Is RIM Blackberry the New Novell?

In 2010 – Blackberry is to Apple as Novell was to Microsoft circa 1994. As hard as it may be to remember back that far,  Microsoft was once an upstart that was derided for not being substantial enough to effectively serve business server and networking needs – suitable only for stand-alone PCs.  Novell was seen as the proper choice for enterprises looking to network resources together. Blackberry is in the same position today with regards to email-enabled smartphones and making many of the same mistakes that Novell made.

Research in Motion, RIM, is making the classic market leader mistake of mistaking the passion its customers have for the function of their RIM Blackberry devices – the ability to reliably get email – for actual passion about the devices themselves. Blackberry has the mindshare of the enterprise IT crowd, but Apple has the mindshare of the consumer, including those consumers in corner offices.

Blackberry may be the dominant smartphone platform for business right now, but give most consumers a choice today and they’ll pick an iPhone. Once the iPhone escapes AT&T’s smothering grasp and is allowed to work on other domestic wireless carriers you’ll see the iPhone sales growth rates explode. This isn’t because the iPhone is such a great phone, although it’s a darn fine phone, but rather it’s because of the applications that enable customers to turn a device that they already carry in their pocket into their own personal tool chest – always at the ready to solve all of their needs and issues. No matter what those needs may be or where the users are when they need to solve them. 

There is an order of magnitude difference in choice and selection between  Blackberry’s App World and Apple’s App Store. Blackberry’s App world offerings are minuscule in comparison with Apple’s larger App Store. Critics dismiss many of the iPhone Apps because so many of them are games - but what they don’t often mention are apps like Epocrates or MedCalc – essential applications for medical professionals.  The ready availability of these Apps on the Apple platform is astounding because less than 3 years ago Palm was the preferred PDA/Smartphone device of choice for medical professionals. And in less than 3 years the iPhone, and it’s cheaper to operate cousin, the iPod Touch, have overtaken Palm by a longshot with many medical schools across the country now requiring an iPod Touch or an iPhone for 1st-year medical students.

Critics also wrongly dismiss many of the most popular App Store apps because they are free -  without seemingly to realize that those free Apps function very effectively as a developer-subsidized loss-leader with almost zero incremental cost for Apple. In addition those free Apps further cement user loyalty to the iPhone platform. For example I use over 7 different free programs as part of my Mandarin Chinese studies on my iPod Touch – none of which are available  for the Blackberry.  

Yes, RIM’s Blackberry devices do one thing and they do it very well – but those devices aren’t that much better than competing devices.   As the ranks of competitor smartphone products gets ever more crowded, most recently with the Google Nexus One, this is a recipe for  increasing irrelevance in the marketplace. We’ve seen it before  – look at Palm and the sales numbers for their Pre and Pixi phones.

Blackberry, unlike Apple, is essentially a single product company. Sure they have multiple devices, but they all are focused on doing the same thing. More or less functioning as a decent phone and being an almost bullet-proof mail delivery device. Apple’s strength is that is has multiple products above and beyond smartphones – and Apple has something Blackberry hasn’t had for quite some time – Apple is cool and Blackberries are well, the epitome of not-cool.

Read more at: http://www.thommitchell.com/2010/01/18/is-blackberry-the-new-novell/