Today is the day… It has been widely speculated that Steve Jobs will introduce the 3G iPhone today in his keynote at WWDC. There is no question that today will be a big day for Apple. I believe, however, that it will be a big day for the BlackBerry as well.
Just like last year with the release of the first generation iPhone, buzz in the smartphone world will be at its peak and, in fact, spill over into the consumer world of mobile phones. This is great news for RIM who saw their market share increase amongst all the hype of the iPhone over the last year.
I believe that the spill over effect may be even more pronounced this year because Research in Motion is putting out new devices that are even more consumer friendly than before. We’ve officially heard about the BlackBerry Bold, all but officially heard about the BlackBerry KickStart, and BlackBerry Thunder leaks are coming on strong. (How perfect is the timing on the Verizon BlackBerry Thunder pictures?)
Millions of consumers are going to be all jazzed up about the new 3G iPhone and walk into the stores to get information about it. Many are going to find out how expensive the iPhone is or that it only runs on AT&T and then immediately start to look at other smartphones, namely BlackBerrys, that are pretty cheap if not completely subsidized by the carrier and available on the network that they are already on.
To make a long story short, I think that the 3G iPhone announcement will be huge for the BlackBerry.
The 3g BOLD is going to kick the 3g crapphones A**!!! RIM Rules!!!!! 😉
It looks like we are about to find out. The keynote is about to start.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/09/steve-jobs-keynote-live-from-wwdc-2008/
Looks like the market isn’t too impressed. Apple is falling 7+ points right now and RIM is down just 1 and change. Haven’t watched the keynote, but did see that they’ll have a $199 model out.
Let the competition begin!
Yes. 8gb model $199. Again, great for consumers in the end.
@Ed M – Doubt it
Apple will sell a ton of iPhones at only $199 each. Quite frankly, I’m stunned at the low pricepoint. And that will set the marker for the pricepoint of the BB Thunder on VZW…I don’t know that VZW will want to price the Thunder that low, but if not they will lose a lot of customers to the iPhone.
Keep in mind that most BB’s when they debut sell for about $200 with contract…
And knowing VZW, I bet they would love to release the Thunder at a price of at least 299 or even 399…but then they risk unfavorable comparisons on price with the iPhone. I don’t think BB wants to be seen as the device that actually makes the iPhone look like the less expensive option.
As for the stock movement, that was clearly a case of the market buying on the rumor and then taking their gains on the actual announcement…it in no way was a pronouncement on the success of this model. Again, this model will sell a huge amount, and even moreso in overseas markets where 3G is the expectation.
I do agree that Apple attracting so much attention to the smart phone market will indeed boost sales of BB’s, and there is indeed plenty of growth to go around.
But this is a major competitive move by Apple…the price, 3G, GPS, thinner size, etc.
@ Thought
I agree that Apple will sell a bunch of iPhones at $199. Why not?
As for the stock market, gotta disagree. People didn’t sell on the actual announcement…a 3-7 point swing isn’t enough to deem that. People were selling on the fact that ‘nothing else’ was announced. Nothing else to justify a solid upswing in price, especially in a bad economy. It’ll be a slow climb, but at least it will go up in my opinion.
PS – I have to thank Apple for putting the price tag @ $199 on the 8GB model. Now that will put pressure on RIM and VZW to put the new releases in line with the iPhone. The only part I don’t like is how it may affect my stock position in RIM, if it does happen. 🙁
Apple came strong with that $200 price point. I was expecting the iPhone 3G to be at least $299.99.
Now it’s RIM’s move. I think that they need to officially announce the BlackBerry Thunder before the iPhone 3G ships. They also need to resist the temptation to lock everything on it down.
“I believe that the spill over effect may be even more pronounced this year because Research in Motion is putting out new devices that are even more consumer friendly than before.”
Do you still believe that, Robb?
MacVicta,
Not nearly as much. I never imagined that the iPhone 3G would have been this cheap.
http://www.rimarkable.com/iphone-3g-only-199-wasnt-expecting-that
The more I think about it, the more I realize what a hit this new iPhone will be. The key is the price as well as the expansion into all those foreign markets.
The sales of this device should easily be multiples of the first generation model. I imagine there will be lines on the first day this is released at the Apple stores.
I really do believe at this price that for many consumers there thinking will be “why go with any other phone?”
The new BB Thunder will still do well, but now it won’t be able to poach as many customers from ATT due to the superior VZW service. Now I think the Thunder will primarily appeal to those who are going to stick with VZW no matter what, and want the closest thing they can get to an iPhone. But for those who are not necessarily loyal to VZW, I think so many will just gravitate towards the iPhone.
As for the stock price movement, what I have more recently read is that the drop in share price is due to the fact that with the new pricing model ATT will no longer be paying Apple a residual on the service fees for those who buy the new phone. Thus this new price is a subsidized price, just like with all the other phones.
I have noticed some Blackberry TV ads recently–consumer focused. Are these new? Perhaps this is another sign that RIM is aiming more at the consumer market.
RIM’s strength in the corporate world is it’s enterprise administration (security policies, remote wipe, etc.). The only thing keeping me from an iPhone is that my company doesn’t support it.
I think they will both continue to do well and take away more market share from Windows Mobile.
But Apple will start to excel in the business sector with the addition of MS Exchange
and the MobileME service for the consumer.
The problem with RIM is the OS SUCKS! With one simple firmware update, Apple
can make a ton of changes (no fixed keys) The mobile edition of OS X is only a year
old, but light years ahead of RIM.
Well it’s funny you wrote this the way you did… I bought a 3G and now own a blackberry… the 3G is mostly a toy and I needed something a bit more grown up… much happier with Blackberry.