“Shares of RIM have tumbled almost 30 percent since late September as analysts downgraded the stock,” Dabrowski reports. “Their concern is that an invasion of new smartphones from the likes of Apple and Nokia will erode the BlackBerry’s dominance as North America’s top selling smartphone brand.”
MacDailyNews Take: Nokia? LOL. Otherwise, the anaylsts’ concerns are well-founded.
Dabrowski reports, “RIM’s co-chief executives say the company has weathered similar storms in the past… ‘When we went public everyone was saying, ‘Oh my God, you’re going to get crushed by Motorola, Ericsson and paging and this emerging Nokia,” said Jim Balsillie, one of RIM’s co-CEOs… This has played before, several times. All that’s different is there’s a couple more zeros on everything.”
“Worldwide, Nokia is the top smartphone maker, according to Gartner data, with a 39.3 percent market share. RIM, which employs more than 13,000 people around the world, is second with share of 20.8 percent. Apple is third with 17.1 percent,” Dabrowski reports.
“The company also sees great potential in designing applications or ‘apps’ for its handsets that blend data from several sources,” Dabrowski reports. “For example, instead of a simple calendar with notifications, the company is looking at a calendar which would notify the user of road traffic or weather problems which could affect their ability to make a scheduled meeting.”
MacDailyNews Take: RIM is doomed due to their leaders’ near total lack of both vision and imagination. When it comes to RIM and Apple, two CEOs are not better than one.
Dabrowski continues, “That increased breadth, depth and integration of such software will be a key driver of growth in BlackBerry sales, Lazaridis and Balsillie said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Delusional half-CEOs fighting each other to see who can jam their heads deeper into the sand. In a report from Millennial Media and Mobclix, RIM was estimated to have 3,100 applications vs. Apple’s catalog of 115,000. BlackBerry users download about 0.3 million apps per month vs. Phone users’ 100 million downloads per month.
Full article here.
“Two heads are better than one” said the cannibal….
“(…) BlackBerry users download about 0.3 million apps per month vs. Phone users’ 100 million downloads per month.”
This only proves that iPhone users are a bunch of spoiled kids. But… there are many more spoiled kids than serious business users.
Whenever I see those new blackberry commercials I always think it’s a Mastercard commercial with those yellow and red D’s..
@Towertone,
brilliant take!
“For example, instead of a simple calendar with notifications, the company is looking at a calendar which would notify the user of road traffic or weather problems which could affect their ability to make a scheduled meeting.”
Ooh! How about a weather forecast app with a built in calendar!!!
As a former blackberry user, I can tell you why the downloaded app comparison is a good one. It was very difficult to find apps, as well as to load them onto the blackberry. When I did load them onto the BB, they did not always work, or not like expected. It took way to long to find and then load. I could not search for the apps from my BB, it had to be from a computer.
With my iPhone, as an example, the first time I was on my way to the airport, after getting my iPhone, I searched, found, and installed a flight tracker app. I found the flight, and new the arrival time had been delayed, all within 5 minutes.
Yes the iPhone is fun, but it is also very serious when it needs to be.
What amazes me is this:
Rim is an established player, Apple is a newcomer and the iPhone is their •very first attempt• at a smartphone.
Sounds like another Balmer, ignore the real competition who is kicking your ass!
Why do you think Balsillie wants the second NHL franchise in southern Ontario? He knows that will be a much more secure revenue generator than RIM will continue to be…
Apple’s house is in the ascent, RIM is going the opposite direction: buy one get one free!
Though I usually agree with MDN and I’m as strong an advocate for Apples as anyone, a little humility regarding RIM would be in order. RIM is FAR from “beleaguered” despite their recent stock decline. RIM’s smartphone market share growth last quarter was roughly comparable to that of the iPhone. That may not continue, and I hope iPhone trounces them, but that has NOT happened yet. Nokia, Moto and Palm are obviously in trouble. Rim? No evidence of that so far.
MDN…please, iCal this fool of a CEO!!!!
MDN said: “RIM was estimated to have 3,100 applications vs. Apple’s catalog of 115,000. BlackBerry users download about 0.3 million apps per month vs. Phone users’ 100 million downloads per month.”
What’s your point? RIM had apps before the iPhone existed. 3,100 apps is more than ten times as many as the vast majority of iPhone users collect, even though the iPhone has more than twenty times the choices. You offer snide Red Herrings while RyanC offers “It was very difficult to find apps, as well as to load them onto the Blackberry. When I did load them onto the BB, they did not always work, or not like expected. It took way to long to find and then load. I could not search for the apps from my BB, it had to be from a computer. “. And THAT is the more important. It’s less about how many “fart” apps you can collect and more about how many easy-to-use and useful apps you can find, apply, and use.
