Ariel Segall.com Blog by Cloud Mobile Forms

Image courtesy from Crackberry

Open letter to my Friends at Blackberry :

Dear Sirs :

I have been a LOYAL Blackberry user since the days of the 950 pager.  Today, I own a Bold 9000 and I have been dreaming for the last 2 weeks on my new 9800 .

Presently, my household owns 2 iPhones ( my two teenagers – obviously ) , one 9700 that belongs to my boss ( read my wife ) and my super duper 9000.  Oh yeah, and I almost forgot – I bought myself an iPad, which is just the best gadget my hands have ever touched.

The oxymoron for this story is that , I make a living selling Blackberry Apps and Solutions.  Yes, you read it right….. I make a living selling Blackberry Solutions so that my Kids can play with their iPhones .

But now, I also read my news and research the web ( for my business ) using my iPad.  HEY !! Jim & Mike – please do not stop reading – keep on reading !!!

If we are to compare ” Apples to Apples ” or in this particular case ” Apples to Berries ” , I will still  keep my Blackberry as long as my friends at RIM really listen to the market and make some smooth adjustments to their marketing and merchandising departments.

I am not a professional blogger, and I wish you could see my notepad with all my ideas and concerns linked together as a drawing board to write this article… Yes, I now that there is an App for that, but will do my best to just point out my ideas and let you link them together.

1 ) Please Guys – Make some noise !!!

6.0 + 9800 not only is a big deal for me, but could represent the survival last resource for RIM in this fast pace mobile market, where sometimes,  sexiness and vanity  rules over reliability  and committment .

Marketing Rule #1 – it is not about your product , it is about how your clients will perceive your product

An iPhone is a content delivery, productivity and personal management tool that also can place calls, and sarcastically it includes the word “phone” as part of its name .

Blackberry is always referred first as a smartphone …. ????

Marketing Rule #2 – whatever you promise, make sure you deliver .

iPhone does it consistently and  coherently .  They have playgrounds called Apple Stores to help you to dream and fall in love, and then once you leave that store, people keep dreaming not wanting to wake up by experiencing an ongoing customer experience with no hurdles on the road .

What Hurdles …. let me just illustrate some :

a ) Memory – even at 512 Mb ( not to make reference to my frustrating 128 Mb on my 9000 ) you are limiting my ability to compulsively download and purchase apps. A profitable behavior that I learned from Apple.

I just hope that the 9800 will allow you to have as many apps as memory you could hold on your SD card.

Blackberry memory issues for the New Blackberry 9800 ? I hope NOT !!!

It is just UNACCEPTABLE that as per latest Distimo Report , these two apps – Memory Booster RAM Optimizer and QuickPull Free made the top 10 list of most downloaded applications at Blackberry App World.

b ) The other night my two kids asked me to watch a You Tube video of  Blackberry’s 6.0 on their iPhones.  These two sophisticated early adopters actually acknowledged the upcoming UI and expressed some positive attitude, but I couldn’t comment on when, what, where is going to be the big event of getting one for our household.

I just miss  those memories of standing on a line since 5 am at Boca Mall to purchase the first Apple and similar experiences for last two releases as well.

c ) Two of my best ” mature adopters ” friends that work for a Fortune 500 company named with 3 letters,  just bought the latest 4.0 iPhone . You want to know why ? Because the company announced that they will honor 2000 iPhones to be incorporated to the company’s exchange server.

Please note that these baby boomers had regular phones prior to their new acquisition.  Not even Apple expected such a reaction on the 4.0, and my best guess is that the gross of the mature market adopters are starting to accept these new devices. Where does Blackberry stands ?

2 ) Business Wise – Blackberry Rules  - Hands down no more words…..

When it comes to C-level mobile needs, speed, reliability and security, there is no better smartphone to deliver emails, keep notes and manage collaboration calendars than the Blackberry .

Yes indeed, iPhone and Android are escalating the enterprise world, but when they will match Blackberry’s security levels and user will realize that IT Policies no longer will allow them to use all those “sexy” apps, then everything will boil down to traditional ” exchange tools ( for now ) ” and then they will realize that :

.- screen real estate for composing emails  on all three smartphones – is about the same

.- BB Messenger – excels when compared to any other mobile messaging  tool

.- Blackberry’s email app functionality and connectivity with 3rd party services hasn’t been matched yet by any competitor

.- Any other productivity application that really matters for the enterprise will be touch screen friendly as long as pre-selected options are accessible, otherwise an actual  Keyboard will be much more wanted than a touchscreen UI.

Bottom line, I will buy my next 9800 instead of an iPhone 4.0 with my AT&T upgrade incentive and I will still recommend anyone to buy a Blackberry , but I implore at my friends at Blackberry to help me not to have second thoughts and to help to educate your clients, why Blackberry still rules.

