BlackBerry Cool

You make some valid points, however, you are mistaken, I think, in several key areas. Let’s look at Blackberry Connect.

BB Connect was announced for the Palm last May and yet is just now in final Beta in the UK and nowhere to be found in the US. Even with it finally being seen, it is email and limited calendaring and extremely limited contact support. It is a band-aid to fix an even bigger wound. The customers that deployed RIMM years ago are starting to have key users show up with Treo’s, the new 6601 from Sprint and want their email, like Blackberry. Can’t happen with Blackberry, so they have to go with Good or another product. The trickle down effect is massive. The bigger problem this is pointing to is the fact that RIM is 100% propietary, hardware and software. All these great PDA’s and smart phones that are out now and will be coming out will NOT support Blackberry. Period. Now, your other points:

1) The biggest hurdle for Good to overcome IS the Blackberry name. RIM invented the wireless email space. However, people are looking for an alternative solution to the propietary Blackberry solution. They remember Apple owning 50% of the PC market at one time and now having less than 1%. They remember Wang being called the next IBM then disappearing. What does this have to do with BB? They all ran a propietary hardware and software system. Industry standards will always win in the end. Getting the name out there is one thing, but word of mouth, parternship agreements and the like will do that as well as P-Diddy sporting his BB. This leads to your next point regarding market penetration.

2) Good is claiming over 4,000 companies running GoodLink. Names like Visa, UPS, EDS, Dell. You think that when a Dell rep walks into a business and pulls out his or her Treo to check their email or to check on inventory that it won’t raise eyebrows? They are using GoodLink. Companies are switching from BB to GoodLink daily. They want an alternative solution that will grow with their company. Superior user interface, easier fleet and user management from an IT perspective and the ability to run on a superior, industry standard device and OS are all reasons that RIM will start to see their penetration slow in the next 12 months, which means hardware sales will slip, which means revenue will slip. It is already happening. RIM stock plunged 9 points the day Good announced their GoodAccess product. RIM stock still hasn’t recovered. The total cost of ownership to deploy RIM vs. GoodLink is almost a wash. Higher data plan prices from the carrier to cover the cost paid to RIM, subsidizing the hardware, the carriers want something else and they have something else. Verizon recently announced a partnership with Good. Do not be suprised to see more announcements like that.

3) Retail and manufacturing arrangements. Again, RIM is the king of the press release. BB Connect for Palm was announced last May and is just now finishing Beta in the UK. The HP announcement of their new device offering GoodLink is major in that HP is the largest PDA manufacturer in the world. Now, with their converged device coming with GoodLink standard, the penetration will be even deeper for Good. Nokia, Motorola, and Palm all have partnerships with Good. RIM’s mistake was trying to hide the fact that they are a hardware company. Why would Nokia, Motorola, Siemens or any other manufacturer want to support and market an application that is offered by a competitor? Joe User gets BB Connect on his Nokia phone while his friend has the 7100. He sees how the BB software works on the BB phone is so much better than the stripped down version on his phone that he ditches his Nokia phone and buys the BB. Sure, the manufacturers have to offer it for right now, but when they can offer their phone running GoodLink which has the exact same, and in some cases better, functionality than the BB, which direction are they going to push. RIM is alienating hardware manufacturers. When it was a waffle shapped, pager looking thing, no problem. Ask Nokia how much they like the fact that the 7100 looks like a Nokia phone.

“Better than Blackberry” is, in my opinion, not a bad decision. Sure, talking bad about your competition is not the best way to market, however, in this case, it is. You said yourself, people know Blackberry, they don’t know Good. Good is saying they are a solution similar to Blackberry that they think is better. Now, people say, “Oh, I know Blackberry…wireless email..that is what Good does” and it makes them realize that BB is NOT the only player in town. Good is riding on the popularity of the space that RIM helped invent and showing they provide a better product (in their opinion) and building their brand that way. Good is not concerned with the consumer market. Churn is high and the market is fickle.

