Live Blackberry Thunder shots – does RIM have the worst security over their prototypes or what?
Posted on 13 July 2008, at 5:26 pm, by Wayne Schulz
Either RIM thinks leaking pre-production models is a great way to create F.U.D. (fear – uncertainty – doubt) in the minds of the buying public – or they have some of the worst internal security over their corporate assets that the world has ever seen. For a company on the “hot track” for market share, growth and profits you think they’d invest a few bucks in locks. In May their (still unreleased) Blackberry Bold prototype was alledgedly sold via eBay (fully functioning and embarrassingly barren of noteworthy NEW features once you back out 3G). It’s a virtual certainty that the new models of Blackberry are leaked, photographed, described and dissected months ahead of their general availability. This seems a great way to give the competition ample time to prepare for their eventual launch. Which brings me to the latest photos appearing just now on Crackberry.com. These photos are supposed to depict the latest touchscreen Blackberry (aka Thunder). Whether corporate America warms to a touch screen Blackberry remains to be seen. I do have one prediction and one suggestion. RIM – take two lessons from Apple. First, don’t let your prototypes get all over the Internet – especially when they’re not showing anything particularly innovative. Second, it’s all about the applications. The game to beat is not hardware design — it’s the 500+ active applications that are available over the Apple App Store. By the time Thunder roars onto the scene you have to wonder how many more Apps will be available and whether RIM can catch up – leaked prototypes or not.
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July 14th, 2008 at 6:17 am
Well at first glance, it looks like at least they were smart enough to use the keyboard when it’s held sideways? WTH does apple do that in only a few places and where it isn’t critical… (Hey apple, why not let us compose email with the bigger keyboard…duh..)
July 14th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I’m gonna have to respectfully disagree with just about everything you said in this post. You state it isn’t innovative? It has haptic tech. It has a much better keyboard layout than Apple does imho. With Suretype in portrait and full QWERTY in landscape. It also is said to have this in all modes, unlike the iphone. It’s rumored that skins will be available for the keyboards. That’s a nice touch. They already have copy and paste functions which the iphone badly needs. They are rumored to be working on a full browser as well, just like the iphone. To say this product is not innovative is ludicrous. It may not be innovative to RIM since they have such a great productivity software foundation already, but hardware wise it could spawn a nice comeback in the touchscreen lovers Apple has stolen from them. Assuming they redid all the icons and GUIs on this phone to something more professional (face it RIM your designs look child like) than this phone coule be really sweet. Makes me think someone who posted this loves Apple a wee bit too much. I own both a BB and the new iphone. They both have their pluses and minuses. No phone is perfect.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I spent 10++ years with a Blackberry 24×7x365
Here’s why I left
http://www.geardiary.com/2008/.....ns-i-left/
Keyboard skins are nothing new. Windows Mobile apps have existed that create them for quite some time (I wrote about one today – iwindowsmobile – as a matter of fact).
July 14th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
You are correct, skins are not new. I was simply saying it’s a nice touch and is different for the “plain ole RIM.” I too have many years with BBs (10 now actually). I have come to love certain things about them. The iphone is an entertainment device first, a productive workhorse second. RIM is just now starting to get into the entertainment side of things really with their first decent and far from perfect rendition being the Curve. Most of the reasons you point out are things BB is and has been working on for QUITE sometime. All I am saying is BB is an excellent production phone and I accomplish things 10x quicker on it than I do my iphone. I absolutely love my iphone, but it by no means will ever replace my BB anytime soon. Apple still has alot to do. If you are more concerned about entertainment than by all means right now hands down the iphone is your best choice IMO. It’s also rumored that adobe flash player lite will be implemented in the new browser. There are alot of rumors or things in the works that would make it an excellent phone. But as I am sure you are aware RIM tends to fall on it’s face and leaves 60% of the things it was working on out of the final model leaving you with mild improvement. If they would simply get all these features into the phone it would really compete with the iphone when it comes to what I would call “mild business users.” I think younger generations will always choose the iphone over a BB simply because of name branding and recognition.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Oddly enough the thing I miss the most about Blackberry is the password keeper. I’m actually still carrying my 8320 solely for that purpose (in my backpack).