RIM developing "Apple Killer" touchscreen BlackBerry?
The times has a verbose 2,000 word piece about the high stakes world of high-end cellphone manufacturers (no way!), specifically centered around RIM's post-iPhone trials and tribulations. Besides a bit of vague lip service paid to the 9000 series, they're claiming that two 3rd party developers -- no sources cited -- leaked that RIM has a skunkworks product dubbed "AK" (which stands for "Apple Killer"), and that apparently it'll be touchscreen. And then comes the tub-thumping money shot from co-CEO Mike Lazaridis: "I couldn't type on [the iPhone] and I still can't type on it, and a lot of my friends can't type on it. It's hard to type on a piece of glass." Right, until you guys decide to do one of your own -- these executive types are so transparent they might as well just be up front.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Stabs @ Apr 27th 2008 2:00PM
Oh Snap Engadget pwned you say?
Nathania @ Apr 27th 2008 2:44PM
i agree with Packetsniffer
plus, at least Blackberry will still offer choices, which Apple has a crappy history of doing.
GoodWill8675 @ Apr 27th 2008 5:49PM
My friend saw the iPhone 2 at a McDonalds in the hood of Buffalo, NY yesterday!
He asked the guy who had it but he only told him that its the iPhone 2.
So, I'm pretty jealous of my friend and that guy haha
teedee @ Apr 27th 2008 10:55PM
The iPhone is not only a great piece of hardware, the software is superb. The folks at RIM are great at hardware but who can argue that the software sucks! How are they going to compete with Apple. I have an iPhone and I have owned every blackberry produced. There is no comparison between the two. The Blackberry is the "green text terminal" and my iPhone is a mac.
blammo @ Apr 28th 2008 1:26AM
the iphone is a mac. believe it or not, that's the problem. it doesn't serve best as a cell phone, but it does unquestionably as a computer. there still is a difference between the two!
cell phones are handheld computers and RIM isn't dumb enough to forget that.
blammo @ Apr 28th 2008 1:23AM
the iphone is a mac. believe it or not, that's the problem. it doesn't serve best as a cell phone, but it does unquestionably as a computer. there still is a difference between the two!
cell phones are handheld computers and RIM isn't dumb enough to forget that.
Steve Mueller @ Apr 28th 2008 1:47AM
Besides what packetsniffer said, doesn't that model to the right look like it has, um, a *physical* keyboard? Just because a device has a touchscreen doesn't mean that you have to *type* on the screen.
davidhughes5 @ Apr 28th 2008 1:48AM
Apple knows the difference between cell phones and computers, probably even more so than RIM. I think it is WM that doesn't understand the difference which gives you everything but the kitchen sink.
More importantly, as others have said while the iPhone hardware looks pretty, what makes it such a success is its software. In terms of usability and ease of use it is way beyond any cell phone software on the market today. Same with computers, it is Windows, Linux or Mac OS X which makes the computer what it is.
What RIM needs to do is work with someone like Microsoft or work with someone else to work on a Linux distro, because they obviously don't have a clue when it comes to software, so they need to work with someone who does. That just doesn't go for RIM that goes for pretty much every cell phone manufacturer out there. They all need to start piling pressure on Microsoft to come up with a cell phone OS that can compete with the iPhone OS.
Virtuous @ Apr 28th 2008 2:14AM
RIM has a severe case of iPhone envy! A Blackberry with both a keyboard and a touchscreen would catch RIM up with Palm and Microsoft.
Arjun @ Apr 28th 2008 4:04AM
I couldn't find the link to the Times article in question in the post. I think this is it: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/technology/27rim.html?pagewanted=1
tristate @ Apr 30th 2008 10:54PM
The Iphone is a bad product, just like any Apple product, they are overpriced and also over-promoted... the only reason anyone wants them is because of the "hype" they created, which is why I believe the American public as a whole is stupid... you can't even add programs to the phone, you have to use "widgets"... If you can't install a program onto a phone, then you and the phone are useless... Also Apple sold their soul to at&t, which is also a useless company, so I have no reason to EVER want one... even when my carrier does get it after 5 years....
I have to argue that the software on a BlackBerry is by far the best software of any phone, due to the fact that it is so widely supported, and you don't see very many free windows mobile programs.... Plus if the BlackBerry is so terrible, there would not be a website such as CrackBerry.....