Well, wasn't Palm there in mid-2009? They might have had a lower base of loyal customers than RIM but they were three and a half years earlier than RIM. Look how that third place race ended.
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RIM Launches Next-Generation BlackBerry Z10, Announces Corporate Rebranding
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And then shut the company down because beyond selling phones they don't have much income.
No, this is not what BB is doing. Apple entered the phone market that had 2 kinds of cell phones. Cell phones and cell phones that could email, which everyone called "Smartphones." The Smartphone of the day was different in that it could do everything a regular cell could do (call, text, photo) AND send/receive emails. Fairly revolutionary, especially for businesses that could now expect their employees to be in contact and to work every waking moment. There were a few minor competitors as noted above for Blackberry, but really it was all RIM. Business people had BBs and everyone else had a normal cell phone. No one was surfing the web with their phones - I remember the mobile "browser" on my Motorola flip-type phone (joke).
When Apple entered the market there were cell phones and cell phones that could email. There were no computers that could make calls. That's what the iPhone was - a computer that could make calls. It could do emails, surf the web, It had a real screen to do it with. Oh, and yes, it could call and text. Then came maps and apps, etc. Apple's product essentially created a 3rd category. The Blackberry added the ability to surf and some apps, but have you looked at the web on a typical BB? The screens are a little small for that. Now BB is trying to "re-enter" this market. Unlike the Apple they haven't created an entirely new product. They may (or may not) have created the best current smartphone available - and that seems open to debate considering what everyone has written so far - but if it IS better, it's only a little better. This phone may stop the bleeding and may even increase market share a little and if so put off the inevitable, or save the company long enough for it to do something really huge to get back to where it was, or save itself long enough to begin a long slow crawl back into relevance. Only time will tell.
But in no way is BB starting from where Apple did 5 years ago. It's starting from where Windows 8 started last year. If BB - or anyone else - expects BB to take the world by storm (and I doubt this is what BB expects) then they needed to make something much more than this.
Blackberry is known for having the most secure email encryption.
When you are an IT Manager in a large corporate company, trust me you will want the highest security for your emails as you would be the person to blame if anything is stolen or intercepted.
This is their core market, all the other additions such as good camera, apps and so on is just to compete with current competitors.
They developed a new security protocol that is built on top of Active Sync, so no more complicated BESR Servers.
Shame you never watched the presentation or read anything about BB10. It's based on QNX (a microkernel that's used in cars, nuclear power stations etc - must be pretty reliable eh?) and a total rewrite. No more bitty releases.
Personally, the fluid multitasking and flow control through apps is a seller for me as I loved my Blackberry phone for e-mail/messaging before I got the iP4. Maybe it's bye-bye iOS for mobile phones for me unless iOS7 is the biggest breakthrough to come. Based on iOS6, Apple may still sit on their hands for software development.
Good for RIM, but like what many of the reviews have said.
RIM/BlackBerry proved they could create a modern smartphones, the problem is, its not better than iPhone, Android, Windows.
I'm sure loyal BlackBerry customers and some business will like it, but most people will probably stay with what they have.
RIM/BlackBerry proved they could create a modern smartphones, the problem is, its not better than iPhone, Android, Windows.
I'm sure loyal BlackBerry customers and some business will like it, but most people will probably stay with what they have.
Your forgeting somthing here, RIM invented Push Email and high encryption, Microsoft then cought up with ActiveSync.
But none of this is necessarily considered "competition" because Apple has never really geared any of their products towards the business market so if BB is able to shoehorn it's way back into the industry the business market would be most of their geared clientele and that's a small market because not every business user is going to want to give up their iPhone or Android just because BB is back. It's not like it's easy as snapping your fingers and you can change phones, most people are on contracts. And with the lack security these days and cameras everywhere you look (and don't look) you truly don't have validation that all of your private information is 100% iron clad secure.
That was then. And they deserve kudos for it.
But we're talkin' about where they are today.
I would respectfully disagree. You're saying that out of personal interest. If people felt they couldn't cope with a virtual keyboard then Apple wouldn't have droves and droves of people camping out for days at a time to buy their iPhone upon release day. It's had phenomenal success. If something is working immensely for a company why should they change the formula or add to the lineup to satisfy a small clientele? I hate those tiny buttons anyway.
