Davey Winder
Friday, 08 August 2008 19:10
Your IT -
Mobility
Page 1 of 3
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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