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You are here: Home / BlackBerry / Which Happens First? BlackBerry OS Gets Overhauled, Or, iPhone Gets A Keyboard?

Which Happens First? BlackBerry OS Gets Overhauled, Or, iPhone Gets A Keyboard?

December 30, 2009 by Robb Dunewood 24 Comments

I was just having a very interesting conversation with a couple of co-workers…  One is a long-time BlackBerry user.  The other just got a brand new iPhone 3G S for Christmas.  As iPhone 3G S user showed off their new gadget, long time BlackBerry user said, “That iPhone is pretty cool, but, I would never get one because it has no keyboard.”  iPhone user replied, “I really miss they keyboard on my Curve, but, the OS on here allows me to do so much more than I used to be able to do.”

This got me to thinking…  RIM has no choice but to overhaul the BlackBerry OS and some point.  Apple could sell keyboardless iPhones forever, but, they undoubtedly would exclude millions of potential customers that will never buy a phone without buttons, so, I think that we eventually will see an iPhone model with a keyboard.

The big question for me…  Which one will happen first?

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Filed Under: BlackBerry Tagged With: BlackBerry, iPhone

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Comments

  1. iphonerulz says

    December 30, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    Your question is pointless. Apple has proven that physical keyboards aren’t necessary and devices with them will soon go the way of rotary phones and lackberry devices. I’ll take a modern OS, 100,000 apps, and the ability to browse the web any time

    Reply
    • Lester says

      December 30, 2009 at 12:29 pm

      So, how do you touch type under the table on your iPhone via the keyboard you can’t actually touch?

      Reply
      • iphonerulz says

        December 30, 2009 at 12:35 pm

        If touch screens are so bad, why is RIM still trying to figure out how to copy Apple with the lackberry storm and the lackberry storm 2? There is no reason us to stoop down to 2003 standards and give up screen real estate for those so unsophisticated they can grasp the concept if a virtual keyboard or make the iPhone less reliable by adding a slide out keyboard

        Reply
    • The Shadow says

      January 3, 2010 at 12:13 am

      Your response is pointless (and clueless).

      A modern OS that can’t multitask – those concepts are mutually exclusive.

      Keyboards are still necessary on serious devices used for real work, just not on toys like the iPhone.

      100,000 apps is your idea of superiority when 99,999 of them are fart apps?

      And the iPhone does not have the ability to browse the web – not as long as you’re on AT&T. Heck, half the time it can’t even hold a simple voice call.

      You’re getting what you deserve fanboi (yes all, I know he’s a troll, but I couldn’t resist).

      Reply
  2. kyle cooper says

    December 30, 2009 at 12:23 pm

    I would love to have a slide out keyboard on my iPhone just as long as it is sturdy and doesn’t add much bulk. I love my 3G but I miss my Treo every time I have to pound out a long email or are sending texts back and forth.

    Reply
  3. Kells says

    December 30, 2009 at 12:44 pm

    Good question. I really haven’t heard much about an iPhone with a keyboard, so, I hope that for RIM’s sake, they overhaul the OS first.

    Reply
  4. David says

    December 30, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    With a name like iphonerulez and using names like lackberry just goes to show what tits most iphone users are.

    Reply
    • Lester says

      December 30, 2009 at 12:53 pm

      Did you notice that he has such a hard on for Apple that he includes himself when referring to them using words like “us” and “we”.

      “There is no reason us to stoop down to 2003 standards…

      Reply
      • Neil says

        December 31, 2009 at 7:01 am

        I completely agree with David, Some people take this battle to a personal level (Though apple wouldn’t even know if they existed ), if you look at the official stats RIM is still winning and apple is not eating their pie, it’s eating other vendor’s pie which are not as competitive as rim or apple. But I would like to have a stats on the users of Iphone , how much time they spend on Iphone, what they do, surprising thing is that Gen X is spending more time on these gadgets then actual real stuff 🙂

        Reply
  5. bluehorseshoe says

    December 30, 2009 at 2:35 pm

    If RIM was smart, they should seriously consider purchasing Palm, incorporate webOS into the BB framework and lock it down and secure it. Then, and only then, would they be a serious player in the iPhone market. As for the iPhone, I think it’s against the concept and design. I was once hesitant about typing on the iPhone, but I can actually type faster on it compared to my Bold 9700. Not faster than SureType on my Storm2 though…that I have down and almost perfected (I can’t wait until the Pearl2 comes out…small, touch pad, more memory, etc. If it had webOS, I’d be doing the jig!). webOS in my opinion is one of the best OS’s out there for phones. RIM would be smart in researching the prospect of purchasing Palm.

    Reply
  6. Infojock121 says

    December 30, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    If RIM isn’t careful with the BlackBerry, they will fall by the wayside the same way Motorola did with the Razor. What brought Motorola back to relevancy? A new and improved OS–Android. RIM not only has to worry about iPhone, Palm Pre, and Android, they should be worried about becoming too arrogant. Consumers are demanding more. Push e-mail and security are not big selling points like they once were. If they don’t put out a device that runs multiple apps and lets one talk and surf the web at the same time, RIM will be R.I.P.

    Reply
    • gquaglia says

      January 2, 2010 at 2:21 am

      Motorola did not invent Android, Google did. A better analogy is Palm. Palm was like RIM is today. They were on top, had a great device and was rolling in the dough. They thought their product was so great that they saw very little reason to make substantial upgrades to it. We saw year after year of small tweaks to the form factor (just like RIM) and very minor updates to its OS (again, just like RIM). Palm almost went out of business, RIM could face the same fate.

