iPhone or BlackBerry? Service is a major factor
Correction: This report misstated which BlackBerry version recently got a big marketing push from Verizon. It was the Storm.
New data from NPD Group suggests that RIM may have caught up with some of the iPhone marketing hype, taking the top spot in U.S. consumer smartphone sales for the first quarter of 2009. The BlackBerry Curve (of which there are several models across multiple carriers) bested the iPhone for the first quarter of the year, with RIM taking three of the top five spots.
We get a lot of Apple fanboy grief here in the CNET Blog Network, but I'm a BlackBerry user. Personally, I prefer the BlackBerry keyboard and form factor but feel that the iPhone interface and applications are superior.
But more important than the applications or the interface, I need my phone to work. I want it to be able to make calls, receive calls, send e-mail, etc. The iPhone, for all its glorious features, is at best a mediocre phone with occasionally terrible coverage.
AT&T, the lone iPhone carrier in the United States, has been slow to fix network issues and slow to respond to customer complaints, and it lacks a certain amount of customer service social grace. Most of the gadgety or techie types of people I know who don't use the iPhone avoid it entirely because of AT&T.
Realistically, there should always be more BlackBerrys sold than iPhones simply because of network diversity. While the iPhone may be acceptable--even good as a business smartphone, the spotty coverage and weak customer service makes the device a questionable choice for on-the-go business users.
The Blackberry Storm got a big marketing push from Verizon that no doubt helped grow the customer base, but the Storm is not an iPhone killer.
I'm looking forward to seeing what RIM has to offer in the future, as well as seeing if/when Verizon will finally get the iPhone. Until then, I'll stick with the BlackBerrys, which, despite the occasional random java error and simplistic user interface, have served me extremely well for the last five years.
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Dave Rosenberg dishes up "Software, Interrupted" with nearly 15 years of technology and marketing experience that spans from Bell Labs to multiple start-up IPOs to open-source enterprise software companies. He is co-founder of MuleSource and currently serves as the general manager of Hardy Way. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can contact Dave via e-mail at softwareinterrupted@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @daveofdoom. 
Or maybe the iPhone really is just overhyped.
If we take out the iPhone users that use email or apps, then I guess we are apples to apples.
Talk about spin doctors.
How about we discuss units sold and keep it simple.
Relax Iboy, the phone is not going away. Apple will remain for you to feed the ego with.
Now just breath............
Touch phones are unpractical for heavy texting.
Keyboard phones are unpractical for apps and rich emails.
Unfortunately there is no device available with a RIM like scroll wheel and querty keyboard and an Apple like big touch screen.
As for discussing this and that, of course, we could always go ahead and discuss about numbers shaped the way we like it, but then we're in the fiction domain.
I have to agree with the network observations however. I have AT&T and I find their network coverage and reliability sub-par.
I may not be able to run my fingers through a simulated creek and watch the ripples, but I get emails when I need them and I actually feel connected to the world.
Would you explain this when comparing phones so we know what communication technology to be considered? Thank you.
I have a Curve connected to my company Exchange Enterprise and I am happy with it. It contain an 8GB SD card for all my music and video; takes decent pictures AND catch this. I am about to upgrade our Blackberry Enterprise to the lastest version that will enable access to files and folders on my network. Hey, iPhone, catch that if you will...being a fan of everything popular is not worth the price of the device unless you can take full advantage of all aspects of your daily needs.
Frankly, I am not an Apple fan as I hate a locked down device; I prefer to copy and paste anything right to the device and I find the everything Apple/iTune to be as close to a virus as one can get. A total waste of system resources if you ask me.
And believe me, I'm a tried-and-true Mac user, but I do not go for this proprietary stuff.
As long as the iPhone is AT&T only, count me out.
Just like Sony's digital cameras, which are great, but can only use Sony's proprietary memory cards instead of standard SD cards. They get crossed right off my list for doing that.
Ditto for anything Windows Media, anything iTunes, etc. Once they lay that "it only works with..." stuff on me, I'm out. I want MPEG/MPEG4 video (not WM), mp3 audio (not WMA or Apple-proprietary...
STANDARDS... you guys.
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As for the blackberry, it's hardly glitch-free. It has a nasty penchant for getting into modes where
the audio quits working until you power it off/on. It also freaks out every once in a while for no apparent reason and needs a battery-pull to reset it. The browsers (built-in and Opera Mini) are a complete joke. 90% of the pages I go to are virtually unusable on them.
But I've figured out the fixes for most of this stuff, so I guess I'll stick with it for now.
I miss voice dial. Yes I know there's an app for that, but the Blackberry does it natively with a hardware button. With the iPhone I have to open the interface, start the application, and then voice dial.
I miss mail showing up on my phone almost immediately. I miss the real keyboard. I miss the red LED letting me know I have a message. I miss being able to easily create my own free ringtones. Yes, I know, you can create ringtones with the iPhone but I don't have the time to jump through hoops.
The apps available for the iPhone are kinda cool, but how many of them are really useful for an extended period of time? Most of them are novelties. The top sellers at the App Store are consistently dopey time wasters. Weatherbug is an exception, but that is hardly iPhone specific.
I'll stick it out through iPhone 3.0, but unless something earth-shattering happens I'll be going back to a Blackberry come December.
I have been using AT&T forever. Well, I think it was Cellular One, then something else, then Cingular and now AT&T. It has been pretty hard to keep up with all the changes. I have used my phone all the way up and down the state, in Nevada, Arizona and in Idaho. The one thing I always liked about this system was the coverage... I get signal when most of my non-AT&T buddies get nothing. Even when I am up in the mountains Jeeping, I can usually find a high-spot and get signal...
I love the Blackberry, and cannot imagine not having it. While I do not have the iphone, I do have the touch... and I agree, the app experience is awesome. Although, cannot imagine who is buying all of those fart apps....
- by garrickk May 4, 2009 11:35 AM PDT
- Yes, another Verizon BB -> iPhone 3G customer here too, in the heart of San Francisco. Some regret, some joy.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (53 Comments)Like many people here, I get dropped calls on the iPhone, and occasionally the device gets confused on what and how it's connecting (Edge, wait, no 3G, no wait, try this WiFi link, no wait, try Edge again). I don't know when the hardware is to blame, and when the network is to blame, but it's not a great phone. Sitting in my apartment, I have full 3G bars, and still have the occasional dropped call. 3 years with Verizon, I think had about as many dropped calls as I had last month with the iPhone. My friends have similar experiences.
I am also having occasional SMS Txt message sending problems, which actually require a hard reboot to fix. Haven't looked to see if other people have the same issue, or my 6 month old phone has issues. Verizon + virtually any BB device (Storm with latest leaked firmware too) are just much better SMS, MMS, and phone devices. Right now anyway. But OS 3.0 is going to be a panacea, right?