By SteveJack
Engadget Mobile has some shots of the much-ballyhooed RIM Blackberry 9000 “in the wild.”
Uh oh, RIM shareholders. If this is all RIM’s got, you guys and gals might want to quickly add “former” ahead of that suddenly scary “RIM shareholders” business. It’s now painfully obvious that RIM has learned nothing in the past 15 or so months since Apple unveiled the iPhone.
RIM clearly seems to have tried to copy Apple’s iPhone exterior look, but beyond that derivative bit of attempted tomfoolery, the anachronistic physical buttons remain, taking up tons of space whether or not they’re in use. Also remaining is the small screen, mashed into the upper half of the device in order to make room for those tiny, slippery-looking plastic buttons festooned all over the bottom half of the device.
The software’s UI has been prettied or messed up (depending on your taste), but it has none of the multi-touch goodness of Apple’s iPhone. It’s the same old, same old in an iPhone-inspired wrapper. And that should fail to inspire much confidence in RIM.
You can judge the distance behind and overall cluelessness of iPhone’s future roadkill by the amount they copy the iPhone’s exterior. See: LG, HTC, and now RIM, among many others. This ceaseless quest to dress up antiques in Apple veneer is pathetic and sad (e.g. Windows Vista).
If even I, iPhone Owner From Day One, expected a bit more from RIM, and I did, then those who expected RIM’s BlackBerry 9000 to be the company’s answer to Apple’s iPhone are in for a shocking and disheartening disappointment.
RIM, like Microsoft’s Windows, will continue to run on fumes for awhile, but if they fail to fuel up (innovate) they will eventually stop rolling. And RIM has but a fraction of Microsoft’s entrenchment.
What do I predict for RIM? In the immortal words of James “Clubber” Lang: “Pain.”
See Engadget Mobile’s gallery of BlackBerry 9000 photos here.
RIM BlackBerry 9000 User Interface:
Direct link via YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee-DepnxJW4
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Nick” for the heads up.]
SteveJack is a long-time Macintosh user, web designer, multimedia producer and a regular contributor to the MacDailyNews Opinion section.
“It looks like it is running Leopard.”
My thoughts exactly! It even seems to have a dock.
RIM doesn’t need to inspire confidence in the Blackberry. Their millions and millions and millions of users already have that.
Seriously, RIM is OK. They’re not going anywhere, nor should you wish for that. Not everyone who isn’t Apple is the enemy. Grow up, the lot of you.
@ Crazy Legs,
You are right in that the market is too large and growing too quickly for there to be just one company that succeeds, while all others fail.
However, RIM doesn’t need to be blasted into extinction in order to taste the bitter pain of failure. This latest offering, which appears to be the same old blackberry in a new suit of clothes, demonstrates that RIM is currently not interested in innovating or evolving to embrace new technologies. Any company that does this will surely loose it’s status amongst the top of the heap. No company is immune from this truth… if you want to be on top and stay there you MUST continue to push the envelope, or be prepared to be left behind.
So no, RIM won’t go anywhere for some time to come… but, if they continue on their present course, the will see the eroding of their fortunes, and if they still refuse to adapt, then they very well may die.
What do I predict for RIM? In the immortal words of James “Clubber” Lang: “Pain.”
Steve Jobs does have the eye of the Tiger.
@ Broker – did you read my post? You must have, but it did not sink in. My point is that the market is too big and more than one platform will prosper. Let’s look at facts:
1. Smartphone sales globally in 2007 were roughly 130 million units.
2. Growth rate of smartphones is roughly 30% per year (compared to overall market of just under 10%)
3. Smartphone sales in 2008 will be roughly 160-170 mln units.
3. iPhone will sell at least 10 mln units in CY 2008.
4. BB will sell 18-20 mln units in CY 2008.
5. Global mkt share in 2008 for iPhone will be under 10%, for BB just over 10%.
Still tons of room for BOTH to grow massively. My holdings in each company are roughly equal, but over the last 2 years, RIMM has killed AAPL in performance (RIMM up 300%, AAPL up 130%) and I bet it continues. Can’t wait until next April when both stocks are materially higher…
‘My iPhone isn’t missing a keyboard. It pops up exactly when I need it, as if by magic.”
__________
Exactly, that is the beauty of the iPhone.
However, as much as I like the ability to make the keyboard disappear when not needed, I do think there is something to be said for the tactile feel of a keypad. Sure, i know, i know, you can type just as fast on an iPhone as other devices, and honestly, I do much prefer the other benefits of having a full touch screen. But I wont deny that i do miss that real feel of buttons when typing.
“WHO ARE YOU REALLY, STEVEJACK?!?!?!”
I don’t know him. I’ve never seen or met him. I’ve never been in the same room with him. Wait a minute……..
@Crazylegs,
I’ve been saying the same thing, too – the iPhone will lead to a greater smartphone adoption rate, which will benefit both Apple and RIM. The market will probably shake out like the mp3 market with the iPhone and the Blackberry being the dominant players. I just wonder how long it will take before Apple sells more iPhones per quarter than RIM sells Blackberrys? It will be a LONG time until there are more iPhones in use than Blackberrys.
