Let's play hardball.
The Blackberry Bold has tightly integrated core features based in messaging. It is less useful for anything beyond the core feature of messaging due to the extremely limiting browsers available for it when compared to Mobile Safari.
Let's get this out of the way too. The iPhone has many nagging issues such as copy and paste or multitasking. There are workarounds available, but these need to be fixed as soon as yesterday. That is a valid complaint against the iPhone and I completely agree with them.
Just to add to this, the workaround is JB'ing, which some don't like to do due to fear of their competence, warranty etc. Doesn't apply to most here but it still exists
With all that said, I still need a device that basically lets me do almost anything. I need email, IM, SMS, web, VNC, SSH, RDP, VPN (to use with these for certain networks I need to access), and a lot more all in one device that I keep with me at all times. The Blackberry Bold might be fine for some people, but when it comes down to it the device falls far short of my needs.
Obviously you are correct, the BlackBerry can't do some of those features, nor would I want it to. Using a mobile device for controlling a desktop computers (for example) is one of the worst experiences ever IMO, but if you need it/use it/like it then fair play. I can respect that.
You claim that MobileMe and Push are enough said on the email front. Not so fast there. I use these because they are extremely cost effective for what email I need to push to the phone. There are other arguably better options, but I like this. I paid $29 for 1 year of MobileMe that gives me push email to my phone plus all the other MobileMe goodies. Not a bad deal.
That puts me at $2.50 per month for my push email and $30 for unlimited 3G data not too shabby. I don't need to worry about BES vs. BIS plan, APN data vs. BIS/BES data, or anything of the sort.
Anything BES realted doesn't apply to this as the OP didn't mention using it on a corp email system (of if he did I missed it)
That is all well and good, but it is like I've already said. The Blackberry falls far short in too many key areas.
The messaging advantage in email is debatable. I used the BIS service at at&t for quite awhile before I moved to the Treo 650 with Chatteremail. The whole "forward all email to one address" setup to get instant Blackberry push email without a BES server just didn't seem to be all that great for the monthly cost.
Why didn't you just have the BIS service poll those other mailboxes? At the most you would've had a 15 minute delay
The IM is well integrated into the Blackberry and I will give it that. Is it "unrivaled" superior to the iPhone? No. Jabber support is lacking in the Bold and that is a very widely used internal messaging system for many companies because it can be controlled/monitored.
If your talking about corporate IM, such as LCS/OCS, Sametime etc then these have their own archiving services that the BlackBerry device would be subjected to. After all you are still signing in to the corp IM server. Unfortunately I don't know anything about Jabber as this is the first I have heard of it, so I'm going to go read about it.
I will say that with proper investment in server infrastructure the Blackberry has a superior email capability. I also say that IM is better on the Blackberry by a very slim margin due to the lack of multitasking on the iPhone.
People live for their iPhones now because it is slowly becoming more than a phone or a simple portable device. It is a computer in your pocket. Your iPod, your email client, and your everything all in one little package built with a touch screen. Is it better than the Blackberry line with regard to messaging? No, but it is an equal in my eyes.
Now, I'm about to get back to making fun of Windows users.