very personal with their customers, you can see that from their stores they have just as many employees as they do customers it seems at times their are blue shirts everywhere. anyway I'm done with my rant go ahead and flame me but I honestly think I'm right here, or somewhat correct. People aren't just falling in love with the iPhone it is the whole Apple ecosystem itself. I mean I bet if you their was a survey for it the iPhone is merely a gateway drug to all their other products. I wonder how many iPhone buyers have gone on to purchase iPads, or Macs, then do the same comparison for Blackberry's to Playbooks.

[Economist101]

The key today is the same it's always been: you have to satisfy your customers. Whoever they are, and whatever their needs may be, satisfying them is more important than making a product that is objectively "great." The original iPhone was an example of this. It had plenty of flaws, but it found an audience and satisfied it. This is where it begins and ends for products and companies, and you have to get this right. Otherwise, you have the kind of problems RIM is having now.

Now some will say that RIM does satisfy its customers, it I don't think RIM's market share would be shrinking of that were true. There are many satisfied RIM customers, but there aren't enough for RIM to protect its market role, at least thus far.