      Reply
  7. Wesley says

    December 30, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    @infojock: BB, not iPhone, can run multiple apps, and on AT&T can do talk & web at the same time.

    Blackberry interface is BETTER than iPhone. Keyboard shortcuts are the most obvious advantage, but overall you can do much more on BB vs iPhone.

    The only thing (and it is a big thing) that iPhone has over BB is the fact they have the plethora of apps that BB does not. But as far as interface, BB wins hands down. Could it look nicer, yes (though Bold/5.0 have given major aesthetic improvements), but it is certainly more usable.

    Reply
    • Neil says

      December 31, 2009 at 7:03 am

      I agree !

      Reply
    • gquaglia says

      January 2, 2010 at 2:23 am

      You can do more on the BB then you can with the iphone? Boy are you clueless. Try getting Exchange or imap folder support on the BB without BES or software at additional cost.

      Reply
  8. Wesley says

    December 30, 2009 at 7:01 pm

    They said that BB was overall very influential, but no singular device had a major impact, and i agree with that. For better or worse, their multitude of phone offerings both dilute the brand and give consumers a choice (of phones AND carriers).

    Reply
  9. Wesley says

    December 30, 2009 at 7:01 pm

    Whoops, wrong thread!

    Reply
  10. Infojock121 says

    December 30, 2009 at 7:24 pm

    Good Point Wesley! I would at least like to see BlackBerry dedicate more memory for apps to at least 2gb.

    Reply
  11. The Rock says

    December 31, 2009 at 1:51 pm

    Apple and the iPhone have more than proven a physical keyboard is not wanted nor needed on a state of the art communications device like the iPhone, those who have the iPhone understand this, those who don’t bitch about the iPhone not having _____ fill in the blank. RIM on the other hand desperately needs massive device hardware, software and server updates and upgrades to even make it through 2010 without falling further and further behind in the smartphone market.

    Reply
    • Votingmachine says

      January 3, 2010 at 8:30 am

      The original commentary is about a person who wishes his iPhone had a keyboard. I don’t think responding that no one wants a keyboard follows logic. It is quite possible that the iPhone has the optimal configuration, for the most people, in which case, Apple’s market research and product development teams will be justified in ignoring the people who wished for a physical keyboard … a perfectly valid business decision.

      Neither company makes a device that cannot be improved upon, and both will keep introducing better and better physical devices, and software systems. If there is a market need for an iPhone with a keyboard, other than just the one person in this commentary, then you can bet that Apple will develop a phone to sell to that market need. Likewise, the Blackberry OS is constantly being upgraded, or it would soon be unable to perform the new tasks required of smartphones.

      Reply
  12. Brian says

    January 1, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    The Rock. Look up the stats. RIM has not lost marketshare to Apple. I know, I know you don’t want the facts to get in the way of your narrative. The people who complain about the iPhone not having this or that is the very reason they are on a different phone. So I don’t know what you are trying to prove.

    Also the OS does not need an overhaul. I outlined things they needed to do (I posted this last year) to stay in the game. They are close on all of them.

    1) App memory (solve it)
    2) OpenGL
    3) Webkit browser
    4) ActiveSync BIS
    5) WYSIWYG UI Designer

    Number 1 they say they are aware of. They will have to fix it. Number 2 is getting there. I just played a demo of a OpenGL bowling app on my Storm2… Looking good. WebKit browser is coming in 2010. Number 5 is coming they showed a demo of it at their dev con…

    That leaves number 4. They got rid of BlackBerry Professional Server. They got rid of BlackBerry unite. I know people say they would never allow users a BIS ActiveSync option because it would cut into their BES server profits. People who say that don’t know that RIM makes very little in profits with their BES server. It’s all about the devices. That is where the money is.

    Without BIS ActiveSync, RIM will not be able to get far into the small business space. They have to concede that ActiveSync won that space. Now they still can use PUSH and say they have a hybrid that is better to save face. It would be the truth. A BIS ActiveSync option would be probably the sweetest email setup short of a full BES. But small business will not install BES anymore. Period. IT WILL NOT HAPPEN! They will tell business users to get another phone if they want something similar to BB Push email.

    So when people say they need to chuck the whole OS and start over they don’t know what they are talking about.

    The OS needs small tweaks to get it to where consumers want it. The BlackBerry platform’s UI is one of the most simple and elegant on the planet. And yes that last sentence is probably one of the only things of opinion in my post. Contrast that with the rock…. Lol

    Reply
    • gquaglia says

      January 2, 2010 at 2:26 am

      RIM will never give you Active Sync BIS. They make too much money selling you BES.

      Reply
  13. Brian says

    January 2, 2010 at 10:48 am

    Did you even read my comment? I said that is not the case. They actually make very little money on the server stuff.

    Reply
    • Robb Dunewood says

      January 3, 2010 at 11:13 am

      Although I agree that RIM doesn’t make the lions share of its revenue from services and software, 14% and 2% respectively according to Q3 2010 fiscal results, I cannot see them moving to Active Sync over BES.

      I’d dare say that it would be difficult to find many Fortune 2000 companies that have, at one point standardized on BES, but, have since moved away for Active Sync. I’m not saying that this has never happened, however, it is definitely not a trend that RIM is worried about.

      Additionally, RIM can certainly attribute a (substantial) percentage of net new BlackBerry sales to users who get BlackBerry devices because their company is on BES. This directly affects the 82% revenue number on new device sales.

      Reply

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