RIM needs to move faster.

RIM has been moving at a snail's pace which is a huge mistake in the tech industry. Dont get me wrong. I love my Blackberry. I tried using the iPhone 3G for a while but eventually went back.

However, more and more options are becoming available. True, nothing can beat Blackberry's messaging platform. However, when you take a look at what the other devices can do from an app perspective, you'd start to wonder what RIM is doing to stay at par.

Let's face it, aside from pure hardware specs, apps are becoming the true standard here. Recently, my business partner and I needed to communicate via Skype to reach a decision. I was out, good thing I was with someone who had an iPhone with Skype installed. And while the browsers on the latter Blackberries have improved, I still wish a native eBay app was widely available for my Torch. And while a majority of us Blackberry loyalists could care less for Angry Birds- well let's just say Im the outcast here.

First, RIM took its sweet time to release the BB 9900. Its a sweet phone with great specs. But the timing was just too late. Samsung is all set to release a whole new series of Galaxy phones, and of course, Apple's iPhone5. RIM will be playing catch up all over again.

Second- the Playbook. How many times has RIM announced apps that either got delayed or got killed? A lot of us early adopters have been waiting too long for the Android app player. How much longer before we actually start to just go for the real thing? Oh and yeah, that Angry Birds thing. They announced it would be coming soon. What's their definition of soon, then?

Too many delays, not a lot of innovative services or products. It has gotten to the point that shareholders have suggested they sell out.

And the thing is, it seems RIM knows what to do. The real issue is, they are moving TOO slow. From the release of the BB9900, down to the OS 2.0 update for the Playbook.

Again, I am still a diehard Blackberry fan. But how much longer can we actually wait for RIM to be a bit more, well, aggressive?

RIM isn't really moving that slowly

They bombed what was suppose to be their next generation product line and accelerated the line to release OS7 devices. when you listen to what Mike said in an interview a while back (wish I could link it) they realized during development of their next line they were not releasing a competitive product and thus went back to the drawing board, OS6.1 was meant to launch on inferior devices, they went and retooled the OS, and reTooled the devices for a full MAJOR global launch, the Biggest they have ever done. all within a single year, while developing an entirely new OS which itself has only been in the RIM fold for 18 months or so.

They are now getting ready to do what in the tech industry is boarder line suicide, and launch a full new OS, Apple with OSX is one of the few company's to ever be successful doing this, and they had NO market share to speak of when doing so, unlike RIM who has a lot to lose as much as they have to gain, so they must not act in haste.

BBOS7 based phones are more than an order of magnitude above their predecessors, and hopefully we'll see RIM acknowledge this is the way to do business and we will see similar improvements to the next generation,

If you use Android/iOS for a couple of generations you should also have noticed by now some sort of stagnating in innovation. 2007 was THE year of innovation where Apple changed the game. Now, the 200+ features touted in iOS5 are not groundbreaking. Gingerbread.. what has gingerbread brought to shake up the market? And RIM.. well the lull in the smartphone landscape will buy them some time to catch their breath trying to chase consumers' pockets with OS7 devices.

I do think that Apple is taking a step in the right direction with iCloud. I'm lazy to elaborate so let's just throw this up in the air for discussion.

They did move too slow when the Droid and IPhone exploded on the scene. Anyone that knows this subject knows this. They sat on their back sides thinking no one would want a camera or MP3 player on their phone. DOH!

Timing is the issue. RIM is terrible at it. I hope they improve.

Just like they are sitting on the PB update right now. They will wait to release it and find their thunder will be stolen from some other new phone or tablet release.

Tim

Tim

RIM is moving fast but it's not easy thing when your competitor is Google and Apple - much more developers.