I decided to leave for my next article :

a ) Why carriers still love the Blackberry over the iPhone

b ) How much cost carriers to maintain an iPhone in their networks as opposed to a Blackberry

c ) My mobile activities benchmark report when comparing an iPhone vs a Blackberry

d ) My take on the Android phones

and many more , but most important of all – what do you think ? Please comment

Blackberry, seeking to revolutionize the smartphone industry in the same way Apple transformed the whole industry, invited Apple CEO Steve Jobs to be the keynote speaker at WES 2010. At the conference, Jobs will unveil the bbPad, Blackberry’s latest tablet smartphone, starting at $498.99, a price that was 0.0001 percent lower than some analysts predicted.

The bbPad will be the most advanced technology in a magical dream and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price, but yet it won’t have a touchscreen.

Here below you can see a picture of Steve Jobs showing the new bbPad during his rehersal for his presentation.

Steve Jobs showing the new bbPad

The new bbPad will also be part of Box.net new top secret initiative, also launched today, called Space Computing – for more information please visit http://sites.box.net/spacecomputing/

In today’s world, you can view and share files on-the-go using your mobile device.

But can you actually READ your files on your mobile device ?

There is big difference between viewing and reading a file. When viewing a file,  you will actually be able to see ALL content embedded into that file , but when you read a file you actually will be empowered to a “call to action”  activity after grasping the information you are looking for.

Cloud computing is still into its initial baby steps . To bring the power of  cloud computing  from PC users to the mobile world, doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to display on the smartphone ALL information available on your corporate backend.  The real power of cloud mobility is to JUST BRING and properly display on a Clear and Readable format the strictly necessary information for the mobile executive to be empowered for making an accurate informed decision.

Hence, when downloading applications into your state of the art smartphone, keep in mind that you need TWO rugged mobile applications instead of just a single mobile portal for your corporate world.

These applications are :

1 )  An application interface with your corporate content  for easily selecting and rapidly connecting mobile executives  to the exact information and functionality they need.

2 ) An easily accessible collaboration portal that will allow you to securely  manage a shared online workspace where you can anytime from anywhere invite others to view, edit, add,comment, exchange feedback, assign tasks and collaborate in an organized and  centric manner around each particular file or document that you desire.

As you could expect, there are hundreds of solution providers for these two applications, but when it comes to taking a big step towards working more efficiently, while maximizing your ROI , then these two companies excel :

Box.net

Box.net  provides a secure, easy-to-use and cost effective solution to share and collaborate your projects with your staff, outside vendors and clients. It avoids headaches by providing flexible storage online, Box.net connects people socially and professionally, enabling them to collaborate, share, and access their important files securely and easily, from anywhere and for free. Furthermore, being a SaaS solution, it offers significant savings in both cost and IT overhead with respect to legacy enterprise collaboration tools like Microsoft SharePoint . Box customers estimate that they save tens of thousands of dollars in operational efficiency by using Box to share and collaborate online

Webalo.com

The Webalo  Mobile Dashboard is a hosted service that provides an interface for easily selecting and rapidly connecting mobile executives to the exact information and functionality they need. It makes any smartphone as powerful as the enterprise providing users with access through databases, reports, websites, and XML web services.

The best time to negotiate any deal on a face to face meeting outside your office and provide an unmatchable  customer experience is  by being able to provide an immediate  right answer during the actual meeting and then, take on site ,the proper follow up “call to action” activity after the interaction is completed.

Successful Mobile Executives need to be Empowered with what they need and what they want it from  anywhere at anytime.

By MARTIN PEERS

It may be time to put down the BlackBerry.

Even after a selloff Friday, shares of the ubiquitous device maker, Research In Motion, are trading at around 18 times projected fiscal 2010 earnings. That is a little rich for a company whose prospects for red-hot growth may be wearing out.

The company’s fiscal first-quarter results, released late Thursday, showed just how uncertain the future is. The number of net new BlackBerry accounts was down a little from the fourth quarter. And 80% of the additions came on the consumer side, up from 70% in the fourth quarter. Consumers now account for more than half of BlackBerry customers.

That is a mixed blessing. BlackBerry can’t afford to be solely a business device, particularly as the consumer market for smartphones takes off. But whereas corporate users appreciate BlackBerry for the efficiency and security of its email, consumers are more responsive to the latest fashion and to price.

An array of new smartphones hitting the market from Apple, Palm and others, arguably better at Web browsing than the BlackBerry, suggests likely erosion of RIM’s U.S. smartphone market share, which IDC estimates was 55% in the first quarter.

Also at issue is how much RIM needs to spend to maintain that market share. Last fiscal year, RIM’s capital spending more than doubled to $834 million. When increased spending on intellectual property of $688 million is taken into account, RIM generated no free cash flow. Capex rose again in the first quarter, although free cash flow was positive.

RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie says he doesn’t “fret” about competition. But at current valuations, investors may want to.

Write to Martin Peers at martin.peers@wsj.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page B10