“BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is again bearing fruit,” Priya Ganapati reports for TheStreet.com.
“A positive outlook from its analyst day Monday, the launch of a new consumer-targeted phone called the BlackBerry Curve and signs that the company has more products awaiting launch dates this year seem to have revived investor interest,” Ganapati reports.
Ganapati reports, “There’s also a realization that RIM’s business could remain unaffected by the upcoming release of Apple’s iPhone, whose features are likely to appeal to a different audience from RIM’s, say analysts.”
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft’s, Nokia’s, RIM’s, Motorola’s et al. talking point #1: “iPhone’s no good for business.” Well, we’ll soon see what really happens, won’t we?
Ganapati continues, “In the last few days, RIM has launched a new phone, a sign that the company isn’t letting up on innovation.”
MacDailyNews Take: That depends on how you define “innovation,” Priya. Are you using Microsoft’s (same as RIM’s) definition or Apple’s?
Ganapati continues, “On May 3, RIM released the BlackBerry 8300 Curve phone, a version that has the multimedia capabilities of the Pearl handset as well as a full keyboard.”
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft’s, obviously. Microsoft’s, Nokia’s, RIM’s, Motorola’s et al. talking point #2: “iPhone doesn’t have a keyboard.” Good luck with that one, guys.
Ganapati continues, “When Apple announced news of its iPhone in January, many investors believed that it would eat into the market share of cell phone makers Nokia, Motorola and RIM. iPhone, which offers a touch screen instead of a keyboard and combines iPod features with those of a phone, is expected to launch toward the end of June.”
Ganapati reports, “Some analysts believe that it could take up to two years to sort out any kinks in the iPhone and for wide consumer adoption of the device. Also, the iPhone’s multimedia features are likely to appeal more to consumers rather than to business users.”
MacDailyNews Take: Two years to sort out kinks? Puleeze. Who paid for this article? And, again, Ganapati blithely (ignorantly?) reprints Microsoft’s, Nokia’s, RIM’s, Motorola’s et al. talking point #1. (Priya, you forgot to repeat #3: “iPhone’s too expensive.”)
Ganapati continues, “And that could mean that companies such as Motorola and Nokia, which have a greater stake in the consumer market, will feel the effects more than RIM, whose customers are largely businesses.”
Full article here.
Listen, they don’t call it “CrackBerry” for nothing. RIM will hold on longer than most, with that much we agree. RIM has an established market and they make what seems like a fine product until you hold it next to an iPhone. But, the whole “iPhone’s not for business, iPhone’s just for consumers” line is just garbage thrown out by a group of companies that have been badly shown up by Apple.
Plastic keyboards with buttons festooned all over the device whether they’re involved in the device’s use at the moment or not? Two-faced candy bar pieces of junk? User Interfaces designed by colorblind dyslexics with ADD? Microsoft, Nokia, RIM, Motorola et al. have nothing else to offer against iPhone, but FUD.
These things happen when an entire industry has been instantly outclassed and shown to be 5-10 years behind the times, as Apple did to the mobile device biz with their iPhone unveiling. The fact is that business people will decide which device they want to carry and their businesses will adapt to it. Just as businesspeople and businesses did with “Microsoft-incompatible” Research In Motion’s Blackberry. Apple’s iPhone will be a success with business users.
Priya Ganapati should do a better job separating fact from fiction in her reports.
@ CRABAPPLE
clearly you should take your own advice.
Microsoft Exchange server in an Enterprise Environment works COMPLETELY different then a standard ISP. Realize i said microsoft EXCHANGE SERVER NOT OUTLOOK.
you give me a wireless phone that Does NOT use Microsoft Active Sync or a BES that can access my Company’s email/calender/contacts with its currently existing Microsoft exchange server 2007 then i will gladly accept you as being correct, until then. take your own advice and dont talk about things you dont understand.
Seems to me that Google Maps would be a killer app for a lot of travelling business people.
Sorry, TMF.
Looks like I shoulda waited for the quality.
I didn’t work in the colors…..
Absolutely right, if there’s no Exchange/Notes/GroupWise integration (not e-mail, but full integration), iPhone isn’t for business. This is really pretty simple stuff to understand.
If Apple wants to sell a metric shiatload of iPhones to business they’ll be working with RIM to get a version of Blackberry Connect working on it. Short of full integration, I really don’t see these going into a lot of businesses. I’d love to have one, but between AT&T and what we don’t know about full integration, I’m not planning on having one.
@d – good point. I’m a really fast typer and write enough emails on my Blackberry that it matters. (I was pretty good at Graffiti too) I’m not switching for anything that slows me down. Probably.
I haven’t been keeping up – have there been any rumors about adding a stylus and creating a Newton 2?
Hey Crabapple – you’re wrong and eMax is right.
It has nothing to do with Outlook. It is an Exchange Sync issue. More specifically its the ability to sync your Calendar and Contacts with an Exchange server (which is what a lot businesses run). Email can be obtained via IMAP so that is not a much of a problem as synching the calendar and contacts
– iPhone does not connect to other push mail systems than Yahoo! And free Yahoo! is a problem becuase?… Oh yes, it does not fund the pockets of the big carriers. Silly me, I forgot about that.