@ RyanC
Thank you for giving a good example of how the iPhone is good for business people. The iPhone is more than a toy.
I have used Many Blackberry, an IPhone, as well as Windows mobile devices… I am a power user in ever sense of the word.
RyanC, When were you using your blackberry, because they certainly do have an on device application library, and it installs apps pretty seamlessly. Plus, I don’t know what you were looking for by if there is a practical use for an app the blackberry has it, same with windows mobile.
115000 apps and how many would you install again lets say 50 at most, not to mention at least 7 out of every 10 apps in that count are completely pointless or are terrible and practically nonfunctional.
The IPhone has ONE saving grace, it is very user friendly, a perfect entry in to the smartphone world. The fact is once you want real functionality, the ability to really do anything with your phone you need a BB or a WM Device. (of course Nokia N Series are pretty good as well)
You know what RyanC With out hacking my phone with a blackberry or windows mobile device, not only can I get the flight status, but while waiting for the plan I can set my phone up as a wireless network and browse from my laptop, I can use a voice command to do that meaning I don’t even have the pull the phone out of my pocket. never mind tethering.
Oh did I mention that on the way to the airport, With my BB or WM Device, I can be listening to music through my phone, let the wife play on facebook, all the while getting turn by turn voice directions to the airport of which I just checked my flight status (with out having to enter the address) With a accurately calculated time until arrival. Then after surfing the net on my laptop using the wifi router app on my phone, and watching a couple movies on my flight, I can just pull out the spare battery, and be good to go for another long bout between chances to charge.
This isn’t only theoretical in fact I do this exact thing about once a month.
RIM won’t disappear any time soon. They have a solid, established user base and market, plus they’re the darlings of dorky IT departments everywhere. There’s no match for real mechanical buttons!
There’s also no such thing as one device for everyone, though the iPhone is closest to it, given the breadth of apps available.
There’s certainly room at the smartphone table for everyone. Although, Ballmer and his Windows Mobile will be sitting off to the side in a highchair so as not to splatter the others with food.
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I would NOT want to see Apple in the majority position. It’s better that Apple stay a little hungry, a little more lean and a little more nimble than the competition.
As for the “fart app” example that the weak-minded feel the need to trot out when they want an ‘example” of how thin the iPhone app catalogue is… give it a rest. If you take ANY market of ANYthing… software, hardware, music, movies, TV, food… the majority of what’s available is sub-par. The same thing holds true with the App Store.
For me, the greatest weakness of the App Store is the pathetic search function! how on earth are we supposed to search through over 100,000 apps, with NO advanced search function or filtering of ANY kind?!?!? It’s an embarrassment and incredibly inefficient!
RIM is doomed because Blackberry is the new Lotus 1-2-3, or is it the new Word Perfect? Its all in the interface.
“…once you want real functionality, the ability to really do anything with your phone you need a BB or a WM Device.”
That made me laugh. Thanks.
RyanC,
So that was YOU who was swerving all over the road near the airport!
Revolutionary…now when a tornado dips down for 20 seconds, a traffic report will notify you on your Storms calendar. I now want to buy 10. RIMM is the new definition for innovation.
I love how the RIM apologists are often the same apologists for WM, Windows, and Microsoft in general. Case in point: Graeme. And they come back to the same argument — Why would you need 115000 apps when you can get the 50 or so that you’ll actually use on both stores?
But I thought these same people always argued that Windows was superior because it had more apps?
Quality over quantity is exactly the same argument that we Mac people, who have been arguing over platform superiority for the last 15 years, have used day in and day out, and it does still hold. The question is whether there are actually equivalent apps, as it always was.
Next thing. I agree completely with RyanC. My girlfriend has a Blackberry Curve, I think, and when she got it we set about the process of trying to load a Facebook app on it. Couldn’t do it in 2 hours. Couldn’t figure it out. There was no immediately apparent app store destination on the device, nor was there any indication of where to go to purchase apps. You had to go to the internet, and Google for the apps that you wanted. If you actually got to their “official” app store via Google, then you had to download the app to your computer and then try to transfer it. I’m not sure if that process supported Macs at all.
