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August 06, 2010
New Blackberry Won't Save RIM
Watching the decline of the current defacto handheld client is painful. Then again, even in our organization we look forward to the day that the BB server (and maintenance) can be eliminated, and we only have to focus on Exchange/et with ActiveSync/pop issues.
RIM's new BlackBerry Torch, unveiled today, may indeed be the company's best BlackBerry yet.
But it's not as good as the competition, such as Apple's iPhone and phones based on Google's Android software.
And it's not going to stop RIM's decline.
The biggest problem is that RIM has not been able to build a mobile operating system that feels nearly as modern and elegant as Android or Apple's iOS. As a result, even RIM's newest phone feels old next to a new iPhone or Android device.
Sure, the Torch's new BlackBerry 6 may have the same Webkit browser as the iPhone, Android, and Palm Pre. But getting to the browser still requires you sift through RIM's OS, which feels clunky and primitive.
The Torch's actual hardware is fine, and BlackBerry fans will appreciate its plastic keyboard. (We also appreciate that RIM dumped the click-touchscreen that it debuted with the BlackBerry Storm almost two years ago.)
But anyone who has a few minutes to use a Torch side-by-side an iPhone 4 or a new Android phone will realize that RIM's software is still last-generation. And in today's mobile industry, hardware is nice, but software is what really matters.
Why is this a problem for RIM?
Read more:
http://www.businessinsider.com/blackberry-torch-rim-2010-8#ixzz0vpjIHF6hRest of article
Posted by Staff at August 6, 2010 02:48 PM