Silly me.. Our company paid tens of thousands of dollars so I could have an email address like joe@abc.com
Won’t we be the pride of the business world when I become Big_Joe_3495aa@yahoo.com How Professional!!!! And our CEO can become BigDaddyChairmanofABCCorp845@yahoo.com…
The inability to push corporate email address IS a big deal. Trust me, No professional organization wants a YAHOO adddress…
RIM… have it and don’t want it. I work for a 75000 employee company and RIM is present here but 0 of the people who have a RIM at this company hate it.
Does that answer how popular RIM is? Cause when you don’t have an option you just have to have something… and that is why here we have RIM.
Your honor, I rest my case.
Thank you
Don’t bet on it!
It’s a real shame that people who have to go along with the demands of the business they work for are so restricted in what they can do and how they can do it. I’m very glad not to be in that position. I feel sorry for them.
I worked at a cell phone store for a few years and noticed that it just takes only 1 person to start a massive trend by buying the newest phone. When their family and friends see what they have, they all go out and get one for themselves. I can’t wait to see the iPhone “explosion” that will happen.
Look around and see how many corporate types have a Crackberry. Now, next year at this time, look around and see how many of them have an iPhone instead.
Hey, I love the iPhone “idea” but Apple has waited way to long in getting this thing to market. Should have never talked about it until June and released in June. Anywho, I am buying one.
I’m an avid Mac guy. But even I can realize that there is no way the iPhone is going to harm RIM. At least in the short to medium term. That’s not to say the iPhone isn’t leaps and bounds ahead in some areas. Actually, it’s leaps and bounds ahead already in almost every way. But (and this is a big “but”) do not underestimate the push e-mail factor. I know, I know. Steve Jobs said the iPhone’s e-mail will work just like a Blackberry. Fact is, this is just a lie, plain and simple. Yes, with a Yahoo account you’ll be notified when you have a new e-mail (meaning, you’ll get a text message telling you you have a new e-mail… it’s just that AT&T will not charge you fot that SMS, hence the “free push”). Now, is this good enough for Joe Shmoe? Absolutely. Is it good for Joe Business? Nope. I see Joe Business going with RIM (especially given the BB system’s enhanced security features). People go with Blackberries for the e-mail. There are hundreds of phones on the market with better features overall, but none can compete with BB’s e-mail. Neither can the iPhone. Not bashing it, but just be realistic and don’t be so quick to drink the Apple Juice
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…calling home by saying “iPhone home”, or calling the office by saying “iPhone office”. Also think about having the iPhone read web pages to you while you’re driving.
Who needs a tactile feedback when you can control the iPhone with your voice?
Don’t assume others won’t want (need) tactile feedback just because you don’t.
Also, remember that corporate IT departments have spent a lot of money on Blackberries and won’t be quick to say their great ideas are outdated. Department heads won’t be quick to authorize purchases of new phones when the BBs haven’t been depreciated. (since they probably wouldn’t have been capitalized this isn’t an accounting issue but it is a cashflow issue and will impact their operating OH budgets) Corporations have long-term contracts with their wireless providers – it isn’t as easy as Joe Phoner just switching services.
MS doesn’t control the office because it’s the best. It controls the office today because it controlled it yesterday and big ships take a *long* time to change course.
I agree there is no way business people will want yahoo email. However, I do believe in time Apple will establish their own push servers much like RIM has and offer push email with the clients own TLD.
I also have read where Cortado plans to offer a premium push service for the iPhone. If true, this will make the yahoo suffix unnecessary and push service will indeed be ‘just like the blackberry’.
Still though, e-mail isn’t the whole story. It’s also calendars and contacts. I hope Apple can figure it out, but right now the only thing we know we can do is get e-mail only from Yahoo. That’s not integration with Exchange or Notes, and that’s what it’s going to take.
This isn’t a slam against the iPhone, this is just the reality of the business marketplace.
Full exchange integration is necessary for business. The lack of an Exchange alternative is the reason MS has such a lock on corporate computing.
As for Blackberry’s, I don’t like their interface, but they are tough as nails. I had to carry one for work (unwillingly) and I dropped it all the time in attempt to “break” it. No dice, it kept on going. If the iPhone can match the ruggedness of a Blackberry, add Exchange support, and their UI works as well as we hope then it will overwhelmingly rule the phone market.
is with the browser, and those lovely ie 6 only sites. the part of the employee website where i work is ie 6 only, so i can’t view my paycheck from home, our benefits site was ie 5.5 only but now works nicely with firefox, and barely with safari; switching user agent just doesn’t work on the employee site, kinda works on the benefits site.
@Intheshelter
I’m not as lucky as you. Im on my third BB. Company is getting tired of replacing them. Also as someone mentioned, syncing with Lotus Notes is a nice feature and it makes the device much more usable in a corporate setting.
The iPhone is EDGE network. Anyone here realize how slow that is? Blackberry is 3G. Enough said
Perhaps we should calm down until at least one of us has actually used the thing. It could be so (to use a 20th century phrase) insanely great that any problem will be worth overcoming. It could be so insanely disappointing that no one wants to try.
“take your own advice and dont talk about things you dont understand.”
Your post is incoherent. What are you trying to say? that it is important to you that your phone works with Exchange Server or that it’s not?
“Seems to me that Google Maps would be a killer app for a lot of travelling business people.”
Not so much. No true turn by turn mapping. What can be said is that’s better than nothing. True turn by turn navigation apps like TomTom on Windows CE are much better.
But Google Maps already runs on just about any smart-phone out there so it’s not a differentiating feature