BlackBerry Storm’s “original November 14 launch date has been delayed again because of a ‘software glitch,'” Jesus Diaz reports for Gizmodo.
MacDailyNews Note: Please see related article: RIM’s new BlackBerry Storm offers mechanical click screen, lacks Wi-Fi – October 08, 2008
Diaz’s tipster says, “It will be available for $199.99 with a two year contract. For companies the price will be no greater than $89.99, also with a 2 year contract.”
Diaz writes, “Seems like Research In Motion and Verizon are feeling the heat as the iPhone keeps pushing up in the enterprise.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “MacVicta” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: No Wi-Fi. No iPod. No iTunes App Store. No sale.
$89.99 sounds more like it – they should sell it to the public for that and they might move a few.
… But then again, who would want to be stuck with one for two years. Nah, they should call it the Blackberry Bomb.
‘MacDailyNews Take: No Wi-Fi. No App Store. No iPod. No sale.’
Some companies will buy it anyway simply because it’s ‘cheap’ and then will try to force them on their employees who will simply say, ‘No thanks, already have an iPhone.’
Taking the world by storm…… not!
All the hype in the world won’t make Apple successfull in the enterprise market. They just don’t get it. That hype may work for the Xmas gift buying consumer but it always backfires on them with IT buyers. At the end of the day, Apple should spend more time actually making their products useful and secure for business and less time insulting our intelligence with hype about how great they are for business. I could care less whether users want a touchscreen or a real keyboard. Just give me the right security and administration tools. Today, BES delivers and Apple/Microsoft don’t.
I wonder what the two-year contract runs? Last time I saw a comparison of smart phones in the U.S., the iPhone contract was competitive.
I saw a guy today who was using his iPhone (paid for out of his own pocket) while leaving his company Blackberry sitting on a cabinet. He was doing corporate email just fine and enjoying it a lot more. He showed it to three people in the contracts office who were very impressed.
Many people simply do not comprehend the upside of the iPhone. But they will.
These will be 99 cents in 30 days. You cannot duplicate the iPhone experience.
“You cannot duplicate the iPhone experience.”
Such as the stark realization that your company’s critical, sensitive information has now fallen into the wrong hands and it’ll be easy to get to due to lack of real security features and remote wipe capability.
Its not a real storm if some Canadian idiots can delay it.
A real storm comes through and causes excitement, like the iPhone.
HeeHeeHee
I never understood why the BlackBerry brand was so popular, even before the iPhone was even thought of. The keyboard is awkward. The RIM GUI is mediocre at best with bad text rendering and low resolution screens. Plus on the Pearl models that scroll wheel is nice, but looks a little too much like that hard to use nib thing on Lenovo and “business” class notebooks. I guess you need something like that if your trackpad is small or you have a limited GUI on a phone.
The whole RIM-losing-ground thing doesn’t surprise me in the least. I don’t have an iPhone, but I do have an iPod touch with OS 2.1. It’s absolutely amazing, smooth, and I’ve had no problems and most little glitches are solved by restarting the device. Simple usually equals the easiest to use.
Gunboat, the iPhone has remote wipe.
@Connor MacBook:
which my company has tested and found to be wanting. Plus, having to use iTunes/QuickTime with its known security holes nixes the deal, as well.
The_IT_Guy says: ” I could care less whether users want a touchscreen or a real keyboard.”
Which is why many business owners (I for example) fire tech guys like this and instead use forward thinking, competent professionals who realize their customer is the user. In our business we use iPhone.
I wonder if it will support advanced features like cut and paste or threaded messaging?
God, another one.
Your ‘secrets’ are in your dreams.
You must spend all day looking for security holes and then making self-important statements about them.
Itunes has security holes. OOOH.
Well it is a frickin MUSIC player, for crying out loud.
Get a girlfriend and STFU with your empty paranoid delusions and egotistical bollocks about Apple’s software.
You probably have biometrics to get into the bathroom. Yawn.
It’s funny how little most people know about the regulations most F500 companies have to adhere to. We have to account for SEC/SOX/FINRA not to mention state level.
Reality is iPhone does not meet our needs thus we will not be deploying the device until it does. Acid trip or not without these controls in place we are subject to all sorts of fines. Obviously you don’t deal with HIPPA and NPI data in your current job.
