[kraski]

Vijay Moharil posted an item on Google+ titled "Is Apple inventive or innovative?". Here's what it said (in the quotes):

"I believe there is a difference between invention and innovation. Innovation is successful implementation of a creative idea - at least that's what I think Apple seems to believe. iPod, iPhone, iTV - none of these were "true inventions" but Apple realizes that for something to be successful it has to be coupled with rest of the ecosystem - biz model, marketing, advertising among other things and that's what they did with iPod and iTunes and content agreement and killed rest of the MP3 industry. Apple does realize that an idea or technology by itself is never enough and they quite likely painfully learned this from Microsoft. In short - they may not be the first but they seem to see the bigger picture and connect the dots. Google will benefit a lot if they copy that thinking."

When I read it, my mind automatically inserted "Blackberry" for "Apple". RIM had a huge chunk of the smartphone market because they created that niche and grew it. The Torch 9800 and all the other OS6 devices got a little fanfare from RIM as "new", but no ecosystem and very little real marketing. They did better with OS7, drifted too soon into talking about what the possibilities of BB10 would be. Here is a lost opportunity to trumpet the marvel of marrying a beautiful touchscreen with the added usability of the stellar BB keyboard. Now, that's innovation! Which brings up some questions.

Is it too late for RIM to refocus people's attention on OS7? Or should they wait for BB10 to do this? As lovers of all things Blackberry, what can we do to nudge RIM in the right direction? What do you think?

[sam_b77]

I would agree with you.
RIM started talking about the BB10 superphone way too early. This removed the focus from OS7 devices and people are waiting for the superphone. In the meantime they are late, releasing sneak previews etc which would just give the competition the edge the need.

Apple is great in handling launches. Before Jobs launched the device no one really knew what to expect, and once they launched it it was available for purchase in a short time, before the competition could gear up with competing devices.

I think RIM fell in the trap of keeping analysts happy to shore up their share price and hence kept telling people what goodies are coming in the future.

Edit: I would have to add that I recently watched the iPhone launch keynote again and was again impressed with Jobs' charisma and skills in presentation. And one sentence stood out when he said that the iPhone is at least 5 yrs ahead of anything in the market. That was 2007 and RIM's (market leader in 2007) superphone is expected in 4th quarter 2012. 5 yrs exactly.

[guzprom]

agreed 110pc

[_BlackCherry_]

I would agree with you.
RIM started talking about the BB10 superphone way too early. This removed the focus from OS7 devices and people are waiting for the superphone. In the meantime they are late, releasing sneak previews etc which would just give the competition the edge the need.

Apple is great in handling launches. Before Jobs launched the device no one really knew what to expect, and once they launched it it was available for purchase in a short time, before the competition could gear up with competing devices.

I think RIM fell in the trap of keeping analysts happy to shore up their share price and hence kept telling people what goodies are coming in the future.

Edit: I would have to add that I recently watched the iPhone launch keynote again and was again impressed with Jobs' charisma and skills in presentation. And one sentence stood out when he said that the iPhone is at least 5 yrs ahead of anything in the market. That was 2007 and RIM's (market leader in 2007) superphone is expected in 4th quarter 2012. 5 yrs exactly.

^ What that guy said. Especially on the Jobs bit.
I truly hope for RIM that BB10 devices will meet customers expectations. We need some sexy back.

[[email protected]]

I would agree with you.
RIM started talking about the BB10 superphone way too early. This removed the focus from OS7 devices and people are waiting for the superphone. In the meantime they are late, releasing sneak previews etc which would just give the competition the edge the need.

Apple is great in handling launches. Before Jobs launched the device no one really knew what to expect, and once they launched it it was available for purchase in a short time, before the competition could gear up with competing devices.

I think RIM fell in the trap of keeping analysts happy to shore up their share price and hence kept telling people what goodies are coming in the future.

Edit: I would have to add that I recently watched the iPhone launch keynote again and was again impressed with Jobs' charisma and skills in presentation. And one sentence stood out when he said that the iPhone is at least 5 yrs ahead of anything in the market. That was 2007 and RIM's (market leader in 2007) superphone is expected in 4th quarter 2012. 5 yrs exactly.

^^^^^ +1,000,000

Well said!

[kraski]

^ What that guy said. Especially on the Jobs bit.
I truly hope for RIM that BB10 devices will meet customers expectations. We need some sexy back.

Agreed. But, if you look at the iPhone, it's basically a block with icons and some nice trim. The key is that Jobs marketed it into being seen as sexy. RIM has some real designs coming. But that won't help much if consumers don't see them as sexy, the phones as having quality, desired functionality, etc. RIM has a few quality issues that need to be addressed, but the rest is a combination of what's there and what RIM gets the public to perceive. Just like Apple and every other popular brand of any product.

[13echo4]

I agree that Rim started talking about BB10 way to early. I know they where talking about it before os7 came out. Seems like there was talk before os6. I really can't remember.
Rim isn't in a bad place really. I would agree their advertiesing lacks a whole lot. They put out solid working devices. That means a lot to people. Blackberry have lots of features. I would say it would be pretty hard to capture em in a commerical. Granted you make several commericals. The thing is that how you use the featufe is dependant on the user. I sure would like to see some commerical where they tried though.