Even as a BlackBerry fanboy, I have little hope for the future

[DivideBYZero]

Yesterdays announcement of iMessage was in my opinion the last nail in the coffin, that may take two years to fully seat in the shallow grave of technology products, of a product that was once hailed as the leader and innovator in the smartphone space. Hell, it was RIM that conviced the analysts to use the term Smartphone to refer to the category for the purpose of reporting numbers. It's sad, as I have genuinely found these devices to be both powerful and fun to use in their own way.

However, there are some epic delays on the new devices, and these may be to much for new users to bear or wait for. I don't expect an epic Palm-like descent into obscurity, I fully expect them to keep a niche in the Coporate arena, but that they will end up chugging the same 20m or so device per qtr while others shoot up to astronomical numbers leaving them behind.

Pre post EDIT:
I wrote a large piece here revealing some insider stuff, but deleted it, as my Wife lives and breathes in this industry and it wouldn't be fair to blow the whistle, as someone would end up attributing it back to her, even if she wasn't the source.

Now I'm sure there are many in this sub forum who cannot wait to bathe in the schadenfreude, and you can have at it. From my perspective the PlayBook may well be the last RIM device I own after I replace my 9520. It's the only exciting product, but the handsets that spawn from it's development are too far out for me to consider waiting for.

All I ask is that you keep it adult and try to lay off the personal attacks.

 

[foghorn67]

Looks like I missed some juicy insider info. Damn.
Blackberry/RIM had the most innovative products for years. It would be interesting to see a documentary-like perspective on what changed. Or at least a sleuthing reporter putting together an analysis. After hearing a bunch of fanbois and bloggers write stupid crap, I am giving up hope.
Anyway on iMessage, I fail to see how that would be bad in a huge way for RIM. If RIM could put out their multi-platform version of their BBM, it would make this a wash.
But I mean, they need to do this NOW. Not this fall, not next year...NOW.
Last year would have been awesome. There were still tons of consumers on BlackBerrys, but as the months go on, the fewer the consumers will use BB devices and thus, BBM. I used to know whole families with BB devices. BBM was their go to way of communicating. Since then, contracts were up, and one by one or by droves, they went to Apple and Android.
The way RIM is running things, BBM will be irrelevant in the consumer market.
When the multi-platform model arrives with it's apps (or api's)...most will shrug their shoulders and say "who cares."

The next big thing is a third party start up backed by investors to release a muti-platform and lightweight app. That way Apple, Google and MS would be forced to integrate it into their OS, much like other social network standards.
It almost happened with Beluga. But FB bought them out, most likely to fix FB crappy chat.

 

[Anubis]

TBH i simply don't understand why people think imessage is so great. or BBM for that matter, id feel the same way if their was one on for android as well. i simply dont get it

 

[Pliablemoose]

From what I'm reading, iMessage is pissing off the carriers, they weren't aware that Apple was going to kill one of their cash cows.

Honestly, between iMessage and Google Voice, SMS is pretty well dead. I've been using Google Voice exclusively on Verizon for a couple of months, it's not bad, and saves me a few $ every month.

What kills companies that don't keep up with technology is those damn 2 year contracts in the US, if you're a BB fan, getting locked into a 2 year contract with old tech is pretty lame.

BB's fatal error IMHO was focusing on the PlayBook and allowing the OS/technology of their handsets to become dated. Were they under my control, I would have put QNX on a handset first, then grown a tablet out of that platform, preserving my core business, or they had/have the cash to develop both side by side.

 

[DivideBYZero]

The tablet device has been on the table for over three years, in one form or another*, it was coming out regardless of handsets. It just happens to come at a time when the J2ME OS was at EoL.


*It morphed from an Accessory or desk companion to eReader, then tablet we see today.

 

[ponyo]

I haven't had the time to watch the presentation but what's so special about iMessaging? So it's free text message to phone number like Google Voice? If so that's great. It's absurd how much carriers charge for text messaging when it cost them nothing.

 

[DivideBYZero]

I haven't had the time to watch the presentation but what's so special about iMessaging? So it's free text message to phone number like Google Voice? If so that's great. It's absurd how much carriers charge for text messaging when it cost them nothing.

Pretty much. I haven't used SMS very much for five years. I just use BBM.

 

[WelshBloke]

Don't imessage just work between iphones?

I have no idea what phones most of the people I am in contact with have. If I use sms or email at least I know that they will get the message.
I don't think imessage will cause RIM any extra problems, I think there's a bunch of other stuff they need to worry about first.

 

[Zen0]

All I ask is that you keep it adult and try to lay off the personal attacks.

You'sa a fool for being BB fanboi :sneaky:


Warning for mild personal attack
Given the quoted text, I would have to think this is sarcasm, but it's often been said that I have no sense of humor, and at least one other person didn't see the humor in it as well so I'm giving you a warning.

 

[Zen0]

Don't imessage just work between iphones?

I have no idea what phones most of the people I am in contact with have. If I use sms or email at least I know that they will get the message.
I don't think imessage will cause RIM any extra problems, I think there's a bunch of other stuff they need to worry about first.

iMessage allows more features between iDevices I believe, but it will still send SMS to other phones.

 

[alent1234]

TBH i simply don't understand why people think imessage is so great. or BBM for that matter, id feel the same way if their was one on for android as well. i simply dont get it

no texting plan required

 

[WelshBloke]

no texting plan required

Don't need one for email either.

