RIM CEO on BlackBerry Storm: "nobody gets it perfect out the door"
By Darren Murph 
posted Apr 16th 2009 8:04AM
posted Apr 16th 2009 8:04AM
As the interview progressed, the co-CEO took the opportunity to snub Apple on its inability to get Push Email out early on, noting that BlackBerry OS has "constantly been underestimated" and was "designed to multitask from day one." He also stumbled all over himself when it came to speaking about the BlackBerry's web browser, stating that "by writing our browser in Java, that provides our CIOs and wireless managers the assurances they need, to allow the browser to access internal information at the same time it accesses external information." We've literally meditated on that for a solid half-hour, and we still have absolutely zero idea what it means in English. Nevertheless, the whole thing is a pretty great -- if not comical -- read, so give it a look and share your colorful opinions in comments below.
Storm is not so terrible, it's just not a great Blackberry and certainly not an iPhone. But you're still better off than you would be with an enV or other such "feature phone"
Agreed
So if it's not a blackberry or an iphone... what is it?
What's terrible is the shoddily painted red table that Engadget keeps shooting tech on. Please, for the love of cool gadgets, stop.
Well, just to be fair to Apple, RIM didn't get their first smartphone right either. Go read an old review of the Blackberry 5810 back in 2002. People are complaining about the lack of a real keypad to dial numbers or a lack of a backlight for the screen or the lack of a speakerphone or microphone, which is very interesting because on the 5810 you had to use the headphones to speak. Sound familiar?
I even read a review with a guy saying, "Reasons not to consider the Blackberry outweigh the reasons to buy one. It is one of those devices that would be fun for a week, but then I know I would wind up going back to using my old cell phone just because the usability on my cell phone is easier."
Sound familiar? That's exactly what people were saying about the first iPhone, except ironically, many people were going back to using their Blackberries. Companies like RIM had years to get their smartphone right. It's pretty remarkable that Apple got so much right the first time. Remember that when people complain about the iPhone not having something silly like MMS.
A buddy of mine bought one at launch and I held my tongue after playing with the Storm for a half hour. Fast forward six months and he can't stand the thing. It wouldn't be quite so bad if not for the chintzy click screen...that "feature" is a kludgy piece of shit.
I god damn love mine...The difference is I've gone and updated the OS before offical releases. I'll have to agree that in it's original form it was just too buggy. I bang away accurate, lengthy emails all the time with ease and at very fast speeds. I never used a Blackberry before the Storm, I'm certainly sold on it.
That said, 90% of the people who comment on this thread, comment from an iPhone and have never used it. Even more annoying is the constant sarcastic tone of Darren believes is proper for a tech blog. If you were attempting to be funny, you failed. If you were attempting to sound like an arrogant prick on his high horse, you've succeeded.
@skant
Many of us who comment here had tried it in the carrier store or bestbuy, etc. Two thing I hate about Blackberry storm is requiring to press the screen for every key (that's just plain stupid, I hope it is not the case anymore), the browser is still nowhere near safari/anroid for javascript/css intensive stuff.
@Tin I respect that you innately dislike the click feature, since that's more a personal preference (I'm assuming that you think that clicking just takes too much additional effort as opposed to a simple tap on a keyboard). I think it's brilliant and find that it's the exact reason why I type very quickly on it. The feedback really gives me a lot of faith in what I'm typing, I don't know how to better describe it. Surely there is an actual mechanical reasoning beind it. For me though I find the click screen to provide additional functionality in the form of a third dimension of usability. Without the screen being a button, differentiating between a selecting and typing would have to be done within the construct of tapping as in the iPhone or others (HTC, Onnia etc.). What Blackberry has done is seperate the two, leaving selecting to tapping the screen and dragging, while typing is exclusively done by clicking the screen. While I have to accept that some people will take longer to get use to typing through a floating screen-sized button, it was very intuitive for me and my mind just wrapped around the concept quite easily. This same seperation is used in the media player to bring up the timeline for instance, or the browser to bring up functionality buttons and to my disappointment I think RIMM hasn't done enough to exploit this seperation (and neither do I think they had it in mind when they initially developed it).
