“The recent launch of Apple’s iPhone does not pose a threat to Research In Motion Ltd.’s consumer-geared BlackBerry Pearl and simply marks the entry of yet another competitor into the smartphone market, RIM’s co-chief executive said in an interview,” Wojtek Dabrowski reports for Reuters.
Dabrowski reports, “‘It’s kind of one more entrant into an already very busy space with lots of choice for consumers,’ Jim Balsillie said of Apple. ‘But in terms of a sort of a sea-change for BlackBerry, I would think that’s overstating it.'”
“Balsillie said the iPhone’s launch validates the thinking that multimedia features such as music should be expected in cellphones,” Dabrowski reports. “But while the Pearl received great response, some analysts questioned Apple’s decision to price its smartphone at a relatively steep $499 for the 4-gigabyte model. Cost has been a key obstacle in turning regular cellphone users into users of the more expensive handheld devices. The Pearl now sells at T-Mobile for $149.99.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: There’s a reason why Balsillie needs a helper to be CEO of a company with a market value that’s but a third of Apple’s. There’s also a reason why Steve Jobs excelled as the sole CEO of not only Apple, but also of Pixar for years.
We’ll file Balsillie’s myopic comments away for future use; you know, for the day RIM announces restructuring, upon Balsillie’s announcement that he’s leaving RIM to “spend more time with his family,” when RIM transitions into an iPhone accessory-maker, that sort of thing.
Related articles:
Research in Motion downgraded due to Apple iPhone competition – January 23, 2007
Apple’s soon-to-be iPhone rivals sound just like iPod rivals circa 2001 – February 01, 2007
O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile battle for exclusive rights to Apple iPhone in UK – January 26, 2007
Rogers to offer Apple iPhone exclusively in Canada – January 25, 2007
FUD Alert: Apple iPhone ‘isn’t very practical’ and a ‘security risk’ for business – January 24, 2007
Microsoft CEO Ballmer laughs at Apple iPhone – January 17, 2007
RealMoney: Apple just blew up the whole damn mobile-phone supply chain with its new iPhone – January 11, 2007
The massive FUD campaign against Apple’s iPhone ramps up – January 10, 2007
eWeek: Apple iPhone fallout: ‘They must be crying in Nokia-ville and other telephony towns today’ – January 10, 2007
Jefferies downgrades Motorola on fears of market share loss to Apple iPhone – January 10, 2007
The massive FUD campaign against Apple’s iPhone ramps up – January 10, 2007
Time: ‘iPhone could crush cell phone market pitilessly beneath the weight of its own superiority’ – January 09, 2007
Analyst: Apple iPhone should be given its own category – ‘brilliantphone’ – January 09, 2007
Apple debuts iPhone: touchscreen mobile phone + widescreen iPod + Internet communicator – January 09, 2007
I’m not afraid at all. Why do you ask?
MDN Macgic Word: not, as in: They will not admit to their growing terror.
Ok, no problem, mark that down as a no-threat to RIM, got it.
Sell your RIMM shares now!
Nani
think of all the mp3 players that said the same about the iPod. How many of them went right outta business? Pick lots.
So RIM markets to enterprise/ big business. What happens when a CEO tries and likes the iPhone, then tells the IT dept to make it work with company services. Talk about a top down effect…… It will only take a few big CEOs to want an iPhone and RIM could see a very substantial loss of sales and market share.
BTW, What did you want the Rim dude to say? “OMFinG, the iPhone is going to slaughter us! Lets close shop and give the money back to the stock holders.”
Not very likely. He HAS to present a calm, unruffled facade to keep confidence of the board of directors and shareholders. If it wasn’t for the dark brown suit, you could probably see that he is zunning himself at the thought of iPhones potential to disrupt and displace RIM.
MW = asked as in “whether you did or didn’t, thats my .02¢
My company requires me to use a Blackberry, mainly because RIM was bright enought to create an app that plugs into the Exchange server and pushes email to me when I am out of the office.
Good as iPhone might be, as long as it doesn’t have a RIM / Blackberry client, I won’t be retiring my Blackberry Pearl anytime soon. (I will be getting an iPhone for my personal use.)
