A very good friend of mine (@79stanger) wrote the following editorial below. He has summarize the way a lot of media outlets and people feel about BlackBerry in general. I thought this was too good not to post on NerdBerry and he is a very addicted NerdBerry user. Please leave your comments below and be sure to follow us @79stanger ,@NerdBerry!
Many times I have questioned whether my choice to go with a BlackBerry product was a good one or not. Every time though I always come back with a resounding YES! Why am I so in love with a seemingly inferior product (when compared with competitors)? Why would I choose to support a company who doesn’t seem to “get” the consumer market?
Well to be honest, at first the love affair was started because I wanted a smartphone with a portrait keyboard. Sure there were others out at the time such as the Droid Pro from VZW. That phone even had the then new Google operating system android. Something just didn’t “feel” right about android at the time, so I waited. Then one day I was over at a friend’s place, her brother had just purchased the Bold 9700. I asked if I could check it out since I was already in the market. I don’t know what it was, but as soon as I held that phone I was in love. I HAD to have one! It had everything I wanted good looks, a portrait keyboard, and a place to download apps from.
Now fast forward a year and a half later. I am now on my second BlackBerry. This 9900 blows everything the 9700 did out of the water! Everything from the FANTASTIC keyboard to the new touchscreen. At the time of this writing though, the creator of my beloved phone is in a lot of hot water with the press and the consumer market.
With so much facing them RIM has finally decided to take a leap into the future with their QNX platform BB 10. After my little side ventures with iPhone and android I realize RIM needs to work on quite a few things to make the new devices relevant to the average customer. First performance is key, the average customer does not care about security (until after something everything NOW! BB 10 also needs the big name apps, not talking games here. Things like Netflix will definitely bring in the customers.
Attention to detail is something I feel has been lacking until recently. Android still struggles with this as there are so many manufacturers, and little to no guidelines as to what can and cannot be done with the software. Apple and RIM both control software and hardware development. So quality is much better across the board.
The biggest thing I want to see from RIM with the BB 10 launch is for them to believe in what they are selling. They do have great products, but lack the marketing to make everyone want them. When I watch an iPhone it shows that they believe that their product is better than everything else out there. After watching a commercial from Verizon Wireless I really have the urge to rush out and grab whatever Droid they are showing off. When I watch the newest commercials for the latest OS 7 devices I think “wow, this one part of the commercial is really cool”.
I understand times are hard, and the market is competitive. But come on, a company who started the smartphone craze should damn well know what their customers are looking for in a phone by now. Quit promising and not deliver! Deliver without promising. Show up to the party with a Ferrari instead of saying you have a Ferrari and show up in a Fiesta. Do what you love RIM as your motto suggests. Let your employee’s branch out and explore those weird corners of their minds. Great things can happens with a little freedom.
So for now my future with BlackBerry is sound. I have tried them all, and nothing else speaks to me. If this next phone launch doesn’t go well then the BlackBerry market will probably disappear from the U.S. completely. Fingers crossed, here is to 2012 being the best year ever!
Related posts:
- Concept Video: The Future Looks Bright For BlackBerry
- Primecap Doubles Invest in RIM Stock, Giving More Confidence for Future
- “The Future of Web Development” Webcast on January 17th Hosted by RIM
- RIM Employee: “We are looking forward to what the new QNX operating system will give us in the hopefully not so distant future.”
- Rumor: RIM is testing Horizontal BlackBerry keypads
