Technology news and Jobs arrow Information Technology News arrow iPhone bashing BlackBerry making Bold debut in Europe
iPhone bashing BlackBerry making Bold debut in Europe E-mail
by Davey Winder   
Saturday, 09 August 2008
There is plenty of talk about Apple wanting a slice of BlackBerry pie with the iPhone 3G and MobileMe. But what is Research in Motion doing to fight back? Being Bold in Europe, is the cryptic but correct answer...

Research in Motion (RIM) has long since had a stranglehold over the serious business smartphone market with the BlackBerry series. Not for nothing are these devices referred to as CrackBerries by their obsessive owners.

Indeed, such is the adoration for the BlackBerry from owners around the world that it has enjoyed something of an Apple user experience: it has an army of fanboys behind it.

Apple has, you can be sure, noticed this. Apple wants, you can be surer still, a slice of this business-oriented BlackBerry pie. Apple thinks, you might imagine, that the iPhone 3G Jesus Phone coupled to the initially troublesome MobileMe service is its Saviour in this respect.

The jury is still out on that one, and until the teething problems with the iPhone 3G hardware are ironed out will remain that way. Business users tend to be rather more restrained than your average high street consumer when it comes to investing in new mobile technology.

Which is where Research in Motion hopes to strike hard by giving existing BlackBerry users what they want: another BlackBerry.

The BlackBerry Bold is due to launch across Europe within the next few weeks, the latest carrier to come on board being T-Mobile which has announced availability for late September in European markets such as the United Kingdom, Austria and Germany for example.

But will 'just another BlackBerry' really be enough to fend off the Apple attack?

If it were just another BlackBerry then RIM might find itself in some measure of trouble. However, the BlackBerry Bold is being positioned right at the top of the smartphone tree, alongside the iPhone 3G, as a premium combination of design and functionality driven by 3G technology.

So, not only does the BlackBerry Bold come complete with integrated GPS and Wi-Fi, but it is the first BlackBerry ever to support tri-band HSDPA high-speed networks the world over. Another big tick for the big bad from BlackBerry as far as business users are concerned.

Does familiarity breed contempt, and will anyone familiar with the iPhone screen be contemptuous of the diminutive BlackBerry display? Find out on page 2...

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