Today screenshots of the forthcoming Storm from Blackberry handset maker RIM hit the Internet. The Storm is meant to be RIM’s version of the iPhone killer, an all too familiar story from handset manufacturers in the last couple of years. Will the Storm help bring Blackberry products from the Enterprise market to individual consumers, or is RIM straying too far from its core competency?
Some of the details of the Storm are that it’s a full touchscreen device with onscreen keyboard and all of the email and calendaring features you would expect from the business-class device maker. This is the first phone that RIM will be releasing without a keyboard an it’s a fairly major departure for a company who has built their reputation on having the best Enterprise-class email capability of any phone on the market.
If you query any serious smartphone user or mobile-computing enthusiast about their biggest beef with the iPhone, it’s the lack of a full hardware keyboard. For anyone used to working with the help of a smartphone, whether for communicating or technical use, it’s a huge adjustment that makes the iPhone look unappealing and of questionable value.
You could argue that not everyone needs to type dozens of emails or text messages per day and so we don’t necessarily need full keyboards. However, I would have to say that the people who don’t use the advanced features of the phone aren’t likely to be in market for a smartphone in the first place.
Now, I’m not saying that RIM should settle for owning the lion’s share of Enterprise mobile customers either. However, this product comes away smelling like a me-too attempt to chase Apple’s tail with no clear differentiation whatsoever. It’s a fantastic design that could benefit from a sliding keyboard and be much more attractive than anything HTC has on the market today coupled with fantastic productivity tools and an iPhone-like dedication to the interface.
This seems to be where the market is heading. Consumers want a device that’s great for email, texting, music video and surfing the web wrapped into a beautiful design. We have beautiful and we have functional, but there’s a huge opportunity in the market for a company that can deliver on both.
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Before RIM was an “email device” company, they were a “network access” company. Their engineering history is in building wireless devices. Even before their two-way pagers.
For the bulk of their popularity the killer network application has been email, and the BlackBerry has serviced that quite nicely. That is probably still a very large portion of the network, but the iPhone has proven that there is an underserviced segment that cares less about text-driven content creation than it does about passive, accessible anywhere content consumption. Browing the web, watching videos, listening to music, playing games.
Those uses don’t require text entry to the extent that email creation does, and for that segment full keyboards are significantly less important than things like a great screen and an easy interface.
By offering a device that is a competitive alternative to the iPhone RIM ensures they don’t leave a significant market on the floor.
Rob,
You’re definitely right about the iPhone uncovering a market for content consumption on a mobile device. Apple vastly improved the experience of watching video and using a combined music/ phone/ web device.
However, these mobile-savvy customers are also likely to want powerful email and texting capabilities as well. And the Storm doesn’t improve upon the iPhone nor differentiate itself in the multimedia market whatsoever.
I think Blackberry is right to go after this market segment, I just don’t think the Storm is an innovative way to do so.
-tgd