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Does RIM Want Palm?

theglobeandmail.com

11–20 of 22 posts

Re: Does RIM Want Palm?

#11
post #8

Please, RIM is in severe need of a major OS update. Blackberry OS was kinda okay 7 years ago, but the devices I see now are more or less the same ones I was using in 2003.

The new OS version is coming out shortly I believe.

But what exactly is it in need of? My only complaint is their menuing system is not very pretty.

Re: Does RIM Want Palm?

#12
post #10

As Fake Steve Jobs quipped, this would be like the the number two and number three sprinters trying to beat number one by strapping their legs together and running three-legged.

You could have said the exact same thing about Apple buying NeXT in 1996.

Actually, I freely admit I did say that. And I don't think that if the same thing happened again I'd be wrong. Steve Jobs has beaten very long odds with Apple to date. I don't think it's a good idea to look at a merger like this and think "Apple pulled it off, so the stock must be a bargain."

At that time the iMac lay in the future, the iPod lay in the future, and obviously the iPhone lay in the future. Betting that the merger with NeXT would led to success with products that didn't even exist yet is no better than giving Steve Jobs a couple of hundred million to launch NeXT in the first place. And that wasn't a good bet.

Re: Does RIM Want Palm?

#13
post #11
post #8

Please, RIM is in severe need of a major OS update. Blackberry OS was kinda okay 7 years ago, but the devices I see now are more or less the same ones I was using in 2003.

The new OS version is coming out shortly I believe. But what exactly is it in need of? My only complaint is their menuing system is not very pretty.

It reeks of "don't care". It's clunky in places, everybody has to roll their own gui toolkit to make anything that looks halfway decent, performance isn't that great (maybe the devices are slow), crap is buried in long lists of settings, I can use a microSD card with it but it's pointless because I can't install anything to that card, restarting the device is a pain since I have to approve a dozen security policy dialogs that don't fit on the screen, typography is a disaster. I once accidentally his the wrong security setting when installing Opera on mine and I have no idea how to change it, after a year of poking around and a full system wipe. So now, every time I go to surf the web, I have to spend 5 minutes fighting past security authorizations.

All this was okay in 2000, but the devices haven't evolved one bit since then. I got mine new, just on the market, in '08 from my company. Really, even with a new OS, the devices need to get with the times. Buying WebOS would give them a halfway decent, well thought out OS, and force their hand with the crappy hardware.

Re: Does RIM Want Palm?

#14
post #4

This seems to be the best buyer for Palm from my perspective. HTC and others are currently selling popular Android devices and there's little sense for HTC to sell Android, Windows Mobile, and an HTC owned webOS to consumers. RIM, on the other hand, could use Palm much like Apple used NeXT. webOS could become the foundation of the next generation of BlackBerry devices. It provides the same all-in-one experience that…

Sure the best bet for palm, but not for RIM.

I think people are missing the point with RIM. Their existing operating system has a very solid foundation. Everything low level is very optimized for two things important on mobile: battery life and efficient use of networks. The devices work very well. Most importantly: they work very well in big business.

Their GUI isn't flashy. Their venture into touchscreen went poorly. But neither of those seem like a reason to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Re: Does RIM Want Palm?

#15
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new OS version is coming out shortly I believe. But what exactly is it in need of? My only complaint is their menuing system is not very pretty.

It reeks of "don't care". It's clunky in places, everybody has to roll their own gui toolkit to make anything that looks halfway decent, performance isn't that great (maybe the devices are slow), crap is buried in long lists of settings, I can use a microSD card with it but it's pointless because I can't install anything to that card, restarting the device is a pain since I have to approve a dozen security policy dia…

Really? This sounds pretty weak reasoning to buy a company for a half-decent OS.

a) Performance is never bad on blackberries - what are you talking about? Always far better performance than my iphone.

b) You are complaining about a 3rd party app's security settings?

c) You can't install to a microSD card but is that a problem? There is good reason to not allow app installations on a hotswappable card obviously. They provide plenty of room for app installs on the internal memory.

d) Use a 2000 era device and then use a new bold 9700. You cannot be serious claiming the devices themselves haven't evolved.

Blackberries are amazing devices, it just seems like a small group of people love to hate on them for unknown reasons. Just like a different group loves to hate on iPhones.

What you are saying here is like saying Apple should buy Palm because their OS is garbage because it doesn't support multiple applications and you can only sync through itunes.

Re: Does RIM Want Palm?

#16
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It reeks of "don't care". It's clunky in places, everybody has to roll their own gui toolkit to make anything that looks halfway decent, performance isn't that great (maybe the devices are slow), crap is buried in long lists of settings, I can use a microSD card with it but it's pointless because I can't install anything to that card, restarting the device is a pain since I have to approve a dozen security policy dia…

Really? This sounds pretty weak reasoning to buy a company for a half-decent OS. a) Performance is never bad on blackberries - what are you talking about? Always far better performance than my iphone. b) You are complaining about a 3rd party app's security settings? c) You can't install to a microSD card but is that a problem? There is good reason to not allow app installations on a hotswappable card obviously. They…

'performance' is relative mrton. elblanco could be talking about web performance which really is way behind the times on Blackberry. But they are releasing a new webkit browser in the fall.

