“I walked into my local AT&T Wireless store on Saturday fully expecting and prepared to get a Blackberry 8820. My Blackberry 8800 died while I was in London last week, and both Visa and American Express tried to protect me from fraud by disallowing my attempts to order a new phone over the web. Hence, my face-to-face visit with AT&T,” Matt Asay blogs for CNET.
Matt Asay blogs for CNET’s “The Open Road,” which emphasizes “the business and politics of open source.” Asay is general manager of the Americas division and vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management.
“Unfortunately for Research in Motion, maker of the Blackberry, the in-store price for the 8820 was the same as the iPhone. I deliberated for all of three seconds and walked out with the iPhone,” Asay reports.
“The iPhone ‘just works,’ and then some… I thought I wouldn’t be able to type on the iPhone without tactile feedback. I was wrong. I’m actually faster on the iPhone than I ever was on the Blackberry, and that’s with only an hour of ‘training,'” Asay reports. “I thought I would miss a host of things with my Blackberry, but I haven’t. Instead, I’ve been blown away by the innovative use of gestures and the user interface. I resisted the iPhone for a year or so, but looking back it was inevitable that I’d end here.”
Asay reports, “The iPhone is an amazing device. It was inevitable that I’d find my way to it, just as it’s inevitable that it will continue to take more and more market share, eventually breeding lower-end devices that will change the way we use mobile ‘phones.'”
Full article here.
Many people will be shocked at how quickly RIM’s Blackberry is supplanted by Apple’s iPhone.
s, don’t go talking about DEC unless you were there. They had the technology – you still use some of it to post to this board – but they failed to market it.
crazylegs is right … sort of. We, here, will be quite surprised to see the Blackberry continue to grow – totals sold, if not market share. OK, nothing at all like the rate that the iPhone will grow, but we expect the market to fold in front of the iPhone onslaught. It will be a year or so (from introduction) before the iPhone starts to take significant sales from the Blackberry. Certainly not before the SDK is widely established, or 3G.
Thats the best part of the sell. Once you try it, you just can’t see yourself going back to the dark ages with other devices. iPhone/Touch is Star Trek/2001/ in your hands today.
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DLMeyer: a lot of people here will be shocked, yes, but not everyone.
i will take your comment further and say it will be closer to 2 years before the iPhone takes significant sales from crackberry. but the writing is already on the wall. the iPhone is better in almost every way. and that is pre-SDK. in 6 months or so people will marvel at what the iPhone can do compared to what it could do, in the same way they marvel at it compared to cheap nokia crap now.
RIM has about 16 months to make a SIGNIFICANTLY better device than what they are currently selling. if they don’t, it will be a long battle, but it will be a long rearguard battle. the other companies have already lost, they just don’t know it yet…
The evidence of what Jobs said that the iPhone is 5 years beyond everyone else is becoming more apparent each day…just wait for the next device or software release…the leapfrog effect will only become exponential…get on the bandwagon while you still can. …and buy AAPL..the iPhone by years end will be a cult that redefines the Blackberry user cult.
Blue Dream,
exactly!
I believe that by the end of the year (post SDK) the iPhone will be hot on Blackberry’s heels.
In 2009 it will overtake it.
Wow!
AAPL up nearly six dollars!
Let’s be realistic.
The iPhone’s target market does have some overlap with the Blackberry’s target market. The iPhone appeals to every cell phone user. The Blackberry appeals to business users and, with it’s more compact models, text message-a-holics.
The Blackberry will not lose all of it’s business users overnight.
The iPhone, with it’s lower ‘over the life of the contract’ price and it’s ‘games and other goodies to come’ potential will eventually win many, many people over.
In 2 to 4 years, it will be no contest.
I’m holding out for the 10″ iPhone Notepad.
I always wanted a 10 incher.
It amazes me that people don’t see what is happening. Apple is going to eat the Mobile players’ lunch. I’m sure RIM will continue to have a profitable existence for some years, but right now they have no answers to Apple’s onslaught on the business market from above and Apple’s onslaught on the gaming market from below. And neither does Sony, Nokia, MS, Motorola or anyone else.
Once the SDK is loose and a second generation phone comes out, it will be all but over.
Big Al,
“In 2 to 4 years, it will be no contest.”
I agree, but believe that it will be more like 1 to 2 years.
Just about the only tech stock NOT participating in today’s market rally is M$FT.
HA HA!!
In my view the Blackberry’s cult success was 3 to 5 years ago.
Everyone joining it today are laggards, followers and behind the times.
@ Gavron,
I to 2 years for the USA maybe.
The iPhone is only legally sold in a very small percentage of the world’s cell phone markets. The Blackberry is sold almost everywhere.
@ crazylegs
First off thank you. You present your opinion in an insightful and precise manner.
Second I am not sure I agree with you. According to Gartner, as a result of devices like the iPhone (the smart phone market) there are more dollars spent on Cell phone hardware. That being said, what is so exiting about the iPhone is how it knocked all the complacent companies into action. It is too bad that most hardware developers just push more crap to the market. In the US, this revitalized the cell phone market into something that rivals device functionality in Japan and Europe (combined, the largest cell phone market in the world) In the US, the cell phone manufacturers are crippled by what the Cellular companies want from then; cheap low cost handsets with minimal functionality. Then, because of the contractual obligations these companies force on the consumer, there is less turnover and less demand for truly innovative products. With the iPhone on the market, Handset manufacturers in the US are now forced to sell their cell phones based on old fashioned retail rather than tying a consumer to a particular company and handset because of subsidizing. I believe the iPhone pushes more money into the Cell phone market and drives innovation to other handset manufacturers. They can either innovate or go out of business. That is only advantageous to consumers. I love it. Bring on the iPhone!!!!!!!!
