61–70 of 76 posts
(Disclaimer: I'm a former RIM employee.)
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Apparently RIM has its own replacement for SMS that is dirt cheap, and this is what attracts the (extremely price sensitive ) teens. Not all teens are price sensitive of course, but those who are will get buried by outrageous SMS fees
SMS is dirt cheap in Europe.
I could (sort of) do BBM with iPhone push notifications and a universal messaging app like IM+. Unfortunately, I can see my battery life drain away (literally!) while running IM+.
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I was actually pretty hopeful about RIM on the QNX and TAT acquisitions, but I am worried about the emphasis on AIR on the Playbook. I just don't see anyone reliant on a cross platform environment (more than a framework) as being able to get the most out of the unique features of their system. It also might not be a happy choice for their existing Java developers.
I have a ... friend ... who has been doing Blackberry Java Development, and this ... friend ... was less than impressed by RIM hopping into bed with Adobe. I think what exacerbated the situation was that when RIM announced the development kit for the new playbook, they led with the AIR kit, with no defined date for when they'll get Java on there. Which is probably good news for Flash developers, but doesn't look good…
The top-end Premium version of Flash Builder is indeed $699, but there's a version available for $249 and a perfectly good compiler available for bupkis. Adobe offer completely free Flash Builder licenses for students and unemployed developers. Beyond Adobe there's an excellent open source IDE for Windows (FlashDevelop), a very powerful proprietary IDE (FDT), Eclipse plugins and a TextMate bundle. There are several good free options for AIR developers.
Adobe have really been sweating it over the image of Flash amongst developers. They're still a long way from perfect, but they seem to really be sorting their act out. While they would very much like developers to buy their expensive IDEs, they certainly aren't obstructing competition. It would be nice if AIR went open source along with the Flex/Flash core SDK, but compared to Apple it's a very open platform.
I found the claim that RIM's market is saturating to be suspicious. What was smartphone penetration in the US three years ago? It is only about a third even today, after huge growth. In many parts of the world growth in the last three years has been even more explosive.
In my opinion, RIM's problem is that they feel like they defined what it was to be a smartphone. Now that they are no longer king of the hill, they are trying to replicate the current definition of a smart phone. Like the author alluded to, what they should be doing is re-defining a new space for themselves. RIM's never going to make the best iPhone. They need to go back to making the best Blackberry, whatever that i…
One can see that they don't understand themselves by what appears to me as an attempt to out-Apple Apple, or as you say, trying to make the best iPhone -- a very silly proposition if one understands how deeply Apple's way of operating is embedded in its culture. The same thing, crucially, is going on with marketing. At least it would seem the PlayBook is aimed at business -- one right, if probably inevitable, choice for them.
They need to figure out what made them able to make the BlackBerry a success and then use the same craft to develop their game further. You can't grow wings overnight if you're a fish. My BB-toting friend is always speaking of the BB's intuitiveness and speed for what he does. Is touchscreen really a good choice for that? It seems silly that RIM would squander their assets for something new without first being totally sure that their new 'thing' is better.
In fact, in that matter I think Nokia might be doing slightly better with their transition Symbian-Symbian touch-Meego (anyone with an educated opinion on that one?).
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I was actually pretty hopeful about RIM on the QNX and TAT acquisitions, but I am worried about the emphasis on AIR on the Playbook. I just don't see anyone reliant on a cross platform environment (more than a framework) as being able to get the most out of the unique features of their system. It also might not be a happy choice for their existing Java developers.
I have a ... friend ... who has been doing Blackberry Java Development, and this ... friend ... was less than impressed by RIM hopping into bed with Adobe. I think what exacerbated the situation was that when RIM announced the development kit for the new playbook, they led with the AIR kit, with no defined date for when they'll get Java on there. Which is probably good news for Flash developers, but doesn't look good…
Even on with Objective-C on iOS there are a bunch of tricks you have to employ to keep things running smoothly, and if you're not careful you can still end up writing fairly poorly performing apps. I can only imagine this being much, much more difficult if you're working with Flash.