I like your effort in supporting a looser. Nice try though.

And your effort in spelling is commendable as well. Nice try and good response to my post.

Hi GT,

You make some good points aswell, everyone is going to look at the situation differently and I appreciate you posting your 2 cents.

I just had a few things to say about your entry:

1) The reason why BB Connect is more popular in Europe is because the carriers have asked for it and they were the one’s that were pressuring RIM the most. Im sure the US carriers will start carrying some BB Connect phones in the future but are probably pretty iffy about the whole NTP lawsuit and are probably waiting on the sidelines to see how that thing develops.

2) BB Connect took forever to come to the Palm, and yes it is still in beta testing right now but from the pictures I saw it looked pretty complete. I don’t know which party to blame to blame but I am willing to bet it could be mostly Palm’s fault especially with their long history of delays ie. Cobalt OS.

3) BB Connect may have less features but the primary reason people use a Blackberry is for email. I myself use Thunderbird because of security issues so I can’t take advantage of syncing my contacts appointments, etc in Outlook. For the most part I believe that users won’t care if it is a watered down version and who knows in the future RIM will probably improve BB Connect.

4) Im not too familiar with Good products, so its very much possible that Good has ‘Superior user interface, easier fleet and user management’. I will be getting a demo of Good next week so I will take your word for it now.

5) Good may have a partnership with Verizon, but how many carrier partnerships does RIM have? A recent article with co-CEO of RIM states that he wants 180 carriers by the end of this year, 80 more carriers than they have right now. Good is definantly going in the right track but they still have a long way too go, RIM’s popularity isnt slowing down anytime soon.

6) RIM has grown too big now for a possible buy out by another hardware company, yes it is still possible but it’ll cost the company a lot of dollars. So companies right now have a catch-22 situation, if they do not support Blackberry Connect they may lose out on customers that will buy a Blackberry device solely for push email, doesnt even matter if the Blackberry is a lesser device. Now if they do support it they have to pay RIM licensing fees but now they may retain some of the customers that would of bought a Blackberry solely for email purposes. Take the Palm Treo for example, it is very obvious that the Treo is a better hardware device with superior PDA functionality but because RIM has superior email functionality they are the must have device and not the Treo.

Duch..

Good points all.:

1) BB Connect is NOT popular in Europe. It simply just got released there first. The carriers, I agree, are hesitant regarding NTP and, as I pointed out, the major manufacturers carry much more weight with the carriers than RIM does and I would bet that MOT, HPQ, Siemens, Nokia, etc, are putting equal pressure on the carriers telling them to stall RIM products.

2) The delay on BB Connect is two-fold, though I would put the lion’s share on Palm and the others. It goes back to my point regarding putting a competing product on the phones. If Sprint tells Palm to hold off for a bit while we work out our partnership with Good, etc., who is Palm going to listen to. Also, the relationshp Good has with Palm (Member of the exec committee at Good was employ #3 at Palm) probably has something to do with it as well. Contrary to what many may think, RIM is not a major telecom player. They are big (bigger than all their software driven competitors such as Good) but not bigger than carriers or the guys they are going against in the hardware business.

3) Agree, for email only, BB connect will be fine. Consumers will be fine with it. Enterprise organizations are looking for a completely integrated solution (email, document handling, calendar, etc)..they want to be able to “have” their email, all functions, while not at their desk. If RIM is targetting the consumer market, they need to take a look at what consumers are buying. They are not buy Blackberries. They are buying RAZRs and whatever cool new phone is coming. Sure, BB connect may be available, but with 70% of RIM’s revenue residing on hardware sales, it is a contradiction in their business model.

4) I have seen both and I would bet anything once you see it, you will wonder what RIM is thinking with a lack of touch screen, consolidated in-box, etc. The interface is much cleaner and much more “Outlookish” which when combined with the device, makes it better. Again, my opinion but I will be interested to get your feedback when you try GoodLink.

