RIM CEO claims we are staring 'down the barrel of a capacity crunch,' should all get BlackBerrys to prevent it
By Vlad Savov 
posted February 17th 2010 3:50AM
posted February 17th 2010 3:50AM
posted February 17th 2010 3:50AM
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it's an excuse to cover up the fact that all their current devices are so memory limited, they can't handle modern data streams... U FAIL Lardassisis....
carriers can already do this without RIM, in a completely phone or modem agnostic way. it's called 'web acceleration'. the carrier sticks an intercepting web proxy in the middle of their mobile IP network, and it will intercept, optimize and shrink everything on the fly before it hits the air. works for any http request that a phone or computer makes, regardless of app or browser.
this article is very incomplete and bias.. for those who are complaining about the blackberry browser sucking and lagging behind..yes he mentioned that and a webkit browser is coming out..and last time i checked iphone has a freaking expesive data plan and its a mandatory that you buy their data as with a blackberry you can buy it with or with out a data plan. You guys should do a little research before bashing blackberry and engadget only reported on the "doom and gloom" since data on blackberries are compressed this free up bandwidth for faster transfer compared to other mobile devices. its like a 10 to 1 ratio, 10bit for an iphone is equvalent to 1bit for a blackberry.... you do the math
@ReccaKun
And who in their right mind will buy a Blackberry with out a a data plan? Otherwise its just another $20 cell phone.
Plus Blackberry owns a good 80% Corporate and Gov market and companies pay for all unlimited talk and data plans. So what is Mike complaining about?
@KGB mike not complaining, his just stating how blackberry is efficient with its data... the more bandwidth a mobile uses the end user will experience more drop calls, crappy web loading, bad app experience. even if a carrier offer unlimited data there is still a limit to how much data a carrier can push. every bit that a customer send it cost the carrier money for that bit and they are not charging customer for that its basically an all you can eat data for this amount of dollar and go, you just don't know how much one consumer can use. all in all this is what we call educating the public and expanding your company.
@ReccaKun
Besides Mike, no one else has complained that users are slowing down entire internet because of constant unlimited data usage on iPhones and other cells.
Regardless if all cell phone makers adopt this new "innovation" of his, ATT and other networks will continue to upgrade their service and the prices will cont to go up.
@ReccaKun
You do realize that on AT&T the EXACT SAME smartphone data plan is required, right? That means whether you have an iPhone, Blackberry, or Tilt 2, you WILL be paying $30 a month to AT&T.
And even if I am using up a metric ton of data, that's what I've paid for. I'm not stealing it. If its having that large of an impact on the network, I'm not the one anyone needs to blame. It's the carrier. They should be selling capacity they don't have.
I had no problem using my iPhone without a data plan. AT&T FORCED me into one. You're darn skippy I'm going to use the data I've paid for. If they don't want me to use data, give me back my $30 a month.
@BigJayDogg3 Hell yeah!
goodness, he's cutting the branch he's sitting on... .
exceptional stupid old man.
@fuesse it won't be long now before we're saying, "Remember the Blackberry?"
Desperation.
It's whats' for breakfast.
This is the most retarded argument I've seen in a long time, He should just admit that BB just dont have the niche they used to. QWERTY is the only thing that made them special when no one else had it. Now that everyone does, what the hell makes BB's special? That aside, I can still accept that people might like BB's for personal preference. But to make us aware of bandwidth problems as if BB's are environmentally friendly to Bandwidth is horseshit. Get with the program. Bandwidth is not a limited natural resource, It's built to support need and growth.
What a joke.
I believe the vast majority of you are missing the point of a Blackberry. Despite what RIM tries to sell you, 3.5mm headphone ports and dedicated media buttons, Blackberries will always be productivity devices that serve a very specific group of people, and for those people, it's a perfect phone. I use the same 9700 for work and personal use and can not imagine switching.
Blackberry may save the internet.. but who's gonna save blackberry?
I think the point he's missing is the demographics of other phones. Sure BB is seeping into youth culture a little bit, but not like the iPhone did (and continues to) and the way Android is currently. People who buy a BB want to email and message (usually business related) and are older. Where as iPhones and Android devices are directly marketed at the age groups (and general demographics) that use the internet almost obsessive compulsively. 18-25 year olds.
You take 5 average iPhone users force them to use a BB and they'll use waaaaaaaay more data than the average BB user forced to use an iPhone. Only my opinion though.
Companies who don't innovate look for ways to take attention off their lack of innovation. Yeah, they're getting webkit finally, gobbling up a company to do it. They haven't innovated anything in many years, (unless you consider the failure of the Storm innovation). In a few years RIM will only be relevant with old-hat business types who are scared of change. The younger generation has too many better choices out there and I think RIM knows it.
I can only think that Blackberry browsers use less bandwidth, because people refuse to browse on them because they suck. But I'm holding back how I really feel, because I'm polite like that.
There was a time when the American public and the American car companies made fun of those little, efficient Japanese cars. After all, they expected there would always be cheap gas...
Lessee. Do I want to use my phone to make phone calls and text message or do I want to browse the web, update myspace and play videogames?
I'm an adult - so I use my phone as well - a phone. Then i go home and play games on my computer and listen to my music on my zune HD, although my curve 8520 has dedicated media buttons on top of the phone tucked away nicely which allows me to make this a great mp3 player. I just prefer the Zune.
Where the iPhone succeeds is the multimedia items and where it fails apparently is ironically enough - as a phone. So many people I know that have phones here in Dallas/Fort Worth - a large ATT network - have lots of connectivity issues. Me on my Blackberry on the ATT network - crystal clear. :)
The sad truth of the matter is that he is right. There is a capacity problem with wireless networks and it's not as simple as saying "build more." There is a fixed amount of wireless spectrum available, and you can't just go get more spectrum...
AT&T is a victim of their own success in this regard. They signed up millions of users for a phone that makes it very easy to use a ton of data - as a result, there are capacity problems.
"...implying that owning a BlackBerry would save the internet..."
OK, so Al Gore created it, BB saved it, so who is the holy ghost?
@MilesBFree Obviously Steve Jobs. *rolls eyes as someone out there takes it seriously*
Seriously, this guy can take a flying leap. Yes, the Blackberry brand dominates the corporate arena, there is no denying that. But regardless of whatever stats he stated......who cares? Not everyone wants to just look at text which is mostly what you get with a Blackberry, it's all business with one of those. I use one and it's only because it's for work and all the emails I get. If I had a choice, I would definitely have something like a iPhone or N1. People should have choice and everything is fine the way it is, they just need to build a bigger network or give the existing network more capabilities.