Will The Next BlackBerry Be “iPhonelike”?

Paul Levinson
#1. July 9th, 2007, at 11:55 AM.

There’s no doubt that the next Blackberry will be a lot like the iPhone - both are driven by the same evolution of media to more human, multi-dimensional function, which I’ve been writing about since 1979 … http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2007/06/iphone-arrives.html

scott
#2. July 9th, 2007, at 12:43 PM.

“…will give Apple some serious competition in the consumer space.”

no offense, but i think that’s a bit of wishful thinking.

sigmamason
#3. July 9th, 2007, at 1:35 PM.

Robb,

I agree, however, a few extra things have to happen in my humble opinion. You might know better than me if this is feasible…
1) lower the data prices across the board…obviously every carrier charges what they want, but if the consumer sees that a price decrease as mandated by RIM has happened, who knows, we might actually get the benefit from it…
2) improve function with form…this might be in the works already, making browser “prettier” is a start, but including edit, create access to MS Office will help, along with allowing for the storage on the media card for documents, spreadsheets, etc will go a long way with public perception…
3) more media functions (video record to media card), etc…
4) lower device prices…this might be a bad idea, but as I learned in my days at Unilever, throw every idea out there and see what sticks…
5) continue with the creation of media-consumer centric devices and separately creating business centric devices, price accordingly and continue to pull people in that way also. As we are all working more and some of us have side business (ebay, real estate, etc…) that require the monitoring of email…not all of us require a “business” device per se, having devices like the Pearl and Curve allows for the fun that you might not get with a 8700 or 8800…

Again, just throwing it out there…YMMV

Lui
#4. July 9th, 2007, at 1:58 PM.

@Scott,

It’s not wishful thinking at all. I know that it is hard for some to imagine life before June 29th, but RIM did quite well before the iPhone went on sale.

scott
#5. July 9th, 2007, at 2:17 PM.

rim will continue to do well because they don’t go after the same people. the people who want an iphone are mesmerized by the interface and how the multimedia features work together. slapping wifi on the 8800 and redesigning the browser won’t mean much to the target iphone market, imho. who raves about the multimedia capabilities of the pearl or curve? exactly.

sigmamason
#6. July 9th, 2007, at 4:24 PM.

Scott,

You are correct in that RIM will continue to do well no matter what, but as the iPhone evolves (and like most apple products, it will over time), I assume that at some point, they will take aim at the Business-Consumer market in hopes of luring casual BB users (those who came on-baord with the release of Pearl and Curve lines) over to using whatever version of the iphone that will aimed at that same market.
If RIM stays with it’s core competency: email device that also offers phone and some multimedia capabilities, then it surely will need to offer alternative (read: high email devices that offer phone and full multimedia capabilities) devices that keep users happy and attract new users to the brand.
This is not a pre-requisite for hard-core users of BBs, but for the casual user that jumps from device to device or is looking for BB capability (Calendar, Organizer, Phone, etc) without the monthly expense of the data service (looking to just use MediaNet or T-Zones or PowerVision or VNet (whatever Verizon calls its internet service) instead). That market niche is getting bigger as more people are somewhat spoiled by $20/month data or even lower if on TMobile…Viable potential customers of the BB experience that shouldn’t be overlooked…
Again, just throwing it out there…

sigmamason
#7. July 9th, 2007, at 4:26 PM.

Sorry for the spelling errors…typing faster than my brain can spell check…

Cocolicius
#8. July 9th, 2007, at 8:44 PM.

No. RIM will make devices with outstanding battery lives (both talk AND standby), has a great keyboard for writing emails, and gives a terrific platform for push email.

As far as being “iPhone-like”, maybe a cleaner navigation system. But I really don’t think you’ll see a touchscreen, super-duper media player, etc. That’s not what Blackberry is about. It’s about dependability and bulletproof email access…well, unless the servers go down.