

RIM CEO doesn't think people really want touch screen phones or tablets - edster
http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/04/16/rim.co.ceo.questions.ipad.iphone.staying.power/

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jacquesm
Funny. How can you be so disconnected that you miss the 10's of millions of
devices that have been sold in this space at that level of the corporate
ladder.

I don't actually have a touchscreen based phone or a tablet, but I can easily
see that people want them because of the numbers that have been sold.

The reason I haven't got one is because my current phone is doing just fine
and I like to keep my stuff until it is broken beyond repair before replacing
it. Touchscreens vs keyboards are a long-term no brainer decision, buttons are
mechanical, touch screens are 'solid state', requiring no moving parts other
than the fingers of the operators.

They allow for larger screens and don't require slide-outs or other weak links
like that to operate. They'll probably be cheaper in the longer term to
manufacture than a keyboard. And they use the most logical interface that we
know of, simulating the 'real world' where you press on the thing that you get
your 'feedback' from.

~~~
blogimus
Perhaps the same way that Blockbuster CEO, Jim Keyes, was baffled by the
success of Netflix, by drinking his own bathwater (hubris and willful
blindness to alternative ideas).

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=280425>

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edster
The most fascinating part of the article is that he admits his best selling
phone is a low end model as evidence of what customers really want. Apparently
it didn't occur to him that he's not selling higher end phones because his
competitors are eating his lunch in that space.

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rpledge
Reading that would make me cringe if I were a RIM investor. Obviously this is
a snippet of a keynote, but I wonder if he mentioned apps? Apple and Android
will destroy any shot RIM has at the consumer space if they don't get onboard
with a sexier product. It may already be too late....

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raganwald
I remember when the Palm CEO dismissed the iPhone, and I'm pretty sure that
Ballmer has dismissed every single thing Apple has ever done in the press
while rushing to get his engineers to copy it.

You can only assume that fortune 500 CEO's are clueless for so long before you
start to assume that they're merely disingenuous: They dismiss all of the
competition's products and features until they can release their own copies.

~~~
elblanco
You know that RIM is desperately trying to come out with their own touch
screen smart phones. But their previous attempts have been disasters.

Looking at the recent Blackberry OS's, it's clear that they aren't putting
very significant engineering resources to improving the user experience. It's
really too late IMHO unless they have some uber-project on the back burner a
la Palm's Web OS.

~~~
joezydeco
I was really really interested in applying for a dev position with RIM out
here until I actually tried a Tour. Man, what an awful interface. Everything
about it just dripped "don't care".

Reading this makes me glad I chose to skip them.

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mattmcknight
It's sorta true for me, depending on how you read it. A device without a
physical keyboard has lower usability, and I really like the RIM keyboard. So
given a choice between a device with a physical keyboard and a device with a
touch keyboard, physical wins. That doesn't mean touch can't be there too. My
Treo used to have touch and a physical keyboard, 4 years ago. I also find a
stylus works better than touch for drawing, just like a pencil is better than
finger painting. Fat fingering is just a little too literal for me...

~~~
edster
Obviously, if you like physical keyboards, I respect your opinion that it's
important to you. However, I don't think you can say a device without has
lower usability.

What you gain in potential typing ability is offset by either a larger overall
device (by volume) or a smaller screen. Both offset the potential increased
usability of the keyboard.

Additionally, there is more to usability than simply having keys. In fact,
there are some huge usability gains to be had with an on screen keyboard. For
example, when typing into an email field, the keyboard changes to specialize
for keys important for creating email addresses. Same with fields meant for
URLs, or numbers, etc.

~~~
nhooey
_> In fact, there are some huge usability gains to be had with an on screen
keyboard. For example, when typing into an email field, the keyboard changes
to specialize for keys important for creating email addresses._

On an iPhone, this is merely a way to compensate for the lack of real-estate
you can dedicate to the keyboard. On a blackberry you have all of these keys
accessible as alternates by holding down the ALT key. This includes all of the
letters, numbers, backspace, enter, shift keys and these characters:
()_-+@#*/:;;"?!,$.

Typing on a blackberry is much easier and quicker, making it a lot better for
email and chat.

I'd personally like to a new blackberry all the same, except the screen would
also be a touch screen. Keep the small laptop-like touchpad, though.

~~~
nhooey
Oh look, they're making a hardware-keyboard-touchscreen-slider combo that just
got leaked:

[http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/03/03/device.follows...](http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/03/03/device.follows.general.form.of.bold/)

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tophat02
Whenever I buy a stock I think of various "trigger points" that would make me
sell it (or, at least, start to sell it).

If I owned RIM stock, this would be such a trigger point.

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smakz
In some sense I think he might have a point.

I think the iPhone is a lot like the Wii console. Touch screens on phones are
somewhat like WiiMotes, it's a novel approach but I do think it's questionable
whether touch screen technology has staying power.

One of the biggest signs it is a fad is the inability of competitors to gain
significant traction with similar devices. "WiiMote" like accessories for
other game consoles has largely fallen flat, and likewise there hasn't been a
significant touch screen competitor to iPhone.

Whether you agree or not, just looking at the market trends I don't think
having a touch screen or not is going to be a key differentiator in the next
big smart phone.

~~~
glhaynes
Does anybody but the "waggle sucks" crowd really think Wii-style motion
control doesn't have staying power?

I would be surprised if video gaming goes back to being as much of a "niche"
thing as it used to be, and shocked if non-motion control gaming became
preferred by the mainstream.

Besides, competitors don't have seriously competitive "waggle" devices out yet
to compare market success against, and, what's coming doesn't seem to be
substantially better than Wii on a level that most people are going to care
about.

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pedalpete
First off, the only quote from Lazardis is "famous". So I'm taking much of
this with a grain of salt.

I sincerely hope that if Lazaridis said anything remotely similar to what the
article says, that he was actually pointing to the fact that there are
multiple ways to get your mobile OS on a larger screen, and a full blown
tablet isn't the only one.

With respect to touch-screen popularity, the article says 'touch only' phones.
And it is true that many people prefer a click keyboard AS WELL AS a touch
screen.

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elblanco
RIM is rapidly finding it's way into obsolescence. It's still the most
"popular" smart phone. But the devices stink by today's standards, and their
attempts at an App store and a touch screen have been bombs. Their devices are
simply not capable of keeping up with what people want to do on their phones.

I'd wager that they'll come out with an Android device in a year or two before
slowly fading into Palm like obscurity.

~~~
nhooey
RIM clearly has some problems with their OS and library of applications, they
both suck.

But one thing that's going to stick is their contracts with businesses. Almost
every business that deploys devices to their employees issues blackberries,
and they make a lot of money off the Business Enterprise Server and
integration with Microsoft Exchange.

RIM has only recently emphasized the consumer smartphone market, relative to
other companies like Nokia and Apple which have only done consumer the entire
time they made smartphones.

Nobody's going to oust RIM in the business market any time soon.

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eande
The spin is good, but the underlaying problem is clear. They missed the boat
and top leadership seems to be somewhat disconnected to market and reality. To
me it reads like another Microsoft and Ballmer story.

