For those of you not aware, CES, the biggest consumer electronics show of the year, starts Thursday with a bunch of announcements likely coming tomorrow, and, the big question for me is ” What will Research in Motion have to say?” We know that the BlackBerry PlayBook is coming and that QNX will eventually power a BlackBerry device, however, I’d like to know what else Research in Motion has coming down the pipe, namely in the way of BlackBerry devices.
It’s been 6 months since RIM has released a high-end CMDA BlackBerry and Verizon BlackBerry Storm and Storm2 users especially, with no BlackBerry Storm3 or other Touchscreen device in sight, have seemingly been left out in the cold. This could be the perfect opportunity for RIM to announce a new CDMA BlackBerry with a touch screen, even if it only runs BlackBerry 6.
There are rumors that Apple may officially announce the Verizon iPhone this week,and, if there is no good news on the BlackBerry front coming out RIM, the BlackBerry platform may see many more BlackBerry users switching platforms compared to those that a going to switch regardless of what RIM has to say…
Let’s hope that RIM has good new for us this week
Nothing that will stop their downward slide in the face of iOS and Android.
The market follows good products. If RIM can produce, they can compete.
Who’s to say that RIM will even continue to focus on cell phones? The Playbook could be the catalyst for a major shift in direction.
I don’t really believe they would abandon their core business product, (at least not right away) but seeing as though their phones don’t really match up to the competition, why couldn’t they just focus their attention to what the people want. If the Playbook turns out to be a big hit, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just pushed big resources into expanding that platform. Who knows where this could lead RIM to?
RIM has to continue to focus BlackBerry devices… That is where most of their revenue comes from. I’d be willing to bet that BlackBerry device sales will out pace BlackBerry Playbook sales by 20 to 1 or more in 2011.
RIM can’t forget the date that brought them to the dance…
Agreed, more people need a smartphone then need a tablet.
Definitely, I also agree. I guess I’m just speculating on what could happen in the future. Right now, it’s all about their phones of course.
I’m just thinking that sometimes, things happen that could lead to a change in direction. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t RIM start off by making LED displays for GM’s factories or something?
RIM has been a telecommunications company from their start back in 95…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_In_Motion
…but I take your point.
If they will announce anything that we don’t already know remains to be seen, but, they’ve got a big frigging booth being set up as I type this…
RIM wont have much to show at CES this year. Just look at what the competition is bringing:
Samsung Infuse 4G: 1.2 Ghz Hummingbird Processor, 4.5?, Super AMOLED Plus display, 8 megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash and HD recording, with a 1.2 megapixel front facing camera
HTC Inspire 4G: 4.3? Super LCD Display , 8 megapixel rear camera, 1 Ghz CPU
Motorola Atrix 4G: Dual-Core 1 GHZ CPU (Nvidia Tegra 2), 1GB of RAM, 16 GB of Internal Memory, qHD high-resolution display, HSPA+ (4G) radio, HDMI video output, 5 Megapixel Camera with HD video recording, 1930mAh battery
Sony Erricson Arc: 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 4.2-inch 854 x 480-pixel touchscreen display, 8-megapixel camera with flash and HD video capture
After seeing these devices and taking RIMs history into account, there is nothing that will make me think RIM has anything worthwhile introducing at CES 2011. the average processor on these devices is 1.2GHz while the camer is 8 megapixel, 4 inch touch screen. You cant hide from the facts!!!
Here is a question…
Is RIM incapable of building a smartphone modern by today’s standards, or, have they just yet to do so?
I think that this question will be answered this year…
Defections from BlackBerry to Android and iOS are going to accelerate if RIM doesn’t give some news soon. As we’ve seen from many reports, the defections have begun in earnest and are only going to get worse with not a single new device coming to market. Like you said, many months since the last really “new” device was announced (Torch), not a peep of anything new since. I understand the PlayBook focus, they think they need to go after the iPad eating into their corporate market, but completely ignoring their smartphone product line I think they are doing at major risk to being even relevant in the field in a year from now (or less).
Sometimes the question is better than the answer.
Capital Y
Capital E
Capital S
They have been capable of building a phone by modern standards since the Bold 9000 in summer of 2008.
I have a feeling we are all going to have a surprise coming from RIM at CES. We will say, how did they keep it under wraps so well? We may still complain about it, but we will be surprised.