• About

LIVEdigitally

Can the BlackBerry Storm Kill the iPhone?

Posted on October 29, 2008 by Jeremy Toeman

I saw a post entitled “Why BlackBerry Storm Is An iPhone (and G-1) Killer” and thought it needed a rebuttal. The post makes some very salient points on how it’s a good device, on good carriers, app store coming, etc. All good points. Now let me explain why I think those points are utterly irrelevant.

The iPhone (which I don’t own, for the record) is not compared to the BlackBerry on the same terms.  It’s not a portable email device, and it doesn’t want to be one.  To compare the two devices its more important to think about the decision-making that goes in to buying either device.

Business buy BlackBerries.  They will continue to do so.  Few businesses buy iPhones, this too will likely remain the same.  Accordingly we don’t need to take enterprise purchasing into account, as this market makes purchasing decisions based on price, security, integration, etc.  What we’re really talking about here is consumers.

Consumers who buy luxury goods are not buying things based on cold-hard fact comparison.  If you drink Grey Goose vodka or use Kiehl’s skincare products or purchase Infiniti cars, odds are pretty good you do a lot less “comparison shopping” than you do when buying mainstream products (btw, for more on this I recommend reading “Trading Up“).  The iPhone clearly falls into this category, people buy it for reasons that have little to do with technical specifications or even feature set (heck, they sold almost 8 million units before they launched the app store).

The iPhone has further achieved success because, frankly, it’s an amazing product (despite its inability to do video recording like my good ol Samsung UCH-740). It’s one of the best phones, best MP3 players, and overall best gadgets you can buy.  It doesn’t matter if the BlackBerry does “somewhat better” in almost any category, whether it’s web-surfing, email, or downloadable games.  Being “better” is far from good enough to beat the iPhone.

A recent survey showed that 22% of teens wanted an iPhone.  I don’t think these same teens are even remotely close to buying a BlackBerry (you know, like Dad uses at work).  There’s no sex appeal to the BlackBerry brand, and building a great device isn’t enough to turn it into a sexy one.  Just ask the HTC G1/Android phone that question (that thing is enough to make Nokia phones look sleek!).

The BlackBerry Storm seems like it’s going to be one heck of a BlackBerry.  Best one ever, no doubt.  Probably the best portable email device ever made.  And they will probably grab a good chunk of the existing BlackBerry market.  But kill the Iphone?  That gun’s not loaded yet, and it would take RIM years to create the combination of product/brand positioning to come even close.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Reddit

Related

Posted in Gadgets, Mobile Technology | Tags: blackberry, g1, iphone | 10 Comments
« Sonos + Pandora = 42
Will the WePC be a Horse or a Camel? »

10 thoughts on “Can the BlackBerry Storm Kill the iPhone?”

  1. Tony says:
    October 29, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    Maybe you both have it wrong. You seem to think that the iphone is the be all end all of consumer phone devices and he thinks that it’s all about the specs. I’ll preface this by saying that I don’t own either. I chose not to buy an iphone because I didn’t want to switch from Verizon. I know many people who did. But here’s where I think the writer of the other article’s “TITLE” may be right. We may not buy these items because of all the specs and comparisons, we buy them because of the “Wow” factor. Honestly, how many people do you know that own either an iphone or Blackberry really use it to it’s full potential. Businesses will predominantly choose Blackberrys so that portion is a known factor. But I think you’re both talking about the general public. Iphones are toys for people to play with but now that Blackberry has a similar product, it will give people another option. The old adage that “he who dies with the most toys wins” somewhat applies here. Which one has the most toys? The iphone or the Blackberry? Iphone 3g still lacks a decent camera. Something that could have easily been thrown in. Other than that they’re comparable in so many ways. We know capabilities of a Blackberry and iphone, it’s what we don’t know about the Storm that could make it an “iphone killer”. It could be that the iphone is old now and cell phone owners want to “show off” something new. In the end they’re both toys and we’re searching for the one with most “Hey, look at me” factor. Personally I like the look of the Storm more than the iphone. Throw everything else that I think it will be able to do in with that and I’ll probably buy one. Just my opinion.

    Reply
  2. Jeremy Toeman says:
    October 29, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    Tony – you may have noticed that I prefaced my article by saying I didn’t have an iPhone either. but I still believe it’s an amazingly well built product. And I guess my point is i dont think BBerry will capture a “wow” factor, hence my entire post…

    Reply
  3. Dave Zatz says:
    October 29, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    Melissa has a Blackberry. She didn’t get it at work, uses it with Yahoo email. And she wants to replace her Curve with a Bold. Not an iPhone. Just another point of reference…

    Reply
  4. Jim Courtney says:
    October 29, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    Jeremy and Tony,

    Good points. If you check the URL you will see that my submitted title was “BlackBerry Storm Should Be Called BlackBerry Stealth”. In this case, Verizon does need a product to counter the iPhone and Storm is probably as close as it gets. Final pricing will certainly also come into play. The title did get some attention and I have been overwhelmed by the comments response; the more appropriate of which I have responded to in order to get some facts straight.

    Unfortunately the media in general always wants to compare BlackBerry Bold and Storm to iPhone; I saw it at RIM’s annual meeting in July. Frustrating, but it gets attention. Somehow market differentiation is not in their toolkit.

