RIM: We topped December smartphone sales chart The popularity of RIM's BlackBerry may be on the wane elsewhere but here in the world, it was the most popular smartphone platform for the second year running in the UK, RIM claimed today. Citing over-the-counter sales data from European market watcher GfK, the embattbled smartphone maker said it accounted for, on average 27.7 …
@Mr Cheddarfingers: "Well, them and just about every business user in the country."
There was a time when that was almost true. RIM did offer services unmatched by any other company. But they haven't maintained that forward momentum, and there's no clear reason for business users to choose a Blackberry. And there are some good reasons for using products from its competitors.
They still provide a level of central control unmatched by anyone else. By that I mean central control by your nazi control-freaks rather than someone else's.
Name another device where your admins can determine exactly what it can be used for, exactly what is and is not allowed on it and the use and type of passwords in such a way that there's abso-ruddy-lutley nothing the end user can do about it, no matter how savvy in the ways of the hacking tools he may be, without wiping the thing irrevocably. There are plenty of ways of removing BES policy from a BB, but I've yet to see one that preserves its content when doing so.
You can also bet that, should a technique for doing so become readily available, RIM will have an update out locking that door, welding the locked door shut and burying the whole arrangement in reinforced concrete before you can say "Jack Robinson".
That's why they still rule the corporate roost and I've yet to see anything on the horizon that might change this. It's also why, despite heavy pressure from TPTB, I haven't got one.......
Dude...harsh.
I have discussed alternatives twice.
Mobile device management is a segment of the software industry that has come a long way, and there is no need to lean on the RIM crutch to get your network nazi on with regards to mobiles.
There is however an apparent need for me to write more memorable articles…
"So RIM may indeed be the most popular smartphone platform, but only just" how was that worked out when Android has close to 50% of the market share? Even if RIM is doing well in UK, that is no hope if it is declining everywhere else in the world. Developer support and even RIM's own support will wane as there are less world wide users. This in turn will eventually turn the UK market away from RIM as well. I think any growth in RIM is just temporary. (Unless of course RIM makes drastic changes to their strategy).
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