5) Good has partnerships with all the major US carriers and with the release of GoodLink 4.0, they have a feature called Global Connect. Any carrier in the world that supports the device you are running GoodLink on (ie treo 650, etc) if they have a data connection you are connected. No carrier agreements needed. It just works when you turn on the phone. Good is adding carriers every day, around the world. Last count I heard was 50 carriers in 32 countries.

6) RIM is not too big, their stock is overvalued, hence the lack of a serious takeover offer, but as the stock continues to drop, I think you will see more and more validated rumors of takeover from a major player. The Treo is a superior PDA, and with GoodLink on top of it, you have the combination of a superior device with at least an equal PIM/Email functionality with the Blackberry. Hardware drives this business, not the software. This is why I am of the opinion that the business decision Good made to simply run on industry standard devices and let the HW manufacturers drive their side, is the model that will win out in the end. The HP announcement gives credence to that. Now, this won’t happen over night. Good has a major mountain to climb to catch RIM, as I said. However, they are gaining slowly, but surely, on RIM and RIM’s arrogance that let’s them continue to think that “We are Blackberry, they aren’t” will continue to drive sales and business simply let’s me know that the boys in Waterloo need to study business history. The next 12-18 months will determine what happens for the future as it relates to RIM and Good and the others. There will be some sory of consolidation with 3 or 4 players standing. The bid unknown in ALL of this is MSFT. I think they fired the first salvo at GSM3 last week. They could end up erasing Good, RIM and all the other folks out there. Gonna be fun to watch.

Hey GT this website is called “blackberrycool” not “goodcool” and its staying that way for a some time to come. Take your “good” talking to somewhere else and stop wasting your time marketing a stupid product.

Hey pdaconnect, this site is called “blackberrycool” not shut out opinions. You have nothing constructive to say “looser.”

pdaconnect..RIM must love you and those like you. You DON’T know the market, you DON’T know the competition and you DON’T know the wireless space. You are the exact customer RIM is gunning for: ignorant of the available options. You, and those like you, are the reason RIM will survive all of this. That is until those like you see the next cool phone that won’t run RIM and you start posting on “razrcool” and forget all about Blackberry. Therein lies the problem for RIM.

I am not marketing to for Good. I am expressing an opinion, that if you do a little research, you would find is not only my way of thinking, but runs through the industry that Good has the best shot at dethroning RIM in this space. This article is an editorial. I would send you a Word document with the information, but you wouldn’t be able to open it on your Blackberry.

Ok let me tell you I am not ignorant of the wireless devices. I am fully aware of Good Technology for more than a couple of years. To add to that I know Visto, and numerous others who do push technology emails. This is what I differentiates RIM from the rest,

1. RIM products are one of the most secure wireless devices in the market. Government and many companies are using the product. RIM has always given emphasis to security unlike Palm and others. It not only my opinion its a fact. Check this out,

http://www.forbes.com/technology/personaltech/2005/02/17/cx_de_0217ceotoysvogels.html

2. RIM’s push email is most reliable. I have been using their products for a couple of years and had very few problems with them (not perfect but 99.9% works for me). In other words they are “Tried and Tested”. Can anyone say that about Good Technology? No! Very few people use it compared to millions of RIM users. Who know if will work for millions of users? Anyway bodies guess. But if you want to take a “chance” go for it.

3. I hear all the talking about RIM products being proprietary. Well you could say the same thing about Palm and numerous other vendors. Still Palm products sells. When you are taking about handhelds, most of the time you are going to see people running software & hardware manufactured by the same companies. It not like PC where you can have mouse by Logitect, computer from HP, and OS from Microsoft. It doesn’t work like that in handhelds space. What do you expect different stylus, different keyboard, different screen, different OS, different …

4. There is lot said about RIM not having many software apps. While true to a certain extent today its changing rapidly. Many new programs are being developed for BB today. Its very easy to develop programs for BB. Its same old java. Anyone can learn it in a matter of weeks.

