For all of you BlackBerry users that were worried RIM was going to close up shop because they couldn’t possibly compete once the iPhone SDK becomes available, don’t fret. Apple has decided to allow BlackBerrys to be sold at least through the rest of the year by locking down their SDK tighter than Verizon could ever lock down a mobile device.
That is an awful lot of sarcasm, I know, but I couldn’t resist. Two days ago we found out that the iPhone SDK was going to add some pretty cool features and functionality to the iPhone and many people were already claiming that Apple had somehow won the war for smartphone supremacy in the enterprise. Today we find out that the iPhone SDK has some pretty serious limitations, namely no background processes for third party apps, that will give the iPhone less teeth in the enterprise than many other BlackBerry killers that never panned out.
I’ve said it before and I’ll it again. The iPhone very well may end up on top by the time it is all said and done. That day, however, certainly isn’t today, won’t be tomorrow, and probably won’t be anytime in the near, foreseeable future.
I am sure that everyone is going to be talking about the iPhone SDK for some time to come and and certainly the doom and gloomers that think that the BlackBerry is about to go the way of the Palm Pilot. I know, for a fact, however, that many a BlackBerry user is just as hooked on their BlackBerry as much as iPod users or hooked on their iPods and they simply won’t switch because they love the things so much.
There is no way that RIMarkable could have survived for 4 years if the BlackBerry didn’t have an awfully strong following and I just don’t see tens of millions of BlackBerry users dumping there devices simply because you will be able to get email from Exchange pushed to the iPhone 4-6 months or so from now.
Initially this post was going to be a top 10 list why most BlackBerry users won’t be switching any time soon, however, I couldn’t narrow the list down. So many RIMarkable readers send me emails every day about why the BlackBerry is for them that even if I could narrow the list down, it just wouldn’t seem right to do so.
That being said, I’ve decided to pose the question to the BlackBerry faithful.
Why won’t you dump your BlackBerry for an iPhone?
I know that some BlackBerry users will switch. Some BlackBerry users already have. To quote from a Heath Ledger movie, however, many BlackBerry users feel that the iPhone has “been weighed, the iPhone been measured, and the iPhone has been found wanting.”
Apple answers the prayers of many an iPhone owner announcing that enterprise Microsoft Exchange “Push” technology is being added to the device via the iPhone SDK. That’s right fanboys and fangirls, you will soon be able to get your email, contacts, and calendar pushed directly from Exchange to your iPhone.
So, how does this news affect Research in Motion and the top position that the BlackBerry has in the enterprise today? Well, I don’t think it affects them any more than it did when Apple first released the iPhone back in June of last year. RIM had to have known that the next logical step for the iPhone was for it be able to get email directly from Exchange, and, quite honestly, I am kind of surprised that it didn’t day one when the thing shipped.
Surely some would be BlackBerry owners will opt instead for iPhones if they can get their “work” email on them. Let’s not, however, adorn the iPhone the next “BlackBerry Killer” just yet. At least wait until you can get an iPhone without a camera, with a physical keyboard, and on a network other than AT&T.
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