In Search Of Utopia: I'm Sorry....

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January 25, 2006

I'm Sorry....

But I find the whole Blackberry thing to be hillarious.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - It's not the sub-zero temperatures that have the corporate kingpins shivering in Davos this year but the prospect of life without their "Blackberry."

After Angelina Jolie, the wireless portable e-mail device is the thing every business leader wants by his side at the annual World Economic Forum, where hundreds of chief executives, dozens of heads of state and the odd celebrity couple gather to discuss world woes and corporate trends.

The hi-tech gadgets are an essential tool for staying in touch with the office and the world while negotiating the waves of interviews and meetings held during the five-day jamboree.

But the chance of a Blackberry-less future at next year's Davos summit loomed large this week when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a major patent infringement ruling against maker Research In Motion Ltd.

Now, a federal judge could issue an injunction to block RIM's U.S. business.

"It's just nuts. The idea that someone is just going to switch it off in three or four weeks, even if it's only in the United States, is crazy," Peter Levene, chairman of the Lloyd's of London insurance market, told Reuters.

"Everybody has adapted their working habits to it. If you close it off at a stroke the damage could be colossal."

William Parrett, chief executive officer of Deloitte, USA, agreed that the Blackberry, nicknamed the "Crackberry" for its addictive allure, was a vital business tool, particularly for keeping communications and business lines open during a disaster.

"It would be a significant blow. We made sure all our people had handheld devices at the time of 9/11 because it was the only communications tool we had," Parrett told Reuters.

These people have known for a couple years now that RIM lost the first lawsuit, and yet they continued to buy the devices and base their communication strategy on their use. The most ridiculous thing about all this, is that there are more than adequate alternatives. Palm's smart phones all have push email solutions available via software ad-ons, and are in many ways more powerful, flexible devices. The Blackberry is a fad, just like two way pagers were a few years ago.

If I am building a mobile communication strategy, (And I will be for a client... very shortly), I would base the strategy on open standards like IMAP and POP, and with a robust hardware platform like the Treo smartphone or HP6515.

Both of these solutions are based on standards and are configurable to provide the same functionality of the Blackberry, with strong additional features like Agenda management and third party applications that provide other functionality not offered by the Blackberry.

In Costa Rica, where the Blackberry is not available, I am able to utilize the same kind of mobile functionality using my Palm Lifedrive and Motorola V3 RAZR phone. The Lifedrive's 4GB drive and multiple wireless features allow me to not only stay in touch while on the move, but to carry ALL of my important business documents with me and Mail them in standard Word, Excell, Powerpoint or PDF format while on the move.

I have had numerous scenarios where I was out of the office and recieved a call requesting a copy of a document, or a quick edit to one. I was able to find the document on the Lifedrive and email it using a GPRS connection and my RAZR.

Posted by David A at January 25, 2006 10:51 AM
Filed Under Tech | 577 Words

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Comments

I can understand the point your making. But for the small people out there, like me, who bought their blackberries out of their own pockets this is not funny at all. I felt the bite when I shelled out $450 for my blackberry last year, and I have put it to good use since that time. Now to see that money thrown away a year later really hits me financially. Maybe if I had a nice corporate expense account to dip into it would be different. But for small business owners and contractors such as myself, this just plain bites and there is no humor in it whatsoever.

Posted by: Greg at January 30, 2006 02:50 PM

Greg, I understand and feel your pain. I suspect there will be a solution offered by the RIM folks, in fact I know there will be based on recent reports. And I was not making light of the small business person, but the big corporate entities that took the risk, knowing the danger based on the original lawsuit. I wish you luck.

Posted by: David Anderson at January 30, 2006 02:54 PM

Alternatives have been around for years; Look at the Nokia Communicator 9500/9300i product. Reliable and much more features. Yes, it requires good technical advise tomake the right selection.

Posted by: Frans at January 30, 2006 03:30 PM

POP and IMAP and what about end to end encryption on your PDA device, what about having to use a stylus, what about the hopeless battery life on a PDA. I have used a HP6515 and a Treo650, they are nowhere near as simple for PIM as a Blackberry handheld. What is the deal with you saying a "robust hardware platform like the Treo 650 or HP.." so RIM's hardware is not robust - get real.

Posted by: Alex at February 26, 2006 06:08 PM

RIM is a joke as a PDA, and the Palm developer community, hell even the Windows Mobile Developer community, have developed more and more robust applications for Palm and WM platforms. I for one think RIM is living on borrowed time.

Posted by: David Anderson at February 26, 2006 07:00 PM