The execution hasn't been the best, and I've tried some handsets, where the screen felt significantly different than mine. Some the button barely felt present and with others it feels like it takes too much force to click. Next version has to be far more consistant and truly find that sweet spot. Rimm has made plenty of mistakes and it's easy to focus on them exclusively, but there's two sides to every story...well unless Darren is writing it.
RIMs been in the business of push notification for about seven years. It definitely should have gotten it right by now. Apple still has a few things to learn about smartphones but so far they're doing fairly well. A heck of a lot better than most smartphone companies.
I would have went with "FIRST" but, good comment...
I think the guy looks like a total shit shoveler...Damn Canadians...
Aren't the Canadians afraid of dark?
awww. Looks like the Canadian apple hater has a thin skin.
Actually, I've just been made aware that "shit shoveler" is a derogatory anti-gay slur. I thought it was, you know, a hick cleaning out a barn or something...
Anyway, not cool.
>>> "...You know other companies were having problems with their first releases..."
An aside about Palm and the Pre?
Can't get much "first" than new underlying Linux OS, new Web-oriented next layer including cloud-based servers, new hardware!
Nokia XM 5800. First Nokia touch-screen phone, fist symbian touch-screen phone. They spent their time perfecting the OS before the release, not after.
Eh, I have a 5800 and Nokia didn't get everything right out of the box by any means.
That said, Nokia are speedy with firmware updates so it's very good now plus, of course, the 5800 is a test model for Nokia's future touchscreens which will continue to improve on an already excellent proposition.
Or could be referring to the iPhone. Even the world's most perfect phone wasn't perfect out of the box
No, but compared to the Storm, the flaws were minor. And they were addressed in free software updates so that a year from original release, it would gain an Application Store. In another year, that store would be counting down to a billion apps served and a software release that addresses nearly all the software flaws. For free.
Blackberry got it entirely wrong (see: cliky screen), and haven't been very forthcoming with updates, instead telling early adopters to just eat it. You wouldn't have to do that with Apple, Android, or hopefully Palm,
Wrong, the presence of the dozen or so leaked OSs is proof that RIM has not told their customers to eat it. They are working to get updates out (and they are if you're willing to get a leak) but its the CARRIERS (VZW) who determine what version is made official. And frankly, if VZW doesn't think something is good enough to be official, I'm fine with that because I'll get it and try it anyways. BTW: the newest leaked OSs are awesome. Not quite as smooth as the iPhone, but getting very close. As soon as RIM starts using OpenGL (maybe in 5.0) it will be as good as the jesusPhone
Also, whether the updates are official or leaked, they are free. The App Store is free as are some of the apps in it. Its up to the dev to decided if they want to sell the app or not, as it should be. It should never be up to RIM to decide if a product is good enough for someone to try and make money for their hard work.
@KarlW
The clicky screen makes the phone far easier to type on than the iphone in my opinion (I had stayed away from the iphone due to the typing but as soon as I had a go on the storm I went out and purchased one straight away). It has got a lot of bad press due to the slightly buggy OS and the fact that compared to a normal blackberry it is nowhere near as good to type on. However this is true of of any touch screen device.
The iphone may not have been exactly buggy from launch in os general terms but the failiure to implement any sort of cut and paste, video capture, multimedia messaging etc could be seen as worse than some small bugs.
The Storm is not perfect but it is the best phone I have ever had and does what I want it to do brilliantly. I love the GPS and the email functionality is excellent.
one does not spend millions on R&D and focus groups simply for them to say "no body gets it perfect out the door" in the end. i think its a cheap excuse.
also does anyone else see the irony in making a statement like then then bashing on apple for not getting things like push and multitasking "out the door" right away?
its a FOCUS GROUP to give them an idea what people want, it will not satisfy everybody not even the iphone can do that. He talked about the iphone as an example of a good product that didn't get everything right straight out of the box and not to bash it with insults. If that was the case Apple had the focus group and the whole world complaining and push email and copy and paste and it is only now they decided to make changes
ahh.. could you be more of a cliche? VW and an Apple fan? Do you wear cardigans too? love expensive ikea crap?
anyway, maybe he wasn't just talking about push notifications:
cut/copy/paste
mms
shoddy camera
push/the entire mobile me set up
storage
battery life
signal
dropped calls
stereo bluetooth
several others....
the iphone wasn't perfect either... yet, apple had more time than any of the others to get it right. let's see, it hasn't quite been two years and we're JUST NOW getting excited about being able to use a "mobile multimedia do-it-all POWERHOUSE" that has stereo bluetooth, MMS, and cut/copy/paste.... on its third generation.
give me a break.
having said that, I will most likely go for my first iphone with the 3rd gen... but don't dilute yourself into thinking that apple is perfect. now, go back to driving your oil-leaking nazi-wagon.
