The iPhone may have the cool factor, but what if you actually need to… er, um… use it?
Which is better, the iPhone or the BlackBerry?
On Wednesday, Apple cut the price of its top-of-the-line iPhone from a wallet-breaking $599 to a less-terrifying $399. This price reduction comes as reports have emerged that July sales of the iPhone outnumbered those of all other smartphones combined. With my battered, aging BlackBerry on its last legs, I went back to the Apple store to try to join the crowd and sell myself on trading brands. But after a few hours of side-by-side comparisons, I’m convinced more than ever that the iPhone isn’t the device for me. I’ll be replacing my BlackBerry with … another BlackBerry.
The keyboard. The BlackBerry keyboard is an engineering wonder. I have a model with a full QWERTY keyboard rather than a downsized phone pad, and I can thumb-type my editor with one hand while hanging off the side of a San Francisco cable car with the other. iPhone’s virtual on-screen keyboard is a whole lot cooler, but it loses its luster as soon as you have to meet a deadline. After hours of practice—the trick is to tap the virtual keys lightly with your fingertips, rather than trying to press down—I still mistype my own name.
The iPhone does have two advantages I wish BlackBerry would catch up with. First, it’s a true multitasking computer.
[…]
Aside from the obvious benefits of Visual Voicemail, it’s hard to conjure a scenario in which any of the iPhone’s gee-whiz features will help you get any work done. Multitouch is fun to play around with, and it’s neat to rotate the screen from portrait to landscape. I’m skeptical that either feature will ever help me meet a deadline. Apple hasn’t yet succeeded in turning its fetish object into a productivity tool, but BlackBerry’s maker, Research in Motion, has done the reverse. The company made its business tool into a fetish object by starting with functionality (check out the original model) and gradually growing into sexy shapes like the Pearl and the Curve.
Love my Blackberry 8830.
In many cases it all comes down to comparative costs.
Apple learnt or relearnt a standard fact of life
You may think it is great – but what does the item or service cost versus other options that people have
There were less costly options available for the services that most people require for their communication or business communication tools
Most cell phone traffic is a waste of time.
iFags are the only ones soiling themselves over that overhyped POS. That and peroxide blondes who need something accessorize their lifestype. Just as everything Apple makes, the iPhone is novelty item with no real impact in the real productive world.
3….2…1 Till the iTards lose it.
I love my Palm T|X
Its basically the iPod touch, but its been out for years and it has 3rd party apps.
Wow. Apple had a bad week. If I were a shareholder, I would be considering a shareholder lawsuit after this week. First the iSuppli report that suggested poor iPhone sales, which Apple and the Apple functionaries in the media tried to spin as good news. Then the disastrous presser where Jobs tried to hide the iPhone fire sale in between a product seemingly designed to cannibalize iPhone sales and the bizarre Starbucks alliance. Then to make matters worse the Apple fanboy contingent turned on Apple for reducing the exclusivity of their product.
That doesn’t even take into account the apparent breakup of the iTunes hegemony. NBC has left iTunes (or were they kicked out? Im not sure), and FOX is making similar noises. Making an iTunes type monopoly on video a certain impossibility.
Which of course is bad for Apples core iPod product line. With no video content there is little reason to buy a video iPod or Apple TV. As all the iPods are now video products there is little and reducing reason to purchase an iPod.
Wow, this is the perfect storm. Because without a content monopoly there is a lot of uncertainty that there will be ANY new content available on the Macintosh platform. The Macintosh will begin to fail its core audience, teenagers.
The irony of the situation is that this has all happened without any apparent stiff competition to Apple. Apple seems to have done this to its self. Through their arrogant product positioning, and their arrogant dealing dealings with content creators they have made it all but impossible to form strategic partnerships with anyone but… A coffee company.
I think it is not longer a question of, what will Apple do now? As much as, can Apple survive?
#7,
Its not as bad as I make it sound. They can always use bootcamp to watch Heros and Battlestar Galactica.
GregA #8 — I believe you misspelled BitTorrent.
Loath as John is for us to quote Robert X Cringely for various reasons, his column this week has a bit to say on the price cut. Could be right or could be absolute crap. Can never tell with Cringely. Or Jobs. But definitely GregA.
#10,
Easy. Look at cringely’s predictions for 2007. Not a single prediction has come true.
Ouch!
Look at that (Amazon best sellers), not a single one of the new iPods is selling through except for the iPod Touch. Tell me, do you think that is good or bad news for the iPhone or iPod product line?
Dave, a well written and honest report. I don’t think Apple’s intent was to compete 100% with the Blackberry, but possibly woo away some of those who don’t use their Blackberry to the fullest extent as you do.
Pedro, rebuttals aren’t necessary. Apple is in the phone business now and the rules are different. Nokia comes out with $400-500 phones and within a year they are $99. But more specifically the N95 debuts for $700, Then iPhone in direct competition comes on the market for $500. Nokia lowers their price to $500 and then Apple lowers their price to $300. Your move Nokia.
