Comments on: Is Apple scared of RIM?

Now that the BlackBerry Storm has hit store shelves, should Apple be concerned? The timing of the iPhone 2.2 software update's release seems to indicate that it already is.

[groupeone]

Yet another Don Reisinger "die Apple scum, die, die,die" article. Don, if you actually tested the Storm, as I did, you'd be eating your words. Don't get me wrong. I like Blackberries, but not this one. It was clearly rushed to market. If anyone is soiling their trousers, it's clearly RIM, and the Storm us proof of that. Don, if you read any of the reviews, you would realize that. Alas, your prejudice is clearly showing.

[emt_mast]

Here is an email I sent to RIM:

------Original Message------
From: ...
Received: Friday, November 21, 2008 2:34:54 PM (EST)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: STORM

This looks like exactly the phone I need. But please tell me, why on earth did you not include wifi access? I have FIOS at home and at work, and that's far better speeds than Verizon wireless speeds.



------Reply Message------
From: BlackBerry Support [mailto:[e-mail]]
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 2:13 PM
To: ...
Subject: Re: STORM ; RQST00005868214

Hello ...,

Thank you for contacting BlackBerry Customer Support about the reason for the BlackBerry Storm smartphone not having WiFi.

As a publicly traded company, Research In Motion cannot disclose this type of information.

You may also view our press releases at www.rim.com to get the latest information about new product announcements.

Thank you again Steven for contacting us; have a great weekend.

Sincerely,

Dawn
BlackBerry Customer Support
Research In Motion Limited
Tel:
NA Toll Free: 1-877-255-2377
UK Toll Free: 0808 100 7466
Europe: [phone]
Worldwide: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Web: www.blackberry.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This transmission (including any attachments) may contain confidential information, privileged material (including material protected by the solicitor-client or other applicable privileges), or constitute non-public information. Any use of this information by anyone other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately reply to the sender and delete this information from your system. Use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction of this transmission by unintended recipients is not authorized and may be unlawful.

<end email exchange>

This is the stupidest reply I have ever seen to such a basic question!

[sebastien.kalonji]

If Steve Jobs read the reviews about the Storm you know he is not scared at all

[Wingsy]

"... the BlackBerry Storm provides the kind of experience that we haven't seen yet from RIM."

You can say that again:

TIME Mag reviews RIM?s BlackBerry Storm: ?Novelty screen feels cheap; steer clear of this storm?

Gizmodo reviews RIM?s BlackBerry Storm: ?Heavy, laggy, sluggish, unstable, clunky, and tiring?

Engadget reviews RIM?s BlackBerry Storm: ?Frustrating, inelegant, uncomfortable; a disappointment?

PC World reviews RIM?s BlackBerry Storm: ?Awkward, disappointing; a failed experiment?

Just to mention a few.

[mcs434]

You WIFI people are laughable. *** good does WIFI do me when I HAVE TO pay AT&T for EDGE access? Most of these people commenting probably have mommy or daddy paying for their bill and wouldnt understand. Wow, WIFI allows quicker downloading of YouTube videos. Why not pull out my laptop and watch it if I gave 2 $***s about it anyways? Heck my laptop gets better battery life and it has a thousand times more functionality. Obviously the author of this article is way off, with the collection of asinine fan boys that Apple has amassed over the years, nothing can kill the iPhone .

[mac.cesar]

What a Joke!!!!!

Every other article on the web says that the storm is, and a quote:

Time Magazine: "Novelty screen feels cheap;; steer clear of this storm"
Chicago Tribune: "Can't compete with Apple's iPhone"
Gizmodo: Heavy, laggy, sluggish unstable, clunky and tiring"
Engaget: "Frustrating, inelegant, uncomfortable; a disappointment"
PC World: "Awkward, disappointing; a failed experiment"


And this guy says good things about the Storm???

I can't believe it!!!!!

[mr_pickles]

from a guy named "mac.cesar"

Do you want me to link all the positive reviews? or even the positive feedback from the reviews you linked? get real.

