Here is an interesting comment. I thought it deserved a reply.
It’s not about technology, moreover, you totally missed the point on why people own BlackBerrys. BlackBerry will dominate anybody who is serious about their business (except for industries that are socially relevant like media/entertainment/fashion), and iPhone will be a price cool thing for people who want to think they are cool. Android made by nerds for nerds, and is after the iPhone market which will crush them.
I agree and disagree Blackberrys are for business; absolutely.
Backberrys used to be for people who wanted to be cool. Business warriors now have them strapped to their belts (Khaki pants, blue shirt); which most people think is sort of sad.
Non business people sometimes got them but found them generally useless for their lifestyle. Any keyboard phone was good enough.
Now iPhones are for people who want to be cool. (My phone is cooler than your phone)
iPhones have an apps avalanche which is making the iPhone more and more attractive for more people in both a superficial way (iFart) and a useful way. (Metronome for musicians)
But where it all boils down is that I have found that a successful product will appeal to people’s base needs: ego, greed, sex, stupidity, boredom.The iPhone has these covered in spades.
Ego (I’m cool for having this)
Greed – iPhone, not so much. Blackberry might win here a bit.
sex – Great browser plus many apps cater to this.
stupidity – the great browser makes wikipedia usable and other apps that can make you look smart
and finally boredom. I see so many people plunk themselves down and pull out their phone (any phone) and try to entertain themselves with whatever their phones can do. The iPhone does this really well with movies, podcasts, music, and games all at the ready. Other phones can do this but the iPhone does it in spades.
The last point is that the Blackberry has hit its highpoint. Damn it emails well. But my sister (government funded) has the same blackberry from 4 years ago. She has no desire for the coolest and newest in that offers nothing more for her. So cameras GPSs and whatnot probably won’t send sales spiking.
The android is still the wild card. Since this is a blog from a tech point of view I will end on a technical note.
Years ago (circa 1999) I downloaded the Blackberry SDK. Wow the engineers made it easy for me to make an app. Didn’t do anything for me to help sell it. Not a damn thing that I could see. When I contacted some large telcos to try and sell some apps through them they seemed shocked that you could even sell apps.
Then along comes the iPhone SDK in 2008 after a few hiccups Apple slams 3rd party apps right into iTunes and bang the app avalanche began. I have begun the development of some apps and it is fun and easy. I can’t wait to see the results. Once development is complete I throw my app into the app store and begin attracting interest where my app will live or die on its own merits. I get 70%, Apple keeps 30%. Then when apps are sold they wire the money to me. That rocks. From a programming standpoint it uses a language called Objective-C. This language is not hard to learn but it isn’t a commonly used development language outside of Apple products but Objective-C is based upon C which is one of the hardest of hard-core languages available. Most commercial apps are developed using either C or C++. That would include things like most operating systems, video games, most Microsoft products, your browser, almost everything. Basically you can do anything that pops into your brain and is theoretically possible on the computer. This leads to Android. Android apps are primarily programmed in Java. While Java is a perfectly nice language it is, in my opinion, a huge steaming pile of crap. Many business apps, your company’s payroll system for example, are generally programmed in Java. But in my experience it is too easy to end up either avoiding cool functionality due to the limitations of Java or getting stuck in a programming quagmire where you spend months spinning your wheels in the mud. Lastly there are lots of bozos programming in Java. They learned it in school last week and now they are churning out code this week. Thus Android is a bit handicapped by this. With no empirical evidence at hand I would guess that the general quality of apps will end up being lower on Android due to this Java development path.
But now for something about android that from a programming perspective is completely backwards from what the general public might perceive. There are around 50 Android phones out or coming out soon. This might seem like a good thing but from the perspective of a programmer this is a nightmare. It means that if I make an Android app I would have to test it on 50 platforms. Each platform could be quite different. This sucks. This really sucks. Programming for the iPhone can be hard enough and the various iPhones and iPod touches are almost identical to each other. Same basic screen. Similar processors and the core capabilities are nearly identical.
All these Android phones will make programmer’s brains explode but it does have one advantage. The iPhone is generally getting better and better with each release. But the Androids will be pumped out by many companies. If any one of them hits a home run they stand a chance of leaving the iPhone behind. But I suspect the opposite will remain true unless Apple drops the ball with the iPhone. I suspect that the niche that the Androids will occupy will be iPhone clones. They will appeal to people who can’t afford the absurdly expensive iPhones. This is a perfectly profitable place to sit whereas mounting a challenge to the iPhone will probably be financially ruinous even if the company in question wins.
So in summary. From a technical point I love the iPhone. As a technical consumer I love the iPhone. I also want the latest and greatest iPhone.
From a technical point the Android annoys me. As a technical consumer I don’t have any interest in the Android.
From a technical point the Blackberry confuses me. As a technical consumer the blackberry is useless to me.
From observing people; nearly everyone I know wants an iPhone and those with them either have the latest or wish they did. In fact I meet many people who pull out their iPhones and we spend 20 minutes comparing apps. The few who have blackberries either are happy or wish they had an iPhone but have zero desire for the latest and greatest blackberry.
So will RIMM die? No. Will the iPhone crush them like a bug? No; but who crushed the pager?
Tags: AAPL, Apps, blackberry., iPhone, iPod, Java, Objective-C, RIMM, Sun, Transmeta