“BlackBerries do one thing incredibly well, process e-mail,” Lefsetz writes. “And that’s it.”
Lefsetz writes, “If you think BlackBerries surf the Web well, then you don’t, or have never used an iPhone.”
“Make a great tune and it lasts forever,” Lefsetz writes. “A mediocre, trend-following track may be a hit today, but it’s as useless in the future as a Motorola StarTac.”
“I know, I know, you’re Canadian, you beat your chest for RIM,” Lefsetz writes. “But it’s over.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote back on August 05, 2010: RIM. Dead company walking.
Android is Apple’s real competition, not RIM They’ve already surpassed Apple in the US and are about to overtake them in Europe. A country where iPhone is available on multiple carriers.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/11/29/idc_android_poised_to_pass_apples_ios_nokias_symbian_in_europe.html
Imagine that. 100 phones outselling one. Shocking!
It did plaint text email well.
MikeK: Europe’s a country, now?
I’m Canadian and I only beat my check for one company, and an American company at that! Apple all the way!
RIM has always been too arrogant and too focused on the corporate world to survive at the “personal” level.
Beat my “chest”, that is…. stupid MDN and being unable to edit posts… grrr. And being unable to post more than once a minute… grrr x 2!! MDN trots innovation, but their commenting system is straight out of 1985!
RIMM today got an upgrade to “Buy” and a price target raised to $80 by the analyst at Jefferies who was upbeat about the new OS. Shares are up ~6% while Apple is down by ~1.6%
@Ludor
correction: European countries.
Although, i’m sure you could’ve figured that out on your own.
I know of quite a few pimps who use BBs to keep in touch with their hoes on account of BBM’s security so if nothing else RIM will have a stranglehold on the hooker communications backend.
It’s aboot time we start digging the grave eh?
@Ballmer’s left nut!
“stranglehold on the hooker ……………….. backend”
You’ve got half an hour to cut that out!!!!
@MikeK
I don’t really think anyone is surprised by this. Is “market-share” really that important, when the competition is doing 2-for-1 specials?
I’m a long time fan of all things Apple but I like my blackberry better for these reasons:
1) They come with trackpads where you can easily mouse over to links and click on them.
2) It has a keyboard and I can easily read email and the web with one hand (most of the time). It’s hard to do this with a touchscreen.
It is true that browsing on a blackberry is not all that great. But for me, it’s more than good enough.
If Apple wants me to buy a phone from them, it’ll have to come with a trackpad and a keyboard (and not one of those sideways sliding out keyboards as those require two hands to use).
@BMWTwisty:
Using one analyst’s comments (or even several) and one day’s stock market results (thus far) has no bearing on a company’s ability to compete or outperform its competition. Investors, particularly large investors, really don’t care about the companies they’re investing in or what products they make, only that they will be able to realize the return they want in the time frame they want. If the company can’t do that, for whatever reason, then its shares won’t be bought and the price will go down.
Take Apple’s decline today. That certainly doesn’t mean that Apple had peaked, and that the company is doomed to failure. What its decline today means is that more people think Apple is priced a bit too high, or that they are selling to take their profits, than those who are buying. Period.
RIM may be up simply because it was deemed to be undervalued, and that its announcement of the new tablet will give a temporary boost to the stock, thus a profit making opportunity. Nothing more, nothing less.
Large investors whose purchases affect market results and trends don’t buy a company’s shares because they like the product. They buy because they can, one way or another, make money off of buying, holding or selling the company’s shares. The company’s products only matter to the extent it permits the large investor to realize its goals.
As for Android, the majority are buying the phone that they like. It happens to be Android which is a direct build to emulate iOS.
Those that have purchased the iPhone have typically purchased it because of the iOS. The iPhone is one model- like it or leave it.
If any one Android phone out sales the only model that Apple makes- please state that one model. Then again, what will happen when Apple starts to make various models for other demographic price ranges and domestic GSM, CDMA, or 4G with all carriers? Ummmm, Android may have a fight to hold to any gains made.
Then again, make one android model and put that against the iPhone. That will be interesting
I trust “financial analysts” and stock prices about as much as I do politicians.