I don't see the irony since Push mail and Multitasking are well mastered technology and Apple just decided not to implement them.
So they could make a 3.0 OS and millions of fanboys would rush to the Apple store to buy their brand new iPhone with brand new OS which features PLAIN OLD stuff like Copy/paste, multitasking (but not really that's for the 4.0 OS) and Push Mail which have been offered by the other manufacturer for several years now.
@dolapo10
true Apple also didnt get it right straight out of the door either. But at the very least as soon as problems came up, they quickly released software patches. The Storm on the other hand patches trickle through every couple months and lets just hope to god that it will actually fix something or anything at all.
There has to be an understanding in "getting it right" and "getting it perfect". The Apple's and the RIM's and the Palm's do not want to put everything in their "first" attempts because, if they did, they would lose out on the upgrades.
So, I think they intentionally leave out certain functions in order to add them on later products to say that these later products have "new" technology. But that is no excuse for buggy-ness....
"ahh.. could you be more of a cliche?" says the guy with the chin strap beard & oversized earring plug things! The irony!
Bet you have a ton of stupid tattoos too!
@skeezle
and what cliche are you referring to about me? I don't look good with a goatee and I can't shave my whole face every day or I get razor bumps.. not to mention, I think it looks good on me. And so what about my "plugs"?
Your name is "skeezle" and you have a picture from A Clockwork Orange on your profile.. how very original of you as well. At least I have the balls to come up with an original name and have my real picture on my posts.
....but 'ultra-violence', raping a housewife, and beating up old homeless men is so much better. Nice movie character to represent yourself by. Go back to your mother's basement, child.
Not to turn this to a palm discussion, but they couldn't get their FIRST os correct...I wouldn't buy the pre if you paid me to.
And, the storm does indeed suck....pretty badly...
I certainly wouldn't buy it for about 6 break-the-software/hardware-in-REAL-WORLD-use months (*); assuming the many competitors have been sitting on their hands and don't come out with something equally (or more!) interesting, I'd consider it.
(*) Palm has mentioned the "scalability" of their web servers (remember, WebOS is aimed at offloading functionality/data to the Web and that means Palm's/Sprint's web servers as a starting point) but I'd bet they haven't tried 50,000 to 100,000 simultaneous accesses in a real-world test!
Yeah, that first iPhone was such a complete disaster.
It sure wasn't perfect though, was it?
As for the Storm, that was a disaster.
how so? The first iPhone is exactly the same as the iPhone 3G minus the 3G and GPS, WIFI and Edge make the device very usable and the core location technology it uses feels like GPS. The original software is still leaps ahead of anything on the market.
hmm, 1 very large thing
NO APPS
At that point in time, the iphone was just any other feature phone except that it had a good media player. Hell, it was a crap phone, and it had no folders in the mail app. The texting could be done in landscape, one of the touted features of the phone. Sometimes, you just have to face it that the iphone SUCKED at launch.
The "success" of a device at launch is determined on how many people wanted one and how many sold. The original iPhone, despite having a very limited feature set, sold more than many other phones that were on paper much better. I would say Apple hit a slam dunk with their FIRST try on a phone. Not to mention all the upgrades you would have, and still will receive if you have an original iPhone. How many other phones can you buy two years ago and still be getting upgrades that add many features.
I agree that the original iPhone was very much lacking, I had mine jailbroken within the first week. But to dismiss the iPhone is just plain silly. You could have the suckiest piece of crap, but if it becomes the number one selling device, it is a complete success. And on top of that it was at a very high price point.
