There have been rumours for sometime about a touchscreen Blackberry, and it would seem that we are one step closer to that reality as it has been reported that RIM has filed a patent for an upcoming touchscreen device. Of course, to be successful in the corporate world, a touchscreen keyboard will never work fast enough (for now) to keep mobile professionals happy. However, other rumours indicate a slide out keyboard may also be in the works. Also of note, is that time to market is expected to be relatively quick – i.e. this summer! This is timely for me as I recently lost my Blackberry in the snow at a friend’s house. I think I dropped it on my way to the door from my car, and while I was in talking to one of my friends, the other half of the couple was shovelling. Needless to say, my blackberry is in a huge snowbank. Instead of wading though the massive snowbanks, I’ll just wait for the snow to melt and pick up the remnants (I can get a free replacement with the insurance I have so long as I bring back the carcass). Hopefully it is salvageable, but if it isn’t, I suppose I would spring for a touchscreen blackberry if I had to… :)
There was another rumour I heard today about Apple dropping the price on the current lineup of iPhone’s to make way for the next (slightly) upgraded models. I believe they will only have increases in memory capacity and may work on the 3G platform – don’t ask me what that actually means! If you remember, there was quite a backlash when Apple dropped the price of the iPhone by $200 shortly after launching it… Wonder what the response will be this time around… Also, I should point out that the iPhone is probably coming to Canada through Rogers – again, perhaps this year.
For a more authoritative source on electronic matters, visit The Boy Genius Report – if you want to hear all the latest gossip about cellphones, PDA’s and other electronic items – this is a great site to follow. They even just gave away a MacBook Air (it was only open to US residents unfortunately!)
(And yes, I tried calling my phone to try and locate it inside the snow banks, but it was on vibrate. Oh, the humanity!)
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What Apple botched with the iPhone launch was the segmentation with 4GB and 8GB models. Early adopters are early for a reason – it’s mostly impulse, prestige and intrigue driving them. Of course they’re going to pony up for the full 8GB. And that’s what happened. No one bought the 4GB, so Apple yanked it and dropped prices as the inertia set in (all the early birds had bitten, the masses weren’t about to shell out just yet).
Segmentation only makes sense for mature products/markets. The iPhone will segment as Rim, Samsung and Motorola come harder with iPhone like smartphones.
Reader ‘G’ is an authority on things like this, he runs the blog The Smooth DJ – definitely worth checking out. He’s also my brother – so genetically, he’s capable of being very smart. lol :)