Comments on: Apple WWDC Takeaways from a BlackBerry User Perspective

By: BlackBerryCool Roundup for the Week of June 7th | BlackBerry Cool

BlackBerryCool Roundup for the Week of June 7th | BlackBerry Cool — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:15:27 +0000

[...] Maps, bitHeads, uZard and More Beginner’s Guide: How to Create a Basic Animated BlackBerry Theme Apple WWDC Takeaways from a BlackBerry User Perspective BlackBerry Tips: 2 Ways to Install a Theme or App from the JAD File 5 BlackBerry Theme Developer [...]

By: Frankcastle

Frankcastle — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:44:13 +0000

Ummm if you (or whomever is the "SysAdmin" type) had reviewed the BES IT policy guide you will find the following that should be explored to prevent these type of situations:

1. You can fully encrypt the MicroSD card (media or not). You can either allow the card to be moved or not. In your case the user should have a "work" MicroSD and a "personal MicroSD to allow music playback. Your sensitive data is always encrypted and cannot be inserted into any other device but the original BB.

2. There is a Timebomb policy since BES 4.1 SP 6 I believe. (exact name escapes me) but in a sense it acts just like you want. You set a time for the device phone home (your BES) that it's active (and online). If say after X time if doesn't it does a full erase. No wireless signal needed. If you data is THAT sensitive a 4 hour window significantly lowers your risk.

3. Consider your timeout and password policy. I'd go for 15 minutes and at minimum 6 character password (banning all common passwords).

By: Caspan

Caspan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:20:13 +0000

No quantity does not equal innovation but to take the definition of innovation “something new or different introduced” each one of RIMs devices are new and different from the last. They don't stay the same the constantly change the keyboard, screen size, form factor, size, flip, touch screen etc… What has apple done other then put more hardware in the same form factor device, same size, same keyboard, same screen size.. It's boring to me to have the exact same looking device all the time. I like having something different. Yes Apple is innovative with new hardware and its great stuff but most of my iPhone friends hate the fact that its the same old device looks the same, feels the same, acts the same. OS4 with help with differing things but to me not good enough to create a feeling of something new, the new OS smell will wear off quickly and you will be left with the same old iPhone.

Put it this way would you want the same looking wife with body, maybe different hair color, few pounds this way or that way but with just a different personality when you want a different girl? Some would say yes most would say no… I think people what change in what they are use to. Just my opinion though dose not make you wrong.

By: Shaun Collins

Shaun Collins — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:02:40 +0000

I don't think the quantity of devices is the definition of innovation. Honestly that's more a matter of variation.

The point I was making is speed of innovation, and true innovation is producing a feature that is not available on devices currently available. To your point, Apple having come this far in only a "4th coming" should illustrate my point.

Finally, I am a BlackBerry enthusiast and have been on BlackBerrys longer than most knew they existed. I have seen what RIM has been doing, and where they have been lacking. Sadly my point of view is coming as a realization of where things are headed for RIM, and not as a fan of the iPhone or Apple.

By: Caspan

Caspan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:40:00 +0000

I'm not trying to poke the bear here but have you even seen how many devices RIM has over the past 10 1/2 years we have close to 30+ different devices. And Apple has just a 4th coming up that still looks exactly the same as the 3 previous versions.

RIM is constantly innovating and if you cannot see that then you don't watch RIM enough to make judgment on them and say "what have they done lately".

By: Shaun Collins

Shaun Collins — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:24:57 +0000

WWDC showed me one major thing. Apple is driven on two fronts simultaneously. They are adding features to their device that are not found elsewhere, and also adding features that are key aspects of their chief competition. Looking at the speed they are doing it at is nothing short of remarkable. This is their 4th iteration of their device. How many iterations has RIM produced in the last 18 months? How far apart are the respective units?

After looking at what the newest OS offers, I can no longer agree with the iPhone detractors that fall back to the common remarks, labeling it a Media Device, or a Gaming Platform, or an iPod w/ a phone. E-mail speed and BBM are the remaining pieces that make a BlackBerry unique and worth selecting from a cluttered carrier lineup, but how much longer will it be until Apple sets its sites on these features?

It is clear, Apple is innovating, and RIM is simply making tweaks and modest improvements. These two approaches will certainly lead to changes in that Market Share Slide.