5. This is my best point. RIM products are durable. You drop a Treo and chances are you will find a half blue, and half green screen (may be other colors if you are lucky). While it looks colorful, it not a pleasant feeling. I have had this personally happen to me. Another thing, water and Treo. I won’t even talk about it. I have dropped my blackberry a hundred time and it still works perfectly fine. BUSINESS USERS WANT RELIABILITY NOT EXCUSES FROM COMPANIES.

While my blackberry is not perfect its the best and I love it.

Ok let me tell you I am not ignorant of the wireless devices. I am fully aware of Good Technology for more than a couple of years. To add to that I know Visto, and numerous others who do push technology emails. This is what I differentiates RIM from the rest,

1. RIM products are one of the most secure wireless devices in the market. Government and many companies are using the product. RIM has always given emphasis to security unlike Palm and others. It not only my opinion its a fact. Check this out,

http://www.forbes.com/technology/personaltech/2005/02/17/cx_de_0217ceotoysvogels.html

2. RIM’s push email is most reliable. I have been using their products for a couple of years and had very few problems with them (not perfect but 99.9% works for me). In other words they are “Tried and Tested”. Can anyone say that about Good Technology? No! Very few people use it compared to millions of RIM users. Who know if will work for millions of users? Anyway bodies guess. But if you want to take a “chance” go for it.

3. I hear all the talking about RIM products being proprietary. Well you could say the same thing about Palm and numerous other vendors. Still Palm products sells. When you are taking about handhelds, most of the time you are going to see people running software & hardware manufactured by the same companies. It not like PC where you can have mouse by Logitect, computer from HP, and OS from Microsoft. It doesn’t work like that in handhelds space. What do you expect different stylus, different keyboard, different screen, different OS, different …

4. There is lot said about RIM not having many software apps. While true to a certain extent today its changing rapidly. Many new programs are being developed for BB today. Its very easy to develop programs for BB. Its same old java. Anyone can learn it in a matter of weeks.

5. This is my best point. RIM products are durable. You drop a Treo and chances are you will find a half blue, and half green screen (may be other colors if you are lucky). While it looks colorful, it not a pleasant feeling. I have had this personally happen to me. Another thing, water and Treo. I won’t even talk about it. I have dropped my blackberry a hundred time and it still works perfectly fine. BUSINESS USERS WANT RELIABILITY NOT EXCUSES FROM COMPANIES.

While my blackberry is not perfect its the best and I love it.

Ok let me tell you I am not ignorant of the wireless devices. I am fully aware of Good Technology for more than a couple of years. To add to that I know Visto, and numerous others who do push technology emails. This is what I differentiates RIM from the rest,

1. RIM products are one of the most secure wireless devices in the market. Government and many companies are using the product. RIM has always given emphasis to security unlike Palm and others. It not only my opinion its a fact. Check this out,

http://www.forbes.com/technology/personaltech/2005/02/17/cx_de_0217ceotoysvogels.html

2. RIM’s push email is most reliable. I have been using their products for a couple of years and had very few problems with them (not perfect but 99.9% works for me). In other words they are “Tried and Tested”. Can anyone say that about Good Technology? No! Very few people use it compared to millions of RIM users. Who know if will work for millions of users? Anyway bodies guess. But if you want to take a “chance” go for it.

3. I hear all the talking about RIM products being proprietary. Well you could say the same thing about Palm and numerous other vendors. Still Palm products sells. When you are taking about handhelds, most of the time you are going to see people running software & hardware manufactured by the same companies. It not like PC where you can have mouse by Logitect, computer from HP, and OS from Microsoft. It doesn’t work like that in handhelds space. What do you expect different stylus, different keyboard, different screen, different OS, different …

4. There is lot said about RIM not having many software apps. While true to a certain extent today its changing rapidly. Many new programs are being developed for BB today. Its very easy to develop programs for BB. Its same old java. Anyone can learn it in a matter of weeks.

