back to article BlackBerry advert sticks it to Apple

All’s fair in love and marketing, it seems. So BlackBerry maker RIM has released a promotional video that literally takes a shot at rival phone manufacturer Apple. Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com The short video – which we assume was commissioned by RIM, given the quality - shows a red Braeburn- …

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  1. Hywel Thomas
    Thumb Up

    Splendid.

    Whatever I think the truth may be (bought an iPod Touch yesterday, so it's probbly obvious), I think that's a great advert.

  2. Simon Dyson

    nothing can touch it?

    Is "nothing can touch it" really the best tag line for a touchscreen device?

  3. Ian Davies
    Stop

    And this means what, exactly?

    As has been pointed out elsewhere, the phrase "The World's First Touch Screen Blackberry" doesn't mean a fat lot when:

    a) The Blackberry is a smartphone which isn't the world's first touch screen smartphone, and

    b) You are the sole manufacturer of Blackberrys, so who else is going to beat you to the punch of building a touch screen Blackberry.

    No doubt the Apple-haters will jeer and snigger and make incoherent logic-deficient comments about how this "sticks it" to Apple, but maybe when they sober up and the excitement of watching American Gladiators has faded, they might see the utter lack of substance in this advert.

    Whatever you think of the iPhone, it was and is the only phone that was good enough to be marketed by SHOWING HOW IT WORKS. Jesus, you don't even SEE the fucking thing in this ad, much less the desperate sap trying to make the screen 'click' just to type a letter.

    Move along, folks... nothing to see here.

  4. Thomas

    Would it be more forgivable if the handset was't substandard?

    I'm inclined to say 'no'. But that may be because I'm older than 12 and, as a result, am not generally very impressed by schoolyard bickering.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Halo

    Great ad... *but*

    It's a great ad in its own right but it would be even better if it wasn't for the fact that the Blackberry Storm is shite :p

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    I want to see a follow-up advert...

    ... which features Ian Davies' plums in the place of the Apple.

    (Though they'll probably need to use a macro lens for that shot).

  7. Jason
    Coat

    Groan fruits fighting it out

    Re the tag line, 'nothing can touch it' ad also add 'Or use it !'

    For anyone who is human anyway, interface from hell, they had the apple to use as a guide and still messed up....

  8. Matt Smart
    Happy

    Hehe

    I love this. And it's really funny to see the mactards getting wound up. I refer Ian Davies to many other adverts that don't feature the product - take the Cadbury's gorilla advert, which massively increased sales, for example.

    Don't get me wrong here, though. I don't like the iPhone (why bother explaining that?) but I also think the Storm is a bag of crap which should have had a lot more production/refining time. Shame, because it could have been a competitor, given how good the Bold is.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    lol

    Perhaps they should spend less on ads and more on firmware updates to fix the Storms shit system.

    As somebody has already said the iPhone has been around ages, they still got it wrong witht he Storm. I used to love (not) the fact that when I answered a call with the Storm I had a 50/50 chance of putting the original call on hold or dialling another party.

    I've finally given up waiting for a rival to beat the iPhone 3g so I got one, with all the lock ins blah blah, interface wise I love it. The Storm isn't even close.

  10. Steve Robertson
    Thumb Down

    Mactards?

    I thought we were talking about phones here?

    I use a Mac and I use a PC, I have an iPhone and I have extensively tested the Storm, the Bold and the 8900 curve.

    Why is it somebody always sees a tenuous Mac link and gets in the first "Mactard" blow. the iPhone is a good phone, the Storm is crap. No matter what Computer or OS you use.

    Jeeezz

  11. Ian Davies
    Stop

    Thanks for just reinforcing my argument for me...

    @Stike Vomit (how apt?)

    well, at least my plums are where they're meant to be, instead of between my ears. I'll see your petty personal comment and raise you. Dick.

    @Matt Smart

    "Mactard"?? What are you, on dope? Who the fuck mentioned the Mac?

    Oh, and your analogy to the Cadbury gorilla advert is completely inane. The Cadbury ad in question deals purely in the intangible feel-good benefit of eating their product. No mention is made of their competitors, obliquely or otherwise.

    If the ad showed a gorilla shitting on a bar of Galaxy and came with the tagline "The world's first defecating king primate sponsored by Cadbury" then your silly point might have some merit.

    It's clearly amateur hour, so who's next?

  12. Jerry Masterson
    Thumb Down

    Spending

    How about RIM spending some money on quality control instead of lame ads. Can't get the freaking things to last more than six months. Even our Treos are more reliable.

  13. John Stirling
    Happy

    I love my Pearl

    I love this add.

    and I really really love the angry responses to the childish comments.

    (The childish comments I'm so so with).

    The iPhone despite it's shortcomings (few, and those mostly intangible as far as I can see) is the leader in this market, therefore it is the obvious target, and you do have to admire the bravery, since the Storm is not as good, or at least has not been as well received.

    (disclaimer: I haven't played with either)

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Re: Thanks for just reinforcing my argument for me...

    Ian Davies: "It's clearly amateur hour, so who's next?"

    You. Apparently.

  15. Marky W

    @Ian Davies

    Ooooo!! Handbag?

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Video

    Nice video edited using Final Cut Pro?

    Apple won't retaliate; they don't need to - just look at number of units shipped worldwide.

    Pity RIM's "consumer" products are dire. I sincerely hope they don't go the way of Nortel as this would be a blow to Canada and, besides, Mr President of the USA is reliant on their phone.