>> "Yes, Android is doing well, but neither RIM nor Apple is giving away its operating system, so it was close to inevitable that Android would eventually get the unit lead" How is that any kind of rebuttal? How does saying that it was inevitable Android would eat up a bunch of market share hand-wave away the fact that it was really bad for RIM's situation that it happened? >> "Yes, RIM's not good at sexy marketing,…
» How is that any kind of rebuttal? A free competitor in the software world can have more users, but that doesn't necessarily mean your business is failing. Similarly, Apple has had many fewer users than Windows for a long time but it's doing just fine compared to most Windows hardware vendors. Other phone vendors have moved from Windows Mobile & Symbian to Android, partly due to the free O.S. The customer profile of…
But this isn't like free end user software. An Android phone isn't "free" to the end user. People are paying money for Android phones, instead of spending that money to buy BlackBerries. The fact that the OS is free to the manufacturer providing the phones is of no consequence. What is of consequence is that there's this new player in the smartphone market that is gobbling up marketshare that used to belong in part to RIM. I don't see how saying, "oh, that was going to happen anyway" makes the argument any less stinging.
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Ironic, given my perception of Linux as doing good things in a mediocre way...
Apologises for 'wall of text'(tm) (patent pending) TLDR: move along, nothing to see here If you're one of the people who likes fiddling around with your computer, and having very fine grained control over the OS, then Linux is pretty near perfect. If you just want to use your computer to do work , if you want an integrated and unified user experience * that makes it easy to move from one app to another, if you are...…
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I have a ... friend ... who has been doing Blackberry Java Development, and this ... friend ... was less than impressed by RIM hopping into bed with Adobe. I think what exacerbated the situation was that when RIM announced the development kit for the new playbook, they led with the AIR kit, with no defined date for when they'll get Java on there. Which is probably good news for Flash developers, but doesn't look good…
I'm feeling vaguely nauseous about doing it, but I'm going to defend Adobe. I've criticised Adobe a great deal in the past, but I think that Flash is slowly becoming a legitimately open platform. The top-end Premium version of Flash Builder is indeed $699, but there's a version available for $249 and a perfectly good compiler available for bupkis. Adobe offer completely free Flash Builder licenses for students and un…
Remember how everyone likes to note that Apple is never afraid to obsolete itself? Killing OS 9 to start completely new in OS X… Aggressively and constantly re-imagining the iPod… Replacing the iPod (effectively) with a completely new touch-based system (iOS)… beginning the revolution from PCs to iPad-style devices (they are selling as many iPads as they are computers, now). When has Blackberry ever really dared to c…
Mike Lizaridis quit engineering school a early to found RIM in 1984 in a tech backwater. He struggled for a decade, but slowly built up the company over a decade to around 100 people. They then hit a rough patch and had a tough round of layoffs, but survived. 15 years after they were founded, they hit upon both a brilliant idea and execution. When the BlackBerry was released in 1999, RIM had around 120 people and sold 25000 of the units. Over the last decade, they have managed to fend off all big tech companies while growing into a global brand a major tech company. Meanwhile, Mike L has funded one of the coolest charities around (Perimeter Institute) and RIM has turned Waterloo into a major tech center.
So, to answer your glib question: many times between 84 and 99, once around 2003 (replacing an old OS) and right now (with the move to QNX and webos-like SDK).
>> "Yes, Android is doing well, but neither RIM nor Apple is giving away its operating system, so it was close to inevitable that Android would eventually get the unit lead" How is that any kind of rebuttal? How does saying that it was inevitable Android would eat up a bunch of market share hand-wave away the fact that it was really bad for RIM's situation that it happened? >> "Yes, RIM's not good at sexy marketing,…
I guess he is pointing out that - Although Andriod is gaining market share, it isn't exactly eating into potential RIM market share. Other way to put it is that both RIM and Android target different set of customers. P.S :- I am not making the above assertion. Just writing what i understood from reading that article.
Android is obviously an important competitor to everybody else in the mobile market, but in my opinion the market is heavily segmented, so it's possible for several companies to grow simultaneously.
And RIM's products sold well for years despite the company's lame marketing. Yes, Apple has raised the bar on smartphone marketing, but if (as BusinessWeek implied) you have to out-market Apple in order to succeed in smartphones, everyone else ought to pack up and quit now.