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From: John Navas on 14 Jul 2010 23:20
With iPhone 4 sales in the millions and Motorola's Droid X launch
looming, Research in Motion's BlackBerry 6 preview smacks of
desperation.

A video on YouTube does little to hide BlackBerry 6's iPhone and Android
aspirations. Among the features on display: Universal search (iPhone did
that a year ago), a spiffed-up music player (iPod interface, anyone?),
social networking feeds (Motoblur and HTC's Friend Stream have that
covered on Android) and a Webkit browser with pinch-to-zoom (welcome to
Android and iPhone's party, RIM).

Also, take note of the portrait-sized screen in the BlackBerry sneak
peak video. This suggests RIM will champion the rumored BlackBerry Torch
9800, which has a full touch screen and slide-out keyboard, as the
quintessential BlackBerry 6 phone. But again, the design is derivative
of Android sliders, such as the MyTouch 3G Slide and Motorola Droid.

The message from RIM to BlackBerry users is clear: We know you'd rather
have an iPhone or an Android phone. Stick with us, the familiar brand,
and we'll try to give you the features those phones already offer.

This plea comes at a crucial time. A survey by ChangeWave Research,
conducted just before the iPhone 4 launch, foretells a major collapse
for RIM's BlackBerry. Customer satisfaction is at an all-time low, down
from 55 percent of BlackBerry users "very satisfied" in September 2008
to 30 percent in June 2010, and down 8 percent over the last three
months alone.

"In short, in recent quarters RIM models appear to have lost their 'cool
factor,' and the onus is now squarely on RIM to regain consumers'
confidence in their products," ChangeWave concluded.

I'm not convinced that RIM's iPhone-Android wannabee strategy will work.
BlackBerry 6 could take a while just to launch; there's no firm release
date and the sneak peak was demonstrated sans hardware. Meanwhile,
Android phones and the iPhone already do the things BlackBerry 6
promises, and Windows Phone 7 poses a threat by reaching out for
consumers as well.

MORE:
<http://www.pcworld.com/article/201094/rim_looks_desperate_in_blackberry_6_preview.html?tk=hp_new>
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