Tuesday, August 03, 2010
The BlackBerry Torch wants to please everyone
I took a look at the specs and pictures of the new BlackBerry Torch, just announced in an Apple-like event (not really, but good try anyway).
The first impression? The BlackBerry Torch wants to please everyone:
- Are you an old BlackBerry user? Here's your keyboard and four buttons.
- Are you a more recent BlackBerry user, used to the wheel? Here's your wheel.
- Are you an iPhone/Android user or someone that wants a touch screen? Here's your touchscreen.
Granted, this is a device which many consider the last chance for RIM to catch up to Apple and Google. Therefore, they needed to please the vast majority of users out there.
However, I have the feeling they might have missed the mark.
Maybe because of the low resolution screen (480×360 LCD, really, is it still 2005?) and low performance 624MHz CPU (hey, this was supposed the device where you catch up... not the one where you show how far behind you are...), but I can't see the mass market going for the Torch. I can't see people that wanted to buy an iPhone or Android change their mind and choose BlackBerry instead. They won't.
I see BlackBerry users thinking twice before leaving RIM. I see old BlackBerry enterprise users that have bought an iPhone or an Android considering to jump back, because they seriously miss the keyboard and the Torch is a decent compromise. Not consumers though, just enterprise users... Even for them, however, when you have something "cool", it is hard to go back to something "uncool". You need a lot of self-esteem to do it. And few have it (sorry, world of low-esteem people :-))
Bottom line: if the goal of RIM was to stop hemorrhaging users to other platforms and maintain a growing market in the emerging world (where owning a BlackBerry means being a "Manager", therefore someone who makes money, therefore cool), I believe they have a winner. If they were looking at expanding and catching up with the rest of the pack (which is what their investors wanted), I do not believe they made it.
Sadly. I do not think the BlackBerry Torch will please everyone.
Posted by Fabrizio Capobianco at 16:21
4 Comments:
Kari Mattsson said...
Fabo,
good text again from you! ...but...
we all know there are cars for different purposes.
People need them for different purposes, that's why different cars are manufactured.
People need mobile devices for similarly different purposes.
That is why we need el-cheapo phones, feature phones, smartphones (Symbian/BB), app phones (iPhone/Android), pocket computers (N900), etc.
BB might really have missed few points with Torch, but they know their customers rather well. Personally I'm not fan of BB's model, but it seems to work.
As a side note, I'm not fan of wPhone 7's walled-garden model either, nor iPhone's similar closed model.
Comment Posted at 14:27
Oh look, another BB basher... I find it incredible how many clueless "IT" people there are floating around the 'net.
First off, you never, ever, judge a device by the "specs"; that's something that "consumers" do, you know, the guys wandering down the aisle saying "but look Billy, this one has 1.2 giga rams!!" You pick it up, use it, test it, and find out if it does what you need it to do. When one is sending an email or answering a phone call, it really does not matter if the chip is running at 600 mhz or 1000 mhz, except that in the latter case you blow through your battery at a much quicker rate. If the interface is fluid and smooth, and is a pleasure for you to use, then the specs don't matter; whether it's battery life, screen size, memory, or chip speed. I'm not saying that the Torch is the best thing out there, but neither should anybody that has any knowledge of technology, bash a device purely on specs.
Second, with every cell phone out there today, there are trade offs to be made; to one, battery life is extremely important, to another, a keyboard that has no flaws, to a third, a screen that makes them swoon... different strokes for different folks.
Third, some people will find anything to bash a device just because they want to; really, you're complaining that the Torch gives you 4 options as input? Unbelievable... if they removed one, they would never here the end of it either, so apparently they just can't win. Don't like the little touch pad? Don't use it. Confusing huh?
Forth, (and I admit I'm sliding into "opinion" territory here), the Torch is not meant to be the iphone killer or to best every android device on the market. It's an evolutionary phone, not revolutionary. The OS is a slight upgrade, and the hardware is also an upgrade coming from any one of the curves, bolds or storms that are out there now. As the previous commenter mentioned, BB knows their customers, and you can bank on the fact that the Torch will bring home the revenue for RIM.
Comment Posted at 11:37
Fabrizio said...
Hey, I am a BlackBerry user, not a basher. My phone is a BB... I am just saying that RIM has tried to build a phone to please everyone, and what they got is a device that will please their existing users, but will not get new people to move to BB. I do not think that is bashing, it is a fact...
Overall, I think that stopping the bleeding was the goal, and they achieved it. Now the next move is on QNX. That might be the OS to move people over, but it might be a tad too late. We'll see. I am cheering for RIM.
fabrizio
fabrizio
Comment Posted at 16:17
Paris said...
This is a transitional phone with the goal of keeping existing users on the reservation while RIM redesigns their aging OS. This is why the wheel, the keyboard and the touchscreen have all been included. Lets hope the new BB OS is what OS X was to the beleaguered OS 9.
Post a Comment