The only reason Apple hit a 'slam dunk' with the first generation iPhone is that it a) Marketed the damn thing more heavily (even before it's official announcement) than any other device I've seen, and b) OMG!!!!11! It's an iPod and a Phone, AT THE SAME TIME!!!!1
Oh RIM, you make me laugh. I cant wait to see how big of a flop the Storm 2 will be.
Come on dude it's gonna have Wifi ;)
It should have had WiFi already...
MMMMM... battery draining WIFI... bring it on...
haha ya I bet Verizon will be kicking themselves for a long time coming for turning that partnership down!
Fair enough - it wasn't perfect when it was launch.
Now since you have fixed a lot of the bugs with newer Firmware - how about your put some pressure on Verizon to actually release the update?
You are allowing Verizon to make your product look bad.
Is the Storm still lousy. I would love it, but not if the problems haven't been fixed.
No, the phone isn't lousy if you go and get one of the leaked OSs. The most current offial OS is very stable, but slow. Still wouldn't call it lousy tho.
If there's one thing I learned about the Verizon Wireless Bridge and Iron Works, they don't release an update until it's damn well good 'n tested. I learned this with a Treo 700p (that I ultimately replaced with my BlackBerry Curve). I waited months for a maintenance release that was to fix some very serious flaws with the 700p, only to have it come out and make the phone worse. Incidentally, it was at that point I chucked my Treo and became a BlackBerry defector. I haven't looked back.
Incidentally, I think the Storm is kind of cool--it's just that I've been typing on smartphone keyboards since my first Handspring Treo 300 that it would be difficult for me to switch to a touch-screen keyboard. The Storm's keyboard/display is a love-it-or-hate-it affair. I don't feel I can type as fast on it as I can with my Curve. And I send a -lot- of mail with it.
thats a ceohh no he didn't. I know u will think i am a fanboy but the first iphone was not buggey. 2.00 was buggey but was not the first touch screen phone apple did.
How do i know that i will be lowly ranked?
He's not talking about bugs, he's talking about how not everyone gets it perfect (i.e. pleasing everyone) which is impossible anyway but the iPhone isn't anything like perfect/exceptional. It may be very good but it certainly hasn't pleased everyone nor did Apple get everything perfect first time around (or there would be no need for firmware/hardware revisions)
@Gnormie: There is a difference between not being perfect and being crappy. The iPhone, for example, was not perfect when it was released, and actually it is still not perfect today, but people generally liked it. The subsequent software and hardware updates of the iPhone brought features that built on top of the solid core functionality, but none of them was really a crucial essential thing - neither push email, nor the SDK, nor even 3G. The Storm on the other hand is generally disliked for being clunky, clumsy and cobbled together. It is really a far cry from the usual Blackberry user experience, which although being quite a good one on its own is still behind the one the iPhone provides.
Ironically, the first iPhone was not buggy at all. The iPhone 3G on the other hand, was very buggy. In fact, the iPhone 3G is what most people expected the first iPhone to be, but somehow, Apple really delivered a solid platform the first time around. Most companies get it in reverse. They deliver something slow and buggy at first, but then it gets better in the second version.
I have a coworker that has the storm and it is not bad at all. Blogs are soooo negative, it disgusts me. What really discourages me is that Engadget is slowly just becoming another Gizmodo with it negative tones and sarcastic titles.
For the iphone being apple's first cell phone... embarrassing for rim to say that.. ouch..
As a software developer, my best-guess translation of the "internal and external data" quote is that by "internal data" they meant that either third party developers or perhaps even driver developers could work with the browser through Java API calls. As for "external data" I suppose that means stuff on the internet like a web browser normally gets?
It still is a bit confusing, which is what happens when you have someone that's not working on the project and not behind the design of it try to comment on why it was designed/made that way. I hear things my boss say that I want to facepalm about because it's worded so horribly, even if it is on the right track.
"nobody gets it perfect out the door"
I agree and understand that, but what upsets me is that a majority of bb users haven't received an updated o/s since launch. That was 6 months ago. That is inexcusable. Stop this unofficial leaked crap and give me something the keeps up my typing.
Whenever I've made negative comments about my POS Storm all the trolls come out of the woodwork to bash me. Glad to hear that even the head of the company admits it's a POS.
