Over the weekend a former RIM employee stated that when Apple unveiled the first iphone at Macworld 2007, RIM had several emergency meetings which culminated with the BlackBerry maker deciding Apple was lying -- the iPhone wasn't possible.
RIM's opinion was that a phone with all of the 2007 iPhone's functionality and large touchscreen could not be used without being near a power supply at all times. Shacknews poster, Kentor, heard from his former colleagues:
The iPhone couldn't do what [Apple was] demonstrating without an insanely power hungry processor, it must have terrible battery life. 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.
RIM's "Apple Killer", released as the BlackBerry Storm in 2008, was their response, but it wasn't until 2010's Torch that they began to close the multitouch and web browser gap. 2011 will see the introduction of their next generation platform, the QNX-powered BlackBerry Playbook, though in tablet form, not smartphone.
Could RIM, Microsoft, and Palm really have been in denial about the iPhone in 2007? Could Apple be in denial about any competitors today?
[Electronista ]
