Undwhelming Blackberry TORCH spells DOOM FOR RIM

[milerich]

I have to dis-agree with you, I work in Health Care and require encrypted email. They won't look at anything for email except BB. The iPhone is a great consumer model, but really doesn't meet the needs of most business customers. My 2 cents!!!

I work in the mental health field and my company uses enterprise email on the iPhone 4. There is nothing insecure about it.

However, BB has been in that market for years and is well established with a near-perfect reputation. So it is natural that people would gravitate to BB for secure email over Apple. But Apple is learning and improving enterprise with every major iOS update.

 

[oakfan52]

I work in the mental health field and my company uses enterprise email on the iPhone 4. There is nothing insecure about it.

I have a bridge for sale ......

Besides the fact that the iphone4 is way behind in security compares to BES. It is also way behind in the tools/system to provision and manage the devices.

 

[Ironworker808]

I have a bridge for sale ......

Besides the fact that the iphone4 is way behind in security compares to BES. It is also way behind in the tools/system to provision and manage the devices.

Apple is catching up in that regard. My better half works for Hilton Hotels, and they sent out a memo several months ago that anyone with a corporate BB could switch to an iPhone if they so desired. Or have their personal iPhone bill subsidized if they wanted to go that route. So I don't think iOS is all that far behind RIM in security.

 

[milerich]

I have a bridge for sale ......

Besides the fact that the iphone4 is way behind in security compares to BES. It is also way behind in the tools/system to provision and manage the devices.

That is why I stated that BB is better established. But iOS has come a long way in 3 years.

iOS meets the standards for HIPAA, though I agree that it needs improvements to function as well as BES.

 

[milerich]

Hmmmm...

http://iphone.appleinsider.com/articles/10/08/04/ec_picks_apples_iphone_over_rims_blackberry.html

 

[BlondeBuddhist]

I work in the mental health field and my company uses enterprise email on the iPhone 4. There is nothing insecure about it.

However, BB has been in that market for years and is well established with a near-perfect reputation. So it is natural that people would gravitate to BB for secure email over Apple. But Apple is learning and improving enterprise with every major iOS update.

Only severe patients of your chosen profession would have thought that releasing this new RIM device exclusively under AT&T was the right idea.

For the exact same price you can (eventually) get a 16gb iPhone 4.
I am usually a staunch believer that the only way to deal with a problem is to go through it. However as far as Blackberry is concerned, avoiding competition with Apple is the only way to address its woes. At least that way they can delay the inevitable.

Blonde Buddhist

 

[Stein357]

The BlackBerry is an excellent messaging device and it's browser is out of the stone age. Unfortunately for RIM, they didn't give it enough horsepower or a nice enough display and it's getting killed in reviews because of that.

 

[Bobby Corwen]

Apple is catching up in that regard. My better half works for Hilton Hotels, and they sent out a memo several months ago that anyone with a corporate BB could switch to an iPhone if they so desired. Or have their personal iPhone bill subsidized if they wanted to go that route. So I don't think iOS is all that far behind RIM in security.

Secure email is secure email. Its not that big of a deal. Back in the days when there were less options, BB became synonymous with corporate-ness.

People keep saying they like the push email.

WTH??? iPhone DOES push email!

Well its more reliable!

WTH??? iPhone email IS reliable!

Well some people dont understand we dont need a lot, just the simple basics like email and calendar.

WTH??? iPhone is the easiest phone out there! Old ladies can use it! Its well documented!!

Well I want a phone with reliable push email..

THE IPHONE DOES THAT!!!

Well I want tactile feedback!

THATS SLOWER!!!

Well I want it to be secure I work at Arkham Asylum.

I just found out iPhone has good corporate security support!

 

[Phi4sius]

Having purchased a Blackberry earlier this year I can say from firsthand experience how horrible the Blackberry is, for several reasons:

1. The keyboard. Very un-user friendly.

2. The keyboard does not spell out ABC, DEF, etc. for each number. Instead it's something like 1/f, 2/g, 3/h. Try using that keyboard to dial 1-800-DIRECTV when you run into issues with your satellite dish!