 

[alent1234]

I haven't had the time to watch the presentation but what's so special about iMessaging? So it's free text message to phone number like Google Voice? If so that's great. It's absurd how much carriers charge for text messaging when it cost them nothing.

it will work on ipods and ipads. schools have wifi these days. some schools don't allow cell phones. kids will sell their parents into slavery for ipods now to text each other at school

 

[alent1234]

Don't need one for email either.

i'm at the store and send my wife an email asking something. there is no alert on her phone that a new email came in. i text her and a blue box pops up with the message.

 

[alent1234]

Yesterdays announcement of iMessage was in my opinion the last nail in the coffin, that may take two years to fully seat in the shallow grave of technology products, of a product that was once hailed as the leader and innovator in the smartphone space. Hell, it was RIM that conviced the analysts to use the term Smartphone to refer to the category for the purpose of reporting numbers. It's sad, as I have genuinely found these devices to be both powerful and fun to use in their own way.

However, there are some epic delays on the new devices, and these may be to much for new users to bear or wait for. I don't expect an epic Palm-like descent into obscurity, I fully expect them to keep a niche in the Coporate arena, but that they will end up chugging the same 20m or so device per qtr while others shoot up to astronomical numbers leaving them behind.

Pre post EDIT:
I wrote a large piece here revealing some insider stuff, but deleted it, as my Wife lives and breathes in this industry and it wouldn't be fair to blow the whistle, as someone would end up attributing it back to her, even if she wasn't the source.

Now I'm sure there are many in this sub forum who cannot wait to bathe in the schadenfreude, and you can have at it. From my perspective the PlayBook may well be the last RIM device I own after I replace my 9520. It's the only exciting product, but the handsets that spawn from it's development are too far out for me to consider waiting for.

All I ask is that you keep it adult and try to lay off the personal attacks.

i knew RIM was done for back when the Blackberry Tour came out and MS licensed activesync to google and apple.
BES was a big threat to MS and they won the war. now it's time to fight apple and google with windows 8

Verizon saw the writing on the wall and started developing big screen phones. it's 2011 and RIM's flagship phones are still 2.8" screens and 25% of smartphone sales today are 4" or larger. someone just needs to start beating the CEO's of RIM with a big stick until they get a grip on reality

no one cares about BIS or BES anymore
no one cares that the IT people can be power nazis in controlling your phone
people want big screens
people want games and graphics
people want full PDA functionality
people don't want their phone to be a paperweight underground

 

[lothar]

i'm at the store and send my wife an email asking something. there is no alert on her phone that a new email came in. i text her and a blue box pops up with the message.

iOS doesn't have that feature?
Sounds like your wife needs to migrate to Android.

 

[WelshBloke]

i'm at the store and send my wife an email asking something. there is no alert on her phone that a new email came in. i text her and a blue box pops up with the message.

I get an alert when I get an email.

Is she using a dumb phone?

 

[ponyo]

So carriers will simply compensate their lost messaging revenue by bumping the data plan to $40-45. So everyone is forced into messaging plan by default. I think I like the current plan and Google Voice.

Carriers still win by default.

 

[DivideBYZero]

i knew RIM was done for back when the Blackberry Tour came out and MS licensed activesync to google and apple.
BES was a big threat to MS and they won the war. now it's time to fight apple and google with windows 8

Verizon saw the writing on the wall and started developing big screen phones. it's 2011 and RIM's flagship phones are still 2.8" screens and 25% of smartphone sales today are 4" or larger. someone just needs to start beating the CEO's of RIM with a big stick until they get a grip on reality

no one cares about BIS or BES anymore - Not true
no one cares that the IT people can be power nazis in controlling your phone - Banks and Govt. do, hence the need for security apps on iOS and no Android use where security matters
people want big screens - True
people want games and graphics - True
people want full PDA functionality - BB has this in the extreme, iOS and Android are still catching up. iOS 5 just added flagging of email, for example...
people don't want their phone to be a paperweight underground - OK, I don't get this at all.

3.25" screen actually.

 

[smartpatrol]

So carriers will simply compensate their lost messaging revenue by bumping the data plan to $40-45. So everyone is forced into messaging plan by default. I think I like the current plan and Google Voice.

AT&T are the only carrier that still charges extra for SMS on top of your normal data plan AFAIK. Are there any others?

 

[Red Storm]

AT&T are the only carrier that still charges extra for SMS on top of your normal data plan AFAIK. Are there any others?

Verizon has a separate cost for text messaging.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

From what I'm reading, iMessage is pissing off the carriers, they weren't aware that Apple was going to kill one of their cash cows.

Honestly, between iMessage and Google Voice, SMS is pretty well dead. I've been using Google Voice exclusively on Verizon for a couple of months, it's not bad, and saves me a few $ every month.

What kills companies that don't keep up with technology is those damn 2 year contracts in the US, if you're a BB fan, getting locked into a 2 year contract with old tech is pretty lame.

BB's fatal error IMHO was focusing on the PlayBook and allowing the OS/technology of their handsets to become dated. Were they under my control, I would have put QNX on a handset first, then grown a tablet out of that platform, preserving my core business, or they had/have the cash to develop both side by side.

good. fuck telcos and their 20c per message BOTH WAYS, $20/mo. for unlimited texting.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Don't need one for email either.

IM is faster than email.
unlimited chars unlike SMS.
shows delivered/read status.

 

[ponyo]

Tmobile charges I think $10 or $15 for their unlimited texting. I don't know the exact price since I use Google Voice for my text and my wife uses Kakaotalk for her international texts. You have to shoot me first before I voluntary signup for separate paid texting plan.

 

[WelshBloke]

IM is faster than email.
unlimited chars unlike SMS.
shows delivered/read status.

Gmail works pretty quickly for me.

And if something is so important that it needs to be conveyed instantly and I need to know that they have received and understood the message I'll phone them.