Are you kidding? Say what you want about needing a keyboard (I personally prefer the iPhone’s keyboard), but not wanting an iPhone because it doesn’t have a trackpad? That’s insane! How is scrolling over to a link with a little nub easier than directly tapping it with your fingertips? It’s not.
“I don’t really think anyone is surprised by this. Is “market-share” really that important, when the competition is doing 2-for-1 specials?”
———————–
@bob,
I’m not surprised by it either.. I’m just saying that Android is Apple’s competition not RIM.
BTW: The article states that there were not any 2 for 1 Android specials in the European market. They were legitimate sales.
@Mark I’ve been using an iPhone one-handed for over 2.5 years. A stroke just 2 weeks after I got my original iPhone left me with limited use of my left hand/arm. My BB friends always use two hands to send emails.
“RIMM today got an upgrade to “Buy” and a price target raised to $80 by the analyst at Jefferies who was upbeat about the new OS. Shares are up ~6% while Apple is down by ~1.6%”
You REALLY need a history lesson here, Twist. RIMM’s all-time high was $146+ a couple of years ago (June, 2008). They’re now at $61.82 in after hours trading.
AAPL’s all time closing high was around $318+ earlier this year, so they’re about 7 points off their record price.
Hmmm. So which company is on the way up, which on the way down, huh? Easy to see . . . if you’re not blind to facts.
2 for 1 Androids?
Hell, I’ve seen 4 for 1 Android deals.
Whatever.
2 for 1 Androids?
Hell, I’ve seen 4 for 1 Android deals.
———————
In the US, yes.. The article that I posted and was referring to was for Europe.
Apple makes a vertically integrated cell phone. So does RIM, Nokia and Palm/HP. They are Apple’s competition.
Google makes Android OS for phone manufacturers. So does Nokia and Microsoft. They are Google’s competition.
To say that the Android OS is Apple’s competition shows a complete lack of common sense.
@mark
I had the first BB curve, my brother in law got the 2nd version curve from his work.
He just a few months ago got the newest curve.
I’ve played with the new one and I must admit the trackball is much better than my first curve was.
But… To say it’s better than the iPhone for web????….. You have stumps for fingers, or hand eye coordination real bad for you?
My dad has huge hands/fingers. I have him using my old 3G iPhone for the last month.
It has taken him a few weeks to get used to the onscreen keyboard but he has fewer and fewer issues with it now than when he first tried it.
I know lots of people want a “real” keyboard on a phone, but once they get used to the onscreen it’s easy.
I just think apple should let the user shrink the landscape keyboard a bit if they want. I would like to see a bit more of the screen myself. Like in mail…
But iPhone keyboard vs BB keyboard and the trackball?… Sorry iPhone wins that battle.
I have become pretty good at pinch/zoom with one hand… Holding the entire iPhone and pinch/zoom a webpage with the same hand.
It’s not hard.
Say what you will about RIM, but at least they care enough about their customers’ experience to NOT rely on a third party (Google or Microsoft) to provide something as critical as their products’ operating system and key software. Makers of Android and Windows Phone 7 phones are just lazy and will leave the user experience to someone else.
“The Walking Dead”
…and I’m not talking about that new TV show on AMC.
@ Mark
My girlfriend has a Blackberry Curve and I have an iPhone.
To click a link takes me 0.5 seconds. Position finger over link; touch screen. For her to click a link takes at least 10 seconds, maybe more, depending on how far down the page she has to scroll with that trackpad. On top of this I’ve got the full internet on my phone and she has the mobile internet on hers. Mine still loads pages 10x faster.
The keyboard is a subjective thing but I don’t mind it. I also know of at least a dozen people who used to think the physical keyboard was a plus, but have since switched to iPhone mostly (some Android) and they don’t miss it after 10 minutes. Many of them having iPod touches (and now iPads even!) doesn’t hurt either.
RIM is becoming increasingly antiquated every day. The only benefit to having a Blackberry is BBM. That is, literally, IT. But every week or so somebody I know who had a Blackberry switches to an iPhone (or once every few weeks, Android). Their market is slipping away as we speak, and as that happens BBM will become less and less popular. SMS/MMS is unlimited for almost everyone I know and is not handset-limited.