[Wingsy]

To all those people who get tied in knots when someone implies that Apple invented ANYTHING: It's not that Apple invents the best stuff, it's just that they have this uncanny knack to take an invention and put it into a form that is a pleasure to use and not an awkward, backwards, klunky abomination of a good idea.

[bdaniel]

no wifi? ***?

[Italiano3G]

Plenty of people have said it enough times already for me, but it bears repeating...

This article is ridiculous.

Apple has nothing to fear and shouldn't look back. Whatever "competition" the Drizzle posed was dampened even more by this sweet 2.2 update.

The forecast? Looks like a draught unless manufacturers step it up in all around innovation.

[Aquia33]

Running scared?? Sure they are. My Fisher-Price toy with its cutsy icons is a bona fide pocket computer. I leave my (also cutsy apple) laptop at home for short overnight trips, my car GPS is now a backup system.

The only long lines I saw today was at COSTCO for gas. if RIM is to sell millions (over the weekend) and make apple shake, theres gotta be a long line somewhere!!

[rnaoncfixd]

The only reason there were no long lines to get this phone is because they made it easy to get from nearly every outlet (as in source not retail outlets).

[3monkies]

I really enjoyed this article? It made me laugh. I look forward to reading more of your comedic fiction in the future.

[MustangTwit]

If you're on this page, and you're griping about your iPhone, do me a favor. Get in your car and go donate it, and find something worthy of your satisfaction. Sitting here whining about it, isn't going to fix your impossibility of satisfaction.

What you're on here doing is no different than someone honking your carhorn, out of pure impatience, while waiting for a Big Mac.

This is America, people, if you don't like it, stop using it.

Now, these comments are to see if the RIM is a rival of iPhone. When I saw this: "Research In Motion developed its own technology, called SurePress, which uses a suspension system that lies beneath the display, so that when you go to select an application or enter text, you physically push the screen down, mimicking the feel of pressing a tactile button." I immediately thought of four coiled wires, hanging below a horizontal piece of glass, hooked to a stainless steel plate suspending it just below the glass. It's comical.

No, the RIM is not a threat to the iPhone, because of one reason alone: Verizon ruined it.

Just like the iPhone is/was locked to AT&T, that's ridiculous. I will say this: AT&T has better reception in BFE, which is where you're most likely to seriously need a phone.

[aztec92154]

I agree, the "tactile feedback" is a joke. They're called springs and one biiiiig button.

[carolax]

I think using the word 'scared' shows a certain bias on the writer's part. And to think that a corporation is taking on human emotions because of another iPhone knockoff and 2) striking back by releasing a minor software update with few functional improvements--the entire argument is just silly.

[ifonlyuwereme]

If RIM truly wanted an iPhone killer, it would have simultaneously released a desktop manager for the Mac and Linux OS. I am a Blackberry user and a Verizon subscriber, but the Storm fails to grab me because I know I cannot fully update my phone software or perform a fully functional sync (even with third party apps). RIM ignores its mac users, and proves again it doesn't really want to compete with the iPhone at all.

[ifonlyuwereme]

If RIM truly wanted an iPhone killer, it would have simultaneously released a desktop manager for the Mac and Linux OS. I am a Blackberry user and a Verizon subscriber, but the Storm fails to grab me because I know I cannot fully update my phone software or perform a fully functional sync (even with third party apps). RIM ignores its mac users, and proves again it doesn't really want to compete with the iPhone at all.

[GodWish]

why cnet forgets that iphone has wifi, and storm doesn;t, what kind of pda smartphones is that which doesn;t have wifi....

[mr_pickles]

There are two types of people, those who understand blackberry enterprise server and the integration that gives you with your groupware system (Exchange, Lotus, etc) and children or people working in very small businesses who can't afford Blackberry Enterprise Server.

Those of us who use Blackberrys on a daily basis with BES integration understand why the iPhone is not even competition for the Blackberry Storm. In fact, they understand why the iPhone isn't even competition to Blackberrys 2 or 3 generations ago.

On top of that, you're also getting a removable battery and storage, a vastly superior camera (with flash, that can take video), copy and paste (haha) and a keyboard with actual tactile feedback. Having used both a storm and an iphone I can tell you without a question the storm is much easier and more accurate to type on.