"by writing our browser in Java, that provides our CIOs and wireless managers the assurances they need, to allow the browser to access internal information at the same time it accesses external information."
RIM apps are written in Java. If they were to use a browser like webkit, they'd have to bridge the java service apis with the C browser code. This is hard to do while maintaining security and stability. So you'd either have a browser that didn't look like or interact well with the other apps/phone services or you'd have lots of unstable code.
WooooW easy partners you're talking code 'n stuff..
Just be cool buy a song on itunes..
you need to relax.
Yeah, having a WebKit based browser in a Java application environment is crazy talk. I mean it's not like anyone else has done it before.
Android? Um, what Android?
What I infer from that comment is that because the browser is written in Java, and therefore extensible, a corporate IT department could modify it such that it can access a behind-the-corporate-firewall (internal) intranet, as well as the open (external) Internet. It could also be made to work with a company's internal data-processing mechanisms, e.g. SAP and PeopleSoft.
Yeah I think Push mail and Multitask is really not important right now... what's important is touchscreen, widgets, games ! iFart and so on!
this shit ROCKS dude ! YEAHHHH YUUUPPPYYYYYY mum bring me my iPhone please..
You make me sick engadget sometimes...
You don't think BB OS was underestimated ? you don't think Push mail + multitask > whatever Apple has been pulling ?
You don't think it's outrageous that Apple calls its iPhone a smartphone when it doesn't have multitasking, a features BB OS (and WinMo and Android and Symbian) has had for 6 years ?
Really I don't get you : some imperfections, mistakes are OK (those that Apple makes) and some are not (everything Apple got right and the others didn't).
What makes BB OS rather neat is the basic security from the ground compared to other mobile OS's (besides Android which i´m not familiar with). Another neat future is that BB´s are easily maintainable by your ICT department and they can get full control over it together with the option to develop your own software without sharing it with Cupertino. That said the Storm is immediately a strange bite in RIM´s production line. Every mobile is focused on towards business people (aside from the failed Flip) and all of a sudden they want to join the whole Touch crap. I would prefer RIM keeps focussing on the business line where they are superior over the others and leave the touch competition for HTC/Nokia/LG.
The iPhone is running a UNIX OS - it's a multi-user, multi-tasking and multi-threaded device. What you are complaining about is Apple not permitting 3rd party applications to run in the background and that's something entirely different. Why this is such a big deal to people is quite beyond me but I suspect it is just something to complain about. Just because everyone else does something does not necessarily make it a "good idea" and I will happily argue against running applications in the background unless they can actually be interacted with (if not then what's the point of them continuing to run?).
You sir are 1)bizarre 2)uniformed 3)maybe rabid.
A) the iPhone has multitasked and had push mail since day 1. The multitasking is mostly non stop, as in listening to music and on the net. The push u are sprouting crud about is for apps not mail and I am glad they are taking their sweet time cause providing push for 25,000 different apps to 30million devices and not having a total disaster is a tad different to RIM doing push only with their email server with one app, mail.
As for the Storm, my brother has one, it is a depressing device. The menu is like some 8bit monochrome NES thing with this giant screen sized slab of glass mechanically clicking button that even wobbles as you press it. He showed me with despair it's terrible scrolling, poor feedback and the special way you can't type 2 numbers after each other.
I pondered the crap glass button screen and decided it might have been a forward looking move cause now RIM can claim ownership of implemented haptics which will be very valuable in 5 years if they survive.
Concerning the java implementation of the browser. I believe what he was trying to get across was that because of the ease of sandboxing with java they wrote the browser in it. That way it makes it much easier to handle security issues that various companies might have with the new browser.
Perfect? LOL. This piece of junk wasn't anywhere close to being perfect.
They should have used the slogan "The Blackberry Storm - For folks who wanted an iPhone but couldn't get an AT&T signal"
More like: "The BlackBerry Storm: All the cool features of the iPhone, plus multiasking, and access to your internal corporate network with push mail. And what the heck; we'll throw in MMS, too, as an added bonus, along a better camera with camcorder capability, DRM-free music management and interchangeable memory cards. Oh, and did we mention you have access to the very best cellular network on planet Earth, as opposed to the shittiest (but don't take -our- word for it--just ask J.D. Powers and Associates)? How'd you like to drop a call maybe once every few months instead of three or four times a day? One more thing: You can actually place a Storm DIRECTLY NEXT to a speaker or speakerphone and not worry in the least about interference."
