[Pete6#WP]

RIM rested on their laurels and got caught off guard by the iPhone (who happened to copy the LG Prada - first real touch based phone/screen).
RIM Thought Apple Exaggerated the iPhone, Still Trying to Play Catch-up | WirelessGround.com Blog

They (RIM) didn't think it could be done and sure enough it was.

Playing catch up now is incredibly hard to do when you have MILLIONS of people buying your product (meaning Apple...then Android) and your name is synonymous with "smartphones".
When people say do you have "one of those iPhones" they probably mean an iPhone and/or a smartphone in general.
Sort of like "Xerox it" as opposed to "photocopy it".

It's also hard to compete with the BILLIONS of cash that Apple has for R&D.

Oh and let's not forget Android and Windows 7.

Hate to say it because I'm from Ontario and would love to see them do well, but the reality is, they seemed to be doomed.

I agree with you completly. However had RIM moved quickly to counter the iPhone's launch and put out a truly competitive product within weeks of launch, then the iPhone's impact might have been reduced.

RIM buried its head in the sand and had faith in their relationships with carriers, the corporate world and BES. They felt that the iPhone was just a toy. It was a toy but it was a toy that sold in it millions.

Now RIM has to play catchup but again they have made the same old mistakes. They have delayed the launch of QNX phones while they update BES to support it. I mean, seriously, who cares. Let the corporate guys wait six months and sell to the public first off.

Whilst RIM fiddles, the market has moved on.

RIM is now highly vulnerable to a takeover for 3 reasons.

- It holds loads of usefeul patents
- It gets revenue from each carrier for BIS clients i.e. most of us.
- It's stocks are very low making it a cheap buy.

Who would want RIM? Microsoft, Nokia, mabe even Apple to kill competition.

Make no mistake, this company is in trouble and very vulnerable and I do not think that their management yet truly believes they have a problem.

[CrackedBarry]

It's also hard to compete with the BILLIONS of cash that Apple has for R&D.

That's actually a widely held misunderstanding. That Apple spends lots of money on R&D. They don't. (In fact, RIM probably spends more on R&D than Apple.)

Nokia outspent them on R&D several times to one for years. But unlike many other companies, Apple are smart and efficient with their R&D.

Give Apple, RIM and Nokia a hundred million dollar each for R&D, and Nokia would probably spend it on a new wireless TV standard that few people would care about, and would never be heard about again, RIM would come up with SurePress, and Apple would spend their 100 million on the iPad...

[CrackedBarry]

I agree with you completly. However had RIM moved quickly to counter the iPhone's launch and put out a truly competitive product within weeks of launch, then the iPhone's impact might have been reduced.

RIM buried its head in the sand and had faith in their relationships with carriers, the corporate world and BES. They felt that the iPhone was just a toy. It was a toy but it was a toy that sold in it millions.

I concur. Can you think of any innovative new feature that RIM has come up with ever? I can think of two... Their original Blackberry, and Surepress. And if Surepress is the high mark of you innovation, you have a problem.

Fundamentally, their problem is, that they have no clue about where the market is going, and have a very poor understanding of the consumer market. And I think that problem stems all the way from the top. RIM is led by a handful of good ol' boys that don't know much about the world outside of Waterloo, and the way they've always done things.

As an example: Security. RIM has been tooting their horn about security for years, and have only lost marketshare. Why? Cause RIM don't understand that security isn't the top priority for many, people (and companies) are happy as long as something is just secure enough.

Another example: The Playbook. It COULD be a revolutionary device, Apple saw it as a new kind and category of computing device.
RIM? "Hey everybody, come check this out! It can run... FLASH!!!"

[anon3396357]

RIM does have some innovative features in their phones, just that they are taken for granted and not flashy kinds. Nonetheless, they're useful.

BTW katiepea and caymancroc, save yourself the trouble from trying to convince someone who talks about iToys and iPhones only having fart apps. It is so obvious that they are blind/deluded fanboys so facts and logic will not work here. I've tried to do that before and I gave up. Nowadays I skip the whole post altogether when I read something like that.

[DenverRalphy]

Right - the device WITHOUT the beer drinking and farting apps is the toy. LOL!

BB has no shortage of fart apps. Search Results for "fart" - BlackBerry App World

I'm sure there are beer drinking apps (or similar), but I got tired of waiting while appworld's page timed out.

[TheScionicMan]

I can't believe... that people are so "happy" with their phone that they will spend hours a day talking crap about another device they don't like... day after day after day...

