The Competition: BlackBerry Strikes Back-ish at DevCon 2009
Hot on the heels of Verizon pretty much burying the Storm2 in favor of their latest lust, the Droid, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion used their annual developer conference to announce a few improvements for the platform. No, not word one about a next generation BlackBerry OS (hey, Palm spent their time in the desert to get to webOS, and Microsoft is still trudging towards Windows Mobile 7, so RIM needs to pick up that canteen and get to stepping!).
Still, Kevin and the CrackBerry crew have been tearing up the coverage, so check out their DevCon 2009 liveblog, and here are a couple more handy links to help you keep track of all the pushy news:
- Open GL ES Support, Java GUI Builder and Theme Studio to Help BB Developers Generate Dynamic User Experiences
- BlackBerry Application Platform Enhancements to Foster Rich Content Development
- RIM Unveils New Services Platform for BlackBerry Developers
- RIM and Adobe to Simplify Delivery Of Rich Content and Applications for BlackBerry Smartphones
- RIM Announces BlackBerry Academic Program
So, what do you think, in the face of iPhone 3.x, Android 2.0, and webOS 1.x, is RIM doing enough to keep the BlackBerry competitive?
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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Call of duty mw2!!!! First!
blackberries are a piece of junk! Only good for email and BBM. Everything else sucks.
RIM really needs to develop a new mobile OS that will take them forward. Most other "real" smartphones out pace BB in just about evey way. Their notification system which is killer but can't sustain a platform. If it wasn't for the fact that BB is so deeply rooted into the corporate world it would have died ages ago. Even it's high security can't keep corporations justifying it when most don't need it. If RIM isn't carefully they'll be relegated to high level corporate and government use only being left out if the consumer space.
I think all of these announcements along with blackberry OS 5.0 is just what RIM needs to become a big competitor again. The fact that they added OpenGL support and other improvements to the Dev Environment, shows they really want to be a consumer-friendly phone.
I heard all this before. BB OS 5.0 was suppose to be a big step forward, but as we've seen it's a whole lot of mediocre improvements. Browser still sucks, apps still look like they were written for DOS and the hardware has been plagued with substandard construction.
Without an OS refresh (complete) BB will be far behind the competition.
RON JEREMY SAYS THE ONLY THING GOOD ABOUT THE STORM 2 IS THE NETWORK THAT IT'S ON.
Network == location dependent. There's nothing good about 0 signal for VZW where I used to live.
RIM doesn't NEED a time in the desert. They don't NEED an all new OS. The only people saying that are the fanboys of other platforms. They will continue to improve what they have.
Most of the people that ignorant people that spew nonsense have no clue what's really going on with RIM. They don't see something completely revamped and just assume it's garbage. The stuff that is going on with OS 5.0 is not all on the surface yet. 5.0 lays the groundwork for bigger and better things.
RIM is not stupid. They didn't get where they are by making dumb decisions. 2010 is going to be a big year for them. Better dev tools, webkit browser, OpenGL, widgets, better notifications, themes in appworld, etc etc. That's exactly what it will take to keep us Berry users happy and possibly bring more onboard.
Correction: (Most of the ignorant people that spew nonsense.........) whoops.
RIM doesnt need to go anywhere, we see where RIM is going. If anything its Apple who should be concerned, everyone is catching up (and surpassing them) the only thing they can tout is, "Sync music with iTunes and download over 100,000 appppzzzz!!!"
The OS integrates features quite nicely with the phone (facebook for blackberry destroys all other bar none). Plus they are adding features that users WANT, i wouldnt sacrifice my perfect communications device for safari and itunes and a few apps (most of which the important ones exist on nearly every other device)
They are adding things the community has been wanting, and with the extreme surge in consumer users over enterprise, this is the news they want to hear, just some of the things their adding, Flash? Check. Customizable? Check. OpenGL? Check. Webkit browser? Check. Easier Development? Check. Better Apps? Check (remember this is up to devs, but they are giving tools to make this much easier)
Rene your not mad because now BB users will be able to play iphone caliber games soon are you? Soon the only reason to own an iphone is "iz simpl and iz APPL!" if they dont add more to their own platform. Maybe Apple should focus on improving their products instead of trying to constantly break jailbreaking and killing Atom support?
I will say most of this stuff should have been back at the Bold/Storm release last November
BeeRad, this is an iPhone blog, not a Blackberry blog. The Storm was a massive failure. iPhone and Android will rule the world. RIM and everyone else will have to fight over the crumbs.
DDX and BeeRad,
All we hear is "BB will have it.. SOON! They are adding things... soon! iphone quality games.. SOON! BB will catch up... SOON!"
"catch up" are the keywords here. RIM was sitting on their laurels for years until the iPhone upped the ante in regards to what a smartphone can be.
As far as I'm concerned these new features you are waiting for are a direct result of the iPhone innovations.
Plus, you have to think about the time it takes for devs to create these quality games and apps where iPhone devs have already had 2+ years experience and head start.
I mean, RIM working on these issues is a great thing. Droid upping the ante further is a great thing. Competition is great as it brings new technologies to the consumer. So RIM, BRING IT!
All these phone manufactures have had a long time to kill the iPhone. And still have not. I think it’s time they take a new approach. Instead of focusing on being the next failed “iPhone killer”. IMO we will not see a iPhone killer till next summer when Mr Job’s pulls it out of his pocket.
Virtuous- crap! This is the iPhone blog? I didn't know that, sorry. (Insert sarcasm here). Telling me that the Storm was a failure means what? Everybody knows that it wasn't what it was supposed to be and RIM has addressed that. The rest of your post just reeks of fanboy soaked ignorance towards other platforms. Get educated.
Pfunk- I understand what you're saying here about RIM just now making a move to "catch up" but let's reel it in just a little bit and keep it in perspective here. You guys just THIS YEAR got basic smartphone functions (might you need reminded) CC&P, video recording, MMS, etc. Rene has even stated that when creating a phone/platform sometimes you have to give up certain aspects of the phone to put out the features that you WANT to have at launch. I'm sorry man but it was unacceptable to me to NOT have the core functions in place. I need a fantastic communication device first, and perks/fun second. Things like webkit, OpenGL, widgets, and allowing devs access to the push pipeline is going to be huge for RIM and solidify there place in market and mind share. It might even grow. Who know?
Bottom line is that this is good for everybody. I'm getting a little tired of the Apple fanboys thinking that Apple is the only name in the game and that everybody else should just disappear. What a horrible experience that would be for everybody. Competition is good.
Macboy15- Why would anybody want to kill the iPhone? Again, thats crazy talk. We need competition, not domination. Nobody (other than maybe recently Verizon/Google/Motorola) has even come close to making a claim of being the iPhone killer. The media and blogs do that.
(Feel free to mock my typos above, I hate replying to stuff on my breaks! Haha)