The Batman Belt

Everywhere I look in the work place I see two phones on everyone’s belt or desk. There sits the company issued blackberry next to the iPhone or Android device. In an era of financial concerns I cannot help but wonder what the outside world thinks about us. Based on BillShrink.com we can guestimate the total to be around 4000 dollars which is 6 times more than the average Haitian makes in a year.

In addition, on a more personal level why would a logical engineer spend an additional 100-150 dollars a month on a device who’s general capabilities are replicated with a company supplied and funded phone?

I wish I could make the above statements with a “giggle” because I rose above the geek lust and stick with a Blackberry…if only that were the case.

A few weeks ago I was stuck broken down on my Ducati in the middle of the ghetto. I brought my blackberry instead of iPhone over a somewhat cynical fear that I would crash and my nice personal phone would serve as a slip and slide. After being on the side of the road for 3 hours with nothing more than a blackberry for entertainment and safety usage I have this following list to say:

• Why does it take 10 minutes to restart a Blackberry? What on earth could take THAT long to restart and allow for input?
• Opera Mini improves the situation, but the surfing situation on a Blackberry is embarrassing. Simple Google searches and news reading is painfully slow. For a split second I saw a newspaper dispenser and dug for change
• Why does it lock-up when I am typing a message? Don’t give me the bull about multitasking and running too many things. Google Talk, eMail, and Browser-based Twitter are not enough to LOCK a machine up.
• Camera, music, and streaming pandora is worthless. If you ever think you will use it for anything more than email you are poor soul who has never touched an iPhone or Android

So why are there two phones on people’s hips and desk? The only conclusion I can come to is one is a pager and the other a small computer. Given the option to pay for their own device and service many would jump on the opportunity. The truth is that the Blackberry is a dying paradigm. Seamless email is nothing the cheapest “media smartphone” can perform with ease. Passwords, security, remote wipe, etc. All these things can be done with Google Android or iPhone. RIM has momentum and entrenchment in that their BIS/BES installs are extensively deployed at the highest level of govt. The problem is that momentum implies either an acceleration or slowdown. We can all agree that the momentum for RIM is the slow-down, we are watching the ball slow down.

RIM take a look @ Solaris and review your position in the market. People would rather spend their hard earned dollars than rely on your sad excuse for a modern smart-phone. To the businesses of the world paying for BB and watching your highest executives carry iPhone; time to wake-up. You are giving your workers rubber hammers because they are safer and expecting them to build you strong houses. Give them the tools they want…