@ James 47. Why the negativity?
Many, if not most, mobile carriers today are already struggling with providing advertised data plan speeds and bandwidth thanks to the exponential growth of smartphone use worldwide. U.S. based AT&T is a prime example. The Jesus phone initially completely overwhelmed their substandard lame network infrastructure and continues to do so. Hell, their regular cell service and Swiss cheese coverage areas have sucked for years as well. And trust me, as a former AT&T customer, I know the truth. Just think about how much worse it will be in the future with gazillions more smartphones with increased data capabilities. After all 4G speeds are already being implemented. Obviously, the telecoms are going to have to expand their network infrastructures, but as Mike Lazaridis points out, there is only so much capacity in the radio band available.
The bottom line is that if Blackberry is somehow pioneering greater data transmission efficiency, or at least bandwidth utilization, instead of trying to dazzle us with smoke and mirrors, then more power to them. Hopefully, other manufacturers will follow suit. Blackberry has always been about efficiency so I have no reason to doubt them now. Obviously, the telecom carriers want to hawk as much data as they can for the fat revenue stream, but most, unfortunately, just don't have the capability. Any improvement at all will hopefully enhance our mobile based browsing experience. It certainly couldn't hurt.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