3. The screen. Terrible quality.

4. Web surfing/other online tasks are extremely slow and sometimes don't even work at all. Try uploading a photo to Facebook and have it work every time. Nuh-uh...not on Blackberry.

For these reasons and many others I switched to the iPhone 4, which I consider to be the best purchase I ever made. I will never use another Blackberry again. EVER. I will continue buying iPhones as long as they are available. iPhone 4 FTW!!!

 

[Bobby Corwen]

Having purchased a Blackberry earlier this year I can say from firsthand experience how horrible the Blackberry is, for several reasons:

1. The keyboard. Very un-user friendly.

2. The keyboard does not spell out ABC, DEF, etc. for each number. Instead it's something like 1/f, 2/g, 3/h. Try using that keyboard to dial 1-800-DIRECTV when you run into issues with your satellite dish!

3. The screen. Terrible quality.

4. Web surfing/other online tasks are extremely slow and sometimes don't even work at all. Try uploading a photo to Facebook and have it work every time. Nuh-uh...not on Blackberry.

For these reasons and many others I switched to the iPhone 4, which I consider to be the best purchase I ever made. I will never use another Blackberry again. EVER. I will continue buying iPhones as long as they are available. iPhone 4 FTW!!!

Preach my brotha!

 

[insidmal]

when has blackberry ever made a really solid phone? haven't they all been underwhelming? they are really just being carried by their name...

 

[3lionsbecks]

woah woah guys......careful, careful.....don't spill any of that kool-aid all over your shiny new iPhones.......

 

[QCassidy352]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A306 Safari/6531.22.7)

To those saying RIM will not die because of enterprise, you're half right. And I do mean half because that's the fraction of bb users who are enterprise customers. Actually, slightly less - more than 50% of bb buyers are consumers.

But even there, they are vulnerable. For all the talk about security, I know of many large law firms and financial institutions that now allow iPhones, and more are going that way all the time. And I've not heard of one security breakdown with an iPhone, let alone one that would not have happened with a bb.

Now, all of that said, the torch is easily the nicest bb I've ever seen, and though it's not up to par with the top end competition, I think it is good enough to staunch the bleeding somewhat, especially if the new browser is pretty good.

 

[3GEE]

woah woah guys......careful, careful.....don't spill any of that kool-aid all over your shiny new iPhones.......

Why such love for bb? You honestly dpnt think he's going to bring an NHL team to hamilton do you? His stock has been free-falling for a while now. After a big release you'd expect a little jump in the stock price but rim keeps falling amidst bad reviews. The emperor has no clothes.

 

[tigress666]

Well, you know what? I don't like Blackberry's but that's from my limited experience trying to use my mom's phone (it was annoying to use).

For my uses, not so good.

I will though give RIM credit for not giving in to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates who are now going to make Blackberries illegal because RIM will not let those governments get past RIM's encryption to look at emails. Just read an article on Time about that today.

 

[3lionsbecks]

Why such love for bb? You honestly dpnt think he's going to bring an NHL team to hamilton do you? His stock has been free-falling for a while now. After a big release you'd expect a little jump in the stock price but rim keeps falling amidst bad reviews. The emperor has no clothes.

why so much hate?

I have said that I think both BB and iPhone are great. They have different functions. iPhone is great for media consumption and BB is great as a pure communication machine.

The world can live fine with both.

And as for love....I can't say I personally love RIM but I have several friends who work for RIM and the company provides a nice lifestyle for them and their families.

And I wish Jim Balsillie could bring an NHL team to Hamilton or Waterloo. I would love that and would support it. But thats a whole different thread on a different forum.

 

[marksman]

Hate to break it to you but BB is still the most popular PDA device for business by a looooooong shot. I can't imagine too many CEO or CFO business leaders sitting down to type out emails and messages on their iPod.....er I mean iPhone.

Yes much more likely for them to peck out messages on their baby mouse keyboards.

