RSSRepaying debt: RIM and Germany
Sep 28
Two positive news items today, that are at least metaphorically related.
First, and no surprise here, but RIM VP Confirms PlayBook QNX OS Will Replace BlackBerry OS. To my mind, RIM’s aging BlackBerry OS is their biggest hurdle. I want to root for RIM, but I just can’t stomach using their devices knowing there are much better platforms out there. RIM is finally beginning to repay their Technical Debt, built up from years of thinking they could keep up with everyone else by just reskinning their old code.
Then, onto real debt, who knew Germany was still paying reparations for WW1? Germany ends World War One reparations after 92 years with £59m final payment
Oct 05, 2010 @ 11:56:15
The situation doesn’t look all that bad for RIM.
“Among recent buyers, Android held 32% of the market, while Apple and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion were in “a statistical dead heat” for second place with about 25%, according to Nielsen.”
RIM has a certain loyal base of business and government users that will never switch to iPhone or Android. In addition, Android is having problems because its app marketplace behaves differently from phone to phone, and isn’t even supported on certain phones, begging the question what good is a smartphone without access to apps? That creates’s an opportunity RIM can cash in on, if it doesn’t make the same mistake.
The big selling points:
iPhone: app availability
Android: no licensing fees
RIM: security
Since I suspect RIM has little interest in competing with Android on price, that leaves app availability as the final battleground.
“We don’t need 200 fart apps in App World,” says RIM’s platform product management VP Alan Panezic. He did not say how many farts apps they do need.
Don’t make it your business to tell developers what they can and can’t do. That’s a major source of annoyance for iPhone devs and if you want to lure some away, you’ll have to do better.