MDN Magic Word = “try”. As in, RIM needs to try new things or they’ll soon find themselves relegated to the corporate market exclusively (which is also sliding away from them currently).
–mAc
BTW, I’m Canadian too. Not from the East though.
Unlike some, I feel no nationalistic ties to RIM whatsoever.
–mAc
@MikeK,
of course Android will eventually surpass iOS; there are currently 44 different Android-based phones on the market, compared to 1 iPhone model (well, 2 if you count the 3GS). I personally don’t see that as a bad thing. Just because there are MORE devices does not mean they are BETTER devices.
Also, Android outsells the iPhone in SOME European countries, but not all. In the UK and France the iPhone is still the top selling smartphone. In Germany the iPhone has just recently been made available to multiple carriers after 3 years of T-Mobile exclusivity.
So the iphone will live forever? Because Steve Jobs will be here, in this time forever? It will be a front runner. It will sell, and it should. But let’s not act like this is where the buck stops. Gheezus! You people cant see past the iphone. Even with its issues that Apple refuses to admit to. It’s awesome. I get it. Clearly something has Apple up at night because this site mentions Android more than Android. RIM had their chance to fix that crappy browser…. Three+ years it still is one of the worse ever.
RIM is dead, but the BlackBerry just surpassed iOS for internet usage in the States for the month of November…
iOS users should be ashamed of themselves. That is just sad.
@GeeOne,
Yes, I understand the reasons very well and I never argued otherwise..
The only thing I said was that Android is Apple’s competition not RIM.
There is a total misunderstanding of ‘competition’. Is a Chevy pickup truck competition for a Bentley? You see way more Chevys, so does that mean Bentley is doing something wrong? Of course not, iphone isn’t just a smartphone, but a premium product, those that can afford or gain access to it, will most always prefer it to the alternative. Android is a fake iphone for those that cant get the real thing – use one and it’s evident it brings nothing to the table. Androids and iphones aren’t both ‘just’ smartphones, any more than Chevys and Bentley are ‘just’ cars. They are different classes, like Apple and Microsoft. It like mistaking the recession is affecting everyone similarly. I know millionaires and I know people making $30K, there is a difference, it’s simply not an equivalent comparison. Bentleys are BENTLEYs, Rich people are RICH, and Apple is APPLE – you can’t compare Android or RIM to it.
Well said, maclover!
” iphone isn’t just a smartphone, but a premium product, those that can afford or gain access to it, will most always prefer it to the alternative”
——————–
Sounds nice, but you’re wrong. In Europe, iPhone and the top Android devices cost about the same and are both available available on multiple carriers, some people still choose Android.
Even here in the states a couple friend of mine.. She loves her iPhone, he loves his Android Evo. They both cost the same and each of them have both seen, played with, and held each other’s phone.
Therefore, i reiterate my statement.. Android is Apple’s competition, not RIM.
hehheh! no i wouldnt change my schedule.but i might trade the blackberry to my friend for some drugs or sell it and buy some candy and a skip-it thank you!..
LeanSpa
@Maclover Are you just stupid or delusional?
As MikeK pointed out, there are many Android phones that are the same price (or even more expensive) than the iPhone yet for some reason, people still buy the “non-premium” device. People like you personify the massive idiot cult that Apple calls its fan base. There’s nothing “premium” about the iPhone in comparison to a comparable Android device unless you want to include benefits like ability to drop a call, easily replaceable battery and the completely-accessible file system – that has essentially made the best apps available to people who jailbreak their phone as opposed to using the stock OS. To say you can’t compare the two is ludicrous (and also an indication that you should consider sterilizing yourself to save future generations from your stupidity). Apple makes PHONES, RIM makes PHONES, HTC makes PHONES, Samsung makes PHONES. Where do you think Apple gets the hardware for their premium product? I’ll answer; its from Samsung (the same company that makes Android phones). Your premium product would be in a dream state unless some company provided the hardware to actually BUILD the phone but I see your 35 IQ points precludes you from seeing that fact.
Full Disclosure:
I own a Macbook Pro and iPhone