We're not sure why the
Wall Street Journal just posted up a piece talking about
BlackBerry OS 6.0 and the
Bold 9800 QWERTY slider as though we haven't been running
leaked pictures and
videos of them for
months now, but whatever -- the story also apparently confirms RIM's
Foleo-like tablet plans and says the device could be out by the end of the year. Sounds like RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis decided the tablet market is a little clearer than he's
been letting on. As we've heard in the past, the tablet will tether to your phone for connectivity instead of sporting its own 3G connection, which is interesting, given that RIM is notoriously proud of how little bandwidth its phones use, and we're guessing a full-screen tablet experience might use just a little more data than the average Pearl. Plus, it would be pretty wild if RIM ended up validating a Palm product idea so seemingly doomed that the company
killed it dead just four months after
it was announced in 2007 -- we're not saying the times haven't changed dramatically, but we'd note the
Celio RedFly has thus far failed to blow up the universe. We'll see -- the
WSJ also says the tablet is in the "early stages of development," so anything can change.
posted June 14th 2010 8:20PM
Talk about being distracted. First question should be, why? This is not RIM's core competency.
@pika2000
Yeah, tell that to Apple and mobile phones c. 2007: "Apple, take it easy bud, this is not your core competency." Hmmm...
@shishi
If it has any success, it will be in the business space. Not to Apple users or the likes...not at all.
The flip side to this is that if they make a good tablet, there will be MANY disgruntled Storm 1 & 2 owners saying, "WTF RIM?! Fix my phone NAO!!!"
@shishi Ironically, Apple was already developing the iPad before the iPhone.
This is like Palm decided to make a desktop OS. Would RIM still have enough manpower to keep up with their Blackberry with this?
@Android looks Hacked Together
Enlighten me then, see if you can explain it if you're so smart. And I'm sure you are smart looking at your username...
@pika2000
Tell me this is a cruel, sick joke. RIM has absolutely NOBODY supporting this with 3rd party application. BlackBerry OS is dying on a phone, how do they think it's gonna work on a tablet? (And no, I am a BlackBerry Tour user, and proud of it)
I never really liked how they use a holy image as a metaphor for an electronic device....
@pika2000 Why not. RIM just release a recycled Bold ever 2 months
@pika2000 I know right? Really how about fixing 10 years old OS and trying to gain a market share? RIM give yourself one more year and you will be right behind Simbian sharing remaining 10% or mobile market with rest of the fall behind mobile brands.
What a joke....
@anotherworld LOL. Well, that's the thing. It seems like they don't even have enough attention to focus on their handsets, yet now this?
@Android looks Hacked Together
this has very little chance of working. People are not clammoring for Blackberry and the next OS is booboo. Blackberry is going to start losing marketshare soon.
@shishi
But Apple had already proven itself as the worlds most popular MP3/Mid producer with several generations of iPods... Plus, they made the Newton, which basically gave birth to the PDA market...
Are you saying before the iPhone, Apple didn't know how to make portable devices???
The argument against BB here is that BB owners don't use other parts of the OS....
Sorry, I forgot Breakout.
@BigQid "Blackberry is going to start losing marketshare soon."
If you were a smart business and recognized that you were about to lose market share, wouldn't you look for ways to sure up your product line?
This could be very good for RIM. It will be interesting to see how it connects via tether, will it have wi-fi? If so, I could see using this to get my corp. emails etc and not boot the computer in the airport or hotels. I have Sprint and use their mobile hot spot on the road with my laptop. It would be nice to use a tablet instead.
If it connected to BES, this could be very good.
@pika2000
Look BB does one thing really well - and they are the very best at it - email/text on a mobile devices. EVERYTHING else I would rate them as a thumbs down when compared to other offerings.
If RIM is going to do a tablet that requires you to have a BB (for tethering data) what is this tablet going to do? Enhanced email? View office docs? I just don't see it. In the office space I need Windows and my BB. Android won't work. The iPad certainly won't work. For business I need a full Windows client.