5. This is my best point. RIM products are durable. You drop a Treo and chances are you will find a half blue, and half green screen (may be other colors if you are lucky). While it looks colorful, it not a pleasant feeling. I have had this personally happen to me. Another thing, water and Treo. I won’t even talk about it. I have dropped my blackberry a hundred time and it still works perfectly fine. BUSINESS USERS WANT RELIABILITY NOT EXCUSES FROM COMPANIES.

While my blackberry is not perfect its the best and I love it.

For someone who claims to know so much about GoodLink, you are proving your ignorance. Good has the exact same government FIPS security acceptance as Blackberry. Same security model. Not my opinion, fact:

http://www.idgef.com/demomobile2/demonstrators/page914-716365.html

2. Hmm..companies like Visa, Dell, Deloitt, UPS, WalMart, Texas Instruments, etc can definately say that GoodLink is tried and true. Sure, there aren’t 2.5 million users of GoodLink. But then again, GoodLink isn’t trying to get Paris Hilton or P-Diddy to “prove” there value. My point, which you are making for me, is that RIM is under the impression that “we are Blackberry, they aren’t” is going to continue to be successful. I tend to disagree with that notion and think it is very dangerous for their continued success.

3. Palm runs on PalmOS..as do other handhelds. PocketPC runs on different handhelds. Blackberry runs on Blackberry, period. The pure definition of propietary. If their software only runs on their hardware, they..are..propietary. Your analogy of PCs, again, makes my point. You want to run Blackberry Operating System, you have to be on a Blackberry device. You want to run PocketPC, you have a ton of choices in hardware platforms. Palm doesn’t manufacture software, PalmSource (different company) does. MSFT doesn’t develop devices, but their PocketPC software runs on a myriad of devices. It works EXACTLY the same as the PC world…except in Blackberry’s case.

4. Over 28,000 third party applications are available for Palm. If someone wants to develop for RIM, they have to license the OS from RIM. Sure, it is Java, but before you publish an app for BB, you have to pay RIM a license fee. Hence, the major delay in BB connect.

5. No argument there. The BB is an amazingly durable device, especially when compared to Palm. But I can drop my pocket calculator and it won’t break, but if I drop my PC, chances are I will have problems. And, Symbol (www.symbol.com) has fixed that with ruggedized devices that run an industry standard PalmOS operating system. No excuses and pure reliability.

mir… I have constructive things to say about RIM (see my previous post).

I use their products because they are reliable, secure, and robust. Thats why me and millions like me use it. We are not some dumb *** using this because we don’t know anything about it. Most BB users are educated, tech aware people.

Most BB users know about Good and their Goodlink servers. Its not as if they are unaware about their choices. GT should cry saying that no body know Good even though they are very “good”. If these guys can’t market their product its not my f***ing fault. It just tells me two things. Their products suck or they no one knows about them. In either case, its their fault not mine or other users.

The only “looser” I see is GT who is trying desperately to market this ******. All I can say is “Best of Luck”. You will need lots of it.

mir… I have constructive things to say about RIM (see my previous post).

I use their products because they are reliable, secure, and robust. Thats why me and millions like me use it. We are not some dumb *** using this because we don’t know anything about it. Most BB users are educated, tech aware people.

Most BB users know about Good and their Goodlink servers. Its not as if they are unaware about their choices. GT should cry saying that no body know Good even though they are very “good”. If these guys can’t market their product its not my f***ing fault. It just tells me two things. Their products suck or they no one knows about them. In either case, its their fault not mine or other users.

The only “looser” I see is GT who is trying desperately to market this ******. All I can say is “Best of Luck”. You will need lots of it.

1. This is ridiculous. I never said Good is unsecure. I said Palm is unsecure. Read properly. And by the way I didn’t see any government agency using GoodLink. Oh may be they didn’t know about it.

2. I am not buying blackberry because they are blackberry. I and many others like me are buying blackberry because they are good. This is the point you are missing.

