RIM CEO: We were pulled into the consumer market

CARLSBAD, Calif.--Research In Motion didn't set out to make devices for the everyman, but that's where the company has ended up.

RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis, speaking at the D: All Things Digital event Wednesday in Carlsbad, Calif.

(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET)

In a talk Wednesday at D: All Things Digital, CEO Mike Lazaridis talked about the company's move from making e-mail devices for executives, to making phones for the masses.

"We literally were pulled into the consumer space," he said. "We entered that market deliberately with the BlackBerry Pearl."

It's still a journey that is just beginning, he said, adding that the company has learned how intensely personal the phone is as compared to other gadgets.

The closer a technology gets to a person, the more it has to represent our values, our styles," he said. "It's not a one-size-fits-all (business)."

That the company didn't set out to be a consumer company doesn't mean it didn't see a big future for the BlackBerry, even in its early days as a black-and-white e-mail only device.

"We had to disguise these things as pagers," Lazaridis said. "We always knew this was a new platform, that this was something special."

Lazaridis wouldn't talk much about the next version of the company's touchscreen Storm device. He did downplay the notion of a BlackBerry tablet.

"Is it as convenient?" he said. "Would you carry it around if you couldn't put it in your pocket?"

Lazaridis said that the slowing of cellular networks due to smartphone usage was the "white elephant in the room."

"We're already seeing this slowdown in the networks. that's already happening."

[The_happy_switcher]

""We entered that market deliberately with the BlackBerry Pearl." --CORRECTION, you were pulled in because the iPhone is and will continue to eat your lunch.

[bigpicture]

CORRECTION the iPhone is a consumer product, and has not even made a dent in the commercial corporate market. What do the professionals use? What does Obama use? Gamers and the wan-a-be coolers use iPhones . The BB Storm is just a consumer version iPhone look alike, that you can change the battery and the memory in, unlike the iPhone locked down toy.

[The_happy_switcher]

That 'toy' has over 40K apps and growing by leaps and bounds. It's being adapted for business slowly but surely. RIMM will just end being the latest roadkill under Apple's juggernaut wheels.

[deric_raymond]

Yeah, the consumer "toy" you speak of is creeping into the majority of Fortune 500 companies as company devices. Not to mention ease of use by both end users and IT administrators. What the hell is a "professional" businessman? the iPhone has exponentially grown in the business sector. So there's that.

[sting7k]

@Applerocks, the BB Pearl came out before the iPhone. And also of those 40k apps at least 36k are trash.

[KimTaylor aka Finiky]

I would hope there would be more native support for Mac users. Not 'everyman' uses a windows box. (I am not a MS hater, I have used both Windows and Mac- my current platform at home is Mac)

[Mr. Dee]

The Storm is very popular here, including the Bold, three carriers here a pushing the brand very hard, with special promotions, giveaway's and advertising ad nauseum. I hope I get to win one of the Storms.

[stigmattaman]

Toy is ridiculous, but it is still not ready for prime time in the enterprise environment. It's being forced in because VPs are demanding to have it on the networks, but the VPN is not quite up to snuff, and there's no way to run device management software in the background. This should be helped greatly with the 3.0 software, but still not quite there.

[CreativeMalcolm]

Why is there such a rivalry between BlackBerry fans and iPhone fans? I use both, I prefer the iPhone but RIM makes a quality phone. I'm not a fan of the Storm, but the fact is they're both looking at pushing the envelope in the phone space, and they've completely left Microsoft and Nokia in the dust as market leaders. Shouldn't everyone be happy about that?

[ProfessorMac_net]

That's just it. The iphone is a "toy." It was designed to be a toy. I nearly bought one in my phone replacement, but it's quasi-keyboard and camera quality led me to buy the Blackberry Bold. I was looking for one phone that would do it all. And the Bold has fulfilled the role. I use it for both business and pleasure. Now that Apple and RIM are both competing in the same space, it will be interesting to see what RIM does to improve on its smaller screen handycap, and what Apple does to improve its keyboard and email functionality.