BlackBerry Storm, iPhone Actually Netbooks, Really, Really Small Netbooks
by John Paczkowski
Posted on December 31, 2008 at 4:03 PM PT
Contrary to popular opinion, Research In Motion’s (RIMM) Blackberry Storm is not a smartphone. It’s a Netbook. So says Mike Lazaridis, the company’s founder and co-CEO, who apparently hasn’t seen an Eee PC lately. Asked by CNet Asia if he viewed Netbooks as a competitor to RIM’s BlackBerry devices, Lazaridis, referring to the Storm, said, “These are Netbooks. They are just smaller.”
Now, leaving aside for a moment the fact that the Storm is clearly not a laptop replacement, Lazaridis’s comment is interesting because it mirrors Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs’s remarks about the iPhone this past October. Responding to a question about Apple’s plans for the Netbook market, Jobs suggested that the iPhone and iPod touch are essentially diminutive Netbooks. “One of our entrants into [the Netbook] category, if you will, is the iPhone for browsing the Internet and doing e-mail and all the other things that a netbook lets you do,” Jobs said. “Being connected via the cellular net wherever you are, an iPhone is a pretty good solution for that, and it fits in your pocket.”
Great minds think alike, I guess…
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Comments
For these things to be equivalent to netbooks at least two things have to be true (about the user):
One, they have to have near perfect up-close vision, or carry around a magnifying glass of the sort seen in the movie Brazil.
Two, they have to be content with slow hunt and peck style typing as done with your index fingers or thumbs.
If these two things aren’t true, then, like me you would have to carry around said magnifying glass and an external keyboard. Now I do know people who are insane enough to go to great lengths to make the wrong device fit their needs.
I think the netbooks have succeeded precisely because there are a lot of people who like to touch-type and don’t like to squint to read the news.
I do appreciate the new crop of graphics-free web pages that are being invented to make these tiny devices usable though, it’s almost like going back to the web of the 90s.
I do know one fellow who has used his phone for almost all his web browsing since he got the thing almost a year ago. the trouble he puts himself through to do so and the content he misses out on in the process is rather comical as are most ardent users of these handheld devices.
Beam me up Scotty.
Posted by Mac Beach at January 1st, 2009 at 8:27 amI believe the correct/accurate name is Blackberry Depression.
Posted by Dave Barnes at January 1st, 2009 at 6:27 pmcf. David Pogue’s review in the NY Times
I love my iPhone. I browse the web all day and keep up with news using a free RSS reader from the app store. One of the first things I did was put my email accounts on the phone and now they are automatically checked every 15 minutes.
Of course, it doesn’t replace my laptop but, it is great fun.
Posted by Charles Thomas at January 2nd, 2009 at 4:02 am