BlackBerry Officially In the Touch-screen Market
by
on October 08, 2008,
Yesterday Research In Motion announced BlackBerry Storm that is obviously yet another direct competitor to Apple’s iPhone 3G.
The major disadvantage for BlackBerry Storm is that this phone lacks Wi-Fi support but there are other things where the new device is even stronger than iPhone, like removable battery, 3.2-megapixel camera, and cut-and-paste editing functionality.
Here I have compiled a table (based on the official specifications by manufacturers) to compare the new BlackBerry Storm with its main competitors - the already popular iPhone 3G and soon to start shipping T-Mobile G1.
| BlackBerry Storm | Apple iPhone 3G | HTC T-Mobile G1 | |
| Price | TBA | $200 for 8GB/$300 for 16GB (with contract) | $180 (with contract) |
| Multimedia | Audio, video, photos, games, applications | Audio, video, photos, games, applications | Audio, video, photos, games, applications |
| Internet/Software | Web browser, BlackBerry OS apps, personal email, GPS, Exchange, Lots Notes, Novell GroupWise | Wi-Fi, Web browser, Apple applications store, GPS, personal email, Exchange | Wi-Fi, Web browser, Androin applications marketplace, GPS, personal email, Exchange |
| Input Method | Multi- touch screen | Multi- touch screen | Multi-touch screen, QWERTY keyboard, trackball |
| Camera | 3.2 megapixel, flash | 2 megapixel | 3 megapixel |
| Memory | 1GB (extendable 8GB MicroSD) | 8GB/16GB | 1GB (extendable 8GB MicroSD) |
| Display size/ resolution | 3.2 inches/480*360pix | 3.5 inches/480*32 pix | 3.17 inches/380*320pix |
| Weight | 5.5 ounces | 4.7 ounces | 4.7 ounces |
| Dimensions | 4.4*2.4*0.6 | 4.5*2.4*0.5 | 4.6*2.16*0.62 |
| Connectivity | microUSB, 3.55 mm (standard) headphone jack, Bluetooth | USB, 3.55 mm (standard) headphone jack, Bluetooth | extUSB, Bluetooth |
| Battery life | 360 hours | 300 hours | 130 hours |
| Carrier | Verizon | AT&T | T-Mobile |
The current situation on the market is very interesting. In the first quarter Apple’s market share was 19.2% but it dropped in the second quarter to just 7.4% as potential buyers were eagerly waiting for the new iPhone 3G to be launched so that they could buy the new device already. In the meanwhile RIM increased its market share from 44.5% in the first quarter to 53.6% in the second quarter. As for the third quarter, we will be sure to see rapid growth for Apple after release of the iPhone 3G in July.
All in all, it is hard to say that RIM’s BlackBerry Storm is particularly unique but it will probably further nail down the success of the manufacturer on the market. And this leadership BlackBerry devices already enjoy will make it even more difficult for new players like Android-powered devices (both HTC T-Mobile G1 and the new devices to be released by other manufacturers) to enter the market, especially the enterprise market at that. BlackBerry Storm will also probably weaken the positions of iPhone - even if Apple’s device is incredibly popular in the blogosphere, the market share is still too small to be important enough.
In general all the three devices are very similar in the approaches their manufacturers chose and smaller factors will come into play here. Features and specifications of the devices are so similar that they will hardly play a key role and users will make their decisions based on what they like better visually or on what carrier offers better plans with the devices.
Same as Apple and Android, RIM will be opening SDK to software developers for them to code their own applications for BlackBerry same as they now do for Apple or Android. It will be interesting to see how the applications will be marketed but in general availability of a broad range of applications is yet another factor that is a must for anyone willing to compete with iPhone or Android-powered phones.
But while the devices are similar in many aspects, there is an important factor that could determine a very rosy future for BlackBerry Storm - and that is a very strong and rather loyal user base. This is particularly true for enterprise customers who already trust BlackBerry for their mobile needs and are confident of their security and powerful email solutions.
So for BlackBerry the new Storm device can serve as a measure to keep the audience from switching to other manufacturers that offer the touch-screen technology. But anyway I can’t help but admire RIM that keeps BlackBerry a huge success even without immense buzz we constantly see generated by the other two manufacturers. Hopefully BlackBerry Storm will be yet another move in the same direction.
