Apple, RIM rivalry heating up over apps, business

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
Comments by Research in Motion's co-CEO disparaging Apple's app strategy at this week's Web 2.0 Summit reflect a growing rivalry between Apple and RIM, while reports of early commitments to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet from corporations hint at the fierce competition to come over the corporate tablet market.



Though tension between Apple and RIM has been growing for some time, RIM took it to the next level earlier this week when it released a hands-on video comparing the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet with Apple's iPad. In the video, the PlayBook is shown to render websites faster, run Flash, and perform better on Web standards tests. The PlayBook is set to debut in early 2011, priced at "under" $500 to compete with the iPad.



RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie then proceeded to add fuel to the fire by laying into Apple during this week's Web 2.0 conference. When asked what he would say if Apple CEO Steve Jobs were on stage, he replied with, "You finally showed up." Critical of the abundance of iOS apps that duplicate Web content, Balsillie claimed that "you don't need an app for the Web." That claim, however, is misleading, since, presumably, the PlayBook will itself require a Web browser application to take advantage of 'the web without limits' as advertised.



Balsillie and Jobs traded words last month after Jobs announced that the iPhone had outsold all BlackBerry phones in the September quarter. "I don't see them catching up with us in the foreseeable future," said Jobs during the company's earnings call.



Jobs also expressed skepticism over the smaller 7-inch form factor of competing tablets, which includes the BlackBerry PlayBook. "We think the 7-inch tablets will be dead on arrival, and manufacturers will realize they're too small and abandon them next year. They'll then increase the size, abandoning the customers and developers who bought into the smaller format," he predicted.



Balsillie quickly fired back, asserting that Jobs' comments were irrelevant to people "who live outside of Apple's distortion field." "We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple," wrote Balsillie on the official BlackBerry blog.



As Apple continues to make inroads into the enterprise market, the threat it poses to BlackBerry increases. Hoping to convince some of the business tablet users who went with the iPad and iPhone to switch back to the BlackBerry platform, RIM is pushing the PlayBook as a business device.



Bloomberg reports that RIM has achieved some early success with attracting corporate customers to the PlayBook. The Sun Life Financial insurance group has agreed to purchase as many as 1,000 PlayBook tablets, while several other companies have also committed to testing or purchasing the device. ?The encryption was really the clincher in opting for the PlayBook,? said Sun Life senior vice president Tom Reid.



Meanwhile, Apple will be ramping up its efforts to market the iPad to businesses."We haven't pushed [the iPad] real hard in business, and it's being grabbed out of our hands," Jobs said in October. According to Apple, over 65 percent of the Fortune 100 are already deploying or trying the iPad.



"We've got a tiger by the tail here, and this is a new model of computing which we've already got tens of millions of people trained on with the iPhone, and that lends itself to lots of different aspects of life, both personal and business," he said.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 83
    RIM is dead. Playbook is garbage. Blackberry phones are garbage. The iphone and android devices wipe the floor with the crap RIM devices.
  • Reply 2 of 83
    Bogus article!

    RIM is getting jacked up by Apple. There is no way in hell RIM is going to outdo the effing iPad. That crap we've been seeing is some off the shelf sh** RIM threw together in a last ditch effort to keep their stockholder sedated. Apple's DNA is software and hardware and thier forte is fusing the two together and making MAGIC!!

    RIM ain't got that prowess.

    And when the iPad 2 drops all hell will break loose in this mother******!!
  • Reply 3 of 83
    Something that RIM far exceeds Apple in is easily enterprise encryption. I am sure many top companies or government contractors value that. However if Apple can match that level, provided they care to, then RIM is muerto.
  • Reply 4 of 83
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by maccherry View Post


    Bogus article!

    RIM is getting jacked up by Apple. There is no way in hell RIM is going to outdo the effing iPad. That crap we've been seeing is some off the shelf sh** RIM threw together in a last ditch effort to keep their stockholder sedated. Apple's DNA is software and hardware and thier forte is fusing the two together and making MAGIC!!

    RIM ain't got that prowess.

    And when the iPad 2 drops all hell will break loose in this mother******!!



    A- RIM will not fail, as ghostface, pointed out below, encryption is something apple does not deal with much, and is important to many orginizations



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ghostface147 View Post


    Something that RIM far exceeds Apple in is easily enterprise encryption. I am sure many top companies or government contractors value that. However if Apple can match that level, provided they care to, then RIM is muerto.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bullhead View Post


    RIM is dead. Playbook is garbage. Blackberry phones are garbage. The iphone and android devices wipe the floor with the crap RIM devices.



    B- RIM is not dead (currently is dying however), don't judge a product before it arrives.
  • Reply 5 of 83
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    "We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple," wrote Balsillie on the official BlackBerry blog.



    Yet we should be told how to think, work and interact with technology products by a bunch of "Microsoft-wannabes" who have no idea how to develop a really innovative hardware/software product development strategy, or to design products that look good and are simple to use?



