RIM co-CEOs pull no punches responding to Apple's antenna statements
By Chris Ziegler 
posted July 17th 2010 12:56AM
posted July 17th 2010 12:56AM
Here's the full statement:
"Apple's attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple's claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public's understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple's difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM's customers don't need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple."
If you think the apple fan boys are annoying on this site, well at least you can down rank them... check out the comments on the Consumer Reports article where they still don't recommend the iPhone4. The comments there make you wonder if humans really are a sentient species.
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2010/07/apple-iphone-4-iphone4-free-bumpers-for-antenna-problem-signal-loss-issue-flaw-press-conference-news-consumer-reports-ratings.html
@hs2010
Well maybe if Consumer Reports stood by their word i.e. that a free case would fix this (non) issue and they would recommend it.
I guess no-one likes it when a US company succeeds, Canadian, Taiwanese, Korean and others must be smarter than Americans, you really need to improve your education systems if American engineers are so hopeless.
Just think if it wasn't for Apple the US phone industry would be dead, it could be argued that the droid (in response to the iPhone) pulled Motorola back from the brink.
PS. I thought Steve Jobs and his crew are "working their butts off." The result of that was the free cases? LOL!
@hs2010 Yes. That's where shit products come from.
I don't like RIM or BlackBerries but I have been forced to use several models over the years for work... right up to the 9700. They don't drop signal (significantly, if at all) from holding them in your hand. That's horse-pucky Jobs is spewing.
If there has been a phone that dropped signal like the iPhone4 does, don't you think this issue would have bee in the spotlight before??? Especially if it came from RIM!
@morfy50 No, it wouldn't because no RIM phone has been popular with the public as much as the iPhone. And, Apple demonstrated the signal degration on the blackberry curve, idiot.
@Cold Dead Fingers
Signal degradation is not the same as dropped calls, idiot.
@Cold Dead Fingers you do realize the Curve has been a number one device right? And the Pearls have also sold well. Sounds popular to me.
PS: It was shown on a Bold not a Curve.
Still saying someone is going to sue apple. Evo doesn't have issue. Apple messed up And they are acting like children. Like when you get caught and get a whoppin and well mikey and johnny did it but guess what you got caught.now you're the example too bad soo sad.
Wow that was well said kudos to RIM, I wonder if the other manufacturers had anything to say
Politely, RIM is full of shit and should have watched the demonstration video of their beloved 9700 before putting out this silly statement.
I confirmed the very same behavior (as demonstrated in Apple's video) with my very own 9700. As for the snide comment about RIM's phones not needing cases...... no shit, the phone is the damn case for the antenna....
I like both my i4 and 9700 and often switch in between the two products, but RIM's statement is a bunch of bullshit.
@pcmike
When is the last time you dropped a call because of the position in which you held your 9700?
@Fess A couple nights ago. Since I've had my 9700 its happened about 10 times if I had to put a number to it and I've had the phone since it came out. With my iPhone 3G (which I had since launch as well) I'd say the dropped call rate was the same as with the 9700. None of these phones are winning awards in RF performance.
@ChrisZiegler
Hey Chris how much does apple pay you and your staff? I find it ironic that EVERY tech site posted the same article without their own biased opinion and in some passive aggressive way defending apple.
Rim is basically saying to Apple take resposibility for your decisions with your own hardware and leave us out of it. Because it is apple who has the phone with the design flaw not rim.
Good job trying to twist the facts, reality is apple screwed up
report that!
@noelito
Fact is radio waves and antennas are affected by user interaction, no matter which device you want to examine.
Fact is Apple was being singled out for attention in spite of this.
Truth hurts, don't it?
@hill60
You are so right... radio waves and antennas are affected by user interaction even we, the unskilled laborer or farm worker aka peons, know that!!! Having said that what's Apples excuse for putting the antenna at the base of the phone where "User Interaction" happens most :|
Ok so let's not jump to any conclusions let's look at some facts;
1. If you cover any antenna with your hand does the signal strength drop?
YES
2. If you mount the antenna outside of the phone is it more susceptible to signal loss?
YES
3. If you mount the antenna outside of the phone and strategically mount it where the users hand grips the most while on a call will you have a double wammy of signal loss?
YES
Well I guess that's why Apple get's paid the big bucks... That's thinking outside the box. No pun intended.
@sdbrickster
Why don't you ask the FCC about manufacturing standards that require antennas to be physically located as far away from the side of your head as is possible i.e. at the bottom of the handset?
btw there's no evidence that holding a high powered radio transmitting antenna to the side of one's head causes brain tumours but why take chances.
@sdbrickster If you've actually READ some stuff, you'd realize that EVERYONE who sells phones in the US (read, "basically everyone") has to have those phones approved by the FCC, and FCC MANDATES STATE THAT THE ANTENNA HAS TO BE IN THE ***LOWER*** HALF OF THE PHONE, and also regulates the maximum power that the phone can transmit (which is just as important to "keeping a call alive" than the reception of incoming RF. This is because of all the information that equivocally shows that pouring GHz-range frequencies into your BRAIN TISSUE isn't such a good idea.
So, make sure you understand the REAL issues BEFORE you post; lest you end up sounding like an uniformed jackass.