  17. Sitaram Chamarty

    guava studios?

    ...no one caught this?

    Don't you guys get guavas in the "first world"? Perhaps not...

  18. Matt Smart
    Go

    @Ian Davies

    I believe "lol" about captures my response. Oh yes, and "I rest my case". But you're right, perhaps "Appletards" and "iPhoneTards" would have been more apt.

  19. Ted
    Boffin

    A blackberry would be splattered...

    This Ad was dumb. A blackberry fired at that speed would be "splattered" by hitting an Apple at that speed. The ad makes no sense. No wonder blackberry is desperate against the more powerful Apple device.

  20. Daniel Moss

    Close, but no banana

    It's a well thought out ad, if slightly south of subtle. It gets the point across of what RIM were trying to do when they made the Storm. Sadly, they've made a seriously sub-standard device. It may be technically better (lack of wifi not withstanding), but the UI is an ergonomic nightmare compared to the iPhone. I sometimes miss the functionalty of my previous Nokia N-Series devices, but the sheer ease of using the slick iPhone GUI more than makes up for it. Other companies are a very long way from being able to compete at present, and I struggle to believe they release these touch screen devices, years after the first iPhone, that seem decades behind it. The Storm is barely better to use than my 6 year old iPaq - worse, if you try typing anything long on it and have to put up with that horrible moving screen.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Re: A blackberry would be splattered...

    Not if it was frozen first.

  22. Randle McDandle
    Go

    Product

    Actually Apple ads often don't display their product either (unless that skinny pencilled-on-moustache guy counts as product)

    @Ian Davies - too quiet on the groups for you these days? News stories aren't the best place to last-word your way to Nazi name calling because people move on to the latest story and won't be around to bask in your genius/laugh at your tryhardness/etc...

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    @Ted

    If you've used a Blackerry Storm, you'll know they are frequently "frozen".

    A frozen Blackberry might just penetrate the Apple - however, it's a Pyrrhic victory.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    The advert makes 100% perfect sense

    All you tards are talking about it, you viral marketing pawns you!

    hahaha

  25. Matthew Sinclair
    Flame

    LOL

    Nothing can touch it eh?

    There right... no one will touch the damn thing... its worthless!

    We sell im in the shop here..... waste of time! We hardly sell them as it is.

    The iPhone is just too damn good anyway!

  26. b3gl

    Funny, but...

    What would really happen if you tried to shoot a nice, hard apple with a soft, squishy blackberry? I imagine it would have the same impact that the Storm will have on the iPhone.

  27. David Putman

    Bad Physics

    If their phone works the same as their physics simulation I pity them, the explosion on entry is just bad FX work. Nice idea, but it could be so much better.

  28. gjw
    Thumb Up

    Spot on!

    Especially given the fact that Jesus phone sales are nosediving.

  29. Andy Watt
    Flame

    agree strongly: blackberry storm FAIL

    those with the crappiest software try to shout with the loudest gloss?

    i don't rate the iPhone personally, but that's cos it's too dumb a smartphone.

    however, after several years in the mobile industry I left, in part as the phones were simply going out the door before they were ready.

    the blackberry ceo's admission that the storm went out the door with bugs and that we should all "get used to it" tells me that my brushes with other blackberry devices, and their shoddy UI formatting, told me what I suspected all along. a) that I was right to turn down a job at RIM, and b) that their devices are cobbled together patched old firmware with new functionality crowbarred and overlaid until the thing is falling apart.

    avoid blackberry at all costs. I just resurrected my boss's p990 as he lost the ability to make calls and text without his blackberry crashing! (jesus wept). it may have taken the p990 a year to stabilise but at least it did.

    if the companies don't watch out, they'll kill the smartphone stone dead as early adopters stop adopting and wait for end-of-lifecycle to pick up a phone with stable firmware. end point, no more smartphones as they won't sell enough.

    solution: sack the accountants and managers who mandate over-optimistic timescales and low budgets.

    that said, I do like a nice ad-fight between companies who are trying to grab the stylish high-ground. hysterical!

  30. Joe Ragosta

    Frozen

    "If you've used a Blackerry Storm, you'll know they are frequently "frozen".

    A frozen Blackberry might just penetrate the Apple - however, it's a Pyrrhic victory."

    They're halting Blackberry sales in Japan because they OVERHEAT.

    So how would you like your blackberry today? Frozen or flambeed?

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It’s About the Patents, stupid.

    Maybe the low key Apple response advertisement will show a huge sledgehammer named “Patent Infringement“ smashing that cute little blackberry to the thickness of a molecule. Then the “Mac Guy” will look at the camera and say “We protect our intellectual property. Period.” 310 iPhone Patents will have their day in court.

  32. P. Lee
    Paris Hilton

    A great concept

    and it was also going so well until they said nothing could touch their touchscreen.

    Then I was laughing at them instead of with them.

    All publicity is not good publicity, as Paris could tell you.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    hahaha

    it reminds me the old Commodore vs Apple advertisements!

    http://tinyurl.com/6puyso

  34. Mike
    Go

    Has it not occured to anyone

    that neither of these products are really innovative or original. Palm has had a touch screen for years. Sure, only geeks will use them, but that doesn't change the fact. And I really don't think what you touch it with is really a big issue. finger works just as well as a stylus. Also, since I am not 12 I don't use SMS enough where typing with my thumbs is a big selling point.

    The video however, is very cool, lets see it on mythbusters ;)

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