 

[aohus]

I work in the mental health field and my company uses enterprise email on the iPhone 4. There is nothing insecure about it.

Actually, in a recent survey done by a security firm, iOS4 is rated the most insecure out of all mobile environments. BB encrypts data through their own servers based in Canada.

iOS has some ways to go before its ready for enterprise level use. Hopefully by the time iPhone comes to Verizon, all the enterprise issues such as security will be addressed and ready for Verizon.

However, exclusivity arrangement between AT&T and Apple will cease to exist at the end of 2011...

 

[makefunnyfaces]

As long as there are large companies, & 16-22 year old girls, there will be a BlackBerry.

I used a BlackBerry Curve as a limbo phone once. I really enjoyed the autocorrect & keyboard, but it's not enough to ever make me switch.

 

[Blueline29]

In a low level corporation I can see this but no way in a big corporation would they switch to Apple.

I work for the largest corporation of its kind in the US and they're looking into ditching RIM and going with iPhones. It was just discussed on an all-hands conference call 4-5 days ago.

 

[Blueline29]

you're probably not wearing nails. ask older girls, they'll hate on touchscreens on and on.

As an older girl (lol), I'm afraid I'll have to disagree. While I loved my Bold 9000 and got quite fast at typing on it, once I made the jump to the 3GS (both to consolidate devices and because internet browsing on a BB--or at least on that one--is *****), I could never think about going back. I'm probably 3x faster than I ever was on the Bold, and the iPhone does everything I need it to--better--than the Bold did. But that's my experience.

 

[3lionsbecks]

I work for the largest corporation of its kind in the US and they're looking into ditching RIM and going with iPhones. It was just discussed on an all-hands conference call 4-5 days ago.

I find it hard to believe because if this were true your company would be using BBM as well as email and then you wouldn't be able to say that your iPhone can do all the things a BB does. Texting and BBM are not equal.

 

[wirelessmacuser]

Ridiculous thread. Ridiculous conclusion. It's crazy to think your statement has any validity.

True.

However it's important to remember this is an Apple forum. Every fanboy must be right at all costs & go out of their way to bash the competition. Insecurities abound. For proof, all one has to do is visit any other enthusiast forum. In those forums, both pros & cons are discussed in an adult, intelligent, unemotional way. This type of behavior is frowned on in the Apple ecosystem. Free speech, and thinking for oneself is noticeably absent.

Therefore when kept in perspective, there's a lot of entertainment value as we watch the Apple zealots take things personally. All one needs to do to get a rise out of them is to mention anything without an Apple logo on it....

 

[marksman]

However, exclusivity arrangement between AT&T and Apple will cease to exist at the end of 2011...

Apparently you are not aware of what Verizon and Google are up to...

The exclusivity Agreement may or may not end, but it is highly unlikely Verizon will see an iPhone any time in the next 5 years at this point.

Verizon and Google are actually actively creating Evil as we speak... Apple is not going to be a party to it.

 

[jesterscourt]

Blackberries were never intended as consumer devices, whereas iDevices were. That's a key difference. If you need a corporate email device and don't work in Cupertino, they are giving you a Blackberry 9.5 times out of 10. If they give you a Torch, well at least it's better than the last one.

I've owned Blackberries. They work very well for email. They are very rugged. They have amazing physical keyboards (no Storm talk). They have a very very addictive thing called BBM.

Now let's be real. They lost the consumer game. They don't do web browsing very well, even with this latest WebKit update. Their app store is a joke. The average consumer doesn't care about bulletproof security and Exchange support. The companies do. The consumer doesn't care about remote wipe capabilities (for the most part) the companies do.

Research in Motion needs to refine the Blackberry as THE corporate device. Take out the ********. Take out the app store, make it a mean email and tasking machine.

Then come out with a consumer device. Call it the Strawberry. Or the Blueberry, or the Peach, or some other name. And throw in all the personalization, social networking, and app-store stuff you want. But don't call it a Blackberry.

/end rant.