Apple needs to provide better device management and device encryption. The current Exchange ActiveSync policies don’t mean squat when any user can easily jailbreak and circumvent these policies. So while most of us don’t work for the CIA we have requirements we have to follow and Apple is not doing anything to help us (or themselves). For now Apple is content being on the consumer / entertainment side of things.
iPhone can be used by users who wish to buy them on their own (footing the whole bill as well) if they want the company to provide a device and voice / date for now it’s Blackberry and we track usage monthly and reclaim devices not being used. Our annual wireless budget is now over 3mil a year so we actively support wireless usage and while iPhone does some slick things it needs a BES type environment (or a 3rd party vendor) to reach enterprise level readiness.
amazing how vitriolic these posts get
Its easy to see why people get angry when IT guy and Gunboat are so high-handed, dismissing the iPhone as a Xmas gift, etc.
Who the hell do you guys think you are?
I have an iPhone, love it, and run a small business using it as the main form of connection through calls and email all day and every day.
Have done for over 12 months now.
Dont need 411 anymore – Google maps.
Push and Fetch email keep me in touch within the hour, or less.
Nothing surfs the web as good as an iPhone – and if you want fast info, where else can you go?
The iPhone is easily the very best device I have EVER used.
As for security, its well known that the only security leaks that count are the HUMAN ones……
You iPhone naysayers are simply WRONG.
Fact is, the smart phone market just isnt in the ‘corporate’ world at all.
Iphone beats Blackberry because Consumer sales is where its at. WAY more cash.
If phones are so dangerous to your company, then dont use them, or dont send sensitive data out to Billy from accounts who may be in bed with a hooker as the new report gets sent to him….
I doubt there are specific fines and penalties for using the wrong phone, and I imagine the SEC is more concerned with stock manipulation than phone security. At least I hope that to be the case.
Fact is, custom and practise rule the world, sadly, and what we have always done is what we will repeat tomorrow, even though it makes no sense.
So if the iPhone isnt special enough for you, or doesnt fit your world, dont buy it.
There are a majority of users who, when they encounter the iPhone, will be happy to do so.
Criticising the iPhone because it doesnt do what you want is like saying a Porsche is no good for patrolling the streets of Bagdhad.
Pretty good on the Autostrada though!
Reason things get a little feisty here is because of high-handed tones from IT guy and Gunboat Smith.
I guess it riles people a little. Who knew?
relax @ the IT GUY
sounds like you’ve been sitting behind a PC for too long. Join the friendly discussion. Try a Mac or an iPhone for a month then just try to switch back to a PC or RIM phone. I dare you. 2 years ago I would have never thought I’d be preaching the gospel according to Mac!! Fun when you enjoy using your computer.
Thanks. Context is everything. Gunbutt and his IT guy are just bloviating.
You know, like Bill-O.
Nobody really takes them seriously.
Guys,
I’m totally behind the idea of getting iPhone into the Enterprise, but I have to say, IT guy/Gunboat has a valid point. There are some rules and regulations that require very specific levels of IT security for their business. This security extends to everything IT, including mobile data communications. Over the years, RIM had developed these solutions. Apple has not yet done that.
There is no question, iPhone would probably be perfectly acceptable from every angle for about 95% of all large corporations. The remaining 5% are the ones with specific regulations related to IT security and they tend to get so much more prominence, even though they represent a small percentage.
Apple has no intention (yet) to spend enormous amounts of time and money in order to heavily customise the iPhone and desktop/server software for a rather small percentage of their intended market.
Much like the Mac, Apple has no desire to aggressively pursue every enterprise customer. This is actually not exactly very desirable anyway; look at Microsoft. Vista can still run DOS code! We can’t have the best desktop OS unless Apple was free to turn on a dime and drop legacy support in order to advance technology.
iPhone will live just fine without the top fifty of the Fortune 500 companies.
@Predrag
Hear! Hear!
Apple have taken some small (?) steps toward the business/enterprise market for the iPhone. They may take more steps to pick the low hanging corporate fruit.
That’s just fine for me.
John
In the UK Vodafone have a MASSIVE advertising campaign saying the Storm has been made specifically for them.
Seems to me they’ll be a bit unhappy about a delay…
If they aren’t fast and it isn’t perfect, they’ll have missed the boat.