"...to allow the browser to access internal information at the same time it accesses external information"
Presumably, it allows the browser access to the information on the phone: contacts and all the info attached to that, txt messages, emails, music, or whatever other programs the OS has access to?
I didn't think anyone gets it that bad out the door after being in the industry for so long....BURN.....
Honesty is the best policy, its good that they actually admit this. To admit something means they are working on it to improve or change it for the better. unlike mac, who lies and hides and blames other companies for bad products, and then says their customers don't know what they want. I don't own a storm, but ive heard a mixed review... same went with the original iphone.
I think the honesty is refreshing. Anybody who knows anything about tech should know that the first product out the door is going to have shortfalls. You pay the price to be an early adopter.
It was a rushed product, almost to the point of panic. The Storm also goes against all that RIM has achieved with its other devices which are solid, reliable and incrementally better. It is picking up lots of subscribers still and it's device portfolio is strong. However, as others have said, the Storm is an embarrassment in that it has not been significantly updated, is underpowered, the interface click screen is clumsy and gets in the way. Kudos to a quick product launch, but eight months later people do not want to hear excuses, they want a fix.
My GF loves her Storm. Whenever I use it (like the average geek) I see all the failures inherent in it's design and execution, but all the GF sees is the huge screen and all the functionality - and she's right. She can do stuff with the Storm she couldn't do before (including turn by turn GPS).
Aside to Apple: When people are using turn by turn GPS their phone is plugged into the car so the battery isn't an issue!
Anyways the point is that while WE know it's buggy, slow, inelegant and generally crummy, the bulk of the people who use these devices are still blown away by the reality of having a tiny touch computer with them at all times.
Didn't Apple get the iPhone right perfectly out of the door the first time? It is selling very well. For a RIM CEO to say that is saying that they give up and can't create innovative, usable products. They pretty much admit that the iPhone is superior.
"Didn't Apple get the iPhone right perfectly out of the door the first time?"
Given that we are awaiting the release of version 3, I think it is safe to say that the answer to your question is "no".
No they didn't
>> "Given that we are awaiting the release of version 3, I think it is safe to say that the answer to your question is "no"
Waiting? Didn't the iPhone become the best selling phone in the US? Like 10,000,000 phones in less than 2 years?
That doesn't sound like anyone waited for version 3...
Well, speaking personally, I'm waiting for version 3 since I want Turn-by-Turn GPS navigation and 32GB capacity. Still, my point stands - if something is perfect then there is no point in updating it unless you want to make it less than perfect. Apple clearly doesn't think the current device is perfect...
The Storm had a horrible launch(I mean HORRIBLE) BUT its actually It has become really reliable with the latest OS. Bell released 122 which solves most of the issues.
I hated the whole click screen before bc it felt so wrong,slow, and awkward but now that the software is updated it feels better that using a regular touch
The builds will keep coming and the phone will continue to improve. The builds are already in the .210's
Yeah I've had the same experience with the updates. A lot of the bugginess is gone and I'm on build .113.
Maybe he means the fact you can set up your blackberrys to access your internal network (i.e. web servers etc) while they are out in the wild? I don't think the iphone can do that out of the box.
"Tough luck, early adopters!"
If this was a comment it would be called "trolling". Early adopters know exactly what they are getting in to.
It's like : Bad luck early iPhone adopters you got an Edge device and 5 months later here it comes the iPhone 3G !
(that's called putting a Baobab up someone Ass not marketing sorry.)
Was 3G developed during those 5 months ? NO.
It was Mainstream at the time but hey better sell 2 iphones than one.. as long as the morons got the money.
That's what you get when you have canadians writing your software.
blackberry storm = epic fail
Say what you like in an uneducated 12 year old manner; but RIM is still the standard even with the iPhone success.
No they didn't.
Whatever stupid excuse comes out of RIM, the bottomline is: The Storm is a shitty device. They did a piss poor job on the OS and it's just insulting to release a phone like that.