The reason they should by Palm is that the Palm webOS is a very modern and well built OS. It could really do great things for RIM in the consumer (non-business user) space. I always attributed Blackberry's OS issues (performance, capabilities, etc) to the fact that the entire OS is written in Java, but a friend tells me that that isn't really the issue.

I don't know. If you were to write an OS for a mobile device, would Java be your development language of choice?

Re: Does RIM Want Palm?

#17
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It reeks of "don't care". It's clunky in places, everybody has to roll their own gui toolkit to make anything that looks halfway decent, performance isn't that great (maybe the devices are slow), crap is buried in long lists of settings, I can use a microSD card with it but it's pointless because I can't install anything to that card, restarting the device is a pain since I have to approve a dozen security policy dia…

Really? This sounds pretty weak reasoning to buy a company for a half-decent OS. a) Performance is never bad on blackberries - what are you talking about? Always far better performance than my iphone. b) You are complaining about a 3rd party app's security settings? c) You can't install to a microSD card but is that a problem? There is good reason to not allow app installations on a hotswappable card obviously. They…

Hi, I develop for both iPhone and BlackBerrys. The iPhone is way ahead in performance, although the hardware is similiar - BlackBerrys just don't have a dedicated GPU and therefore no OpenGL acceleration. Also everything on RIM OS is running in a JavaVM with GC, while iPhone Apps, being in (objective-)C, run much closer to the hardware itsself. Now the funny thing is, despite programming in a higher-level languages on BlackBerrys, iPhone programming is actually easier due to the thoughtful API-design.

Re: Does RIM Want Palm?

#18
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? This sounds pretty weak reasoning to buy a company for a half-decent OS. a) Performance is never bad on blackberries - what are you talking about? Always far better performance than my iphone. b) You are complaining about a 3rd party app's security settings? c) You can't install to a microSD card but is that a problem? There is good reason to not allow app installations on a hotswappable card obviously. They…

'performance' is relative mrton. elblanco could be talking about web performance which really is way behind the times on Blackberry. But they are releasing a new webkit browser in the fall. The reason they should by Palm is that the Palm webOS is a very modern and well built OS. It could really do great things for RIM in the consumer (non-business user) space. I always attributed Blackberry's OS issues (performance,…

The OS isn't written in Java. Apps and layers on top of the OS are in Java.

Re: Does RIM Want Palm?

#19
post #17
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? This sounds pretty weak reasoning to buy a company for a half-decent OS. a) Performance is never bad on blackberries - what are you talking about? Always far better performance than my iphone. b) You are complaining about a 3rd party app's security settings? c) You can't install to a microSD card but is that a problem? There is good reason to not allow app installations on a hotswappable card obviously. They…

Hi, I develop for both iPhone and BlackBerrys. The iPhone is way ahead in performance, although the hardware is similiar - BlackBerrys just don't have a dedicated GPU and therefore no OpenGL acceleration. Also everything on RIM OS is running in a JavaVM with GC, while iPhone Apps, being in (objective-)C, run much closer to the hardware itsself. Now the funny thing is, despite programming in a higher-level languages o…

iPhone app APIs are naturally simpler since the devices are very uniform. BB has to support a range of devices, like android.

Agreed - no openGL, but I don't think that is a big issue. Blackberries are better at business applications, worse at media applications.

Look at mail on the blackberry - it blows iphone mail out of the water. If you have multiple email accounts you are diving into layers of menus to check inboxes on both. Account 1 -> inbox -> msgs -> back out -> back out -> back out -> Accunt 2 -> inbox -> msgs. Blackberries allow you to use the central queue.

Now look at media on the iphone. It is as great as ipods, enough said. Look at media on the blackberry - it is like a windows 3.1 player.

There are tradeoffs on both iphone and bb platforms.

Re: Does RIM Want Palm?

#20
post #19
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I develop for both iPhone and BlackBerrys. The iPhone is way ahead in performance, although the hardware is similiar - BlackBerrys just don't have a dedicated GPU and therefore no OpenGL acceleration. Also everything on RIM OS is running in a JavaVM with GC, while iPhone Apps, being in (objective-)C, run much closer to the hardware itsself. Now the funny thing is, despite programming in a higher-level languages o…

iPhone app APIs are naturally simpler since the devices are very uniform. BB has to support a range of devices, like android. Agreed - no openGL, but I don't think that is a big issue. Blackberries are better at business applications, worse at media applications. Look at mail on the blackberry - it blows iphone mail out of the water. If you have multiple email accounts you are diving into layers of menus to check inb…

Yes I agree with you. I was strictly talking about performance. There are things BlackBerrys do better than the iPhone and there are also things that are simply impossible on the iPhone, due to its locked-down nature.
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