BB Mania!
Following my earlier post on Blackberry's cult-like popularity in Indonesia, I would like to offer my own set of recommendations for RIM, the maker of Blackberry, and Apple, the maker of iPhone. Why? Because these are my wish list for a super smartphone that combines both of their strongest features.
I choose to pit Blackberry vs. iPhone because I see the iPhone as a powerful newcomer (already at third place in global market share) in the smartphone world with an astonishingly fast-learning abilities. Of course, I can't discount Nokia or even Nexia, which may prove to be an even bigger threat to Blackberry in Indonesian market.
But for all purposes, I think iPhone comes closest to the Blackberry in terms of the "It" factor, class and unique selling points. Nokia still holds the largest market share holder in Indonesia, but they are fast becoming irrelevant, and Nexia concentrates on selling introductory, low-end handsets.
For now, Blackberry wins hands down for business use, but I won't be surprised if Apple completely reinvents itself all over again within the next 2 - 3 years. If RIM doesn't play catch up to Apple's strong points - SOON, one day they'll wake up and see their precious Blackberry's market share flood over to the future "Unlocked iPhone 80GB with expandable micro SD and replaceable battery AND native push email 5.5GS." Remember that in Indonesia trends flare up like wildfires and once that fire started, there'll be no turning back, as in the case with Nokia.
Already the iPhone has the fastest processor, biggest onboard memory, the best, most beautiful User Interface of any smartphone in the market right now, and its webkit-based browser is constantly rated as the best in the industry. Tell me what won't stop them from giving their best into taking Blackberry head-on. I think that RIM, which has the world's 2nd largest market share, sits squarely on Apple's cross hairs. Taking out RIM would be their next logical step. Once RIM is out, then Apple can concentrate on tackling any Windows Mobile and Palm pestilence and eventually Nokia, which dominates at a whopping 43.7% and yet saw its market share tumble down from 49.4% vs. 2008.
iPhone took the world by storm and elevated mobile computing to the next level
The real problem with RIM is not about their devices. Well, maybe a little, since it seems like they keep on dishing out new models every 6 months or so - and this makes for Microsoft-esque business model, where people would rather wait for the next, better model to come out - myself included. But what is more significant is that RIM doesn't seem to be able to offer something truly new, something truly revolutionary. They don't seem to get it. RIM's answer to the iPhone was the Storm....with 1 GB of onboard memory and the same tired, restrictive Java script. Yes, Java is secure and can be locked down to a specific company's security level, but that very advantage RIM so loudly whistle blows also doubles as their biggest disadvantage: It cripples the way their operating system can be exploited by third party developers. With so much security and encryptions developers have to put up with, you can forget reaching anywhere near Apple's 50,000 applications on its App Store.
And then there's the issue of memory. It's incomprehensible that RIM still fails to take its cue from the iPhone. 1 GB on the Storm may seem like a lot of memory, but in the face of ever-increasing complex applications, feature-rich interactive games and memory-hogging multimedia applications, 1 GB is really not much at all. That is especially considering that the OS will become unstable and buggy when the memory is low. And then it'll start deleting old emails and call logs automatically, which is just adorable. Then you'd have to perform the battery pull when the device hangs up on you. Yup, that's right. "Perform the battery pull" is actually a time-honored official RIM recommendation for solving about 99% of the problems. Most of the BB forums out there recommends that one do a battery pull at least once a month. Don't believe me? (http://www.bbgeeks.com/quick-tips/how-to-solve-any-blackberry-problem-88906/).
Call it "convenient" or even an "advantage" (to the iPhone) that a battery pull can be performed and it'll fix problems, but to me, it's embarrassing to perform in public, and time consuming. It's.... primitive. Yes, some lucky ducks have never had to pull their batteries, but what about the majority? According to what I read on the forums, a lot of people do it, and many more had to do it on a regular basis to clean the memories. I must be one of those people.
Onboard memory size matters because this is where you put all the applications. You cannot download and run applications from SD cards. Apple's doing it right with putting in 8 GB, 16 GB and 32 GB of onboard memories. IT IS UTTERLY UNACCEPTABLE that RIM is trying to win over the consumer segment yet they fail to see this. It is unacceptable that some of their customers are still struggling to figure out how to transfer media files to the cards and getting confused why they can't download applications into the cards. It's unacceptable that they have to struggle to manage which applications they can download and can't. It's unacceptable that we have to put up with this. It is true that, thanks to the Java script, applications are relatively small and you can cram a lot of stuff in that scanty memory. But when a 6 MB application like Viigo is considered large by Blackberry standard, I know they have a problem. If RIM hopes to get anywhere on the consumer segment, they need to start working on their offerings of better, bigger, badder applications that are not only fun, but also beautiful and functional. And all this takes memory.
