I was just reading a BusinessWeek Online interview with Research in Motion CEO Jim Balsillie, where he was asked questions about the recent announcement of Nokia Business Center, Nokia’s business mobile email solution that will compete directly against the BlackBerry.
BusinessWeek’s Internet editor, Heather Green, spoke with Balsillie a couple of days ago and asked him several questions about Nokia Business Center. You can read the questions and the answers here from the interview but to make a long story short, Balsillie is happy with Researh in Motions partnership with Nokia and the announcement really donesn’t change anything.
I however, think that the RIM CEO’s answers were too polite, so I have decided to re-answer all the questions the way that I would have answered them. (These are not Jim Balsillie’s answers… Read them here)
How does Nokia’s new e-mail software affect the relationship with Nokia?
Oh, I am pretty ticked off right now. We finally get good momentum with BlackBerry Connect on the Nokia 9300 and 9500 and the first thing Nokia does is come out with their own mobile email solution.
What’s your take on what Nokia is trying to do with this strategy?
They want to see if they can take marketshare from us. They know that we have proven the business model and that we have the best solution out there so they want to enter in with a volume play because they sell 100 times more devices than we do each year. Since the 9300 and 9500 will support both BlackBerry Connect and Nokia Business Center, if their solution sucks, they still have BlackBerry to fall back on.
Doesn’t this also make Nokia a competitor?
Heck yeah, it makes them a competitor. And you can tell their CEO that I will be waiting for him out back.
Wouldn’t it be cool if business executives answered questions this way. It woudn’t be to good for the long term financial health of their companies but it would make for some interesting interviews.