RIM thought Apple was lying about the iPhone

[Pliablemoose]

An interesting bit from inside the 2G 3rd world distortion field of RIM...

RIM thought iPhone was impossible in 2007

updated 11:15 am EST, Mon December 27, 2010

RIM thought Apple was lying on iPhone in 2007




RIM had a complete internal panic when Apple unveiled the iPhone in 2007, a former employee revealed this weekend. The BlackBerry maker is now known to have held multiple all-hands meetings on January 10 that year, a day after the iPhone was on stage, and to have made outlandish claims about its features. Apple was effectively accused of lying as it was supposedly impossible that a device could have such a large touchscreen but still get a usable lifespan away from a power outlet.
The iPhone "couldn't do what [Apple was] demonstrating without an insanely power hungry processor, it must have terrible battery life," Shacknews poster Kentor heard from his former colleagues of the time. "Imagine their surprise [at RIM] when they disassembled an iPhone for the first time and found that the phone was battery with a tiny logic board strapped to it."

Friends who were Microsoft employees at the time were also said to have had a similar reaction.

He further added that RIM, as well as Motorola, Nokia, Palm and other early pioneers, lost ground partly because of a self-defeating attitude. RIM in particular assumed from the start that smartphones would be outgrowths of its pagers and that there would never be enough battery life or wireless technology for more functions. It started growing beyond this view before the iPhone shipped, but the OS foundation until recently was based on the early assumption.

The remarks confirm a widely held belief that BlackBerry Storm development started only after the iPhone was made public rather than having been in development at all before. RIM didn't have its first touchscreen phone until the Storm shipped in late 2008, almost two years after the iPhone's unveiling, and didn't have multi-touch support or a fully accurate web browser until the Torch arrived just this past summer. Apple is now gradually overtaking RIM in market share and is being quickly joined by Android, which now makes up the majority of Verizon sales just a year after the BlackBerry was the carrier's top earner.

RIM may be poised for a comeback as it has promised an aggressive 2011 roadmap, but virtually all of what it will do outside of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is a mystery.





Read more: http://www.electronista.com/article...le.was.lying.on.iphone.in.2007/#ixzz19qBLCUoI​

I get ripped on for trashing RIM, honestly, I could care less about what they make, it's the corporate culture that prevents them from developing something that's a compelling product.

It's 4 years later and they're still not competitive with the iPhone and have a vaporware tablet they're trying to freeze the market with. (I define vaporware as something that hasn't made it to the market, and most others do as well-before the shouts of "the Playbook isn't vaporware" start...)

 

[thescreensavers]

This is not news to me.

The storm was rushed and put into production which everone who owned a storm can see. RIM was running scared

 

[gsaldivar]

Hubris comes before the fall.

Either that or it's a conspiracy!!

 

[Pliablemoose]

Hubris comes before the fall.

Either that or it's a conspiracy!!

$75 Android phones will stall RIM's growth in developing countries...

http://gizmodo.com/5722598/somebody-tell-me-what-all-these-people-are-in-line-for

 

[MrX8503]

Honestly this is why the iPhone is laying down the smackdown. When apple released their phone in 2007, Microsoft and RIM said "oh shit!". The fact is that both RIM and MS were sitting on their asses and didn't start development until 2007, which is why we have been waiting so long.

Then after the iPad was released it was "oh shit!" #2. Now we are left waiting again

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Honestly this is why the iPhone is laying down the smackdown. When apple released their phone in 2007, Microsoft and RIM said "oh shit!". The fact is that both RIM and MS were sitting on their asses and didn't start development until 2007, which is why we have been waiting so long.

Then after the iPad was released it was "oh shit!" #2. Now we are left waiting again

And that's why people blame Apple.

 

[cbn]

Honestly this is why the iPhone is laying down the smackdown. When apple released their phone in 2007, Microsoft and RIM said "oh shit!". The fact is that both RIM and MS were sitting on their asses and didn't start development until 2007, which is why we have been waiting so long.

