07-06-2002, 07:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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RIM Blackberry - does it have legs?
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K6B712D31
By now, everyone has seen or heard of the RIM Blackberry device. It is almost mythical in how widespread its use is. The fact is, though, that only 300,000 are in use. RIM sees an incredible churn in its subscriber base. Personally, I wouldn't want one. Email push is very enticing, but it is about 10% of what I use my Pocket PC for. Between ebooks, music, Pocket Mindmap, PIM and so many other functions, the Blackberry just comes up short. I can get email via my Pocket PC and am looking forward to the Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition coming to my Sprint PCS store, or Cingular if they ever get off of their kiester and get GSM/GPRS in middle Tennessee. (Feeling another cell phone infrastructure rant coming on.)
So, what about you? Do you use, or have you used the Blackberry? I am interested in why you carry that with your Pocket PC or why you gave it up.
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07-06-2002, 09:16 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 4
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RIM's & the US Government...
I work down in Washington D.C. as a contractor at the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, and I believe that 1/3 of the "on campus" HHS employees (That's about 1000 people) use RIMs. It's interesting, because you can always easily determine who's an "essential" person by looking to see if they have a RIM or not.
One of the other Analysts that I work with is a Government-certified RIM training instructor, and she loves 'em. Personally, I think they are nice little toys, but my cellphone can do most of what the RIMs can do.
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07-06-2002, 09:58 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 255
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I am a software consultant. I am frequently at a client site or working from my house. My wife also spends a great deal of time away from home at her business/hobby (dog agility). We have both become very dependent on the ability to send and receive e-mail from anywhere.
I have selected e-mail messages forwarded automatically to me by my Exchange Server (based on who the sender is). Some of these are time-sensitive and need to be responded to immediately.
Since my wife travels a lot, I need to be able to reliably contact her regardless of where she is.
While both of us have cell phones, we use them primarily for outgoing calls and they are not normally on all of the time to recieve incoming calls.
For us, wireless, always on e-mail is critical to the mobile lifestyle we live. We also both have Pocket PCs for all of the rest of the stuff we need to take with us (maps, e-books, color photos, MP3s, etc.) that can not be handled by today's wireless e-mail devices.
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07-06-2002, 10:15 PM
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,998
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I agree that a RIM is symbolic of a person's importance. In my company, only the top get RIM's provided. However, I think they're key at that level. The ability to always be in touch - to instantly react - is invaluable. I've found myself wanting one for a while. I finally got one for a time while I was covering for my boss's vacation. It is a great little device. I like always being connected, and the form factor is great (I had a 957 -- the larger unit). Having said that though, there were drawbacks. I didn't like WAP browsing much and the PIM functions were terrible.
I've been using Synchrologic on my iPAQ for the past few weeks. It's been great! It acts almost like a RIM. It's not push per se, but pretty close. Your client checks every 15 minutes and you can accept meeting requests, etc.
The one thing that no one but RIM has offered yet is the total back-end structure. With a RIM, when I get a message with a 2MB attachment I want to forward, it takes seconds as all of the work is done by the server. With any PPC service I've seen, you must first d/l the full message and then re-upload it when forwarding. This is a huge waste of time. Also, a waste of money if you're paying for, say, a GPRS service that charges by the amount of data.
Here's hoping that the next iPAQ rumours are true -- integrated GPRS -- and that someone comes up with a RIM-like system that allows all the work to be done on the backend (but still integrated with the Activesync Inbox).
I don't think that's too ambitious, but what do I know... :?
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07-07-2002, 01:19 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 24
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I have used RIM devices and their strong point is that they do one thing extraordinarily well � EMAIL. Beyond that, I found the devices lacking in almost every other respect (screen, software, GUI�) other than the keyboard and battery life.
I think we will see RIM slowly disappear as push technology becomes more prevalent in Pocket PC and (gasp) Palm devices.
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07-07-2002, 03:36 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 8
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I currently use a Blackberry 957 and it is great at e-mail and calendar maintenance. How often do I need pushed e-mail? Only when a site, server or piece of infrastructure acts up. How did I do it before the Blackberry? With an SMS message to my cellular phone. That is why I am TOTALLY going to buy the T-Mobile Pocket Pc Phone Edition. As a beta tester, I was able to set up e-mail header downloads every thirty minutes when I was away from the office. I was able to do everyhting that I wanted from that one device, including using SMS for outage notification. One device, full communication.
As stated by others, there are certain executives that need to stay in touch with people to get their job done effectively. I need to talk to equipment, so the Blackberry goes as soon as Voicestream markets the Pocket PC Phone Edition.
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07-07-2002, 03:44 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 6
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The RIM 957 stinks as a PDA. However, as an always-on email device, Pocket PC, Palm and others stand to learn a lot from RIM -- I think this is one formula RIM has down to a science. Compose an email, in range or out of range, stick it in the holster. Your mail is always sent when it's back in range without you needing to connect and send. Never worry about email getting to you -- your mail is pushed to your RIM and is waiting for you the next time you have a free moment. I think the real magic is never needing to dial in -- it is available as soon as your device is in range.
Downsides -- rotten attachment support, rotten PDA functions, rotten applications in general. Great technology with a pretty weak operating system.
That said, my RIM 957 is still ticking after being dropped down a long escalator flight, after being dropped on hard pavement, and after having soda spilled on it. None of my other handhelds can take that abuse. There's no glitz or glamour with the Blackberry -- it's a solid email tool and that's it.
On a side note, I think RIM's technology is what vendors should really look towards licensing. Email is still the killer app, and while the Pocket PC can make it pretty, and other vendors can make it do "nice" things, RIM has what it takes to make the email go places and they have what it takes to make sure the email gets to you, without you having to worry about dialing in, or registering your wireless device.
Until then, the Blackberry goes everywhere, and I have to do the 2 PDA routine.
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07-07-2002, 04:27 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 32
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Recently had a Nextel rep in my office who showed me integrated Nextel/RIM device... not ready yet, but coming. Again, once you have voice & data (all back-end heavy) the e-mail portion needs to handle attachments like spreadsheets, documents, etc... that means it needs to be a robust device with memory. Looks like PocketPC or tablet PC...
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07-07-2002, 05:03 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 168
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Worthless for the average 'casual' consumer, essential for 'VIPs' and neat for 'gadeteers'. I personally don't find them exciting or even appealing as PDAs -- they seem more like tools than a PPC or Clie (Personal Information Managment AND adult recreation device).
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07-07-2002, 06:16 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 192
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I have one and it sits most of the time in its cradle, trying to charge (something's wrong with the beast). It does handle e-mail well...I wish the PPC had a wireless connection that worked as well and didn't require a large dongle, slide on attachment or other brick.
I think it will work very well once we install the corporate mail software. I'd still rather use my PPC though.
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