@macs4all
doug "mcintosh" "macs4all" i shouldnt be surprised that such a blind negative mean nasty comment would come from yet another mac enthusiast.
christ apple could make a notebook with a click wheel for a user input and you would camp out for days before launch calling it the most innovative thing since the actual wheel!
the iphone4 has the problem not anyone else to such a severe degree that consumer reports nor a senator had to get involved, rim is saying leave us out of your big EFF UP and take responsibility for your decisions
the definition of journalism is to report the news without your own personal biased or prejudice, when you do that (thanks chris ziegler) ie calling the 2 rim ceos tyrants or cry babies who merely want to stand up for their products
then it is called SENSATIONALISM
swallow that macs4all
@macs4all
Thanks macs4all I appreciate your enthusiasm... just one Q's for ya, due to the fact that my brain tissue must have been severely damaged, what other phone manufacturer has ever released hardware that they had to immediately have a press conference throw every other manufacturer under the bus to deflect from the REPORTED iPhone Customers RETURNING their phones due to LOST CALLS, consumer reports confirming the design flaw, the lead engineer for of Apple that hold's many antenna patents bringing this issue to Apple in the beginning and then tell the buyers of the iPhone that in order to use your phone without it dropping every 5 secs... use a FREE case?
All I have to say is REALLY... Come on REALLY... REALLY macs4all?
I think this all speaks volumes about Apple and their fans. Jobs essentially stands on stage and says "Nyah, they all do it too!" like some petulant child, and their fans gobble it up. Goddamn pathetic.
No one would have noticed signal loss on their iPhone 4, had they not been staring at it probably trying to figure out what the fuck was wrong with it.
Apple seems to do two things with their deficiencies: Say everyone has the same issue so it's not that bad, or claim it as a "feature". I just wish they'd own up and get to work instead of releasing yet another carefully phrased, Apple-ese statement. They make my skin crawl.
Anyway, i have been dealing with a well known wi-fi connection issue with my CRAPBerry Bold 9000. i have been on this for 5 straight hours with mi ISP tech support service and it just doesntt work, i had similar issues with a BB Curve a few months ago, so my point is:
Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, if you have children or grandchildren i hope they get some kind of extremely rare cancer and die a slowly and painful death so that you can witness how life escapes second by second from their ill bodies.
Thank you for building such crappy devices
I`d look the other way if the RIM dudes pissed on his grave ; )
Dear Steve...you have had three years and FOUR tries at making a phone that doesn`t drop calls.
Maybe you need to steal a new antenna engineer from an established mobile phone company.
@bufbarnaby
So do you have a dropped call figure, you know to back up your claim?
Otherwise your whine is baseless.
I hope the DOJ and FTC rips Apple a new one.
you know whats funny that everyone is too busy talking about RIM's statement, and forget what were supposed to be talking about the fact that it took apple too long to admit their mistake
Translation: Please stop taking market share Apple. Please....
"If ten guys rob a bank and don’t get caught, that isn’t much of a defense if you do” -Steve Jobs 2010
And this is why, in the end, RIM will triumph over Apple in the cell phone market share war. The BlackBerry may not be as flashy as the iPhone, but it's reliable.
@silverfang77
Says who?
The 9500 Storm was the biggest piece of junk ever unleashed on an unwitting public.
Perfect, no way else to put it. Well said.
More koolaid plz Steve people are seeing through the bs
Rim can say what ever but iPhone and android will eat em for lunch ..next is Nokia
This statement from RIM kinda makes me that much more happy that I own a blackberry
I think they had better defend themselves if they didn‘t say anything anyone could see their smart phone dropping bars in the video and they just can‘t denied that, but just complain that Apple show the flaw which BTW is well known by the BB owners
I can honestly say that of ANY cellphone I've ever had, my BlackBerry Pearl (8100) on T-Mobile, was not only the most resilient in reception, but it had the best call quality by far. Nothing I've had before nor since even touches it. And this was in 2006.
Engadget sux, I lost all my respect for Engadget.com. So bias when come to Apple products. "RIM co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie -- a pair of dudes known for having some of the bigger mouths (and bigger egos) in the wireless industry" What about Steve Jobs??
Apple is the white knight of tech, only it's hard to ignore the shit on its shoe. Voice your opinion at HeySteveJobsFuckYou.com
LOL, unfortunately for those fools that run BlackBerry (and they seem to be intent to run it into the dirt lately) there's a crapload of BB's doing exactly what Jobs says.
I have a Nexus One that drops calls like a mother with the "death grip" Google's response? Yeah, we're getting out of the phone business, sorry about that...
RIM, bitch back!! Hehe
Oh no, the sky is falling said the Apple.
RIM sucks
RIM public statement: Apple's attempt to draw RIM into Apple's self-made debacle is unacceptable, as we are too busy cloning our older phones and avoiding innovation, that dirty word so dear to Apple.
We can assure our costumers we will as far as to recompile our OS (last time was in a pentium) and keep pointing BlackBerry app store to /dev/null. All that, to ensure their boredom.
"RIM co-CEOs pull no punches responding to Apple's antenna statements" .. except the punch where they specifically deny the truth of the video that shows the Bold losing signal when held ... they pulled that punch. Gee, I wonder why?
you're an idiot if you don't put a case on your expensive device in the first place.
unless of course you never drop your phone.