Then after the iPad was released it was "oh shit!" #2. Now we are left waiting again

What will "Oh s***" #3 be?

 

[thescreensavers]

Then after the iPad was released it was "oh shit!" #2. Now we are left waiting again

I dont think so, Tablets aren't really new, they never really took off. Same thing with front facing cameras, But since "Apple" came out with it its amazing. The iPad is an evolved tablet PC, I am giving apple props for actually developing something like it. Where as the other manufactures probably said it would never sell.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

i takes 20 times as long to render a webpage on a blackberry as it does on iphone and thats if it doesnt lose the connection, which it usually does. its unbelievable to me that they are still a viable business.

 

[HeXen]

I dont think so, Tablets aren't really new, they never really took off. Same thing with front facing cameras, But since "Apple" came out with it its amazing. The iPad is an evolved tablet PC, I am giving apple props for actually developing something like it. Where as the other manufactures probably said it would never sell.

exactly. i mean you have to make the product that people want, not just slap new technology together. I have an actual tablet pc, the touchsmart...but it fails cause its heavy, its ugly and quite uncomfortable to actually swivel the screen around and use it like that for anything....i can't even sit with it and read a book in tablet mode, cause its too heavy and uncomfortable.
See thats why Netbooks got popular so fast, their light and small enough to tote around most anywhere. power isnt a big concern for most cause what the mass wants is connections to internet, from facebook to watching movies, not playing Crysis or photo editing. the Ipad makes that even more physically manageable.

Apple fixed fixed many problems of "tablets" and portables in general, of course its based off the ipod touch which is based off the iphone but whatever, it works.
other companies are just mad cause their too big to make the connection.
and MS is only in touch with their marketing dept and brute force tactics, not the actual consumers.

 

[Pliablemoose]

What will "Oh s***" #3 be?

I've been thinking for a while about just this...

I don't think Apple has another sector making device up it's sleeve, I think the tablet is Jobs swan song.

They'll refine & redefine what they have, but I really don't see any ground breaking stuff on the horizon. If there were, Apple would have done a controlled leak about it by now.

I can see a tablet/laptop hybrid soon, but that's about it.

Unless they make something like an Apple watch, which would be cool...

 

[MrX8503]

Not sure what will be their #3 hit wonder, but as it stands now the iPhone and iPad has created waves that has sent others scrambling. There has always been smartphones and tablets, but apple did it right.

The next few years is going to be an all out smartphone/tablet war, but not before apple nabs a big chunk from having an early lead.

 

[gorcorps]

I've been thinking for a while about just this...

I don't think Apple has another sector making device up it's sleeve, I think the tablet is Jobs swan song.

They'll refine & redefine what they have, but I really don't see any ground breaking stuff on the horizon. If there were, Apple would have done a controlled leak about it by now.

I can see a tablet/laptop hybrid soon, but that's about it.

Unless they make something like an Apple watch, which would be cool...

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/18/tiktok-and-lunatik-ipod-nano-watch-kits-look-awesome-despite-ke/

They already did... inadvertently

Anyway, I can see them taking what they've done with the ipad and trying to integrate that into a real computer. Of course this doesn't take a new division or anything, but it'd be "new" enough. Something like a netbook sized macbook air with a swivel touchscreen. It won't be terribly powerful, but it'll be enough to run OSX and whatever real programs you'd need.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

I think Apple was hoping the Apple TV would be their "Oh s***" #3. It still has the opportunity but it needs to do it quickly.

 

[MrX8503]

I think Apple was hoping the Apple TV would be their "Oh s***" #3. It still has the opportunity but it needs to do it quickly.

I would say that the Apple TV is one of their biggest failures. It needs 1080p and HDD support. That coupled with apps that integrate the iPhone, it could have easily taken over the media streamer market.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

I would say that the Apple TV is one of their biggest failures. It needs 1080p and HDD support. That coupled with apps that integrate the iPhone, it could have easily taken over the media streamer market.

I think apps alone would have done that. I don't think 1080p/HDD support is as important as the apps.

