Trent Reznor has somehow made the transition from Nine Inch Nails to technology guru, and he’s taking the Nine Inch Nails app to BlackBerry.
When Trent’s iPhone app was denied, he had a few things to say about the current hardware on the market:
The iPhone is THE most elegant, modern smartphone at this point in time and it’s perfect for what we want to do with the NIN app – except for the ludicrous approval process, and that’s what I want to draw attention to. Android is cool, but nobody has an Android phone. Blackberry is OK but the hardware is inconsistent and WinMo straight-up sucks balls. If Apple doesn’t get it together, we will most certainly make it available to the jailbreak community. I didn’t invest in this app to see it languish on the sidelines from an idiotic policy while this tour is in full swing.
I could not agree more with what he had to say about WIndows Mobile and Android but I think he misspoke about BlackBerry. It’s not that the hardware is inconsistent, it’s that the hardware is diverse. The iPhone’s major advantage is that developers can write one piece of software and deploy across the entire Apple spectrum. With BlackBerry, you need to port to many different devices.
Our old buddy Simon is writing about the App World pricing structure and there’s some interesting news. The pricing structure is different from Apple in that the minimum, after free, is $2.99 and not $0.99. This makes sense because BlackBerry is targeting a different market, one that has more money and wants apps that solve problems, not entertain at parties.
The most expensive an app can be on App World is the same as Apple, $999.99. So the question is: who is going to make the “I Am Rich” app for BlackBerry, and would it even sell?
The question I’d like to put out to you guys is:
What was the last app you bought, and how much was it?
So it is now time to decide how the BlackBerry Storm, RIM/Verizon’s Apple/AT&T killer, will fare this coming holiday season. We know about RIM’s current market position and how much they need this device to succeed; we’ve heard the criticisms of Verizon’s pricing scheme. Now it’s time for YOU to weigh in.
Because the stakes are so high (and because we haven’t done a Weekly Contest in a while), we’re raising the stakes ourselves: giving away TEN FREE COPIES OF PEEKAWHO, a piece of software no BlackBerry user should be without. We’ll give away 8 copies to the first 8 posters (with relevant and insightful comments) and save the last two for the two best comments. What are you waiting for?
Fortune Magazine has published an excellent profile on RIM, addressing the myriad issues facing Waterloo’s favorite company (intense competition, slipping stock, multiple device releases at once) but also their unflappable confidence to get the job done. Quoteth RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis in reference to the BlackBerry Storm:
“That right there is the most advanced smartphone ever made,” he says. “There’s no phone that measures up.”
Fortune writer Jessi Hempel indicates that much of this confidence stems from the invigorating BlackBerry Developer Conference, pointing to one specific event where the ‘excitement was palpable’:
A 28-year-old software developer named Robert Kao jumped on a makeshift stage and plugged his BlackBerry into the overhead projector to demo a new software program. A hundred guys (and two women) chugged Coronas while Kao explained how his homing software could track lost phones, back up content, and, with the click of a button, obliterate all your e-mails and phone numbers. Think Lojak for your phone. Before he finished, a venture capitalist in the front row piped up, “I’ll fund you.”
Hmm, sounds familiar. Oh wait, that’s the BlackBerry Cool 15 being mentioned, along with Robert Kao of SmrtGuard/PeekaWho fame (special VC appearance courtesy of Rick Segal). It’s good to know that we were able to help!
While the Fortune profile doesn’t offer any new information for regular BlackBerry Cool readers, it’s still worth checking out if only to get your BlackBerry news from a professional writer.
It’s not uncommon to find two opposing financial analysts on RIM’s stock in even the best of times, so it should come as no surprise that during the current global economic crisis we can’t get two analysts to agree on anything.
First we have Apple shareholder Howard Lindzon of Knight’s Bridge Capital, who is not so much down on RIM as he is long on Apple. However, he does state that RIM is “chasing Apple”, and should not cannibalize their sales with the BlackBerry Bold and Storm, but rather focus on improving the BlackBerry Curve. Hmmm. (via Yahoo!)
UK research firm Canalys released a report yesterday stating that the iPhone 3G surpassed BlackBerry during calendar Q3 2008 to take the number two spot in worldwide market share behind Nokia. Apple shipped 6.9 million iPhones to grab 17.3% of the market. RIM shipped just over 6 million BlackBerrys during Q3 for third place with 15.2% of the market. Nokia noticeably dropped from 51.4% at Q3 2007 to 38.9% Q3 2008.
But don’t hang yourself yet, members of the BlackBerry Nation. Canalys fully expects RIM to overtake Apple in Q4, once all those delayed BlackBerrys (read: BlackBerry Bold, BlackBerry Storm, BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220) start shipping like hot cakes. You can see some metrics on world wide OS market share after the jump.
While RIM continued its downward slide, losing approx. 11% of its total value to close at $61.50/share, it was hardly the only technology company in our sphere to get hit. Apple dropped 17.4%, while Google and Adobe dropped around 11%.
For the employees and families of all those companies involved, we hope something can jumpstart the U.S. economy before things get worse. Check out our current Weekly Contest and let us know if you think RIM will be okay.
The latest report from mobile advertising agency AdMob ran through some numbers based on the four billion ads they’ve served up. As you can see, Nokia remains top dog in mobile browsing activity, capturing a solid 34% of the global share thanks primarily to heavy adoption in Africa and Asia, followed up closely by Openwave (AKA WAP) at 29%. BlackBerry took a sad little 3% slice of the pie, right along side Motorola, Palm’s and Apple’s browsers. The BlackBerry 8300 and BlackBerry 8100 are still on the American Top Ten handsets list, though the top four spots are taken by Motorola. Even internationally, the Pearl does alright, getting 9th. place. In terms of geography, Indonesia has seen about ten times more traffic than last year, and Asia on the whole has seen a significant increase in activity.
RBC’s Michael Abramsky is encouraging investors to look beyond the BlackBerry Bold as an indicator of RIM’s future progress, citing the BlackBerry 8200 (Kickstart) and BlackBerry 9500 (Thunder) as the big things to be looking forward to.
Abramsky considers ‘concerns over BlackBerry Bold’s pricing, features vs. iPhone 3G as overdone,’ arguing that the Bold is ‘an evolutionary 3G Blackberry targeted at upgraders and prosumers/business users while the iPhone 3G is a consumer-focused device targeted at media-centric
Smartphone consumers.’
The ongoing iPhone 3G comparison is a little bit off – we definitely felt more at home putting the BlackBerry 9000 against the Nokia E71. The real head-butting won’t come between Apple and RIM, Abarmsky argues, but rather between the two of them and Nokia and Motorola. They are the bigger fish in the consumer pond, and could easily become targets as RIM and Apple gain traction in that market. Abramsky’s holding an ‘outperform’ rating for RIM’s stock with a $165 price target.
Mac users rejoice! Entourage 2008, designed to emulate much of Microsoft Office, can now support syncing for BlackBerrys released as of May through PocketMac. Devices running OS 4.5 reportedly work like a charm for getting contacts, tasks, and calendar items off your Mac and onto your BlackBerry via Entourage. iTunes support is also in there, although it’s kind of funny that PC users got the iTunes Media Sync first. This is pretty awesome for Mac users everywhere, considering the complete lack of love they tend to get from RIM. Hopefully this will keep enough of them from going with the iPhone instead… Hey, you can always make your BlackBerry look like an iPhone with themes like iBerry in Today, Icon and Zen styles. Head on over to the PocketMac site to download version 4.1.25.
Mac users rejoice! 
