Last week, I wrote about how there’s been nothing that I’ve seen to compete with Apple in the tablet market. So naturally, this week, I want to write about how I feel Blackberrys have no real shot against iPhones and Androids, either.
Since the inception of 3 & 4G networks, the demise of RIM’s Blackberry has been inevitable. At one point, they were great. They were businesses’ go-to for its employee communication functions, and yes, although they still are, including for the company I work at, I find it much more common to hear from larger and newer brands that they’re giving their staff other smartphones instead. Which really, makes a lot of sense, considering how good smartphones are today and how far behind Blackberries have been for the past few years.
So what’s with the new Blackberry being released at the end of this month? When I first read about it, I read that it was “catching up” to iPhone and Android standards– the Blackberry 10 was going to have a touchscreen, a lock screen, and a focus feature on its camera (amongst other highlights).
Those are all great things, but I’m not any more excited about Blackberry 10 than I was before I wrote this piece.
Really, these new and exciting details about Blackberry 10 are only demonstrating that RIM is attempting to catch up with iOS and Androids, but nothing more. Unless I’m missing something, there’s nothing that demonstrates any unique niche it may have, which is rather disappointing.
And to be honest, I find that rather unsettling because RIM should know better than to invest millions of dollars and risk its entire existence unless it really is going to have a good shot at regaining its stance in the market. And from the looks of it, of course we can’t be sure, but it really, really doesn’t look good. Because even though the Blackberry will always be good for traditional businesses who aren’t ready to upgrade to iPhones just yet, they someday will.
I just don’t think it’s enough in 2013 for RIM and Blackberry 10 to go down this path they’re attempting.