@pika2000 I tend to side with companies that make these ventures, I don't necessarily trust RIM to do this, however the fact that they are making it 3G and now know how to mess things up with touchscreens maybe they will know what not to do. Who knows though, I'll see what they announce, but I'm actually more likely to buy from a company I've never heard of with great specs than a meh RIM device.
I guess what I'm saying is, I'm only half-prejudice against this and I could come around, but they'll have to impress me unlike what they've done up until now.
@Android looks Hacked Together
diversification is the closest thing you're going to get to a free lunch in finance but it depends on who performs it.
there's actually more than solid evidence that companies shouldn't try to diversify too much out of their core competencies. investors can achieve that same diversification at zero cost by buying companies more suited towards the aim of the new venture or product.
that being said, RIM could probably leverage its existing expertise and customer base by making a tablet more suited towards the business user, if that's the direction they're taking. the tablet market has clearly shown growth and potential, and RIM would be smart to increase returns on its existing assets by latching onto the tablet market.
@AcE17
Looks like apple didn't invent the tablet, god did. And these really are magical and revolutionary.
@AcE17 Yeah because that story is totally legit and should be taken seriously. Just like all Holy things. Respect.
This thing has to have a VGA out and a front facing camera, otherwise it will fail miserably.
@Wesscoast
It's BrickBreaker.
Ohhhh RIM, why can't you just worry about your core business and become innovative in that field.
@Android looks Hacked Together
Marketing doesn't sell technology products. Good products sell technology products. Advertising dollars/product revenue has to be one of the lowest ratios in almost any industry.
Just when your core product is losing market share due to lack of innovation, its not time to jump on a tablet bandwagon and play the me too game.
@Android looks Hacked Together
Figures, leave the product life cycle and technological direction to the engineers. You guys can dump millions of dollars into "marketing" your windows vistas, web tvs, microsoft zunes, XM radios. The list goes on and on. Maybe marketing can turn crappy cosmetic makeup into top selling makeup, but not in the technology world. In the end, products will be judge by the level of engineering and innovative and useful features it brings.
@rhollister
As pointed out before, marketing is not the same as advertising. I really want to drive that point home because as somebody who works in the field, it gets pretty old. Marketing is so much more.
This is something that RIM has to do in my opinion. Right now there are BlackBerry users picking up iPads with 3G connections and they're using those in place of their BlackBerry devices for checking email, browsing the internet, and basic document creation/editing. This may sound harmless, but these loyal users are dipping their toes into the Apple ecosystem and are on the verge of being "converted". They're not buying iPads to spite RIM, they're buying the iPad because they don't have any other choice, RIM offers nothing to compete on this level. Whether or not they can pull it off with their first tablet is up in the air, but they have to start somewhere. Heck, look at the Storm and how it kept millions of customers looking for a touch screen experience in the BlackBerry ecosystem. (the quality of the Storm itself is obviously up for debate)
Apple creates really solid products, and the less time RIM customers spend using an Apple device the better it is for them. Oh, and I write this as a dedicated BlackBerry user who is picking up an iPad later this week.
@Android looks Hacked Together
lol marketing guys patting them selves on the back. So the marketers think that RIM, a questionable technology company that has been milking their bread and butter for the better part of 5 years now, should jump into an unproven market and play the me too game. Are you guys on the Microsoft Kinect team?
Are all these RIM cellphone engineers suddenly suppose to be able to make tablets? Is there any technology they have able to be leveraged in a tablet? Is their RIM OS so awesome that it just a matter of porting it to a tablet? Oh I know, they are masters of the multitouch!
I hear the 3D television business is the way of the future, maybe they should dump some R&D money into that business as well.
You said it perfectly, 100% on point if you will, "Heck, look at the Storm and how it kept millions of customers looking for a touch screen experience in the BlackBerry ecosystem. (the quality of the Storm itself is obviously up for debate)"
It kept the customers in the ecosystem only to be disappointed and let down by a me too touchscreen product that lacked the refinement and technical capability of its competitors and left the customer with a bad taste in their mouth.