    And Balsillie's rejection of the value of apps is just dumb, because the power and versatility of devices like the iPad can only be expressed by apps that are not just simple web browsers that run Adobe Flash. If he doesn't understand this by now, his Board should get rid of him pronto before RIM joins the 'wannabes' who can only watch as their customer bases desert them in droves for Apple products.
  • Reply 6 of 83
    tofinotofino Posts: 697member
    "You finally showed up."



    That's rich.



    How long did it take to get blackberry synching software for the Mac from RIM again?

    About two years after nobody cared any more?
  • Reply 7 of 83
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    Quote:

    Balsillie claimed that "you don't need an app for the Web."



    What?!! remember when SJ said developers can create web apps for the original iPhone? I remember and I remember the outcry. Apple didn't force anyone to create apps. Developers are free to either use the web apps or native apps.
  • Reply 8 of 83
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nicolbolas View Post


    RIM is not dead (currently is[sic] dying however), don't judge a product before it arrives.



    They aren?t dying either. They aren?t growing as growing as fast as Apple or the smartphone market, but they are still growing and are still a well managed company.
  • Reply 9 of 83
    They are floating around Sun Life Insurance as an early subscriber? Too predictable, being a Canadian company. Who else will patronize RIM if Canadians will not?
  • Reply 10 of 83
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Comments by Research in Motion's co-CEO disparaging Apple's app strategy .



    When RIM has served billions and billions of Apps like Apple, THEN they can disparage Apple's App Strategy.
  • Reply 11 of 83
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NasserAE View Post


    What?!! remember when SJ said developers can create web apps for the original iPhone? I remember and I remember the outcry. Apple didn't force anyone to create apps. Developers are free to either use the web apps or native apps.



    Yeah, without native apps, the Playbook is dead as an enterprise device, and that's really the only potential market it had.
  • Reply 12 of 83
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nicolbolas View Post


    B- RIM is not dead (currently is dying however), don't judge a product before it arrives.



    This is not directed towards you but more so to just make a comment. Don't compare it either!
  • Reply 13 of 83
    How about producing a product anybody can buy or even touch before denigrating the competition. I do not believe Mr. Jobs should have made the statement about the other form factors because it actually gives them credence by making Apple look defensive, but Apple does actually have a shipping product that is selling millions of units a month. The reason for that. The apps.



    Brian
  • Reply 14 of 83
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nicolbolas View Post


    A- RIM will not fail, as ghostface, pointed out below, encryption is something apple does not deal with much, and is important to many orginizations



    I didn't mean die as in out of existance. I meant as in they will have to accept a more diminshed role in market share. More than webOS or Windows Phone 7/mobile of course, but not as much as they are now. I think they lose at least 10-14% if Apple takes encryption seriously, but maybe 6% if they don't. Who knows. I'm not quite sober.
  • Reply 15 of 83
    RIM's circling the bowl, folks. They've got nothing to compete with Apple or even Android.



    Apps are key. RIM has no apps worth discussing. So Jim Ballsilie figures he can pretend apps aren't important and actually get away with it.



  • Reply 16 of 83
    I'm not sure what all of you do for a living, but in my office of attorneys, all sole practitioners, 1/2 still have opted for a blackberry. There are 3 of them, 2 iphones, one android, and one flip phone.



    So, I really don't think they're circling the bowl just yet. And if any of the speed claims of that video turn out to be true, there will be many people who will line up for a 7" tablet.



    Also, in the business world there are a lot of people who just hate Apple.
  • Reply 17 of 83
    It's funny how just a few years ago everyone I knew referred to RIM as having a distortion field. They were the furthest behind in every way in the technology of their BlackBerry's and business people would line up to buy their outdated crap. It took 2 weeks minimum to get a new model, but it was worth it because it was a BlackBerry. Now when someone else releases something that's actually new and revolutionary, they are just jealous that they have lost their magic.
  • Reply 18 of 83
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Crimguy View Post


    I'm not sure what all of you do for a living, but in my office of attorneys, all sole practitioners, 1/2 still have opted for a blackberry. There are 3 of them, 2 iphones, one android, and one flip phone.



    So, I really don't think they're circling the bowl just yet. And if any of the speed claims of that video turn out to be true, there will be many people who will line up for a 7" tablet.



    Also, in the business world there are a lot of people who just hate Apple.



    Eh, maybe. Not at Stanford Hospital though. My doctor and his intern both had iPads and they were taking notes and issuing orders. The doctor told me they are set up with an intranet and can access client's files, film, lab results etc. My whole case could be seen with the iPad.



    He said it was a whole lot easier than having to sit down at a workstation. Pretty nifty, eh?
  • Reply 19 of 83
    Don't know if this has been posted here yet. Thought I'd share. Saw it over at Daring Fireball which linked to laughingsquid.com. Pretty spot on, I'd say...



  • Reply 20 of 83
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tofino View Post


    "You finally showed up."



    That's rich.



    How long did it take to get blackberry synching software for the Mac from RIM again?

    About two years after nobody cared any more?



    He said:"you finally showed up" as Rim is leaving the party.
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