Both early purchasers lose out but with one big exception. Apple gives back $100 to their fanboys. Nokia fanboys get zero.
GregA, for stock advice, I’l go elsewhere. What a load of nonsense. I still maintain my Apple stock will be $160 – $200 by the end of December (as I stated when it was $219). Jobs is a marketing genius but not perfect. Guys like him don’t make many mistakes but when they do it won’t occur twice.
#0 –
“…I can thumb-type my editor with one hand…”
“…it loses its luster as soon as you have to meet a deadline.”
“…help you get any work done.”
Gee. Somewhere along the way I must’ve missed where Apple was selling the iPhone as a work-oriented device – y’know, playing movies and music and such on the clock?
Some people work to live, others live to work – and need to get a life.
One final winner:
“Apple hasn’t yet succeeded in turning its fetish object into a productivity tool…”
I wonder if that could be because a) this is the first model, so nothing existed before to be “turned into” the one they’re selling, and b) a “productivity tool” for 70-hour-a-week socially crippled dweebs is not what they intended it to be. Y’think maybe?
#13 is right… what ever happened to play?
(typed on my iPhone)
ha!
I don’t think Apple’s intent was to compete 100% with the Blackberry
Correct, I think they were more interested in going head to head with Win Mobile. In that contest, Apple wins hands down as Win Mobile is the shittiest mobile OS on the market, just slightly behind the old Palm OS.
Man, uncle Dave, you’re making the same benefit that so many great companies make.
When trying to make a top seller, you must never, never ever produce something that gets the job done. You do want to produce a fetish. You want a product that helps bolster the buyer’s ego.
If you but something to get the job done, chances are, you’ll look at the price and maybe try to calculate how much it will help you get the job done and if it will pay for itself.
Not so with the fetish. You buy it and the first time a friend notices you have it, it’s payed for it’s price.
That’s what the iPhone is: an ego booster. Look at me! How cool am I!
pfff… to compare it with a mere tool
pj
hmm… I must have been confused…. making the same benefit? making the same mistake I meant to say… wonder what neuron misfired on that one. I’ll have it replaced immediately.
Heck… another one just a few lines lower…. but should have been buy
there’s someone in my head but it’s not me…
pj
“Touch-typing BlackBerry users, meanwhile, are everywhere, thumbing away behind steering wheels or with their hands tucked under the conference table during meetings. Sure, we’re a highway menace, but we’re productive.”
Oh, great! Idiot!
Since when was the iPhone supposed to compete with “Business Productivity” devices?
Apple’s goal was just to make a cool-assed phone. In that respect, they succeeded.
Blackberry people will always have the business market. Apple will always have the pro-sumer market. Nuff said.
Well, you gotta admit, movies in widescreen sure look great on the Blackberry… 🙂
Next’ll come the carping about how a BMW 540i can’t haul half a ton of gravel, like an F-150. Same Logic-Free Reasoning®™.
Around these parts, when I see someone carrying a BB, I can’t help but think, there goes yet another drone, tied to the office with his high-tech leash… but at least he thinks he’s an object of universal admiration.
#21
IMNHO a F-150 is an overpriced, overhyped truck whereas a more specialized Daihatsu, Toyota or even Honda truck can do the same job with less hassle.
“Around these parts, when I see someone carrying a BB, I can’t help but think, there goes yet another drone, tied to the office with his high-tech leash…”
Yeahand some even do boring things like running a business.
#23,
IMNHO a F-150 is an overpriced, overhyped truck whereas a more specialized Daihatsu, Toyota or even Honda truck can do the same job with less hassle.
Not around these parts buddy. Most of the farmers around here use the F-150s to work with. Same with the Chevys. A Toyota is usually still all prettied up from the showroom floor and will never see a bale of hay or load of dirt.
#23 – Angel, you busy bastard!
“Yeahand some even do boring things like running a business.”
Very much the minority are “running” anything. A BB on the belt doesn’t say “dynamic entrepreneur” around here, it says “striving wage-slave cog in the machine” and often, “future double-bypass patient.”
If you are not in a fortunate country to be able to use an iPhone then the blackberry wins hands down, as there is no direct competition, similarly if you travel often then at least for the moment who could consider an iphone (unless they had a blackberry backup)
I don’t have an iPhone, iPod, Blackberry, or cellphone. But this is what I think of comparisons. The iPhone is an iPod for people who also want to make calls with it. A Blackberry is like a Palm Pilot, that can’t be used to play music, movies, or as a phone (last time I checked). Each has its niche market and best uses. No one should expect an iPhone to be a mini-laptop PC or Palm. Of course the keypad is rudimentary. So are all other cellphone keypads. The iPhones is actually better. But it can’t be as good as a Blackberry. Anymore than a Blackberry can be as good as a Laptop PC. If you want to really get serious work done, use a real PC, not a Blackberry. But it’s Ok for some appointment scheduling and “texting”.
(Written with my BlackBerry)
I do run a business, the BB integration with email and easy to use keybaord is great.