3. No your argument is invalid. Now with BBconnect, blackberry email software runs on many other platform. So its not propietary any more. period. So great Palm source now makes OS. Didn’t you buy palm products before they decided to split up? Also PC is different from handhelds. Thats what I am trying to get into your head.

4. Totally incorrect. You can download BB OS from their site and develop software for free. The only place you have to pay is when you use their signed APIs. And just so you know, it has nothing to do with blackberry connect. If you want I can send you “Hello World” program for free

5. The point is you don’t have to carry your PC around with you (unless you are doing weightlifting. might be better if you use dumb bells instead). You have to carry handheld devices around all the time. Thats what they are meant for. And don’t tell me I shouldn’t drop it on the ground, and not let even the slightest drop of water to spill on it. Its stupid. Its should work. period. No point for to buy a 700$ product that will not work if mistakenly dropped. Then sorry its not for me.

And thanks for agreeing with me that BB is a “amazingly durable device”

1. Dept of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, FBI…for starters

2. You are buying blackberry because until about a year and a half ago, there was no alternative. Now, you are so blinded by your toy that you can’t admit there are other products out there that are as good, if not better, than your two year old technology.

3. BB Connect does not exist, for Christ’s sake. It is in final beta almost a YEAR since it was announced. Handhelds are EXACTLY like PCs, you idiot. Except in the case of Blackberry. One company makes hardware, another makes software..EXCEPT FOR RIM!!! Stop making my points for me. As for Palm, the point is that other devices besides PalmOne Treos run Palm..the entire OS. PocketPC is an operating system that runs on devices built by someone else. Blackberry is a propietary software package. BB Connect has nowhere NEAR the full functionality of a Blackberry device. Hell, RIM will tell you that to try to get you to buy their devices. BB Connect is not an operating system. It is an application that runs on Palm or PocketPC based devices. Funny how NO other devices in the world run Blackberry’s propietary operating system. Apple and Wang were that way once too.

4. Hmmm…went to the RIM site and don’t see anywhere I can download the operating system. I can download the JDE, some BB simulators and pay for the APIs. Since it is so freely available, why the limited number of applications available for BB platform? This argument is moot as the bottom line is there are 100s of times more apps available for palm and ppc than for BB.

5. No, your point was about the durability of Palms. I showed you a company that makes Palm based devices that are designed for durablity and you answer is something about carrying a handheld. I never said anything about not dropping it on the ground or letting water hit it.

You call me desperate in marketing, yet you spend time here defending your wonderful device. If it you had no concerns about Good, you could just sit back and laugh. Instead, you have to defend it against an “inferior” product and try to prove how much better is than this “looser” that I think is better. That, to me, sounds like desperation.

GT… you are right. I shouldn’t waste my time trying to prove an obvious point that BB’s are better. I only did this because of mir’s criticism that I wasn’t being constructive. The point is I know my choices (and I knew them for years) and so do all other users. But they use their BB because they love it. And you are not going to change that.

You are so wrong! I have used both products and for years was a Rim supporter. Yes Rim has market share advantage but Good is making serious headway and is in the process of switching out Rim’s large customers at will. The reason is simple – the product is easier to use, easier to deploy, manage and roll out and a user has more choice of software. Enterprise IT management have learned that a product like Good Link is just easier to support. Blackberry connect is a limited experience and did not offer me all the functionality of their standard product offering. I think the Treo’s and PPC offer the user a better converged device than the BlueBerry device so over time the open standard software vendors like Good & Visto will grab large amounts of market share from RIM! Also the Government is struggling with RIm’s Canadian Operating Center approach and looking for a US software and service provider to challenge RIM.

The majority of Good’s customers use GoodLink solution on their Blackberrys. These people have opted out of RIM software, while still using the Blackberry device. RIM software, in fact, can only be used on the Blackberry; that’s a case in point dead end propietary provider. Blackberry was the first, but now every major hardware provider is coming out with their own smartphones. Beside Good offering superior software, and having the majority of Fortune 100 companies switching to GoodLink, it is an industry standards based solution that can be used cross-platform (on any device including Blackberry). Good is doing very well; it is Blackberry that will need plenty of luck to not lose out on their position in a market which is only 5% tapped.