The iPhone was missing stuff when it first came out but whatever was on there was working flawlessly and FROM THE GET GO. The web browsing experience is one shinning example. To this date the BB web browser still sucks!!! (How many years will it take you to fix this Mr. Lazaridis???)
At the end of the day, this Apple- Blackberry comparison is just stupid! This goes back to the fundamentals of doing business and catering to your customers needs and has nothing to do with what Apple did wrong or right in comparison to RIM
Before any RIM execs open their trap they should know that most consumers are educated and they should not take any insulting bull as an excuse. It's one thing to defend your product and another to insult our intelligence.
Here's some hints for you RIM:
- Market Research
- Study the competition, not just patch up your products just to play catch up
- QA, QA, QA!!!
RIM should keep their head down, admit to their mistakes and work with all the carriers to fix this damn thing, in the States and Europe. Sit down with them, agree on specifc software releases and push the same build across the board.
That's what a good company does...admit to their mistakes and do whatever they can to support their product by providing the best experience they can to their customers!!!! Not coming out and saying: tough luck...that's our product like it or not, deal with it
Mrs Balsillie and Lazaridis: Your product out of the box SUCKED...just admit it, put your heads down and get your ass to work and fix it! That's your duty...not to come out and serve us bullshit.
I have a storm, and i really dont see what the big complaint is. The phone is fine, has tons of apps and has only gotten better since the most recent updates. There's no single feature the phone doesn't have that i want and i really enjoy the clicking screen.
The problem is the people who like the phone aren't as loud as the people who don't like the phone, and most people who rag on the phone have never touched one in their life, like 95% of the people who post on this blog.
And goes that old saying, don't knock it till you tried it. No it's not perfect, but it's a really good first attempt, and I really don't understand what all the complaints are about.
Very likely, by "internal and external data" they mean the ability for a blackberry to be tied to a corporate BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) and be completely controlled by the IT dept. implementing it. The browser is able to securely access internal intranet sites as well as external websites using the same browser and all the while being controlled over where and what path the data takes to get to where its going. Having the browser take advantage of the sandboxing that Java provides assures that internal data stays internal to the corporate network while access to external sites can be maintained in a separate fashion to prevent leaks of sensitive data.
The BES allows for minute control of every aspect of the device, from what can and can't be accessed, if any 3rd party apps can access the internet, if 3rd party apps can be installed, controlling what can run, what access programs have, even to what features can be utilized, etc. Not to mention that if the device goes missing it can be remote wiped if needed. It can be completely open or completely locked down, or anywhere in between. This is a huge plus for corporations needing total control and secure access.
This is something that other companies are just now beginning to delve into.
This allows for the same blackberry that consumers buy to also be available for corporate customers, every single blackberry has the same security structure. For a consumer-purchased blackberry, it's just a blackberry that hasn't been added to a BES and has its security policy left "empty" so to speak.
I like my blackberry a lot, I have a Curve. I find the device absolutely indispensable and feel very naked without it; I'm certain many people feel the same way about their chosen device, iPhone, WinMO or the like. While I find the browser very, very slow, it's still usable enough where I can do some light surfing around if I'm not near a computer and have to quickly check a price or read sites while sitting in a waiting room for instance. If I find a site that doesn't work all that well on a site, I just go into the browser options and choose a different emulation, like Internet Explorer emulation for instance, and see if it helps. Most of the time, it does. What works for me though, most certainly doesn't work for everyone and I'm not about to push my preferred mode of operation on someone else.
Every single device has its own share of strengths and weaknesses, Blackberry, iPhone, assorted WinMo, you name it. The good thing is that these companies are continually striving to improve on what they have released before as well as dream up new ideas. Whether companies admit that nothing is spectacular immediately or not, or claim that people don't need something they are asking for or not, it's all just a bunch of hot air. When companies begin releasing devices and just stop working to improve them altogether....THATS when everyone will want to start worrying.
iDarren wrote this article :-|
The first iPhone had few problems during launch because it was a very, very basic phone with a slick UI. An EDGE based phone without third party applications, video recording, mms, 3G, etc. The interface was novel enough, that people didn't complain about all of the drawbacks that come with having such a basic phone.