When you travel a lot, and oversee many projects, it’s great.
However I see no relation between the iPhone and the BB. With a business Palm, yes.
FWIW, I prefer the non-Querty BB to the full Qwerty BB. I hate the Palm keyboard.
The cell data plan is expensive for a consumer, so the iPhone with data is for the few rich people, not mainstream.
Just like mainstream don’t use BB’s.
Actually I have the best of bost worlds. It’s called a Treo 😛
Can I check a POP3 account on and iPhone? What would it cost me monthly to have and iPhone compared to a Blackberry? I would like to hear from someone with an iPhone using POP3 service. So far I’ve checked the plans at AT&T and the basic plan is $60.00 a month to include email/web and phone unless I have misunderstood. I’m currently with T-mobile and considering a Blackberry. My estimated costs for unlimited data w/POP3 support and phone plan will be $87.00 month. My projected plan will include: ($39.99) 600 whenever minutes, free nights/weekends, ($6.99) Mobile to Mobile, ($19.99) unlimited data (email/web), ($9.99) hot-spot feature – allows me to connect and talk over my wireless network and no additional cost; if I were to walk away from the wifi hot-spot it switches over to the network, but the call is still free. What I really need is a mobile device that allows me to send and receive e-mails through my POP3 account unlimitedly (high volume of e-mail). I do not want to get hit with hidden surcharges or fees. If the iPhone can accomplish this then from where I’m sitting it’s looking pretty attractive considering monthly carrying costs. Unless anyone has other recommendations.
Thanks,
Sam
i have lots of issues with the iphone. this is an excellent phone, Thus far it is NOT meant for business productivity.
Blackberry is coming out with the same feature soon enough, offering also the beautiful features that the iphone offers.
APPLE DEVELOPED A GOOD PRODUCT; YET THEY DID NOT MADE THEIR PHONE FOR BUSINESS.
I was just getting ready to replace my ancient BB with the iphone. I saw the below review on convinceme.net “iphone vs Blackberry. If you use your BB primarily for business email, please read the comments from “corporate freedom”. Assuming all the comments are accurate, I found them extremely helpful in making my decision. I plow thru 100’s of email messages a day from clients worldwide. Without BB features like cut and paste, draft option, search and autotext, I would need a laptop to retrieve earlier text and data needed to answer the new messages. Eliminating carrying a laptop was the reason I got the BB in the first place. With all this extra effort to keep afloat, seems like I’d never have time to enjoy all the extra goodies iphone offers. Hope this info is helpful.
Convinceme.net
From Corporate Freedom:
If you truly need the features of the blackberry, no fun iphone screens will replace
the blackberry. I’ve had my iphone for less than 24 hrs and here’s what the iphone
“does not” have in comparison to the blackberry 8800:
1. No voice memo option
2. No voice text option
3. No auto text (I set up in my blackberry that if I type “plmk” it types out “please
let me know” and a 100 other auto texts I set up to be fast and efficient
4. No cut and paste (are you kidding me?)
4. No help feature within the phone itself
5. Can’t find how to lock it on demand (so I don’t push keys in my pocket). It locks
itself with a certain minute setting I set but not on demand.
6. No draft option for emails or texts (I was in the middle of a long one, my phone
rang, poof, my email was gone when I hung up.
7. No ring profiles (at night I put my bb 8800 in phone only mode for emergiencies
and then texts and emails don’t ring all night
8. No search feature (for finding emails, texts, calls or subject matters)
9. Capitalization requires two strokes on the keyboard, bb8800 only one (holding down
the key)
10. No way to jump to the bottom of a long email or texts or to the bottom of a list
of emails or texts
11. Calls – omg, this is the worst. No way to start typing the name of the person I
want to call. I have to remember how I organized their name in my almost 700 list of
contacts in order to call them.
12. Doesn’t sync the tasks from my Outlook
13. No speed dialing
14. No LED light to tell me I have missed a call, have a text, email or alarm. I
have to physically pick up the phone to look at it.
15. No way to easily add a phone number contained in the text of an email and add it
to address book (in the bb8800 you select the number, menu, add to address book,
done!)
16. No cut and paste. Need I say more on this one!
17. No camera settings menu from the camera option, no zoom
18. My 1st calender entry repeated itself for a week (even though I coded it “repeat:
none” and blocked out 8 hours for each of those days, even though it was a 1/2 hour
appt.)
Fancy webpage graphics and music won’t fix all this. I’m lucky enough to work in the
corporate world at home and my BB keeps me efficient and mobile.
Wonder what discoveries I’ll find in the next 24 hours? Oh, I forgot, I’m bringing it
back today. And having to pick up a new SIM card from my Blackberry because the SIM
dies when the iphone is activiationd. Wish I read a post like this before I got
caught up in the iphone bedazzlement
I still have my first apple computer and it still works!!I do not think that is just a novelty item…I’ve been thru 5 PC , all crap, waste of money…Ok maybe they need to polish a few things up on the IPhones … but sorry people, Apple is still the future for Computers, phones and techy stuff