Apple’s wonder gadget with a wonderful user interface and a great screen has made waves with gadget lovers all around the world.
iPhone, when it went on sale, created a minor sensation, with people waiting in long lines to own it and the media going gaga over this good looking piece of art.
When something as interesting makes it appearance, competition is not far away. This is what is irking Apple’s chief executive, Steve jobs. He is said to be encountering serious resistance in Waterloo.
Waterloo is home to the notorious opponents and the creators of the BlackBerry, Research In Motion (RIM.)
RIM as it is popularly known is the leader of smart phones in North America. Smart phones are more like computers than phones and there are many fans who love them for the easy access to the web, digital music and video.
The Blackberry Curve and Pearl, smartphones that are aimed at the consumer market did very well but RIM faces a challenge, as the entry of the iPhone brought the sales down in the first six months.
Apple’s noisy appearance in the smartphone market has increased the visibility of the smartphones and even enhanced the visibility of its rivals too. In the last few months, the sales of smartphones all over the world increased by 60%.
Apple announced in March, that they would most likely be licensing the corporate email technology from Microsoft, which makes it possible for iPhones to directly connect to business computers. In Apple’s quarterly conference, it was revealed that one-third of the Fortune 500 companies showed interest in giving their employees iPhones.
Apple, as one of the measures taken to increase its visibility, has announced that it will introduce a new 3G version of the iPhone in June, which is expected to work on faster wireless networks and this is expected to further attract a whole new segment of consumers to the iPhone all around the world.
All this goes to show the threat that Apple poses to RIM. Consumers, who may have wanted to buy the BlackBerry, will go in for the iPhone now, because of these extra features. This certainly may not bring RIM down as it is an established brand, but will definitely slow them down.
The battle of the Waterloo is heating up and as a retort to Apple, RIM headquarters says that they are expected to release a new 3G phone around May and deliver it to the wireless carriers all through the year. RIM employees and developers who are involved with creating programs for the new phone, say that it is going to have a large screen, faster processors and better browsing and almost feels like browsing the net on the computer. It will also have a keyboard unlike the Apple iPhone that has a glass touch screen. The reason that RIM did not include the touch screen is because they feel that it is difficult to type on a glass piece. Having said that, they do not discount the possibility of coming up with a touch screen phone in the future.
In fact, developers who work for RIM revealed that a touch screen phone is already in the making and insiders at RIM refer to it as AK (Apple killer.)
Pictures that have been leaked suggest that the new phone is elegant and almost on the lines of the Apple iPhone. It is left for people to wait and see if indeed RIM manages to get their hold on the smart phone market. Apple only hopes that their loaded cart is not tilted by a competitor.