    Personally I see Storm largely being adopted by business and prosumers who can take advantage of all the features (and lots are not on the iPhone). On the other hand, iPhone is to some extent a handheld Mac with a phone application. And it will definitely appeal to those who are looking for a converged personal multimedia device. Certainly being able to use MediaSync to get sync with my iTunes music does introduce iPhone features into BlackBerry (and I could mention others).

    One point I tried to make is that the business savvy developers will develop for both iPhone and BlackBerry. It roughly doubles their potential market size. I have had good feedback on the BlackBerry Developer Conference and know a couple of iPhone developers who are going to develop for BlackBerry as a result of last week’s event. 3,000 applications to BlackBerry Partner Fund is no small number to ignore either. We’ll have to see about Android.

    And, Jeremy, you know that, as one of the first to bring a SlingBox into Canada, I look forward to SlingPlayer for BlackBerry .

    In closing I will always admire the iPhone for one reason; their introduction into Rogers pushed Rogers to get us some decent rates for data plans on all 3G phones (BlackBerry Bold and Nokia N95 8GB included ). They are 4% per MB of what data plans cost prior to the iPhone introduction.

    Reply
  5. David says:
    October 29, 2008 at 4:09 pm

    I wanted the iPhone myself for the capabilities and hated the fact that to get the capabilities I had to sacrifice quality of service (by switching from Verizon). I am ecstatic to have in the Verizon arena a phone that not only provides the capabilities of the iPhone but in many ways even surpassed them. I still really like many functions on the iPhone that are not there on the Storm such as the ability to “flip” through the music on the phone like a Rolodex and the fact that the iPhone has native graphics acceleration built in. Not game killers by far because the most important “gadgets and capabilities” that they share, the BB Storm is superior.

    Reply
  6. Jeremy Toeman says:
    October 29, 2008 at 4:09 pm

    @Dave I’ll quote… me. “will probably grab a good chunk of the existing BlackBerry market” 🙂

    @Jim I thought your post was great, I probably wouldn’t have written anything with the different title… any nice to see ya on the Om network!

    Reply
  7. Avi Greengart says:
    November 2, 2008 at 10:13 am

    (Since we’re all stating what we’ve got up front, I have an iPhone 3G and a BlackBerry Bold and I just recently got hands-on time with a pre-production Storm.)

    RIM was once exclusively targeting enterprise IT managers, and Apple has added Exchange ActiveSync, so it’s no wonder you’d think they’re battling over corporate-provided accounts. But the truth is, RIM and Apple are both targeting consumers, which is a much larger market than enterprise. This isn’t just wishful thinking on RIM’s part; according to its own data, a majority of new RIM customers are consumers, i.e., they don’t hook up the device to a BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Things like encryption and IT policy management may give RIM a clear advantage over Apple in large corporations, but just aren’t relevant to the hockey mom RIM and Verizon Wireless hope will buy a Storm. As such, it is perfectly fair to compare Apples and BlackBerries based on the consumer friendliness of their products.

    Reply
  8. Laowai says:
    November 3, 2008 at 11:09 am

    The article misses the point entirely – the iPhone is becoming a teen hype/hipster bait product as your reference in the article points out. Among a slightly older demographic, say early 30s, (myself included) the Blackberry presents a professional, purposeful, and dare I say “classy” image compared to the iPhone which is quickly becoming a cliche of flashy toys for insecure wannabees.

    This isn’t to say the iPhone isn’t good at what it does – it is. As a media player, MP3, and web browser it is unsurpassed as a mobile device. as a phone, just mediocre. As a mobile email device, doesn’t come close to a Blackberry.

    To put it succinctly, the iPhone excels at displaying media, whereas the Blackberry excels at content creation.

    Amongst my friends, a couple have iPhones, and a few have Blackberries. The utility of the Blackberry shines in it’s superb email capabilities, great call quality and reception, and monster of a battery,

    Reply
  9. Taco1008 says:
    November 9, 2008 at 11:39 pm

    http://www.blackberrystormreview.net – In case you want to learn more about it.

    Reply
  10. Visitor form the future says:
    October 17, 2012 at 5:04 am

    Wow, reading these old posts are a hoot. It was amazing how people back then were justifying BB over the iPhone because it was classier and more professional. And that enterprise sales would always be in RIM’s favor.

    Reply

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About

Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

Recent Posts

  • Back on the wagon/horse?
  • 11 Tips for Startups Pitching Big Companies
  • CES 2016: A New Role
  • Everything I Learned (So Far) Working For a Huge Company
  • And I’m Back…

Archives

Pages

  • About

Archives

  • January 2019
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • May 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • June 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005
  • July 2005
  • June 2005
  • May 2005
  • April 2005
  • March 2005
  • February 2005
  • January 2005
  • December 2004
  • November 2004
  • October 2004
  • September 2004

Categories

  • Convergence (81)
  • Gadgets (144)
  • Gaming (19)
  • General (999)
  • Guides (35)
  • LD Approved (72)
  • Marketing (23)
  • Mobile Technology (111)
  • Networking (22)
  • No/Low-tech (64)
  • Product Announcements (85)
  • Product Reviews (109)
  • That's Janky (93)
  • Travel (29)
  • Video/Music/Media (115)
  • Web/Internet (103)

WordPress

  • Log in
  • WordPress

CyberChimps WordPress Themes

© LIVEdigitally
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.