And of course, for mobile business professionals, the ability to tether the blackberry to a laptop is invaluable and very convenient.

So, in summary, for a business professional, there is no comparison between the two. For non-professional use, then you can start to really compare the two. Even then I think the Storm's additional storage expansion, superior keyboard, superior screen (visible brighter and clearer), removable battery and superior camera make it a clear winner over the iphone.

[MobileAdmin]

Thank you

[aztec92154]

Removable storage? 16 GB isn't enough for you? I dont want a crappy dirty card slot, i put this thing in my pocket. Superior camera? My DSLR would kill your phones crappy picture taking ability... Who buys a camera for a premium picture taking capability anyway? copy and paste? I never asked for it. Keyboard with tactile feedback? Nice, but the Blackberry storm gets it wrong. The keyboard is NOT superior on the BB Storm, have you actually tried it? :( Sorry, but you're wrong all all your points except the BS integration. Which is a moot point since you can remote swipe an iPhone, which is what my company cares about.

[TigerG]

How is a minor update like 2.2 supposed to deflect the introduction of the RIM phone?

The flood of bad reviews it's getting are more than enough.

[jypeterson]

Let me get this out of the way first -- NO PHONE IS PERFECT. There. I said it.

Now, onto more important issues:
1) The Storm's interface was not rebuilt to use a touchscreen. It's pretty much the same old OS stuffed behind a touch screen -- it should have been redeveloped for the Storm to provide a user friendly interface, not the same old stodgy, un-intuitive interface that all of the other phone manufacturers have done
2) The touch screen makes it feel cheap. Although in theory it was a good idea, in practical terms, SureTouch is not turning out to be a feature that I would advertise. It is slow.
3) RIM needs to license ActiveSync -- costs of the Blackberry Mail Server (BMS) including licenses are very expensive for large corporations. Also, many times these corps also have an ActiveSync server running for their email. Its an unnecessary expense.
4) Apple isn't scared. They are a highly diversified company. The iPhone is just a segment. Plus, they are not standing still. RIM was caught with its pants down when the iPhone came out. It has taken almost two full years to respond to the first announcement of the iPhone. And from all of the major reviews, it looks as if the Storm is little more than a small squall.

The App Store is one of the iPhone's greatest pluses. No other company has been able to replicate the success of iTunes, and many have tried. RIM will try, but it will fall far short.

Apple also is a design firm, making sure that form and function are good and beautiful. That's why they are so coveted. The Storm's design (inside and out) isn't clean -- its befuddled.

Don't get me wrong, but the Storm has good attributes. It will sell very well with Blackberry users. Here's the caveat -- the Storm is no iPhone killer. I believe that the iPhone will remove Palm from the US market completely and dig into RIM's market share. The iPhone has completely changed the cellular industry, and no phone will be able to compete with it unless manufacturers are able to get way outside the box and "think different".

[mr_pickles]

"3) RIM needs to license ActiveSync -- costs of the Blackberry Mail Server (BMS) including licenses are very expensive for large corporations. Also, many times these corps also have an ActiveSync server running for their email. Its an unnecessary expense."

Its called Blackberry Enterprise Server. It's only $2,999 and $50/license. That's pennies. It provides security and services so far beyond ActiveSync that it's not even worth comparing the two. You (obviously) don't know what you're talking about.

[jypeterson]

So, I made a typo and that means I don't know anything???

Seriously, I am beginning to think that you work for RIM. Is that the case, Mr. Pickles???
And, what about my other points? Are they valid in your mind, then?

My whole point was that the Storm is not an iPhone killer. Too many negative reviews from the mainstream publications have solidified what I have said.

So, is Apple afraid of RIM? My answer is a resounding NO.

[cerebral_but_dull]

Yes, the iPhone badly needs copy & paste, and I'm sure it will get it. Other than that, there really isn't much wrong with it. This article, which claims that the Storm is all around better, is frankly laughable and I don't think another reviewer in the country has rated it as even close.