Ask HN: So what happens to RIM/BlackBerry now? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: So what happens to RIM/BlackBerry now?

6 pointssown9 comments

The enterprise product that I work on requires compatibility with Black Berry Enterprise Server.

I'm sitting there for several minutes trying to activate my test BB unit and I started to wonder why we bother with it at all, other than the currently existing customers who use BB. I got up and talked to my VP of engineering and he shared similar doubts, namely when iPhone goes to Verizon.

With ActiveSync and the iPhone and possibly Android if they ever calendering to work, why does anyone bother?

What are your thoughts on RIM's options and future, HN? I'm just curious, as an exercise. :)

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I know a lot of BlackBerry users who have tried iPhones and the like but still swear by the BlackBerry for the physical keyboard.

Surprisingly (and anecdotally), a lot of university-aged people are buying BlackBerries as personal devices. That one baffles me.

Whether RIM can sustain either of these markets is beyond me, though.

> Surprisingly (and anecdotally), a lot of university-aged people are buying BlackBerries as personal devices. That one baffles me.

I've seen that with with someone I know. They wanted the qwerty keyboard. I thought I would miss it, too, with my nexus one, but i just pitch it on the side and I don't really miss it.

I'm a business guy and a tech lover, in that order. Two years ago, I had a Blackberry Curve.

I was the first in line to buy the original iPhone. I loved it for about 2 weeks. I returned it, I returned to the Blackberry.

I was the first in line to buy the iPhone 3GS. I loved it for about 3 months. Then I moved to New York City. And almost every other called was dropped. I sold it on Gazelle for $450, and I returned to Verizon for a new Blackberry Tour.

I have not had a single dropped call since.

Apps are cool, but actually being able to make phone calls is cooler. I like my phone to do three extremely important things very well: make phone calls, get emails instantly, and actually be able to TYPE on it. Would I, will I, ever return to the iPhone? Maybe, but no time soon. I am very content.

Yeah, those are important. Between my guesses, my VP, and other people in the office, an iPhone on verizon would be a big deal for 2 of the 3 reasons you mentioned.

I've noticed this trend in my university as well, but mostly with females. My hypothesis is that the touch screen is hard to manipulate with longer fingernails and the fact that with a physical key, it's easier to pick up the phone (think about it - hidden in the labyrinth of a handbag, the phone utters a shriek. Freaking out and being afraid of missing the call, a normal person would pick up the call, and then raise it to the ear. With a physical keyboard this is almost automatic. Not so much with the iPhone).

Well, RIM will survive. There will always be a crowd for hard-keys. Besides, I bet there's a market out there that gets some other smart phone over iPhone just because they're scared of breaking the screen. Sometimes, we over attribute technological prowess to a shiny newcomer on the block; don't let that get to you :-)

-S

P.S: I love the iPhone and it's KISS model (granted, I have my reservations about App store and other things). If anything, you should invest your time into iPhone as well instead of considering it as an enemy.

Until there's an Android with a physical keyboard my wife loves as much as the one on her 9700, I will be the only one in my house who refuses to use a Blackberry.

i wonder why n900 isn't catching up. it's a truly developer-friendly platform while also being a quite user-friendly smartphone (just avoid the xterm icon) and has a decent qwerty keyboard (much better than anything rim offers, imho) .

May I bring your attention to this : http://comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/4/comSc...

    Top Smartphone Platforms
    3 Month Avg. Ending Feb. 2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Nov. 2009
    Total U.S. Age 13+
    Source: comScore MobiLens
    Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers

                Nov-09 Feb-10  Point Change
    RIM 	40.8% 	42.1% 	1.3
    Apple 	25.5% 	25.4% 	-0.1
    Microsoft 	19.1% 	15.1% 	-4.0
    Google 	3.8% 	9.0% 	5.2
    Palm 	7.2% 	5.4% 	-1.8

Yes, this is true, but should we bother with BB? ActiveSync makes it unnecessary to use BlackBerry Enterprise Server. So, there's no compelling reason to stick with BB. They have to have something else to make us want it, other than a physical keyboard.

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