RIM upgrades the BlackBerry, but not much--the case for opening up

Though Research in Motion continues to keep the BlackBerry a frustratingly closed platform (with precious few applications--my biggest complaint about an otherwise great device/service), it is upgrading its software to add some interesting new features, the Wall Street Journal reports:

With the aim of making mobile e-mailing more like e-mailing from a desktop computer, RIM said BlackBerry users will soon be able to edit documents directly from the handheld device and to view messages in their original formatting...[RIM] also said the changes will enable users to retrieve e-mail messages that aren't stored on the device and to check the availability of a colleague before sending a meeting request.

To wait so long...for so little. At this pace, Apple's iPhone will leapfrog the BlackBerry. Already, I've noticed scads of new iPhones being used in corporate settings. But for the lack of a keyboard, I'd be on an iPhone, too.

RIM makes great hardware and decent software. It needs to recognize, however, that it's not the center of all original thinking. Once it came up with its idea and implemented it, it hasn't done much in the way of innovation.

Now is the perfect time to jumpstart innovation by allowing its community of users and developers to grow RIM's value. Look at Microsoft. Proprietary though it may be, the company has done an exceptional job of opening its platform (if only just enough) to enable third-party developers to turn vanilla Windows into center stage in application innovation.

This is RIM's opportunity, too. It's not that it should sit back and let "the community" do everything for it. That doesn't work. But if it will just allow more minds outside Waterloo, where it's headquartered, to assist the minds inside of Waterloo, it will provide more value to customers like me and ensure its longevity.

Please?

[sandor_f]

there are rumors (confirmed at MacWorld) that a bluetooth keyboard will be released for the iPhone in March...

http://tinyurl.com/yqvhqe

[bobbyworld]

I would love to see Flash Player on the Blackberry.

[rrdharan]

This article is nonsensical. The BlackBerry *is* an open platform. There's a free SDK, and you can install unsigned apps (of which I have several). As well, the third party app list includes:

- RSA SecurID
- Facebook
- Google Talk
- Gmail
- Google Maps

No part of the BlackBerry platform is any more 'closed' than MS's mobile offering AFAICT. Sure the OS and core libraries are still closed source, but even that stuff is so simply put together and well designed that you can do some pretty simple mods at those layers as well - see the BlackBerry third party themes and vendor unlocking stuff on http://www.blackberryforums.com.

[Matt Asay]

If it's so open where are the applications? There aren't many. Compared to Palm, the RIM third-party application portfolio is a wasteland.

I like my Blackberry, but I find it frustrating that very few applications run on it. Very few. You've named the few. The others?

[st1tch]

Have you even tried to research applications for the Blackberry?

Handango has a ton of applications available for purchase that run on the Blackberry - http://www.handango.com/blackberry/PlatformHome.jsp?siteId=1181&jid=CDXD89787CA3F2BA7BDD929D57DF67BA&platformId=5&bySection=1&catalog=40&sectionId=0&topSectionId=0&title=BlackBerry%20Curve&osId=1039

And then here's a forum posting that lists multiple free applications available for download - http://www.blackberryforums.com/aftermarket-software/316-updated-blackberry-killer-software-utilities-thread.html

I run all the Google apps on my 8300 Curve as well as Yahoo Go and then there are plenty of free games I've downloaded to the unit.

Your comment of "If it's so open where are the applications? There aren't many." just proves your lack of research on this topic. All I did was do a Google search for Blackberry applications and the 2 links I gave above were just 2 of the many results.

As rrdhardan posted above, you can even get the free SDK and develop applications that will run on the Blackberry to your heart's content. It's all Java based, just like most cell phones these days.

Laughable that you bring up the iPhone in this as a supposed "better" phone when it's the most closed device so far, up until recently when Apple finally gave in and said they'd allow people to develop apps for it. Although I'm sure the list of available apps for the iPhone right now is miniscule compared to what's available for the Blackberry.

[ORinSF]

I've been running Gmail, Google Maps and Facebook natively for quite a while now and I work with SDK for my own experimentation. My latest Curve came with TeleNav. I've played with Yahoo Go and a couple of IM clients. I don't understand the impetus behind this column.