Smartphones Put BlackBerry Under Siege

[Kris Kumar]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/11/06/blackberry/index.php' target='_blank'>http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/11/06/blackberry/index.php</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Road warriors — those who spend a significant percentage of their time each month traveling — are leading the switch from standard cell phones, e-mail devices and PDAs to multipurpose smartphones, according to a study released this week by market research firm In-Stat. ... “All of a sudden, RIM has Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson providing strong competition,” Hall said. “That makes it hard for a relatively little company like RIM.” ... Kerton noted that smartphone vendors aren’t the only ones competing with RIM. He said that other push e-mail vendors like Visto are also nipping at RIM’s heels. And even Microsoft is competing, if indirectly, by pushing its Windows Mobile platform for smartphones and marketing devices built on that platform to enterprise users."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-June06-BBQ.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/><br /><br />Personally I dislike the BlackBerry devices but have to admit that unlike their Windows Mobile counterparts which try to be jack of all trades, RIM focuses on getting the few things that matter right. While RIM is facing some challengers, the Smartphone market is expanding beyond the enterprise market and RIM is definitely not sitting idle. It recently launched the consumer oriented version, the Pearl. Even <a href="http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CNBCTV/TV_Info/P108231.asp">Jim "Mad Money" Cramer,</a> famous wall street commentator, is a big supporter of RIM. He believes RIM's attention to detail and RIM's software will help them grow even further. What are your thoughts? Do you think Microsoft has an uphill task with Windows Mobile? Or have they already started biting into the RIM market share?

[Pete Paxton]

Well, I once had a Blackberry and have since had an SDA and now my Dash. The BB's just don't give me everything I want.

[subzerohf]

I honestly think Blackberrys and Smartphones can co-exist, and grow together. As they say, the mobile device market is huge, and we are only seeing the tip of it now.

[alese]

Blackberry is a small player going against much bigger ones and although RIM has an advantage in Push Email niche, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and WM camp have much more resources, much better connections with the carriers...

My guess is that RIM will lose out as hardware vendor, but they could survive as a platform vendor, providing server and client software for others. But they will have to form some alliances quickly, for instance with Nokia...

[Kris Kumar]

Blackberry is a small player going against much bigger ones and although RIM has an advantage in Push Email niche, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and WM camp have much more resources, much better connections with the carriers...

I too had somewhat similar opinion, but our reader jctune pointed out (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12732) that smaller companies are more nimble and can react quickly. In the near term, RIM would be able show good growth because it is growing with the smart phone market.

My guess is that RIM will lose out as hardware vendor, but they could survive as a platform vendor, providing server and client software for others. But they will have to form some alliances quickly, for instance with Nokia...

Long term, I think RIM would end up as a software services provider. RIM's long term future depends on how well Microsoft does on the Exchange platform and mobile data security.

[Kris Kumar]

The BB's just don't give me everything I want.

That was my reason for dumping BB. Ages and ages ago...

[Jerry Raia]

That Pearl is a decent looking device!

[Kris Kumar]

That Pearl is a decent looking device!

Oh no! First you started liking Moto and now the Pearl. 8O :lol:

I like the circular, iPod style, joy-pad-wheel on the Pearl. Want to see that on WinMo devices instead of the 5 way joy pads and silly JOGGRs and scroll wheels.

[Jerry Raia]

Oh no! First you started liking Moto and now the Pearl. 8O :lol:

Maybe it is the pain medication. :lol:

(for those who don't know I had surgery on Monday to repair my torn rotator cuff)

[alese]

Blackberry is a small player going against much bigger ones and although RIM has an advantage in Push Email niche, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and WM camp have much more resources, much better connections with the carriers...

I too had somewhat similar opinion, but our reader jctune pointed out (http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12732) that smaller companies are more nimble and can react quickly. In the near term, RIM would be able show good growth because it is growing with the smart phone market.


No objection here. Of course smaller companies are more nimble and can adjust to market more quickly. I was thinking more along the line of who is going to have the biggest market share in smartphone market and/or in the push mail niche. I just don't see RIM beeing capable to compete with Nokia and WM on wolume (market share) when it comes to device sales.
The best that they could do in my opinion is something like Apple, who is an insignificant player in PC market in terms of market share (worldwide), but they still make money beacuse of the size of the market (iPod is of course another matter :D )

My guess is that RIM will lose out as hardware vendor, but they could survive as a platform vendor, providing server and client software for others. But they will have to form some alliances quickly, for instance with Nokia...

Long term, I think RIM would end up as a software services provider. RIM's long term future depends on how well Microsoft does on the Exchange platform and mobile data security.
I agree completely, that's why I said that in order to "survive" in long term they should try to forge an alliance with at least one mayor manufacturer (Nokia?) who doesn't really have push mail sollution.
There is one additional benefit in possible alliance with Nokia. Nokia would get an excelent foothold in USA business market and RIM would gett much better position in Europe and Asia where Nokia rules...

[Stinger]

I agree completely, that's why I said that in order to "survive" in long term they should try to forge an alliance with at least one mayor manufacturer (Nokia?) who doesn't really have push mail sollution.

Blackberry Connect is already available for Nokia's Symbian-based smartphones (IIRC, the E-series and Communicators mainly). The problem is that it's got to compete with all of the other push mail clients on Symbian, including MS Direct Push.

I've never used a Blackberry so I can't really comment on how they perform. However, you do see an incredible number of Blackberrys in London, and they're not just being used by geeks like us, so RIM must be doing something right.

[Jerry Raia]

and they're not just being used by geeks like us

Who are you calling a geek? :lol:

[Stinger]

Who are you calling a geek? :lol:

Mainly myself, as I realise that some people might still be in denial. ;)

[Jerry Raia]

Three Smartphones does not a geek make!


...right? :worried:

[Mike Temporale]

Three Smartphones does not a geek make!


...right? :worried:

Right. The magic number easy to determine. Just count your devices and add 1 to that number. ;)

[aristoBrat]

Well, I once had a Blackberry and have since had an SDA and now my Dash. The BB's just don't give me everything I want.
Same here, but WM hasn't been my salvation.

The WM devices I've used over the years have left me wanting more improvements to how they handle OTA email and PIM, and the BB devices left me wanting a nicer GUI experience, multimedia capabilities, and a better selection of 3rd party applications.

It's been great to see BOTH platforms continue to mature and address their issues.

[Kris Kumar]

It's been great to see BOTH platforms continue to mature and address their issues.

That's for sure.

I like how both sides are aggresively trying to emulate each other.