I doubt there will be any stripped-down mini iPhones. I don’t think phones are among the devices apple would want to sell, except as stop-gap between now and the time when cell networks with all their crap no longer exist, in order to sell more iPods, which is what the iPhone is really.
Synthmeister, you forgot something…the global rollout of the iPhone.
Right now, it’s in America and Europe; that’s it. The SDK + 3G + global market exposure = checkmate.
iPhone, bee-yotch!
Peace.
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Olmecmystic
@kikamouse – glad there is some rational thought here. both platforms should just kill it in the coming years. the next data point is on April 2 when rim reports and I bet they have a huge quarter to report and guide up big. the reason? the smartphone market is just beginning to explode.
rim’s value isn’t in their device the way iphone is, it’s in their service. the uninformed and emotionally charged here will tell you it can be replicated easily with exchange/lotus integration and a few IT admin utilities. that is simply ignorant and further study of rim’s architecture is required. do you think any large corporation wants to open their firewall up to incoming pings from the device? absolutely not. large enterprise is rim’s game. small and medium sized businesses and consumers are up for grabs realistically. here, personal choice of what works better for the individual will always win out.
I’m significantly invested in each (and have been for the past 2 years) and actually study the companies to get a feel where they are headed. the case for the demise of rim in the next 3 to 5 years is just dumb when one looks at the total market. they will innovate, don’t worry, and so will Apple, and at the end of the day, both will do extremely well. if you guys are so sure of rim’s demise, why not short the heck out of their stock? i have my money where my mouth is, why not do the same and short, short, short rimm. if what you believe comes true you will be rich!!!
I’m anxious to hear from all 3 of the Blackberry to iPhone users. No, really. Also, I would love to see someone typing faster on an iPhone than a BB 8800. Now,in related news, I have an iPod touch since about September and it’s quite okay as a music and video player. Yes, it has some ridiculous GUI faux-pas (rewind 15 secs in a 2hr video anyone? or what about the ridiculous coverflow function that only handles albums? Or the fact that coverflow only works with the full library as opposed to the very playlist you’re in? or the truncating of track or album names…or the lack of audio track or podcast info…or the lack of cross fades…or the lack of downloading podcasts…or the lack of disk mode…or the fact that it gets very fragmented and sluggish when filled up with video material and needs a full reset) but maybe it’s still somewhat above the average player out there. But when it comes to typing fast on this thing – compared to a 8800? Please.
My neighbor’s company has dumped 25 blackberries for iPhones and they are very happy about it.
Totally gave up my BB for my iPhone. I ran with both for a while, and even though my employer supplies the BB, it exists solely to forward calls to my iPhone. Visto Mobile makes the Exchange side work, and it all just works.
@Cracylegs-
Good point. Also, understand, many of us Mac Fanatics (I am absolutely one of them!) For so long, as a group of people, were looked upon as freaks or burnt out hippies that are just rebelling against The status quo. This “Time of the iPhone” is almost like a trumpet yelling out to the masses “I told you so!!” and most of us take advantage of that since for so long Apple has been a genuinely good company but became complacent in their success back in the 90’s. I am saying these things just to maybe get a little understanding of why many of us Mac users have such a zeal for exclusive success in the iPhone. In all honesty , I and I can safely say many mac users welcome honest competition in the market and RIM obviously has a position to dominate the market. I hope RIM continues on its path it is taking to make some innovative products. What bothers people like me are the companies that come out with a mediocre product touting it as the best product available (great example is M$) and at best it is functional for short periods of time. Clients of mine are firm on RIM because they tell me that it is a stable reliable product for their enterprise needs. Wonderful! If RIM continues, it’ll prevent complacency in the mobile smartphone market and come out continuously with truly innovative top notch products. In the US, most people don’t realize what products are available outside of the US and what services are available with great mobile handsets. I think the iPhone helped spur the interest in higher end mobile phones. Now, when people walk into an AT&T;store, they can get an OK free phone, or spend a few hundred dollars and get a fantastic smart phone like the iPhone and get so much more than just a subsidized phone. Once again, I really hope RIM succeeds. More good competitors with genuinely good products will only benefit consumers. not only with more choices but more competition to come out with progressively good and improved products. Not polishing the same product and splash a different color on it. I’ll look into RIM’s stock to get rich quick
Fantastic, all of a sudden the MDN boards is crowded with ex Blackberry users who switched to iPhone. An of course, the classical “I’m working for a fortune 500 company and…” or “my neighbour’s company…” . Double yawn.
My best friendsa sister has a boyfriend whos brother in law runs a huge very creativa and important company. The whola staff (about 6000 people) switchd from them lama blackberry phones to iPhones becausa the easa of typing on the iphone. Now their productivity rates are up by 630% and they’re so happy they decide to found a religion based on the iPhone interface.
Blackberry is outdated junk, Crazylegs. Mainly people in 3rd world countries are buying into thinking they’re really getting something but even THEY are on the stupid BB forum trying to get help fixing glitches on those outdated devices.
Each BB is already outdated the day it’s released! LOL
I own a Torch 9800 and had a Curve & now I’m done with these archaic phones.