Hi there,

Very good article indeed! I will keep this short and sweet.
GT … I have to say you have some very interesting points and I respect that, but… I see you comparing RIM to Good with things that Good is “good” at. Now I will use the same strategy and I would like you to think about 2 things that Good say they are good at.

1) Good says that they offer more flexibility…ok I don’t think (and I hope you agree with me on this) that any devices out there on the wireless PDA market compares to the battery life of the BlackBerry. Now a product that is dead is no good. And from MY own personal experience there is no device out there that has a battery life of up to a week like the BB. NOT VERY FLEXIBLE MY FRIEND.

2) Security…..the BlackBerry is equal (if not better) to Good’s security…right? Well how many companies that are secure and who truly care about security want a camera on Joe Blow’s device hanging around in their facilities? And just about every device that Good is supporting has a camera…..

Think about these carefully and I am looking forward to your reply.

Ed

1. What does flexibility have to do with Battery Life? The flexibility that is being referred to here, has to do with the ability to choose different devices, from different hardware manufacturers and still get the data you need. If you think that RIM will successfully compete longterm in the hardware space vs the likes of HP, Dell, Nokia, Kyocera, PalmOne, Samsung, HTC, Motorolla, Siemens……. you are crazy! RIM will have to port their OS to other devices if they are going to be successful long term, and they know it, but are just not ready to admit it. 70% of their revenue comes from hardware! That is a tough pill to swallow. Blackberry connect is a truly sad attempt at doing this, and is designed to drive people back to RIM’s hardware.

2. As long as you are on the battery life issue. The reason that the battery lasts so long on the RIM devices is the limited functionality that you get with the RIM hardware. That and how tightly the hardware and software are coupled, gives them a definite advantage, one they won’t have when they move off of their own hardware.

3. There are multiple handhelds available without camera’s, as a matter of fact most of the new handhelds being released by manufactureres come with a camera and cameraless version.

Lastly

PDAConnect, you really come off as a closed minded, foul mouth, idiot, that does not understand the purpose of sites like this.
Have you even tried another solution/product, Good or otherwise? Any technologist worth their salt experiments with solutions, educates themselves and then makes a decision about the products they use. They don’t just choose a product based on who has the largest billboard at the airport.

Ed..

bjj addressed your questions very well (couldn’t have done better myself )

This thread has been very interesting to read.
I’m not here to glorify one company and belittle the other; as most of you have been doing.
From my own personal experience with PDAs that deliver email, BlackBerry is so far, and by far, the best device that does that. BlackBerry is the best device on the market today for serious business people who are looking for reliable email and calendar functionalities on the go, without caring for all the bells and whistles.

If Good deploys its software on a device that beats BlackBerry’s ease-of-use, and reliability, I’ll be the first one to buy it, trust me. And I don’t care at all for an MP3 player, a camera, or whatever funky features might be out there. I got other devices that perform those functions very well.

GT has some very good and valid points, no doubt. But he sounds like a spokesman, or a marketing person for Good. He/she doesn’t even want to admit that BlackBerry has some great advantages over Good, or any company that’s in the wireless email realm. PDAconnect, on the other side, doesn’t really explain why he likes BlackBerry so much.
Ok, it’s great, but why?

What the future holds? That would be very interesting to watch. Good has been doing ok so far, but they are not, by any means comparable to RIM. At least not yet.

So far, RIM has been doing a great job, and they are no doubt looking ahead and planning very well, whether by introducing new devices, or partnerships with other hardware manufacturers.
Good has a long way to go to catch up with RIM and BlackBerry. From brand recognition, to secure, reliable, and flexible, software and hardware. RIM has got it.
Good will no doubt steal a piece of the pie that RIM has baked over the years. Nobody can change that. But whether it’ll get the bigger chunk, I highly doubt that.

