Hotmail's a bad comparison, because they're two products in the same market with similar features. What if Google tried to make a product that was competing with something like MobileMe, which has less features but works much nicer - and at a cost?
I think Blackberry's trying to compete with Apple was inevitable, and I think they've got some good ideas. But they're dealing with a much higher-quality competitor, in a different field. Phone manufacturers are trying to make a competing phone. They need to work on making competing mini-computers. RIM is the top smart-phone maker, but they're competing in a different (albeit overlapping) field now, and their first attempt was a dud. I think if they didn't try, that Apple would (and still very well may) swamp them within a few years. So they're responding. But their first foray has been a dud.
no, but gmail was (and is) a much superior product... it was essentially a redesign ground up..
with storm what is new? sure it has a 3.2 mp camera vs iphone's "paultry" 2 mp and a screen area that is 0.4" larger...
again my issue was with the copy-cat behaviour ... again should have worded that better... what RIM is doing with Storm and Bold is no different from MS's attempts with Zune...
Does this mean that Google, by creating GMail to compete with hotmail was conceding that their brand is inferior to hotmail?