Jim Prentice, a former federal industry minister, and vice-chairman of CIBC, wrote in the Nov. 21 Globe and Mail "I'm keeping my BlackBerry."
He made a stirring argument in favour of Research in Motion, the Canadian technology champion. He spoke of how it has increased his productivity. "RIM has had its share of challenges and critics lately. But it isn't the first technology company to face technical problems or fierce competition in a changing market. IBM, Microsoft and even the current high flier, Apple, have all had their difficult periods," he wrote.
Sure. That's great. I loved my BlackBerry too. But that's not going to stop me from putting an iPhone 4S under the Christmas tree for little ole me, and if she's good, maybe my wife, too.
I loved my BlackBerry, but it's soon going to end up in the kids' toy box along with all the other retired cellphones for them to play with.
I've been pining for an iPhone for a while. There are so many things you can do, with literally hundreds of thousands of apps. As for my BlackBerry Curve 8330? Not so much. I only have a dozen or so loaded, and several no longer work, like, for instance, my Globe and Mail app. Or my banking app. Oops.
Would you believe I can get apps that allow me to control my Nikon camera (with the addition of a netbook or specialized add-on) from an iPhone? I can actually see the live-view image, on the phone, before I even click it? That's pretty impressive.
What really cheesed me off was a support call to SaskTel. A while back, RIM came out with a new operating system. RIM says my BlackBerry can support OS 6. SaskTel won't allow me to upgrade beyond OS 4.5, and there's nothing I can do about it except buy a new phone. I don't want to buy a new phone. I want to be able to do all the things the phone I have already paid for is capable of.
The phone has been reliable, except for the occasional purple screen of death that requires the battery to be removed and replaced, followed by a lengthy boot-up. The killer app, BlackBerry Messenger, I will miss, since apparently my whole family has BlackBerries. But I don't use it that often, so no big loss there.
I won't miss the crappy built in camera on the Curve. The iPhone camera was recently praised by Annie Leibovitz, one of the greatest photographers of all time. Many pro photographers are now using it as their carry around pocket camera, and that was before the iPhone 4S camera update.
The BlackBerry tablet, the Playbook, is a poor answer to the iPad. I played numerous times with a relative's, and was not impressed. Maybe that's why it is being discounted so heavily for the Christmas season. What's a 60 per cent price cut after half a year on the market?
It's highly indicative of RIM's fall from grace that no less than a former industry minister felt obliged to write a cheerleading letter to a national newspaper saying he supports the BlackBerry. By saying "I'm keeping my BlackBerry," the corollary is that one is assumed to soon be dumping it, most likely in favour of the iPhone.
The BlackBerry is a competent Smartphone, but it's no iPhone. RIM needs to knock it out of the park soon, or suffer ending up on the technological scrap heap. The market is voting with its feet. I just hope SaskTel doesn't run out of iPhones before Christmas.
Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net
