The BlackBerry: It’s the Keyboard, Stupid

It wasn’t that long ago that Steve Jobs basically declared the BlackBerry to be dead in the water. As far as Jobs was concerned, the BlackBerry’s days as a relevant and tier-one smartphone were over.

You know what? Jobs may actually be wrong for the first time in a long time. Last week, Research in Motion posted better-than-expected third-quarter results in which it shipped 14 million BlackBerrys. And despite the fact the iPad is the cat’s meow of the tablet market, there appears to be strong interest in RIM’s PlayBook, which will appear early next year.

For anyone trying to figure out how the BlackBerry is keeping its head above water amid the iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and the growing number of smartphone options, here’ the answer: the keyboard.

The keyboard is the BlackBerry’s “killer app”. Forget about apps or a touch screen, it’s the keyboard that rules the BlackBerry roost, and drives sales. If you look around, it’s not just businesspeople using the BlackBerry. There are lots of young people with BlackBerrys, many of them furiously tapping away on the keyboard.

These younger consumers are text-messaging (including the wildly popular and free BBM), doing e-mail and, of course, using social media (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.). For them, the keyboard is essential because it is a superior experience to a touch-screen. Sure, touchscreen technology is improving but the tactile feel of a keyboard is what counts right now – something the BlackBerry has down even though it has also embraced touchscreen technology with the Torch.

As long as consumers find a keyboard to be a better experience, and as long as smartphone makers focus more on touchscreens, the Blackberry will continue to thrive because the keyboard does the job. It may not be sexy or leading edge but the keyboard works.

Subscribe to "This Week in Canadian Startups"

A weekly newsletter delivered to your inbox!

http://www.benwise.ca Ben Wise

Hi Mark,
Great post – completely agree on the importance of the keyboard. I love mine and wouldn’t want to type all my messages on a touch screen.
Another important aspect of BBM that drives loyalty is the network effect. Once a critical mass of my friends/family/colleagues are on BBM then it would be difficult being left out of that circle. I think you’ll find not just that there are individuals making choices of BlackBerry vs iPhone vs Android, but that these decisions are often well aligned by a an entire social group who all use the same means (BBM or otherwise) to communicate.
I suspect there is a ‘magic number’ of people, where if you have that many people in your BBM contact list then your loyalty to BlackBerry increases significantly.
Cheers,
Ben
http://jamescogan James Cogan

The keyboard advantage that BlackBerry has may be what is keeping its head above water at the moment. But how defensible is that really? Just google ‘tactile touchscreen’ and you can begin to see how challenged RIM will be on that front in the not-to-distant future by the touchscreen sharks circling in the smartphone waters.
http://tferthomas.com TferThomas

Hi Mark,

Very good article & I agree with the sentiment here.

One thing is very clear: Apple/Android underestimated RIM, and their “killer keyboard” big time!

I have never been a fan of touch screens, but with the BlackBerry Torch, I am changing my mind ….from a productivity perspective. I hunt for whatever app I need by effectively & efficiently using the touch screen (eg. Email, tasks, calendar, facebook, twitter, foursquare, feeds, etc (all running in the background)) & slide out the keyboard that RIM has spent so much time effort & capital into designing, and quickly thumb out what needed to be said/recorded/shared.

One word……beautiful!

My 2 cents,

@TferThomas on twitter

http://www.markevanstech.com Mark Evans

After a bit of a rough start, the Torch seems to be gaining traction. I was with someone on the weekend who doesn’t love his Torch but definitely likes it. Maybe the Torch is really the best of both worlds.

cheers, Mark

http://blog.suthakamal.com Sutha Kamal

I don’t think it’s the keyboard at all. There’re lots of devices with really good keyboards (as good as my 9700? no, but still really good)… I think it’s the fact that the Berry is a messaging machine. The BlackBerry OS is an antiquated piece of crap, but it’s mail client *still* runs rings around the iPhone/iPad’s-half-the-time-the-message-still-isn’t-loaded client. BBM still delivers what no iPhone push-messaging experience offers: reliable, seamless, device-to-device push with presently-typing, and delivery/read status… and it manages to do all of this without killing your battery.

So, actually, I think it’s all about it’s superiority at messaging…. if that weren’t the case, we’d see the Droid Pro (practically the same keyboard, global roaming, WAY richer OS/apps/browser) flying off the shelves… which we’re not.

http://www.markevanstech.com Mark Evans

It’s amazing that despite the BlackBerry’s shortcomings, it’s still has managed to survive and thrive by continuing to do a few things really well.

Thanks for the comment!

Mark

http://www.mobilesciencereview.com Raza Zaidi

it’s not really a differentiator if other smatphone platforms are doing it -android, win phone etc.

you also have to think about this – is it Rim’s choice or is it because they have an OS completely engineered for kbd only? (torch OS is mediocre at best)
http://www.lifeintheknife.com Shane

Suddenly, I have love for my Blackberry again. Nearly brought a tear to my eye. *sniff sniff.
http://voiceontheweb.biz Jim Courtney

Having, on my Torch, the combination of the touch screen for gesturing (and a touch keyboard for minimalist typing) accompanied by a real keyboard for intensive typing requirements is a big advantage but I have also found it useful to have the little touchpad just below the screen for moving the cursor around the screen, especially when you have to precisely position the cursor (for instance when two hyperlinks are really close together). It makes a difference to the overall ergonomics.

Note also that now there is the BlackBerry Style flipphone with OS/6 and a touch screen (only from Bell and Telus).
Noel

And now that Apple has announced iMessage, which is a free secure messaging feature in iOS5, the keyboard is the only reason anyone will stay with a Blackberry (other than maybe some people who feel the ostensible higher security of the Blackberry is worth keeping the device for).

And, in a matter of time Apple will have a tactile touchscreen keyboard too…