 

[cbn]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/18/tiktok-and-lunatik-ipod-nano-watch-kits-look-awesome-despite-ke/

They already did... inadvertently

Anyway, I can see them taking what they've done with the ipad and trying to integrate that into a real computer. Of course this doesn't take a new division or anything, but it'd be "new" enough. Something like a netbook sized macbook air with a swivel touchscreen. It won't be terribly powerful, but it'll be enough to run OSX and whatever real programs you'd need.

Yep, that could happen. Look at what Apple is doing with the Mac App store (opening Jan 6th)? (Icons on the screen like iOS).

 

[EightySix Four]

Yep, that could happen. Look at what Apple is doing with the Mac App store (opening Jan 6th)? (Icons on the screen like iOS).

The slow merger of these two OS's and the devices that run them is their #3, it's just not something you announce on stage, it's something that happens over time and sometime in the future you look back and say "oh shit, how did that happen."

 

[Deeko]

This was news - almost half a decade ago. The entire existing industry, from RIM to Microsoft to Nokia, had negative responses to the iPhone - from it can't work, to it will suck, to Steve Balmer cracking up in an interview saying no one will buy it.

Seriously - this is ancient history, but I guess since you are an unabashed RIM-hating troll, you feel its worth a new thread.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

This was news - almost half a decade ago. The entire existing industry, from RIM to Microsoft to Nokia, had negative responses to the iPhone - from it can't work, to it will suck, to Steve Balmer cracking up in an interview saying no one will buy it.

Seriously - this is ancient history, but I guess since you are an unabashed RIM-hating troll, you feel its worth a new thread.

It's more of the news that they were in shock and denial.

 

[Deeko]

It's more of the news that they were in shock and denial.

Hindsight is 20/20. The iPhone was drastically different than anything out there at the time - can you blame them for having reactions like that? There are still people on these very forums that claimed the Playbook was fake - and the Playbook isn't exactly a dramatic shift in mobile computing. Now its easy to scoff at the way RIM and Microsoft reacted to the iPhone - but it was a lot more reasonable back then.

 

[OS]

i don't see how any of these companies could have been caught flatfooted from a technology perspective.
i don't think the iphone is all that different technology/construction wise from some early win CE machines.
The compaq ipaq was also built as a touch screen and circuit board strapped to a large battery.
Quite frankly i'm surprised it took another 5 years or whatever for someone to figure out you can add a radio into such a form factor.
I guess that's what happens when managers get too set in their ways though.

 

[Deeko]

i don't see how any of these companies could have been caught flatfooted from a technology perspective.
i don't think the iphone is all that different technology/construction wise from some early win CE machines.
The compaq ipaq was also built as a touch screen and circuit board strapped to a large battery.
Quite frankly i'm surprised it took another 5 years or whatever for someone to figure out you can add a radio into such a form factor.
I guess that's what happens when managers get too set in their ways though.

It wasn't that. There were touch screen Palm and Windows Mobile phones before the iPhone. It was the fundamentals of the user interface that changed. Previous touch screen phones were resistive screens that were based around the idea of a stylus - the iPhone ushered in the finger-centric capacitive UI that was designed for the regular consumer, not the business user.

Windows Mobile/CE was designed to look/feel like Windows in a small form factor, whereas the iPhone was designed from the ground up for that form factor.

 

[OS]

that's mostly just software, and stylus screens work as makeshift touch screens when you use your fingernail.

the article revolved around how the iphone supposedly had an innovative "battery with a logic board" compact design and how a powerful cpu with a large screen would have resulted in an unusable device.
Clearly the people in charge of the competitors have never opened up, probably never looked at, similar devices and nor did they have an ounce of imagination.

 

[zerocool84]

I think apps alone would have done that. I don't think 1080p/HDD support is as important as the apps.

Apple TV just didn't bring anything new or special to that part of the market. It was just another streaming device that does less than others. All it has is being extremely tiny. We all know they are going to bring apps to it soon but it won't save it enough.