So now I ask, why should I buy Storm 2? The Magnum? The Tour? They'll be the same old shells in new packaging. Storm 2 will still have 1 GB of memory. The Tour will have 256 MB. The OS will still be based on Java, and it still won't be able to display full HTML web pages, and it still won't be able to play beautiful, multimedia rich, sophisticated games that iPhone users are enjoying.
The upcoming Blackberry Magnum, which will combine touchscreen and physical QWERTY full keyboard.
What is the difference between OS 4.5 that I have on my device right now with OS 5.0? New looks, added functionalities here and there, but that's about it. What RIM doesn't seem to get is that consumers want more and more everyday, and companies like Apple's got it. It revolutionized the OS paradigm, and they literally changed the game overnight. THAT'S what I want RIM to do.
What Apple did was they gave people an entirely new offering: A rich webkit-based OS browser designed with the "It" factor and the "Now" factor in mind - while RIM is stuck in the past. They'll still issue the same rigid, miserably limited, antiquated OS that was never designed to do things the year 2009 and beyond allows them to do.
I'm not trying to put RIM down and promote the iPhone. I love my Blackberry just as much as the next guy - it's a true blessing for my job search. But RIM is a company with so much potential and yet, they don't get it - yet. What I'm trying say is, RIM would do well to rethink its entire business model. Stop focusing so much on the hardware; start focusing on the firmware. Play catch up to Apple and Android. And this may prove to be their hardest challenge yet: Its Java dependence is so acute and so deeply ingrained in their entire infrastructure that it may prove very difficult if not nigh impossible to open up their OS to third party developers the way Apple and Android is set up to do.
I'm trying to say that a Blackberry at its core remains essentially a rigid business tool, no matter how much make up and polishes it receives. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but considering that it's trying to capture that all-important mainstream consumer market who WILL care about how web pages are displayed on the screen and how interactive games can be downloaded and played, I'm saying it's not going to work.
So now, I really like to sit back and see how this battle turns out to be. Not necessarily just in Indonesia, but also in the world. Who will be the most responsive and adaptable to consumer demand? For now, the Blackberry is one step ahead, but never underestimate Apple, who's an extremely fast learner. Who will emerge the victor in a country where a product diffusion's trickle-down effect can no more be pronounced than anywhere else?
As a matter of fact, I'll be watching closely for Nexian, the Indonesian handset newcomer. Positioned as a low-end, low-priced product, the Nexian Berry as it's called, possesses the same features of a Blackberry: Facebook, chatting and email. Priced at around Rp. 1 mil with one year warranty and bundled local cellular service, Nexian has sold over 2 million units since its launch in 2006, and is targeting another 4 million in 2009. Incredible growth, and certainly one heading toward critical mass success.
Nexian NX-G900, dubbed Nexian Berry. The hottest newcomer in Indonesian smartphone market.
With RIM, its biggest challenges would be to work on its existing infrastructure and roll out a completely different, off the hook, never-before-seen-on-Blackberry webkit-based OS that is not only web friendly but also developer friendly. It also needs to work on offering a better package that is much more consumer-centric while retaining all of its wonderful business functionalities. And please, no more battery pull outs. Just make the darn system more stable.
With Apple, its biggest challenge yet is learning to lighten up. If Apple's business objective is truly profit and its objective is to gain market share by selling as many iPhones as possible, then it would be wise to ditch its exclusivity aura and follow RIM's current model: Do whatever it takes to get as many people as possible adopt the device. Don't fight the people trying to unlock the device (a.k.a hackers) - they're trying to get YOUR product to the hands of consumers. Besides, you can't win against hackers - haven't you learned this already?? Instead, focus the resources on developing push emails and better office synchronizations.
One thing is for certain: At this point, no one makes the perfect device. Given the choices, I'll choose Blackberry just because it's more functional for my job search. But I drool over the iPhone's large memories and multimedia capabilities and its super clean OS. Whoever comes ahead in this battle, that's who I'll pledge my loyalty to...... and my money.
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