Several things have happened over this year which continue the stir in the market about the future position that RIM and BB will carry and maintain.

My perspective as merely a business user is the following:

*I used to use Treos and other Palm devices b/c of all of the bells and whistles offerings that came with those devices. Trouble was, while they had several features, they really weren’t very good at any one thing. To make matters worse, I believe that all of the packed features into one device just increases the chance for the device and OS to crash – -something I experienced several times with my Treo.

*Finally, I dropped my Treo (it fell out of my pocket and screen totally cracked) and the cost to replace was ridiculous.

*I decided to try the Blackberry mainly b/c of its reputation as a “blue collar” device that focus’ on a handful of things and brings industry standard security as well as a reliable device that was durable and did not run out of batteries every 3 hours or less.

*I am proud to say that recently I decided to get an upgrade to a product with bluetooth and after very thorough evaluations of what was out on the market, the acquisition pricing of the products, and the features that I needed as opposed to just would like to have – I bought another Blackberry (7105t). This thing ROCKS!! It is phone first (something that I wanted) and contradictory to my initial belief, I love the smart SureType technology. The screen is tremendous, the form factor is perfect and I have a phone, email, PIM device that is awesome. I got this BB for roughly 1/3 of the price it would have cost me to get the Treo 650 or other newer devices.

*Would it be nice to have a camera or more memory to hold music and other things? Sure. But in all of my research around getting the best available device for me (a Sales Professional in the Computer Industry), one constant message that kept coming back was that the devices that tried to be all in one typically had pitfalls in one area or another.

So, I am one of those who will continue to buy a Blackberry for phone/email/PIM; and a Canon camera for pictures and an iPod for music – - until I find someone or something that is able to offer an option that can meet the high standards set by the vendors who lead the industry in their specific expertise areas…

Several things have happened over this year which continue the stir in the market about the future position that RIM and BB will carry and maintain.

My perspective as merely a business user is the following:

*I used to use Treos and other Palm devices b/c of all of the bells and whistles offerings that came with those devices. Trouble was, while they had several features, they really weren’t very good at any one thing. To make matters worse, I believe that all of the packed features into one device just increases the chance for the device and OS to crash – -something I experienced several times with my Treo.

*Finally, I dropped my Treo (it fell out of my pocket and screen totally cracked) and the cost to replace was ridiculous.

*I decided to try the Blackberry mainly b/c of its reputation as a “blue collar” device that focus’ on a handful of things and brings industry standard security as well as a reliable device that was durable and did not run out of batteries every 3 hours or less.

*I am proud to say that recently I decided to get an upgrade to a product with bluetooth and after very thorough evaluations of what was out on the market, the acquisition pricing of the products, and the features that I needed as opposed to just would like to have – I bought another Blackberry (7105t). This thing ROCKS!! It is phone first (something that I wanted) and contradictory to my initial belief, I love the smart SureType technology. The screen is tremendous, the form factor is perfect and I have a phone, email, PIM device that is awesome. I got this BB for roughly 1/3 of the price it would have cost me to get the Treo 650 or other newer devices.

*Would it be nice to have a camera or more memory to hold music and other things? Sure. But in all of my research around getting the best available device for me (a Sales Professional in the Computer Industry), one constant message that kept coming back was that the devices that tried to be all in one typically had pitfalls in one area or another.

So, I am one of those who will continue to buy a Blackberry for phone/email/PIM; and a Canon camera for pictures and an iPod for music – - until I find someone or something that is able to offer an option that can meet the high standards set by the vendors who lead the industry in their specific expertise areas…

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.