October 31, 2008
Blackberry's new models have arrived. The three new phones available this fall will be the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 (already released), the BlackBerry Bold 9000 (available November 4th), and the Blackberry Storm -- the release date is yet to be announced.)
The Flip is the first flip blackberry and the Storm will be the first one with a touch screen.
David Pogue, who has tested the Flip and the Bold, offers rave reviews, calling them "very, very nice indeed." Both models feature "new software loaded with useful programs… The new software offers fully formatted e-mail — fonts, bold, italic and so on — and pictures embedded right in the message. Word, Excel and PowerPoint attachments open right up, ready for simple edits.
Unlike the iPhone, the Blackberrys have actual, illuminated keyboards. "A hundred ingenious shortcuts save you time. Hit Space twice to get a period, a space and a capped next word. Hit Space when you’re typing an e-mail address to get the @ symbol. Apostrophes appear in contractions automatically. And so on," writes Pogue.
He goes on to detail the phones' flaws, as well as lay out further benefits. To read his full review, click here.
Comments | 8 Total
October 31, 2008 at 11:08am by Rip Empson
'Tis the season for the smartphone wars. Couldn't come at a better time. We need some entertainment to distract us from our economic troubles. At this point, Blackberry still dominates the smartphone market, but RIM is hanging on by the skin of its teeth. Some like the iPhone, some like the G1, some will like the Storm. All three phones are popular and will make their manufacturers a lot of money. The question is...will Google prevail because of it's use of open-source technology? Can all three makers survive in the market? Will they specialize? It seems that these are important questions that need to be answered as the Smart Phone War heads into 2009...
October 31, 2008 at 2:41pm by James Wondrack
Apple has already passed RIM (6.9 Million units v 6.1 Million units) this past quarter. How can you call RIM dominant?
November 1, 2008 at 12:23am by Nathan Bogya
RIM will likely continue to dominate in the business market for many years, but developments (and their subsequent popularity) like Android and the iPhone have shown that there's a market simply not interested in the BlackBerry.
November 1, 2008 at 1:52am by Glenisha john
First a definition. Not everyone even agrees what constitutes a smartphone. For the purpose of this argument it is a device running a named mobile operating system including Symbian, Windows Mobile, Palm, Blackberry and the iPhone's OS X. Smartphones generally have full web browsers, fast processors, lots of memory and, except for the Blackberry, support installing native applications in addition to Java ones.
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Glenisha
Drug Rehabs
November 2, 2008 at 8:42pm by John Delaney
It doesn't matter that Apple's iPhone has already passed RIM this past quarter. The fact is the iPhone is a lousy business device. Aside from being stuck on AT&T's equally lousy network, the voice sound quality of the iPhone is terrible - after 6 months I went back to using my Blackberry 8800. RIM's push email service is far superior and the voice sound quality of the newer Blackberry units blow away the iPhone.
My company develops web content for delivery to smartphones and the Blackberry will continue to be in the forefront of our focus concerning business content.
I recently had the opportunity to test the Blackberry Storm and Bold - both are amazing products - and the Storm is most definitely has the potential to be an iPhone killer.
November 3, 2008 at 1:08pm by Michael Kim
One clear advantage to Blackberry over iPhone is Verizon--the most reliable network in US. However, as a very loyal Verizon customer, I am willing to crossover and try iPhone when my current contract with Verizon expires. If Verizon wants to keep me, first, Storm's price has to match iPhone's price. Second, Blackberry should invite all the Apple apps developers and provide their cool apps to Verizon users as well.
November 3, 2008 at 1:25pm by Brian Flores
I think RIM's "era of dominance" is already long over, and they must pursue the "prosumer" marketplace more aggressively. Microsoft continues to improve its Windows Mobile offering, which have the benefit of connecting to an Exchange Server directly rather than requiring a separate Blackberry Server. The new version of Exchange mimics much of the functionality edge that Blackberry users enjoyed, such as policy enforcement and the ability to remotely "wipe" the phone. Blackberry needs to find a new paradigm, and these sleeker, sexier, more media-friendly phones seem like a good start. Will it be enough?
November 6, 2008 at 10:04am by James Wondrack
@ John
Today, you're right that BlackBerry's are more prevalent with corporate customers, and have been for good reason. They are great devices for many reasons but, like the iPhone, not perfect.
Factually speaking, Apple iPhone sales have gone from zero to $2 Billion in a 15 months. And according to their reactions, that seems to matter to RIM, Samsung, Nokia, Microsoft et al since they're all to introducing products that emulate it in one way or another, and market it as an "iPhone killer." In the last year, Sprint launched Samsung's Instinct, RIM launched the 9000, Storm etc., Google launched Android, and Microsoft is working on their "Zune phone,"etc etc.
iPhones, love or hate them, aren't just hype and are fastest growing and number one device for web access:
All smartphone owners access the web: 58%
iPhone owners that access the web: 85%
source: M:Metrics, March 2008 (pre 3G version)