Blackberry Playbook

I just went from a Blackberry 8830 to a Zio, and Android just totally kills Blackberry for software/interface/etc.

The Zio is a bit underpowered, but my wife's Optimus is just the shits. Had to mention it since I've been a BB user for years and the switch just blew me away in a totally positive way. :)
 
The blackberry mobile OS is pretty messed up right now. With the recent acquisitions of QNX and TAT (The Astonishing Tribe, http://www.tat.se/what-we-do/), I imagine their phones will be getting a big overhaul. Tablet OS is completely independent from the mobile OS, so I can be excited about it.
 
Yeah... TAT did the initial Android interface so I expect that Blackberry phones will pretty well be looking a lot different by the end of 2011.

The acquisition of QNX in 2010 really indicates that a major overhaul is in the works from a UI and OS system perspective. Like many OS's the original purpose for which they were designed starts to hinder progress. Sometimes its time to start fresh.

Hopefully RIM will take this opportunity to reinvent itself while they are immensely profitable.

Personally, I think this first development of UI/QNX on the tablet is an enormous advantage. Who knows what limitations Android and Apple might have moving from a limited device (phones) to basically a computing device. The phones this year will start the dual + core craze, and moving QNX to that may be easier that adjusting iOS and Android to way better hardware. There may be bunch of legacy issues embedded that are inherent in the core of the OS to handle phones of the current and last two years.

Only time will tell.
 
Valzic said:
iPad's 4:3 ratio...

We been run through the changes in screen sizes all ready in our monitors, finally replaced last of my monitors in my home systems to 16:9. I really would like to see standardized sizes for even the tablets.
Click to expand...
What would be the advantage of having less choice?
 
True -- but Apple does only 4:3 ratio so if you are used to using 16:10 or 16:9 ratios and design programs based on that, you are stuck.

/sarcasm

Actually tablets all are NO choice... whomever makes...

Choice is always good, we have on PC's and not on tablets :)
 
Valzic said:
Personally, I think this first development of UI/QNX on the tablet is an enormous advantage. Who knows what limitations Android and Apple might have moving from a limited device (phones) to basically a computing device. The phones this year will start the dual + core craze, and moving QNX to that may be easier that adjusting iOS and Android to way better hardware. There may be bunch of legacy issues embedded that are inherent in the core of the OS to handle phones of the current and last two years.
Click to expand...

Only Apple and Android are not building on legacy phone OSs, they are building on top of Darwin and Linux kernels respectively. These products have started out on a computing device foundation. And Apple, of course, was predictably criticized for it. :)

It's simply RIM who is late to the party.

Of course, the success of an OS depends more on what (quality) services are built on top of the core, and even more on software availability and inertia. RIM is late to the party on more accounts than one.
 
The flash videos, even when emdedded in a complex website, seem to render at/near full frame rate.

I only wish all UI transitions were at 60 fps.
 
I like what I saw. The only real complaint going around is about the native email and calendar being reliant on having a blackberry. Basically, you sync your blackberry to the playbook, and then you can access your mail and calendar through a native client. If you don't have a blackberry with blackberry service, you can't use them. To me, it isn't a big deal because the large format and full-featured browser mean I can check my gmail and other web services like I would on my computer. And I'm sure there will be a Google Apps app, and a Facebook app etc.
 
Scott_Arm said:
I like what I saw. The only real complaint going around is about the native email and calendar being reliant on having a blackberry. Basically, you sync your blackberry to the playbook, and then you can access your mail and calendar through a native client. If you don't have a blackberry with blackberry service, you can't use them. To me, it isn't a big deal because the large format and full-featured browser mean I can check my gmail and other web services like I would on my computer. And I'm sure there will be a Google Apps app, and a Facebook app etc.
Click to expand...

ya I just cycle all my email through gmail so its a non issue. And as you said I'm sure there will be 3rd party email and calendar apps in any event, so it really doesn't cripple the device.
 
Scott_Arm said:
I like what I saw. The only real complaint going around is about the native email and calendar being reliant on having a blackberry. Basically, you sync your blackberry to the playbook, and then you can access your mail and calendar through a native client. If you don't have a blackberry with blackberry service, you can't use them. To me, it isn't a big deal because the large format and full-featured browser mean I can check my gmail and other web services like I would on my computer. And I'm sure there will be a Google Apps app, and a Facebook app etc.
Click to expand...

Why would you care about having an application for Google or Facebook, if having a native application for email and calendar isn't a big deal for you?

You can also access Facebook and Google from the browser.

I can see it do well in the minuscule market RIM currently possesses but that is about it.
 
Pressure said:
Why would you care about having an application for Google or Facebook, if having a native application for email and calendar isn't a big deal for you?

You can also access Facebook and Google from the browser.

I can see it do well in the minuscule market RIM currently possesses but that is about it.
Click to expand...

Huh?

I don't care about having an application for Google or Facebook. I'd just use the browser, like I do on my PC. I'm sure they will have apps for those people that want them.

The Blackberry market isn't exactly minuscule.
 
Scott_Arm said:
Huh?

I don't care about having an application for Google or Facebook. I'd just use the browser, like I do on my PC. I'm sure they will have apps for those people that want them.

The Blackberry market isn't exactly minuscule.
Click to expand...

Ah ok, I misunderstood then. It just feels weird that one really have to be locked into the Blackberry eco-system to use 2 important and fundamental features, as calendar and email.

Being from Europe, I usually consider worldwide coverage, hence my comment on RIM being a distant second to nearly every other mobile provider.

Nonetheless I still find the PlayBook interesting, although I doubt it will come further than North America.
 
Is Blackberry not big in Europe? I thought they were pretty big worldwide. They still have a very large chunk of the smartphone market here.

Yeah, the decision with the mail and calendar is a bit strange. I know for your blackberry services, they want you to piggyback through the phone because of security, for some reason. I'm not sure why they couldn't make the mail and calendar clients available for a regular IMAP or POP service. There will undoubtably be mail and calendar apps to address that need in the app store.
 
Blackberry doesn't have much marketshare, yet Research in Motion recorded about twice the profit of Nokia. Could it be because they completely dominate the highly profitable business market? Note this is with 45% revenue growth in their last quarterly report, so they aren't exactly falling away.

And apparently Blackberry is the number one selling smartphone in the UK.

On a conference call Thursday, RIM said international sales of the BlackBerry continued to surge, with 48% of its subscriber base now located outside of North America. RIM co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie said the BlackBerry is the top-selling smartphone in several Latin American and European markets, including the U.K. He said in the U.K. the number of prepaid smartphone subscribers, people who purchase smartphones without signing up for a long-term carrier contract, is surging, more than tripling year over year. "RIM is taking advantage of these dynamics to leverage our unique position and grow the business to record levels," he said.
Click to expand...

There's no question that blackberry is facing increased competition in NA from Android and iPhone, but I don't think they are quite dead yet.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
RIM is something like 30-40% of the smartphone market in the USA and the number is dropping, but the total number of subscribers is increasing. It's still an extremely profitable business, even if it is a little more niche in terms of users. I have no illusions that the playbook will take a huge percentage of the tablet market, or even remotely come close to challenging the iPhone, but that doesn't mean it can't be a good business and a good product. I'm very interested in getting one.
 
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