National Day of Mourning Declared for BlackBerry
by John Paczkowski
Posted on March 6, 2008 at 1:59 PM PT
What we saw today was the spark. The explosion will continue for 20 years. We will all feel the warmth. What we saw today was the beginning of two decades of mobile domination by Apple. What Microsoft and Windows was to the desktop, Apple and Touch will be to mobile.”
At Apple’s town hall event this morning, CEO Steve Jobs revealed that the iPhone had claimed 28% market share by the 4th quarter of 2007. That’s still less than the BlackBerry, which holds 41% market share, but the iPhone hasn’t even been on the market a year. What’s more, the iPhone accounted for 71% of U.S. mobile browser usage.
Should RIM be worried? A reporter put that question to Apple CEO Steve Jobs this morning and here’s the answer he was given:
You should ask them … we’re not sending them a message, we’re sending customers and developers a message that we’re trying to serve their needs. Remember, the iPhone’s been out less than a year, this stuff will be shipping right around the one-year anniversary to every iPhone customer.”
Translation: Yes. Because without a push email advantage, what’s special about the BlackBerry? NOTHING.
Comments
The iPhone uses Exchange ActiveSync (just like Windows Mobile). If you think the Blackberry email solution isn’t preferable to what’s built into Exchange, you obviously haven’t used both. There’s a reason companies use BES instead of Windows Mobile, and by definition the Apple solution can be no more robust than the Microsoft one. The mail client on the BB is also better than Apple’s, even if the iPhone is prettier (and I say all of that as a WM user, not a BB one).
Posted by Fred Ochsenhirt at March 7th, 2008 at 1:44 pm