The RIM and iPhone are completely different devices, different products, addressing different markets. In that sense they will not compete. Except, the iPhone is creating a new market on top of the existing market, and the iPod of the future will do the same, incorporating who knows what new features? RIM will survive just fine, but the people who work for companies are going to demand iPhones and they are going to get them, if they do what the RIM devices do and more. And let’s not forget, with no buttons to work, the software on the iPhone can be adjusted on the fly and as Mr. Jobs poined out in his presentation, as the software develops it can be used on the same old piece of hardware without having to add and subtract, relabel or whatever, buttons. Once people figure out how easy the thing is they will want one and those who can afford it, ie. millions of users, will buy one. The initial production run of 12 million won’t last long. As the thing get better, more memory or whatever, lower prices as costs come down as a function of volume, the iPhone market will get larger. And larger. So no immediate threat for RIM. Five years from now? It’s early days, but the excitement has yet to reach the masses. When it does, the murder rate will go up to deprive iPhone owners of their iPhones. So it is literally a KILLER APP. Steve is spot on. Again.
Yeah, yeah. Chinese car manufacturers aren’t posing any threat to European/North American corporations…
Although Jianglin Landwind actually poses threat to the driver. Crash in 60 km/h will kill you.
IF any of you have actually administered 300 Blackberries… you’d understand why the iPhone won’t make a dent in the corporate Blackberry device.
However, it will affect the Pearl… as like the iPhone, it is a consumer device.
Just because you don’t see the rain a-comin’ don’t mean it ain’t gonna rain!
Fine. Let all the business folks keep their BB’s and just “get an iPhone for personal use”.
What happens when they LOVE it?
Generation 2 is what happens.
For some reason people think that the whole shabang has to come in one big release. But that’s not how it works.
By the time the third generation of iPhone comes out every cell phone company and PDA company out there will be red-eyed from months of crying.
Seriously. They’re done for.
Mostly I love reading MDN’s take on the rest of the world. But the editor has gone a way overboard. An iPhone accessory maker? I will get an iPhone as my personal phone, but Apple is a long way from being a very useful business phone.
First of all, either the Blackberry Enterprise Server or the Exchange Server, push email, contacts and calendar information to handsets. As much as you all want to believe that Apple rules all, it does not rule the email market, and as such, the iPhone is rather weak. The security system that most companies have set up make it difficult for IMAP or POP to be used with an Exchange Server.
Can iPhone be used in an Exchange environment? Sure, because Entourage does, and it uses an HTML based system to pass information back and forth.
RIM and BlackBerry has this market segment wrapped up for today. I don’t even think Apple is looking at taking on RIM right now.
Apple will aggressively cut the price of the iPhone over the first 18 months of its release.
Does iPhone work with Exchange Server? If no, RIM is fine for the long haul. MDN meanwhile is as myopic as ever. Apple = good. Everyone else = idiot.
Posters don’t agree with MDN’s take.
I’m a little ‘verklempt’.
The topic is, “Is iPhone the ultimate Crackberry killer?”
Discuss amongst yourselves.
“The topic is, “Is iPhone the ultimate Crackberry killer?”
The answer is not yet. But, when Apple can get their prices down, it will be.
I too often find MDN’s editorials to be infantile and uninformed.
If you read enough of the editorials, you can tell that the editors are pseudo-intellects; they have comparatively shallow technical knowledge and frequently only parrot what has been written.
They reinforce the image that Macintosh enthusiasts are arrogant and ignorant.
The reason MDN is supposedly “right” all the time has nothing to do with its prognostications or technical reasoning. It has to do with Apple making largely good engineering/marketing decisions. However Apple also makes mistakes — and MDN have been poor at picking those out, given its fanboy mentality.
I am an long time Mac lover, but I am also a research scientist (a growing demographic in the Mac world). I use other platforms at work. I appreciate the Mac because I know HOW and WHY it is better or worse than other platforms. To date, however, I have never seen any MDN editorial giving a balanced analysis of the issues surrounding a news posting.
MDN would do much better to just post the news and keep the comments to a minimum.
