Tomorrow AT&T and RIM are expected to unveil the BlackBerry 9800, their first OS 6 smartphone. This is the biggest single leap BlackBerry’s software has made, and its reception will define how well RIM competes over the next year and beyond.
The old giant, Nokia, still carries a lot of weight (though it’s slowing down), while Microsoft has wiped the slate clean and is kicking off Windows Phone 7 soon with some fresh ideas.
Palm, the only other manufacturer to have been in the game as long as RIM, attempted a similar rebirth which ultimately failed, but remains in the picture thanks to HP’s acquisition.
iPhone caught a lot of attention right off the bat with a good-looking experience, and has over time plugged the obvious gaps like cut and paste and multitasking in order to count itself among the big-boy smartphone OSes.
Meanwhile, Android flung open the doors and welcomed every interested manufacturer, resulting in an ever-growing army of phones with a plethora of form factors with a variety of user interface tweaks, all with a common application platform.
This leaves RIM still commanding a healthy chunk of the smartphone market, thanks in no small part to their pioneering of the category and the surprising new interest from everyday consumers outside of the boardroom.
BlackBerry is certainly fully-matured, but its age is showing, and those loyal to the brand are looking to OS 6 to be the thing that rebuilds its momentum, especially in light of younger, more agile platforms.
The installed base is too significant for RIM to consider a full-blown reinvention (a maneuver unproven by Windows Mobile, and shown to be a tragic failure by webOS), but the growing demand for smooth graphics and a rich application market is forcing the BlackBerry operating system to grow.
Read More @ intomobile.com
The old giant, Nokia, still carries a lot of weight (though it’s slowing down), while Microsoft has wiped the slate clean and is kicking off Windows Phone 7 soon with some fresh ideas.
Palm, the only other manufacturer to have been in the game as long as RIM, attempted a similar rebirth which ultimately failed, but remains in the picture thanks to HP’s acquisition.
iPhone caught a lot of attention right off the bat with a good-looking experience, and has over time plugged the obvious gaps like cut and paste and multitasking in order to count itself among the big-boy smartphone OSes.
Meanwhile, Android flung open the doors and welcomed every interested manufacturer, resulting in an ever-growing army of phones with a plethora of form factors with a variety of user interface tweaks, all with a common application platform.
This leaves RIM still commanding a healthy chunk of the smartphone market, thanks in no small part to their pioneering of the category and the surprising new interest from everyday consumers outside of the boardroom.
BlackBerry is certainly fully-matured, but its age is showing, and those loyal to the brand are looking to OS 6 to be the thing that rebuilds its momentum, especially in light of younger, more agile platforms.
The installed base is too significant for RIM to consider a full-blown reinvention (a maneuver unproven by Windows Mobile, and shown to be a tragic failure by webOS), but the growing demand for smooth graphics and a rich application market is forcing the BlackBerry operating system to grow.
Read More @ intomobile.com
