RIM goes flipping crazy with the new BlackBerry Pearl

Davey Winder
Wednesday, 10 September 2008 15:57

Your IT - Mobility

A BlackBerry is many things, but good looking has never really been at the top of the features list. Research In Motion hopes to change all that with the first ever BlackBerry flip phone...

Suits, on the whole, do not much care about the fashion statement their business phone makes. All that matters is that it does the job.

Thankfully a BlackBerry does the job and then some, or RIM would have gone bust years ago.

Consumers, on the hand, are a whole lot more picky. They want a mobile phone that does everything and looks good as well.

Which is why you are more likely to see some pretty young thing with an iPhone than a BlackBerry brick.

The trouble is, with the iPhone knocking at the corporate user door, RIM knows it has to do something to reach out to a larger audience or face the consequences.

It has decided to fight back by launching the first BlackBerry phone ever to come in a flip format. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 is a BlackBerry inside, but wrapped up in a "fun and familiar" flip case.

Unfortunately, I am not sure that RIM actually gets it. You know, the whole 'street' thing. The whole 'what consumers want right now' thing.

As other smartphone manufacturers look towards the sleek touch-screen interface, inspired by the iPhone, RIM has come up with a Star Trek Communicator inspired handset which speaks more of yesterday than today.

Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO of Research In Motion argues that “the BlackBerry Pearl Flip is a full-featured smartphone with a unique and friendly design and it is a natural choice for flip phone users who want to start doing more with their phone than just talk.”

But is there really such a consumer as a 'flip phone user' I wonder?

Does the consumer want another flip phone? What does the Pearl Flip actually offer in terms of functionality? More on page 2...

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