Too early to judge how the picture will look like in a year or two. Only time can tell.

This thread has been very interesting to read.
I’m not here to glorify one company and belittle the other; as most of you have been doing.
From my own personal experience with PDAs that deliver email, BlackBerry is so far, and by far, the best device that does that. BlackBerry is the best device on the market today for serious business people who are looking for reliable email and calendar functionalities on the go, without caring for all the bells and whistles.

If Good deploys its software on a device that beats BlackBerry’s ease-of-use, and reliability, I’ll be the first one to buy it, trust me. And I don’t care at all for an MP3 player, a camera, or whatever funky features might be out there. I got other devices that perform those functions very well.

GT has some very good and valid points, no doubt. But he sounds like a spokesman, or a marketing person for Good. He/she doesn’t even want to admit that BlackBerry has some great advantages over Good, or any company that’s in the wireless email realm. PDAconnect, on the other side, doesn’t really explain why he likes BlackBerry so much.
Ok, it’s great, but why?

What the future holds? That would be very interesting to watch. Good has been doing ok so far, but they are not, by any means comparable to RIM. At least not yet.

So far, RIM has been doing a great job, and they are no doubt looking ahead and planning very well, whether by introducing new devices, or partnerships with other hardware manufacturers.
Good has a long way to go to catch up with RIM and BlackBerry. From brand recognition, to secure, reliable, and flexible, software and hardware. RIM has got it.
Good will no doubt steal a piece of the pie that RIM has baked over the years. Nobody can change that. But whether it’ll get the bigger chunk, I highly doubt that.

Too early to judge how the picture will look like in a year or two. Only time can tell.

Marvin…

If RIM did something..anything..better than Good, I would admit it. Let’s look at the variables:

From a device standpoint, I can rattle off 15 devices thare are superior to anything RIM has released. I have to disagree that Blackberry is the best coporate solution for email. The world is changing to converged devices. RIMM announced their new 7250 which is nothing more than their old device (not even the 7100) with 32MB of flash RAM. Same propietary device, same propietary software. How long have touch-screens been available and yet RIM refuses to implement it on any device. You are the exception in that you are willing to carry multiple devices. Why pay $399 for a Blackberry, couple hundred bucks for an iPod, another 50 or 60 for a phone when you can get all of that in one, single device? Corporations don’t want to manage multiple devices that can be done in one. When you look at the entire picture, the ONLY advantage I see from Blackberry’s standpoint is the fact they were first to market. Period. Good does everything BB does, in some cases (ie, over the air updates and third-party application push) better than RIM. Please tell me what you see, besides market penetration (which can be lost very quickly, ask Apple) that RIM has over Good or other comparable solutions. Security? Nope. Good has the same model as RIM, key difference being the NOC is in the US instead of Canada. Flexibility? In what regard? On Palm alone, there are over 23,000 third party apps available with more coming almost daily. Reliability? We all saw the network outage BB had this week, but I will say they do have a very reliable system, but not a competitive advantage as Good’s network is, as I said, the same topography, same carriers. Want to update to BES 4.0? Plan on taking the devices out of the field and cradeling every single one of them to update the software. BES 4.1 comes out…plan on doing it again. Good, full, 100% over the air provisioning and upgrades. This is a direct connection to the operating system being the application. Can’t update the OS over the air because the device needs to OS to run. Simple things like time-stamp where when an email hits the device from GoodLink, it has the time stamp from Exchange, not the time it hit the device, whereas BB uses the time the message hits the device. Makes threaded discussions very tough.

Based on your comments, I would bet that you have never seen GoodLink. I have seen them both, worked with both and GoodLink wins hands down as it relates to user interface and flexibility for hardware and software.

Good, and others for that matter, absolutely do NOT have a long way to catch up with RIM as it relates to a solution. They have a long way to go to catch RIM’s market penetration, but if you think the folks in Waterloo are not concerned with losing share to Good, you are mistaken.