An Inside Look At the Rise and Fall of RIM 267
zacharye writes with this excerpt from BGR:
"Research In Motion is in the midst of a major transition in every sense of the word. Publicly, the company is portraying a very defensive image — one that is very dismissive, as if RIM is profitable and class-leading, and the media is out of line to criticize its business, as are investors. Internally, however, there's a different story to be told. It's a story filled with attitude, cockiness, heated arguments among the executive team and Co-CEOs, and paranoia. ... The three-year roadmap for RIM products focused on refining the technology in phones had already been released, rather than looking at where to add major new componentry or trying to identify or even shape future trends. 'One of the main reasons RIM missed the mark with the browser was because
they were always proud of how little data usage a user would use,' a former executive said. 'There was no three-year plan at RIM.'"
Re:Arrogance rarely wins... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Use the Droid platform (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, but your users don't have the option of running any of that because RIM hasn't released any of those environments, nor have they provided any hint as to when they might.
I have a PlayBook. It's pretty slick at it's core, but when it has next to no apps, can't do autocorrect, has all sorts of bizarre interface inconsistencies and stalls mysteriously when browsing the web (no, not because of Flash, which is a non-feature, IMO). This article is dead-bang-on in it's analysis of RIM's problems lying with Laziridis' engineering-induced blindness, and the PlayBook is an example of that mindset: hits all the features, has an amazing foundation but is hideously crippled in ways that matter to average people.
When people talk up the PlayBook, it's always "It runs Flash" (yes, it does; it does so better than any other tablet, which is like the old "winning a race at the special olympics" joke) or "It multitasks" (yes, it does, but you're challenged to find more than four apps worth running, and even then the memory management will fall down). That you can't type on it, that it's impossble to mark text, that it has no email client (and Bridge is a glitchy bastard) tell you everything you need to know about how RIM and it's people don't think about what actual consumers want.
It kills me, really. I love the form factor---I wish there was a 7" iPad---and the gestures are brilliant (even though they're not consistent across all apps), but RIM needs to fix this think fast. The problem is that I think they've already moved onto the OS7 phones, which in turn are evolutionary dead ends because a few months after that there's supposed to be QNX phones. I suppose, in a year, the PlayBook might be usable. Maybe.
It reeks of Nokia, actually.
Re:With the end of unlimited data plans...? (Score:2, Informative)
You must have womanly-small fingers.
Im 6'5, and my hands are in proportion to my body. That is, theyre freakishly large. It doesnt matter with blackberries, theyre miles ahead of trying to get my fat fingers to hit the right spot on a touch screen.
If I'm going to need 8 hours of talking and data usage, I'm going to be somewhere I can plug in.
Not all of us have that option. The point of a mobile smart phone was, I thought, to have a device both more reliable and more mobile than a laptop for communication. A phone with a 4 hour battery doesnt even beat out my laptop.
Funny. On my Droid, the stuff I use most is trivial to get to as well. The top 8 things I do are a homescreen touch away. That's a lot of things.
Same on a blackberry, but not what i was referring to. From the main screen, I can type "jo sm" and press the phone button, and im calling joe smith. No opening a phone app, just productivity bliss. I can open "messages", press "t enter r" and ive zoomed to the top of email list, opened the message, and started replying. Possibly android has this, but it has been polished to a shine on blackberries.
You're insane. BES is expensive, barely workable, wonky as hell crap that gives our server admins nightmares.
BES Express is free, and the functional equivalent of BES. If BES Express is insufficient for your needs, then active sync was never even a contender. Barely workable? Takes about 1 hour to install. Server admin nightmares? They need to learn to admin the thing. iPhone+active sync is a far greater source of woes.
For comparison, I have many clients with BES Ex deployments that I have not seen or had to fix in months, or even years, and when they need a new device connected, no longer do I need to figure out what the mailbox name is (its different than user account name for some clients), figure out whether the device wants the full OWA URL or just the FQDN, make sure the password is correct, etc. All i have to do is add them to the BES, and give them an activation password.
If your BES is breaking often, you need new support staff.
Funny, we have yet to have an iPhone have a problem connecting. Likewise with Droids. Supply username, password, server name, and they sync right up.
You havent dealt with enough iPhones then. Google "iphone activesync connection to the server failed".
For Blackberries, meanwhile, you have to provide:...- the EXACT https OWA link...- Username/password...- User's "box" name,... which could be anything at all and is likely different from the username
Thats Activesync. Blackberries require NONE of that data, unless you are referring to BIS, which is essentially web-based POP. It has nothing whatsoever in common with BES, and tells me you have no experience administering a BES.
BES activation requires a quick server "add user", and then 2 things: An activation password, and your email address. I often have my contacts email me with "we have a new user tomorrow, i need an activation password", and they perform the activation themselves. That is not possible with activesync, particularly when self-signed certs are in use.
Email, calendar, and contacts all sync. What else are you looking to sync?
Blackberries also sync task, memo, password, bookmark, and app information. Basically the only thing you ever have to back up is your photos. Once again, you clearly have no experience with a BES.
I'm now convinced you have never actually seen an AD/OWA implementation, and are simply talking out your ass.
In the past week, I have dealt with at least 4 different AD networks, Exchange ranging from 2003 to 2010 (having done some migrations of my own mailbox from 2007 to 2010, and fixed some cert issues on a 2007 deployment). Im quite familiar with