I think BlackBerry have been blown off course by the iPhone. Almost everyone I know who has used both devices says that the typing experience on the BlackBerry is far superior to the iPhone. I’m not surprised. Although the iPhone typing experience is way better than I thought it would be, there’s no tactile feedback to tell you when you’ve made a mistake, so you never develop the muscle memory you need to get better. It’s also hard to use two-handed, whereas you regularly see BlackBerry users tapping away with both thumbs.

This is why I find the Storm so incomprehensible. BlackBerry’s approach should be: “if you want a mobile email typewriter, get a Blackberry.” There are loads of people who want that (journalists, for example) and RIM serve that market very very well.

This is exactly the kind of device that can compete effectively with the iPhone because it is *different*, setting out to satisfy a *different* kind of customer. But just making a knock off iPhone is not going to work – especially since I’m sure Apple are busy making something even better.

RIM and friends are just volunteering to give Apple a 6-9 month head-start on every model iteration. And the biggest victims of El Jobso’s Reality Distortion Field have been Apple’s competitors.

I think part of the problem is that it’s also an iPod, something a lot of people already own, so even though there’s obviously a benefit to owning one device that does it all, I think a lot of people either can’t justify the cost or don’t see the point if they already have a perfectly good iPod. I do wonder if there will be a higher iPhone uptake in the next couple of years due to older iPods dying out.

And is it really the case that people think of Macs as inferior? Maybe it is. But I feel that much of the problem is that they’re still seen to be geared towards creatives. And the same can be said for the iPhone surely? You’ll hardly ever see someone working in the city using an iPhone, it’s always a Blackberry. That said, I do think that those opinions have changed a lot over even the last few years, and I only think it’s going to gain more momentum over time. Slow and steady wins the race…

Eric
I have used both system, Macs are far worse, more expensive, and un cutomizable/reparable by the end user… OSX is good though

People might avoid the iPhone because they believe that Macs are inherently inferior to PCs, but are quickly converted when they see the device. And of course they can use their shiny new iPhone with their lovely PC.

I used to think that PCs were better, but that’s because I never used a Mac. Working in an office with Macs, and using PCs at home, changed me forever. I am now exclusively Mac, but I do have Windows on my PC for whenever I want to get really frustrated.

Stop drinking the Kool-Aid.

that said, I love my iPhone and use it all the time. I would have gotten a blackberry had it not come out, and the fact that i could have a phone(smart) and music player together was the only selling point for me

now that i do app reviews, it was a good call