Feeling a little nostalgic, I started reading CrackBerry from it's first post. (And cause I'm bored right now). Even though it was just 4 years, 4 years now means a world of difference with technology as new as smartphones. While I still use my 4 year old iMac, I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to have a phone that 'old'.
Anyhow, reading the blog was fascinating. There seemed to be this optimism about RIM, that it could do no wrong, and even if it did, it was quickly forgotten. I even went over to BGR, started ready it from it's earliest blog posts, and I was surprised with how such insignificant BlackBerry news were reported (Think BGR and iPhone now).
One of my favourite things I noticed were posts about Jim Basillie. Thought I'd bring up some old posts, and reflect on them with the magic of hindsight for fun.
1) The first one was kinda hard to read. RIM Picks Up iPhone Gauntlet | CrackBerry.com
Jim has this to say -
"I think it�s 10 if not 100 times harder to do the communications aspect onto an MP3 player than to do the mass media player onto a communications framework. I think we�ll absolutely nail it before some new entrant comes even close. You know, everyone�s brave in the locker room. Let�s get it done."
I wish this had come through. When the iPhone came out, I was amazed with the music player part of the phone. I wish Jim B had followed through with this comment. Hopefully BBMusic is a step towards that direction.
2) This one brought a smile to my face
BlackBerry Shutdown "Will Never Happen Again" | CrackBerry.com
About that promise Jim...
3) I really enjoyed reading this post. I think it gave a small but normally unreported aspect of Jim's personality. Great job Kevin.
My 43 Minutes with Jim Balsillie, CEO of RIM | CrackBerry.com
Still going through the CrackBerry Blog (I've only reached August of 2007), but I was wondering if CrackBerry has had anymore interviews with the Co-CEO's.
4) I don't know if this one is an indicator of things to come, or if Jim + RIM have finally learned their lesson about being more accepting to new technology.
Balsillie Hops On The Wi-Fi Bandwagon | CrackBerry.com
Listening to the April Investor conference call, and hearing Jim and Mike talk about competitors' hardware "Arms race" leads me to think that he still has not gotten it. I so want to be wrong about this.
5) I don't know if Jim was putting a brave face, or if he really believed that there was no threat at all.
Balsillie Unfazed By iPhone Onslaught | CrackBerry.com
I found this paragraph interesting -
"The whole air of indifference Balsillie is projecting is interesting considering Apple may have sold as many as half a million iPhones in its first weekend. But then RIM are in the habit of adding about a million subscribers every three months and the whole iPhone is going to slow up at some point."
And finally, after the OS 2.0 news all of us were so disappointed about recently, So Much for the Release Date :)
Anyhow, I didn't make this thread to put down RIM. I have a few friends who have or used to work for RIM and they are all intelligent and hard working individuals. If the entire company is filled with people like them, that's a good thing in my book. I just thought with all the recent frustration towards RIM, maybe a reflection on one of the co-CEOs would be interesting. I would've written about Mike L, but so far, there aren't a lot of posts on him (From CB genesis to Aug 2007 that is)