[phonejunky]

These finicial nEwspapers bashing RIM,to the point of no return,and pridicting that the iphone 5 will be a much superior smartphone,and that it will dominate the enterprise market.I for one have never ever liked apple from the begining,as a matter of fact,I won a iphone,and the very next day I sold it to a kid who wanted a toy,so who out there thinks that the iphone 5 will CRUSH RIM????

Easy answer the iPhone 5 will crush RIM it has been. And with all this bad press what do you think will happen? Its a no brainer

Sent from my DROID BIONIC

[alby4ever]

What data are you using in your presumption that the iphone 5 will create this mass exodus of BB owners? Just because its raining outside your window doesnt mean its raining on the entire world.

And you call someone who doesnt agree with this "onslaught" as blind or ignorant - yet you use every single talking point that an itroll would use. I definitely dont see unbiased logic and only see a bunch of opinionated presumptions.



Inside every stereotype there is a grain of truth. My wife has an iphone - want to know what she uses it for other than a phone? Angry Birds and some word game. A buddy of mine has one - fart apps galore. My sister-in-law and brother -in-law both have iphone 4's - they use there's for facebook and twitter. Good to know there are so many productive apps in the istore. LOL!

And BB fans wonder why BB's are the laughing stock of the smartphone world.

The sad truth that many can't comprehend here is that the iPhone is the better business phone for many industries solely for the fact that there are apps for almost any business. "But my Blackberry has push email!" LOL.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

[Rootbrian]

Negativity (haters) only last for so long before moving on, once no attention is paid to them. That's my two cents.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[_StephenBB81]

And BB fans wonder why BB's are the laughing stock of the smartphone world.

The sad truth that many can't comprehend here is that the iPhone is the better business phone for many industries solely for the fact that there are apps for almost any business. "But my Blackberry has push email!" LOL.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

That is the sad truth,
BUT also the reason why Apples dominance is very fickle, the fact it is good for business rely's completely on 3rd party developer support,
Android could topple Apple dominance, as could RIM, all it takes is the right apps.

My BlackBerry is the BEST tool for my business needs, as single hand operation is paramount when running between terminals, dragging luggage, carrying a kid, etc. The Low data use again a major advantage when traveling outside my country, and the Apps I require ARE on BlackBerry.
That isn't to say that currently the iPhone is the best device for a Doctor, because you have a multitude of apps to make the doctors life easier, a BlackBerry's strengths don't help there.

BUT given BlackBerry's strengths, and a robust App library and easy to develop for system BlackBerry can return to being a business dominate phone for all industries, where as Apple is pretty near the top of what it can accomplish without drastically changing their focus.

[csickgrind]

This is all I have to say, iphone doesn't have never ending seamless content like blackberry does and we always have some high capabilities the iphone community has never seen before. Pshhh apple who?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[phonejunky]

Very pitiful and lackluster post with no evidence of anything said. iOS being seamless and simple to use is the reason why it passed RIM. Along with some outstanding advertising.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC

[phonejunky]

That is the sad truth,
BUT also the reason why Apples dominance is very fickle, the fact it is good for business rely's completely on 3rd party developer support,
Android could topple Apple dominance, as could RIM, all it takes is the right apps.

My BlackBerry is the BEST tool for my business needs, as single hand operation is paramount when running between terminals, dragging luggage, carrying a kid, etc. The Low data use again a major advantage when traveling outside my country, and the Apps I require ARE on BlackBerry.
That isn't to say that currently the iPhone is the best device for a Doctor, because you have a multitude of apps to make the doctors life easier, a BlackBerry's strengths don't help there.

BUT given BlackBerry's strengths, and a robust App library and easy to develop for system BlackBerry can return to being a business dominate phone for all industries, where as Apple is pretty near the top of what it can accomplish without drastically changing their focus.

Great post. One question though. The whole easy to develop for comment if RIM is so easy to develop for then why isn't anyone developing for them. I always here all of you talk about this great developer support but don't see it in my app store on the 9900. Maybe you all know something I don't.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC

[TgeekB]

And BB fans wonder why BB's are the laughing stock of the smartphone world.

The sad truth that many can't comprehend here is that the iPhone is the better business phone for many industries solely for the fact that there are apps for almost any business. "But my Blackberry has push email!" LOL.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

They are only a laughing stock to children who buy into media hype. Android and iPhone will enjoy their time at the top for a while...then will fall as everyone does. Remember something...monopolies prevent innovation. Hoping that RIM or any other smartphone companies fail will only slow down the progress of the hobby that we love.

[anon(4018671)]

Good for enterprise addresses any security issues. Just recently was allowed to set my iPhone for enterprise email and guess what no extra charges like BB when going from BIS to BES.

