Although it probably won’t spark as much debate as his previous article, our main man Thought comes back swinging this week with a topic that is too often forgotten in the mobile hardware race: software. So sit back and enjoy his ruminations on how a killer application can mean more than processor speed or megapixels.
Author: Thought
Oh boy. Thought’s really looking to stir it up in his latest editorial. While many AT&T users are chomping at the bit to get their hands on the BlackBerry 8820 (Orange users, you can offer a smug smile right about now), our man Thought dares to ask the question: do we even need a Wi-Fi BlackBerry? This one is sure to create a lot of debate, so make sure to post a comment and let us know what you think.
Continue reading ‘ThoughtPiece: Do we really need Wi-Fi on a BlackBerry?’
Author Jim Collins, in his bestselling book, Good to Great, writes about something called the “Hedgehog Concept.” The term is derived from the Greek poet Archilochus, who wrote:
“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”
According to the old fable, the cunning and agile fox cannot win out over the slower, more awkward hedgehog. Each day the fox calculates a new line of attack on the hedgehog, only to have the hedgehog roll up into a perfect little ball with spikes sticking out. The fox then halts his assault, to try again the very next day with another impeccably thought-out strategy. The hedgehog’s familiar response is “Here we go again. Will he ever learn?”
Is there a resemblance to RIM here? Find out behind the jump.
With so many significant developments this year, I thought it might be a good time to take the pulse of the smartphone market and its main competitors.
RIM: 
Upside: With record sales and their stock hitting all time highs, life is good for the folks at RIM right now. They are the entrenched leader in the enterprise market and will be for many years to come. Competitors cannot make up overnight for the years of engineering and refinement that have gone into the BlackBerry solution. They also are poised for growth in emerging global markets.
One obstacle they face: the fact that Apple will undoubtedly put a dent into their sales in the consumer market.
To my friends in Canada, July 1 was their national holiday, marking the establishment of Canada as its own autonomous country. Likewise, July 4 is the celebration of America’s independence. In that spirit, I’d like to reflect on the BlackBerry device and its place as a symbol for both countries.
It’s obvious why the BlackBerry is a proud symbol of Canada: it is created by a Canadian company, and a company that is doing quite well at that. RIM’s rise to success is a remarkable story, and one reflecting great ingenuity and business acumen. The whole world owes a debt of gratitude to this fine Canadian company and its products.
America has a particular attachment to BlackBerrys as well…
With the “iMminent” release of that little device from Apple, the debate has already begun as to which is preferable: a touchscreen with a virtual keyboard or a true keyboard. To me the question misses the main point, which is to ask yourself why you have a mobile smart phone in the first place. It isn’t that one is “better” than another; it is that each interface has its advantages depending on your intended purpose.
For those who need to type a lot of text, the true keyboard is most likely the superior choice. (I say “most likely” in that I have not yet tested the virtual keypad on the iPhone, and so cannot definitively give an opinion as to which I find easier to use.) So if you are like most BlackBerry users the mechanical keyboard will make the most sense.
Continue reading ‘ThoughtPiece: Touchscreen vs. Keyboard: Which is Better?’
The iPhone is surely the most anticipated cell phone ever, and will most likely go on to sell quite a few copies. It then makes sense to ask if RIM should consider making a BlackBerry email client for the iPhone (assuming Apple would allow that).
First, the advantage: RIM could gain incremental revenue from the sale of the software and the service to many of those iPhone users. One question is how many iPhone users will see push email as a priority. As analyst Robert Semple from Credit Suisse writes, “We do not believe the iPhone is aimed at smart phones, rather, it is designed to expand the high end of the traditional mobile phone market.â€
Continue reading ‘ThoughtPiece: Should RIM make a BlackBerry Client for the iPhone?’
Right now you must be feeling pretty good. You have a legendary brand name, the best marketing, the best devices, and soon you will have a magnet to attract people into your stores called the iPhone. Speaking of marketing, you seem to be everywhere. Last weekend while engaging in my usual ritual of watching sports on TV, I turned on a NASCAR race and I saw an AT&T car; I turned on the NBA finals, and it was being played at the AT&T Center.
You were smart to transition to a GSM network years ago. This is by far and away the most popular format in the world, which guarantees you the best selection of phones. You certainly get most of our beloved BlackBerry models first.
However, there’s one piece of the puzzle missing, which keeps you from totally dominating the U.S. wireless market.
Continue reading ‘ThoughtPiece: An Open Letter to AT&T’
Not too long ago I came across a fascinating article detailing at how Starbucks is not just an impressive business success story, but has changed popular culture along the way. The article lists several ways in which Starbucks has functioned as a “change agent,†including changing what we pay for coffee, our tastes, what we eat, how we order, how we meet, etc.
This started me thinking as to if and how our beloved BlackBerry has functioned as a change agent. I believe it has, in at least the following ways.
Continue reading ‘ThoughtPiece: The BlackBerry as Change Agent’
More than a few times someone has remarked to me something along the lines of: “what’s the big deal about the BlackBerry…all it does well is email.†To which I reply: “well, yeah…and all Peyton Manning does well is throw the football.†(For those of you more culturally inclined, I’ll say “well, yeah…and all Rembrandt did well was paint.â€)
Email is easily the most widely used application of the Internet, even more so than the World Wide Web with all of the cool sites like this one. In fact, email is probably the most important advance in person to person communication since the advent of the telephone. So a device that does portable email well is a pretty significant achievement, much like a portable phone. In retrospect, it seems like genius for RIM to have realized the market opportunity that existed and to have so successfully exploited it.
With all of the recent attention showered on the more exciting multimedia features it’s easy to take the email application for granted. Yet email remains a killer app in the mobile world, and one that establishes the BlackBerry as an entrenched competitor for years to come, no matter what the efforts of Microsoft and Apple.