When 3G/MobileMe was launched it was a disaster (I'm not talking sales) for a few months. From activating it, to constant crashes, to bugs, to simply getting a 3g signal, there were major problems. Then add problems with their push solution - MobileMe... going down for as long as it did (people give RIM hell when theirs goes down for mere hours). But they worked out their problems and learned lessons from it.
This isn't to knock apple but just to point out the fact that launching new technology that's adopted by millions of people is going to have bugs. When all was said and done, early adopters either have a buggy device for a while (Storm, iPhone 3G) or are stuck with a very basic $600 phone (original iPhone) until they can afford to upgrade.
you sit at your computer all day, don't you?
I wasn't expecting perfect, but I was expecting usable. My Storm was not and returned on the 30th day and dumped Verizon for Sprint and a Centro. I've never been happier with a phone or a company and can't wait for the Palm Pre!
Note: The Storm had a lot of potential (and maybe its gotten better through updates) but I think I could have waited for the UI bug fixes if they would have included a navigation pad or the blackberry trackball thingy and on-touch home button. That and allowing me to select which apps I needed to click the screen for and which apps I simply need to touch the screen to get a response.
I just dont see where people expect first gen of any new device to be perfect. Its our right as consumers sure and thats why we have warranties and support and the like. But hes just stating the rule that any self respecting person being on that line to get the first box of this new shiny piece of tech sexiness, that you may be cursing in a few hours because the thing wont friggin copy and paste or has red rings or has a blue screen of death or has its battery suddenly explode.
@Prokanda @ Apr 16th 2009 10:06AM
ahh.. could you be more of a cliche? VW and an Apple fan? Do you wear cardigans too? love expensive ikea crap?
anyway, maybe he wasn't just talking about push notifications:
cut/copy/paste
mms
shoddy camera
push/the entire mobile me set up
storage
battery life
signal
dropped calls
stereo bluetooth
several others....
Granted it took two years for apple to fix or add all of those features. I will give you that. My question is why did it take every other manufacturer two years to come up with a phone that even closely competes with the iPhone? Your complaint should not be that Apple was slow with development. Your complaint should be why did it take RIM, Palm, etc so long just to get into Apple's league. You all should be thanking Apple for making a product that caused everyone else to "take their game" to a new level. Two years ago Apple's released the first iPhone with a serious web browser and Blackberry's released the "Curve" with the same tired old experience RIM had been giving it's users for years. Some of you people love to hate Apple but without Apple's innovations you'd probably be still using a tired, boring, old cell phone.
Well, my N95 came out a few good months before the iPhone, and that seemed to me like a fully-featured phone. It's not like before the iPhone all mobiles were black-and-white monstrosities, only capable of making calls and sending text messages.
- "nobody gets it perfect out the door"
Sounds like the Microsoft mentality, rush, rush, rush, lets get it out the door, then we'll fix it later.
"Sounds like the Microsoft mentality, rush, rush, rush, lets get it out the door, then we'll fix it later."
Sounds like the Apple iPhone 3G mentality. And nokia. And sony. And everyone else.
Can the author be anymore one-sided? Geez, you can report on an interview without having to totally bash the guy in the interview, the product itself, the company, and prop up the main competitor while you're at it.
"He also stumbled all over himself..."
It's not because you don't understand it that it doesn't make sense.
Or... perhaps... his argument *was* clumsy. Hence the euphemism for "stumbling upon himself." He's right, though. It's difficult to get it right out the door. It doesn't say much for his Quality Control/Assurance and R&D departments though.
What irks me are the people praising the device like it's error free. I own an HTC Touch Pro, the pinnacle of device for mastering patience with rush, unpolished phones that require months of tweaking to get right." Our Helpdesk upgraded to the Blackberry Storm and had nothing but problems. It's unrealistic to go from the solid performance of an 8830 to the four times daily reboots of the Storm. The device is fine for slow-texters and people who don't expect reliability out of their devices. For the rest of us, the current iteration of this device is a joke. That's not to say it won't get better. Look at the iPhone 3G. 2.0 was absolutely awful and didn't become tolerable until 2.2. Did that stop you, me and everyone else from bashing the device? Hell no it didn't...
If it looks runs like crap, it runs like crap. Let's stop fooling ourselves.