Even though Research in Motion co-CEO and president Mike Lazaridis thinks that the iPhone’s touch screen sucks, RIM may be working on a new BlackBerry that will be just as hard to type on as it is on the iPhone.
The New York Times is reporting that two independent software developers writing software for next-gen BlackBerry devices say that a touch screen BlackBerry is in the works and that RIM engineers privately refer to it as the “Apple Killer”.
It seems to me that their have been so many “BlackBerry Killers” that didn’t hunt, RIM of all companies would be leery about referring to their own device as a killer… Especially an “Apple Killer” when we know the iPhone is a solid device.
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…im have to admit im tired of hearing about iphone killers. the iphone targets a specific kind of market segment. but until its price becomes more reasonable, its business solutions more robust and it finishes out its ill conceived 5-yr. agreement with att, i could care less what the iphone does (or doesnt do).
having said that, i think vzw has come out with a comparable device in the new xv6900. albeit, the iphone has the edge on the touch technology, i think the xv6900 is more in line with this technology than the lg voyager.
I wonder if the “Apple Killer” designation (if such a name is really being used at RIM) is just something internal, to jazz employees up and boost the amount of energy they devote to the project.
Haven’t we all been on the receiving end of an internal rollout where we felt that management was trying really hard to convince employees that this was the “next great thing”?
I have to say that all the talk about how the BB needs to compete, catch up, etc. with the iPhone is getting a bit long. They both carry a certain dominance in two different markets (at least when it comes down to publicity and media…ha).
The fact that the BB has carved out a niche in the corporate market with it’s email platform, keyboard, security, etc. has made ‘it’ the envy of the corporate market and a benchmark for those aspiring to shoot for. I would think that the iPhone is trying to gain on BB territory for the corporate market…attempting to be the ‘BB killer’. Not happening anytime soon. They haven’t been able to penetrate a large percentage of the corporate marketplace with their desktops and laptops (which they’ve been trying for decades), and I don’t believe they will be able to capture much of the corporate space with the iPhone either.
On the other hand, with BB coming up with the potential for a touch screen, I can’t believe that they realistically believe that their device will be an ‘iPhone killer’. May take some market share away, but it’s neither an area of expertise for them, nor their business model.
Just my humble opinion… 🙂
This seems like a weird choice to choice for BB to me. The iPhone is a very nice play toy, but just does not have it when it comes to business use. I would love a touch screen device, but it has to have a keyboard that really works. The iPhone keyboard is terrible. I look at it this way. If RIM can make a usable product (meaning significanly better than an iPhone toy clone) than go for it. However, if you only make a product that is just as good as far as touch screen ability and is better as far as enterprise/business use then don’t bother. The most unworkable part of the iPhone is the weakness of the touch technology.