Blackberry Doomed?

Aaah Blackberry, the device I despise. (at least you know where I stand.) Its a meeting killer unless companies instill social protocols to prevent it. (Which is another social issue that should not be, but I digress….) But if you read this APC article the author intones that maybe RIM is headed for the dustbin?

Now I will buy the authors argument that iPhone since its launch last year has made enormous market gains. More so that RIM. But I will defend the Blackberry in one aspect — it was designed as a messaging platform from the beginning. Not a phone like the iPhone was with messaging added on. That difference in mindset as to the device has large effects on how you utilize it and design future additions. It is also RIM’s Achilles heel.

iPhone, and smartphones like it are the future. Today messaging is an adjunct and for some users a replacement for voicemail. Can’t voice them right now? Text them instead and leave a call back on the text. Add text to speech to the device and pretty soon the idea of text/email on smartphones take on the air of XML as a protocol on which to offer advanced services. But you don’t use the text directly.

RIM also has one other vulnerability — they are a one trick pony. They have no other venue of revenue, unlike Apple, Sony or HP. Any MBA will tell you its not the most optimal situation to be in. If you stumble you fail not just fall.