Where Art Thou Blackberry Killer?
Here's a high-tech mystery that would even stump Sherlock Holmes:
why hasn't Blackberry-killer emerged yet? This question raised its head
again after I read a yet another “Blackberry-kiler” story in
yesterday's Wall St. Journal
that looked at new devices coming from device makers such as Nokia,
Motorola, Palm, HP and Samsung. While I've seen a few people with Treos
and one guy who, for a strange reason, has a Danger hiptop,
Blackberry still reigns supreme. In fact, the Blackberry has start to
filter down to a growing number of non-C-level executives due to lower
retail prices and the voice-friendly 7100. It's not like non-Blackberry
devices
are missing key elements such as mobile e-mail. The Treo 650
has even more bells and whistles, including a pretty good Web browser.
The bottom line is the Blackberry is still the best device for mobile
e-mail, and the new 8700c
unveiled by Cingular this week should cement this status with its
faster network access. What Blackberry enjoys - as does the iPod - is
the hard-to-attain but valuable cool/it works factor. This isn't to say
rivals won't pick up mobile e-mail market share but it is unlikely
there will be a Blackberry “killer any time soon.
November 3rd, 2005 at 11:04 am
While I have most electronic toys, I've been able to successfully resist getting a blackberry. I use a Motorola MPX220 cellphone that can active-synch with my MS Exchange server. I can read and respond to emails. If I expect to send a length response then I take along a small bluetooth keyboard. The MPX220 is smaller than a blackberry and allows me to also share the wireless data connectivity with a bluetooth or infrared connected laptop should I need to download an attachment which needs to be manipulated in Word.
November 3rd, 2005 at 12:57 pm
Blackberry has a huge advantage because not only do you need a good handheld device you also need the backend server infrastructure. If you are a corporation and you have set up a Blackberry server then you will give your employees Blackberries, you are not going to install several wireless email gateways. RIM has a huge advantage in getting this corporate market sewn up before the competitors so they will continue to dominate for quite a while.