Reminds me of the old days, when transparent, fruit-flavored enclosures suddenly became all the rage after the introduction of the iMac G3. If RIM thinks that all it takes to compete with the iPhone is a bit of chrome and some jazzy wallpaper, they are sadly mistaken.
@ Willie G
RIM is just playing MS’s game, circa 1990’s. Spend as little as you can and go high volume. Great way to cash in on a commoditized market that you own, but not a very defensive strategy when there are other strong competitors in it. For defense, you have to have big pockets to buy out or vilify your competition (*ahem*) and a strong presence in the back room. RIM has some of this, but not as much as MS did to get where they are.
The problem with RIM and Windows Mobile is that they’re still trying to stuff a desktop computer into a phone, and they just don’t seem to realize that they have an opportunity to create something new and better suited to a pocket device. They’ll make plenty of money doing it, but they can’t turn back the clock. MS achieved near complete market dominance in a computer-unsavvy world. These days the bar is significantly higher.
I wont be buying this – the screen is too small and there are buttons on the phone.
Nice try at copying Apples style, but no sale from my business and it’s 100 employees.
We’ll stick with our iphones.
…the iPhone will lead to a greater smartphone adoption rate, which will benefit both Apple and RIM. –Cubert
The increasing popularity of smartphones will benefit both Apple and whoever has the chops to actually take on the challenge of competing with the company (Apple) that is currently blowing the competition away. It may be RIM that succeeds in this endeavor, or it may be some other handset maker. Regardless of who wins the contest, customers benefit. Customers do not benefit when companies trot out the same old products, season after season, sporting nothing more than a new coat of paint.
@ alansky
You know you’ve hit the big time when you get your own
” rel=”nofollow”>a ‘pod’ now.
the iPhone already has amazing success considering it’s limited accessibility. It’s entering new markets and crazy exciting software is coming out this year via SDK. This phone has it’s best days ahead of it. Not to imply RIM will shutter it’s doors but as someone above said the pressure will be on. They’ll be feeling the pain.
Since owning my iPhone not once has the thought of “I wish it had a keypad” ever came into my mind.
Just goes to show, somethings you may think you need but in reality you never miss it.
A classic example of fantastic design and intuitive user experience.
It’s a iPhone with a real keyboard!!
There are some people who really text a lot and need the advantage of two finger typing.
Now if Apple would allow a third party keyboard plug-in option to the iPhone…
…or perhaps a stylus?
…and a pair of reading glasss to see the small screen?
The iPhone is not perfect, nether is this new BUNGBERRY!!!
Hahhahaha fooled you!!!
@ Petey
I never had a smartphone with a keypad, so I’ll never know. But I certainly don’t wonder.
That said, there is value to tactile feedback. I like to have a regular iPod in my car (as opposed to a touch screen), because I can feel the touchwheel and navigate without looking at it. The benefits of a touch screen on the iPhone VASTLY outweigh this for my needs, but it would still be nice to have. Ideally some sort of touch feedback should be engineered into the design, and I know Apple and others are working on this. But if it never comes… ah.. no big deal.
@ RE: the Rim Appliance
“Your friend didn’t realize that here in East Germany we use 220 Volts current. He was found in his hotel room impaled on a large electrical device. Our surgeon did what they could but it took them 2 hours just to get the smile off his face.”
ChrissyOne,
http://code.google.com/p/iphone-haptics/
*GREAT* link. Thanks!
I wonder if they could use something like ultrasonic vibrations to create a sense of texture to the screen. Like a virtual braille. Then you could feel around for controls before you actually press them.
Which brings up another problem – ‘The Next Major Computing Platform’ seems poised to really piss off blind people.
I bet Roddenberry has this all worked out somewhere…
How is it any different from before? Who’s gonna want to play games on that thing? Who’s gonna wanna surf the web? Browse photos? Watch movies? Read maps? Books? Show patients what their medication looks like? Sign for a package? Who’s gonna wanna develop for that thing?
When presented with the iPhone as an alternative, no one.
We don’t know what RIM is working on now as far as a device with a worthwhile screen, but I doubt that with the lack of the ecosystem Apple builds around their products that it will be able to compete with Apple who went from no phone to best phone just like that.
People forget that when the iPod came out, it was Mac only. Making it a PC device as well gave it wings. This latest SDK gave iPhone it’s wings.
Oh dear, why do the gormless suits in all these companies order their “designers” to knock off the competition with a me-too???
Pathetic. RIM deserves to belly-up on this.
And it doesn’t even run OSX either
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I wouldn’t write RIM off yet folks. This thing has stopgap written all over it. I bet it’ll sell like mad.
I hope their follow up is kick ass. iPhone needs some serious competition or it’ll stagnate.
Have you noticed how many comments have been posted for one single subject. We know no one will buy it. Who is SteveJack?