All I’m saying is that the whole thing was clunky. I just don’t think they know how to make things intuitive or easy like Apple does. It’s precisely like Microsoft. For all intents and purposes, RIM is the M$ of smartphones. Established, but clunky. In time, they won’t be relevant anymore, unless they can somehow reinvent themselves. That’s nearly impossible for Microsoft, and doubtful for RIM. As a result, the clock is ticking…
–mAc
Blackberry? Charlie don’t surf. fail.
But… Microsoft says apps don’t matter!
LOL
@ Graeme,
“Oh did I mention that on the way to the airport, With my BB or WM Device, I can be listening to music through my phone, let the wife play on facebook, all the while getting turn by turn voice directions to the airport of which I just checked my flight status (with out having to enter the address) With a accurately calculated time until arrival. Then after surfing the net on my laptop using the wifi router app on my phone, and watching a couple movies on my flight, I can just pull out the spare battery, and be good to go for another long bout between chances to charge.”
You can do all that, including the spare battery that plugs into the iPhone, in Canada, right now.
What was your point?
The Blackberry is going the way of the Motorola Razr which I owned. I switched from the Razr to the Blackberry which was a game-changer in its day. I now own an iPhone another game-changer. The difference is that I can’t see how I could ever switch from the iPhone because off the applications. Some apps like NeuroMobile I literally use everyday. The applications advanatage makes the underlying handset technology less relevant. Apple now just has to keep pace with the handset technology and keep churning out great applications — Game Over!
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@Graeme
Windows Mobile? LOL
Do people really still use that POS?
You are delusional…
Wake up and smell the iPhone!
I’m really tired of those who can only disparage the iPhone and App Store phenomenon by rehashing, over and over and over, the “abundance” of fart apps. 100,000 plus apps. Yeah, right, they are ALL fart apps. That’s still the best put-down you can come up with? Are you obsessed with farts? Pathetic. Don’t like the iPhone? Fine, but come up with a reasonable argument if your going to voice your opinion. Otherwise, you sound nothing but bitter.
@Big Als MBP
The point was that the user can do those things concurrently on other devices.
Not sure why a lot of people feel threatened on here. I love my iPhone. I like RIM and hope they come out with some fantastic products. I want some good competition. It only excels to make the products great while keeping some costs under control.
BlackBerry doesn’t run WM. While I love Apple, MDN and others can come across as sniveling whiners. Somethings MDN posts I love but in these circumstances, the comments come across as ignoble and distasteful.
When in a position of superiority, a lot of the snide, juvenile comments are exactly the same comments that came from a lot of Microsoft/Windows users during the ’90s. That is, you have become the same whiney MS full-of-crud cry-babies that you so despise.
It embarrasses me and undermines a lot of Apple users when people read your Dvorak/Thurott-esque, infantile, shameful comments. You are the color that Apple users are painted with and the main reason people have historically viewed Apple users as snobs.
I would ask you to think before you post.
Dude – 2 hours to load Facebook?!? No wonder iPhone users can’t use anything else – they need their hand held and the one big home button is about the limit they can function.
But seriously – yes it’s clunky. Before AppStore the majority of mobile apps were obtained via the web so most major sites have a m.site.com or mobile.site.com address which often has the link for their mobile app. Sites now are able to read your browser meta tag and serve the proper page. I still think mobile lite versions work better then a full rendering of a website – way too much pinching and zooming. Fun but not the best use of time.
AppWorld SHOULD be on ever Blackberry but the carriers don’t allow much of that and are the main thing holding back all devices. They are fighting be a wireless ISP and until they concede those restrictions we all suffer.
I have a 3Gs now had the two previous iPhones as well ongoing Blackberry models all the way back to the 957 one. I put little to no value on 100,000 Apps. I have maybe 20 apps I use daily and they are pretty much cross platform. The AppStore is choke full of junk and it’s like one big flea market now. You have a App “SKIN” and it has like 50 versions of itself based on location, language etc. What value is that?
Apple streamlined the loading and discovery of Apps. They didn’t invent anything that wasn’t already happening. Mobile Apps have been around since the early 90’s and Palm Professional monochrome!!
The only way RIM goes anywhere is if someone buys them out. Right now they have a number of positives and a fresh lineup of devices that will sell well across multiple carriers. Buy 1 Get 1 is a carrier created promotion made to drive data plan sales – it’s not a sign of anything but carriers adding contracts. Their growth around voice contracts has been static for years so they are doing anything possible to drive smartphone growth. When was the last time you saw a normal cell phone add?
Graeme’s cheque from M$ is on its’ way to his home address.
M$ Shill. Paid up.