You get what you pay for.

Apple doesn't charge extra cause they don't have anything to charge you for.

/just stating the obvious

[dalton4L]

I regularly visit the android central and tipb sites along with my daily crackberry visits. I have yet to see what ios 5 offers that will make people en masse run to the iphone 5. Is it the form factor? Slightly different than the iphone 4 but still an all touch slab. Is it the OS? Nope - the differences between ios 4 and 5 are tantamount to the differences between BB OS 6 and 7.

You must not be familiar with iOS if you think the iOS 4-iOS 5 update is on par with BB 6-BB 7. iOS is getting an all new notification system which in itself is as 'big' an update as the entire BB 6-BB 7 update in my opinion. Not to mention iMessage which would be like your BB not having BBM and then an update introducing it. Not to mention the other 200+ features that are coming to iOS with the 5th generation, in comparison to RIM's, what, 6 or 7 new things? I'm sorry, but you are ill informed if you believe the iOS 5 update is no bigger than the BB 7 update.

Right - the device WITHOUT the beer drinking and farting apps is the toy. LOL!

Nice slant, but I'd like to point out that iOS actually has developers behind it in the first place. Toy or not, iPhones can do just about everything BlackBerry can and then some.

[RCCollins]

RIM has been crushed, just look at their stock price. I was talking to a colleague of mine the other day, we worked together for one of the biggest companies in the nation (and world), and he told me that they have begun replacing all Blackberries with iPhones, the #1 reason is the BBs inability to run production line apps.

[blackberry-unlocking710]

Apple is making fools

[avt123]

Waits for AVT to pop in and unleash ****!\

Unleash what?

I think it is a no brainer that the iPhone 5 will dominate smartphone sales next year. No other single device will come close. I'm pretty sure most people will agree with that. If not, then they haven't been on planet earth the past few years.

Thanks for thinking of me though.

[MrPommeroy]

Hello from Germany,

Let apple introduce an iPhone variation with a proper keyboard and RIM is screwed. Don't forget the keyboard thing as a competitve advantage of RIM. It's just that it seems all other brands don't compete here (except for Nokia a bit).

RIM makes tons of mistakes. 9900 should have been out there a year ago, same for the torch 2 as the torch 1. The torch 2 should look like the 9900 as a slider. QNX takes forever, nobody cares anymore when they will come out with it. The torch 2 is not yet available here in Germany and so will compete directly against the hype of the iPhone5 coming out shortly. RIM lacks of communication to its customers, eg 9900 battery issue.

I for myself sitting on a 9700 (very satisfied), could exchange (2 years of contract), wont use the 9900 (bad battery for long business days,lbad camera for document shots), but willing to upgrade to a new blackberry device. So, I might go iPhone or just keep the 9700. And I know a couple of friends doing just the same.

The only diffeence here in germany ist, that BB is really a business image thing and iphone ist for gameboys, Italians, girlies, wifes, and artists. But this changes more and more in favour of the iPhone.

[csherline]

I agree. Apple is going down, there's no way that they will capture the Enterprise market like RIM.

[Accidental Post]

When a BB fan yells itoy and fart apps they are uneducated on what the phone can do. If given the chance they would snatch up an iPhone in a heartbeat. You see when you know you have an inferior product or envy what someone else has all most people can do is try to sling mud. It's actually become quite comical to read what the uninformed folks say here and on other threads.

My iToy does quite nicely with Citrix Receiver, Native Cisco VPN, and RDP Client so I don't have to go to a desktop to reboot or make adjustment to my Servers or Desktops.

Ask a BB User how the VPN works on their phone, or ask a PB user the same with Citirx Client.

Thats the reason among bunch of others I left BB, I had Android Devices and all the ones I had The DROID OG, Fascinate, DROIDX, Incredible...none of them could support CISCO IPSEC VPN.

Oh and one more thing when was the last time you saw a business app on the Front page of CB? All that has been shown lately is games and beer drinking stuff. Oh wait don't forget the themes.......

[Accidental Post]

I agree. Apple is going down, there's no way that they will capture the Enterprise market like RIM.

Would you like to make a wager on that? Considering the new QNX devices can't get "push" mail and will use an active-sync like scenario in the enterprise.

[Razva]

I really WANT to like my BB better then my iPhone, but at least the iPhone (along with my Nexus) can sync a darn email client!

[ca101d]

In my mind a Blackberry doesn't compete with iPhone. I don't play games. I want messaging, social networking and email. The blackberry delivers the best experience for me.