I understand marketing isn't just advertising, but lets be honest, advertising is a hundred billion dollar + industry, it has to be a good amount of what you do.
@Android looks Hacked Together
Core business is core business, and if RIM forgets that their core business IS business than they are doomed. Previous forays into consumer electronics by RIM haven't found success, so I highly doubt that this tablet will either. Their real hope is if they can make a tablet with business in mind, which I could see succeeding big-time in the boardroom. The comparison to Apple is unfair, as they were a consumer-electronics company that made a consumer electronic in the iPhone (arguably the first smartphone aimed totally at consumers). Sure, the iPhone was a new type of product for Apple, but their customer was the same as before.
@Android looks Hacked Together Umm when Blackberry starts to fail its going to because of their OS. Not the hardware. If they have a crap OS on their handsets they are going to have a crap OS on their tablet. Shit begets shit. Fix your smartphones RIM and the OS that goes with it and THEN go to a tablet. Apple knew this, Android and its hardware manufactures know this, HP and WebOS knows this. RIM should know this as well. And sorry but even Apple knows the value of marketing and how it can shine up a turd. See Apple TV as a perfect example. Hell the iFad is nothing more then an overgrown Touch and yet Steve and his marketing prowess made their cult believe its the second coming of Christ himself......in tablet form.
@Android looks Hacked Together
Best news I've heard all day. Make your point and take your trash talk elsewhere.
A RIM tablet wouldn't be any good, I get the distinct feeling from recent comments made by the executive staff at RIM that they're not overly confident in their vision of the mobile landscape in a few years. I think Apple and Google understand where it's going to be quite well. I think this is a great example of a meeting of 50 year old business men who said, "Apple and Google are doing it, we better do it to."
@rhollister
"Advertising does not sell Products, Good Products sell good products" (Sorry I corrected your marketing/advertising confusion)
Tell that to apple. The ipod is far from the best MP3 player on the market yet outsells everything else my quite some margin. Their advertising has resulted in practically all children having no knowledge of any other MP3 device. You ask an average 12 year old what MP3 players are available and which ones offer and it will be a very short list. The iphone was fundamentally flawed on release but their advertising persuaded many people otherwise and the ipad is far less useful than a netbook but again their advertising is making people believe that is not the case.
Apple are the kings of advertising.
I just imagined Moses touch-scrolling through commandments downloaded from God!
@shishi lol
Picture = WIN.
THOUGH SHALT NOT BAIL OUT FAILING CORPORATIONS !
@gracefulspammer
Yo, I don't know if you know this, but this is "Engadget". Notice the word "gadget" in the site's name.
Not a political blog...
@gracefulspammer
xD
@gracefulspammer
Thou shall not make a tablet before making a stable OS for previous devices.
- Apple 3:16
Sadly, this won't be able to compete with Apple or Android's offerings. Blackberry is simply too business oriented.
@Android looks Hacked Together The Notion Ink Adam looks promising.
@Android looks Hacked Together
a grid of static icons you say? gee, sounds an awful lot like the iphone and ipad running iOS
@aliendude5300
It may not compete in the consumer space, but for business I think they've got a golden opportunity here. I guess we'll wait and see how (or if) they capitalize on that...
oh lord, not another tablet that's sure to be crap. everyone knows Blackberry can't do nice hardware or software. sigh...
@Xega thats an uninformed opinion if i've ever seen one.
RIM has always gone after the corporate market. I don't think this device would be aimed at the general public.
lol
Would it kill them to improve their phone to modern standards? What about an Android version?
@lecti ...instead of flushing money down the drain on developing a tablet?
@lecti
An android version? Dude, that's their BB OS.
I'm tired of hearing the old "blackberry is good for business" line, it's a pain in the ass for IT to manage as they have to run separate servers that no other platforms need... and the users really get no benefit except maybe the quality of the keyboards. I'm convinced that the people that love BB just have not tried a modern smartphone OS yet, they will convert as soon as they do.
yawn!