By: Caspan

Caspan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 03:42:59 +0000

Sorry don't get me wrong here, I just believe Business is Business and personal is personal. If its their personal device then they have a choice get a company device and carry 2 around or follow the rules. IT has to realize personal thing will want to be on it though like contacts music etc… If the company pays for the device then they have to adhear to IT policy but again people will want to place personal things on it. As long as it does not break corporate policy. You break policy its your fault data got stolen. IT can only protect your device if it falls into our policy, as soon as you break out and start doing your own thing just realize the ramifications that could happen.

By: Caspan

Caspan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 03:36:27 +0000

I love the music player, why wouldn't you use it. As soon as I get in my car Bluetooth takes over and sounds great. Then I get out of my car stick in my earphones and keep going. Why would you want to carry a iPod around when all you want to do is listen to music?

As for people removing the cards if you force a police down then the card is useless on their PC without a format so it would force them to use encryption. So its slow its better then losing your job cause you wanted to listen to music and had vital information on the card.

By: Eric at Ebscer

Eric at Ebscer — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 03:19:44 +0000

I agree that the third party market will be significant when it comes to video conferencing. Although I think that the FaceTime api is public to the point where BlackBerry and Android version may be possible (obviously Apple isn't going to take the lead on that)…

By: Graham Gooch

Graham Gooch — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:50:00 +0000

Donny/Caspan,
The whole problem is music. You see people had complained that the music transfer takes way too long over USB. So this guy had been removing his 16GB card, inserting it (via a card holder) into his laptop and simply transferring music to his device. Why he'd want to go through the pain of using the built in music player however is beyond me.

By: Graham Gooch

Graham Gooch — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:44:23 +0000

Louis, what you point out is key. However to the best of my understanding. BBM works without the Internet (GPRS/EDGE/3G/etc). No other messenger can do that. Now, if RIM were smart, they would let other IM clients connect to their server and push IM to the BBM on the device. Imagine being able to BBM a person on Google Talk, Skype or Jabber from a place with no data access. That would rock. But then again RIM is not very creative.

By: Donny

Donny — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:42:10 +0000

Bloomberg – supports 'Bloomberg Anywhere' (although the app is available to consumers that corporate Bloomberg Anywhere is really for traders and bankers of Capital Markets).
Thompson Reuters – although video is available on the iPhone, the speed of article access and downloading of full articles within the app and switching from World News, Business, Technology, Markets, etc is STILL faster on BlackBerry. Just 1yr ago both applications consumed too much RAM that forced an exception crash. Now much improved.

I have to concede here.

By: Caspan

Caspan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:23:55 +0000

But you can specify that you want all content on your Micro SD encrypted correct? People who have data that is so sensitive should not be doing plug and play with their Micro SD cards. This is a work device if you want to put music on it pictures thats fine but lets say 8 GB is the card you get and you decide to buy a 16 GB card and install it. You can then encrypt the bigger card on your device.

And if that is set then all content on cards should be encrypted that you insert or it should ask you. That setting is settable by BES to force content encryption.

By: Donny

Donny — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:39:39 +0000

Look at Nokia's aging S60 platform .. that STILL has issues matching incoming numbers with Contact numbers no matter HOW you enter it. ITs been 10yrs+ bug still not fixed.

By: Donny

Donny — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:38:07 +0000

I disagree.
you'll note something specific about the MicroSD cards. Since S60 on the Nokia E71, and the BlackBerry OS 4.2 you can Encrypt the MicroSD card to where the data can ONLY be viewed on that specific device; as I've previously stated.

Unfortunately the ability to encrypt the MicroSD card via OTA or via BBDM via Least Cost Method cannot be done, yet. RIM is looking to enable this in the future.

By: Caspan

Caspan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:10:37 +0000

Just wait for RIMs refresh coming up.. Screen res might be comparable….

By: Caspan

Caspan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:10:37 +0000

Just wait for RIMs refresh coming up.. Screen res might be comparable….

By: Caspan

Caspan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:09:23 +0000

BTW this can be enforced with BES so that no matter what media card the place in the device it is encrypted.

By: Caspan

Caspan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:09:23 +0000

BTW this can be enforced with BES so that no matter what media card the place in the device it is encrypted.

By: Graham Gooch

Graham Gooch — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:08:57 +0000

I agree, i was against the iphone, until the specs for the new one came out. Compared to the iphone, the HTC Incredible and evo, the BB is looking pretty lame. What RIM has going for it is great strength in enterprise. I somehow think RIm will get gobbled up , either by IBM or Microsoft, both of them have good presence in corporations and do email really well. My final prediction is that BB will become an email application inside another smartphone. Afterall not every place is going to have mobile internet access anytime soon.