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RIM Chief To Steve Jobs: ‘Customers Are Getting Tired Of Being Told What To Think’
Oct. 19 2010 - 8:49 pm
Any man who builds a device with a big red light on it that blinks at you when you have an incoming message needs to be taken seriously.
And Research In Motion Co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie had a pretty serious message for Apple Chief Steve Jobs after Jobs trashed RIM on Monday’s earnings call with investors: you’re full of it Steve.
To recap, here’s what Jobs said Monday (according to my notes).
On RIM’s smart phone business: “We’ve now passed RIM and I don’t see them catching up with us in the foreseeable future… I think it’s going to be a challenge for them to convince developers to create apps for yet a third platform after Apple and Android’s App store.”
On RIM’s 7-inch tablet, the PlayBook: “the reason we don’t make a 7 inch tablet is… because we don’t think you can make a great tablet with the right software. As a software-driven company we don’t think we can make the right software for a 7-inch tablet…”
“Apple has done extensive user testing on touch interfaces… there are clear limits to how close you can put elements on a touch screen before users can tap, flick, or touch them”
“The seven inch tablets are tweeners, too big to compete with a smart phone, and too small to compete with an iPad.”
“The current crop of 7 inch tablets are going to be DOA, dead on arrival.”
Balsillie’s response, from RIM’s blog:
For those of us who live outside of Apple’s distortion field, we know that 7” tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience. We also know that while Apple’s attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of web sites that use Flash. We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple. And by the way, RIM has achieved record shipments for five consecutive quarters and recently shared guidance of 13.8 – 14.4 million BlackBerry smartphones for the current quarter. Apple’s preference to compare its September-ending quarter with RIM’s August-ending quarter doesn’t tell the whole story because it doesn’t take into account that industry demand in September is typically stronger than summer months, nor does it explain why Apple only shipped 8.4 million devices in its prior quarter and whether Apple’s Q4 results were padded by unfulfilled Q3 customer demand and channel orders. As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story.
Too bad Steve Jobs doesn’t have a BlackBerry, because if he did that little red light would be blinking angrily as responses to Monday’s rant from everyone from Android creator Andy Rubin to Balsillie landed in his inbox.
Oct. 19 2010 - 8:49 pm
Any man who builds a device with a big red light on it that blinks at you when you have an incoming message needs to be taken seriously.
And Research In Motion Co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie had a pretty serious message for Apple Chief Steve Jobs after Jobs trashed RIM on Monday’s earnings call with investors: you’re full of it Steve.
To recap, here’s what Jobs said Monday (according to my notes).
On RIM’s smart phone business: “We’ve now passed RIM and I don’t see them catching up with us in the foreseeable future… I think it’s going to be a challenge for them to convince developers to create apps for yet a third platform after Apple and Android’s App store.”
On RIM’s 7-inch tablet, the PlayBook: “the reason we don’t make a 7 inch tablet is… because we don’t think you can make a great tablet with the right software. As a software-driven company we don’t think we can make the right software for a 7-inch tablet…”
“Apple has done extensive user testing on touch interfaces… there are clear limits to how close you can put elements on a touch screen before users can tap, flick, or touch them”
“The seven inch tablets are tweeners, too big to compete with a smart phone, and too small to compete with an iPad.”
“The current crop of 7 inch tablets are going to be DOA, dead on arrival.”
Balsillie’s response, from RIM’s blog:
For those of us who live outside of Apple’s distortion field, we know that 7” tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience. We also know that while Apple’s attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of web sites that use Flash. We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple. And by the way, RIM has achieved record shipments for five consecutive quarters and recently shared guidance of 13.8 – 14.4 million BlackBerry smartphones for the current quarter. Apple’s preference to compare its September-ending quarter with RIM’s August-ending quarter doesn’t tell the whole story because it doesn’t take into account that industry demand in September is typically stronger than summer months, nor does it explain why Apple only shipped 8.4 million devices in its prior quarter and whether Apple’s Q4 results were padded by unfulfilled Q3 customer demand and channel orders. As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story.
Too bad Steve Jobs doesn’t have a BlackBerry, because if he did that little red light would be blinking angrily as responses to Monday’s rant from everyone from Android creator Andy Rubin to Balsillie landed in his inbox.