You guys really do not understand Blackberries and why RIM sells so damn many of them. Hint: It’s not because they play MP3s and videos. They are meant to do one thing and they do it exceptionally well: E-mail. Unless the iPhone does what the Blackberry does, i.e., interface with Exchange, Notes and GroupWise servers and does it better than the Blackberry does it, it doesn’t matter how much Apple cuts the cost of the thing, it will not sell to the Blackberry audience. Period. Execs aren’t going to buy the thing to play MP3s, they want e-mail, they want their corporate address book synched, they want their corporate calendar synched.
Blackberry’s strength is the Blackberry Enterprise Server and the infrastructure that makes it all work. There’s none of that for the iPhone. There may be sometime in the future, but until then the Blackberry and the iPhone travel in different circles. They just aren’t competitive products. iPhone looks great and when I can get one from someone other than Cingular I’ll have one. But I won’t get rid of my Blackberry to get it.
I am perfectly happy with BOTH Apple and RIM succeeding…RIM is a small innovative company in a pleasant Canadian city…they have earned their success…rather them than Microsoft, right?
As with most business’ people, they tend to lag a bit in adoption of tech.
I see no difference here. When business or tech people view the iPod as an mp3 player or video player-do not realize the full extent of use of the iPod.
This is a major problem, I walk into a presentation with an iPod video in hand while others are slupping around a 17 inch laptops. When asked how I plan on doing the presentation-I just ask-Would you like to see it now or on the tv, projector, I can transfer to to your computer.
They have there mouth agap- the iPhone is far better of a business tool than most understand and a common problem with most business people.
I must agree with other on the rim issue- they will not and do not see the power in the device. Now or later.
he made a point with the price i think i love Mac
but 499 for a phone… is a little too much for me.
and i am waiting for the gps intergation…
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jan99:
“he made a point with the price i think i love Mac
but 499 for a phone… is a little too much for me.
and i am waiting for the gps intergation… “
It you see it as just a phone, you’d probably have a point. However, it’s a full featured iPod+phone+Web device with a MUCH better UI (something really overlooked by most people) than anything else out there. Take the iPod ($199) out and the device’s price would be comparable to every other smartphone currently coming to, or already on, the market.
Captain of the Titanic, “Iceberg, what iceberg?”
Another RIM advantage… Blackberries run on ALL national cell phone networks!!!!
The Verizon & Sprint Blackberries run on their national 3G networks…
Menawhile, the iPhone runs over the clearly second-rate Cingular network (just read Consumer Reports or JD Power ratins folks!)….
I LOVE Apple and have been using Macs since they were introduced and sold through the first college programs. But I won’t be rushing out to get one b/c of it being aattached to crappy Cingular…. More bars in more places… Yeah, only b/c they had the cell phone manufacturers add a 5th bar on the screens of the Cingular phones when everybody else only has 4!
I think the iPhone is a breakthrough product.. BUT the ONE THING that will hold the iPhone back is Cingular….
It’s great to have a full HTML web browser & e-mail client, but over pokey EDGE will suck (both Pogue & Mossberg pointed this out too folks)….
Even if Apple builds an iPhone for Cingular’s 3G network (which has MINIMAL national coverage) This nework is SLOWER than Sprint’s or Verizon’s 3G network, both of which are truly national.
For once, I think Apple is missing an even bigger opportunity than selling the iPhone to the consumer market. RIM has an advantage in that in order to use their service, you HAVE TO buy their server or link product. Apple could easily mimic this if they wanted to by selling xserves with an exchange/lotus pusher. Call it iLink, iPush, iMail or something.
Or, as Apple is partnering with Cingular, Good Technology could develop Goodlink (anyone who’s not familiar, Goodlink is another email push technology that links up with exchange or lotus notes for “smart” phones) for the iPhone’s OSX (here’s hoping Good Technology, Inc is listening). VOILA, instant RIM-killer. We use Good server to push out to Treo 650s here at my firm. The software is great. The Treos SUCK. Having an iPhone as an option would be AMAZING.
Partnering with Good would be an OUTSTANDING move for Apple. I’m not sure that Goodlink makes iPhone a BB killer, but it makes it usable to IT.