True.
I am a System Engineer and my of my clients used BB till i convinced them to ditch it for iPhone.
To them it seemed like a toy untill eventually some employees started buying them and saw a great potentiol in UI and overall performances.
Made my life easier supporting them and not having another server BESR to maintain just to have phones recieving emails.
But some corporates will still use BB because they simply need good encryption for their emails.
Having said that, there wont be many left, because many people BYOD and companies that allow this have 3rd party MDM such as GOOD or Airwatch to manage thoes devices.
This is why RIM integrated other MDM into their new BESR, time will show i guess.
Because the original creators of the smartphone are back and that puts Apple on notice.
Apple is quickly becoming what RIM became: non-innovative and lazy. They need a swift kick to get moving again to ensure they don't become stagnant and nearly fall like they've done before.
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I'm glad MacRumors posted this. For people wondering why this is relevant to Apple related news, it's because RIM (Blackberry) were the originators of the smartphone. They created the idea of push email, and they really did wonders for mobile technology and mobile security protocol. And this officially puts Apple on notice that the original is back. And all the Android makers. And poor Microsoft still trying to get the Windows phone up in sales (which is ashame because the Lumina is a great phone).
Overall it's good because it sparks a fire into the industry and keeps companies on their toes. Whether you're a Blackberry user like myself, a lover of all things Apple, or even an Android user or Windows Phone user, or hell just a person who could careless and uses any old phone it matters. If you think Apple will dismiss the new Blackberry as "too late too little" you'd be sorely mistaken. And if Apple does dismiss the new Blackberry as "nothing to worry about" they run the same risks that RIM did when they thought the iPhone was "nothing to worry about."
If that's too long to read: It's about healthy competition. It doesn't matter if you want a new Blackberry or will be an iPhone user for life. What matters is this creates more competition in the market which forces all smart competitors to step their game up. Better iPhones for iPhone users, better Android devices for Android users, better Blackberrys for BB users, and just better selection for everyone.
Well, if Apple had a model with a physical keyboard, the original Motorola Droid wouldn't have sold, and Android would be nowhere what it is today. It really did change the marketplace.
Physical keyboards are much better at typing than screen keyboards. Blackberry basically still exists because of that.
Same here. Except I had the 4s and went back to a Blackberry 9930. There just wasn't anything there to keep me interested. And it also wasn't as useful for my needs as the BB turned out. I've tried Blackberry, Android, and iPhones and the BB system works for me.
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or RIP Apple in a few years if they don't start innovating like crazy again. The iPhone is a tired design.
Yeah, you're absolutely right with all the enviable game-changing, groundbreaking "never before thought of innovations" that BB intro'd today, coupled with the company name change to something totally out of the ordinary, Apple will be peeing in their pants at this point.
So instead of going with the rising and proven leaders (iPhone & Android...even WP8), which have almost every app that I could ever need, I should switch to a sinking ship whose new platform is in its infancy? Pains me as a Canadian to say it, but Blackberry is irrelevant today.
Well said. It is outright painful to read the comments on these mobile blog sites.
I disagree with the rest of your post, however. RIM needs to start taking marketshare back from iOS, and this is not the device that will do it. There are many people stuck in 2009 who still think that businesses and IT automatically choose Blackberry because there are no alternatives on the market. Trust me, that couldn't be farther from the truth.
Let me tell you something. I was a Blackberry developer until about two years ago, because my clients started dropping the platform. Small business, big business, and even the US government are swapping out their 9700s and 9350s for iPhones (and to a much lesser extent, Androids). Unless you need FIPS certification (which is organizations like the FBI), the iPhone has all the security that you need. Additionally, it is more desirable for employees and management, is easier to manage and troubleshoot, more reliable, and more capable due to the variety of productivity apps. It also works best with iPads, which rule the business and government tablet markets.
The only things the Blackberry has going it are BBM, the keyboard, and push email, and from what I understand, the Z10 actually drops the latter.
So much repetitiveness in those models. You see the BB name and logo repeated over and over and over.
They really need sum luv, don't they?
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Sounds like you haven't figured out what APPS are for?
They really need sum luv, don't they?
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Sounds like you haven't figured out what APPS are for?
Sez you
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Ooh I'm sure Apple really scared now. How about Samsung were they put on notice too?
