BlackBerry Bold

I’ve started doing some research on the web, and I am seeing sites that are already taking preorders for the new BlackBerry Bold. I think RIM is making a mistake by trying to compete with the iPhone or compare themselves to the Apple. I believe that each phone has its purpose. In my mind, BlackBerrys have always been the tool of businessmen while the iPhone targets a young audience not yet interested in maintaining a business calendar.

I don’t think any road warrior in the business world could live without their BlackBerry, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), and push technology. The BlackBerry is packaged with all of the essentials – the ability to send and receive e-mail, maintain contacts, track to do’s, and still have room for integrated telephone features. It is my opinion that one of the RIM‘s strongest selling features was that it made the BlackBerry for business; as such, RIM only worried about enhancing the communications services essential to business.

The BlackBerry Bold seems to be a step in the opposite direction. The devices new and enhanced features are moving away from the needs of business and focus on multimedia. The BlackBerry Bold boasts:

• Ability to synchronize with iTunes
• Full Web page rendering
• Increased screen resolution
• 1 GB built-in memory
•  microSD slot

These features are not why I own a BlackBerry. As a person who works in I.T., the last thing I want is to have e-mail notifications interrupting my music when I’m trying to squeeze in some treadmill time; I would be too tempted to check the messages and discover there is work to be done. My point is, the BlackBerry is for business, not for pleasure.

I would rather see RIM work on other features that would enhance the productivity and experience of a business user. For example, why am I only allowed to be connected to one BES? As a consultant, I spend a lot of time working onsite for my customer. More often times than not, I am provided access to their e-mail system. I am connected to the BES at my place of employment, but would find it most advantageous if I could also be connected to my client’s BES simultaneously. This feature alone would cut my calendar management time in half.

Another useful enhancement would allow me to select one of my contacts when entering the location of a new appointment. Once the contact is selected, it would give me the choice to choose to use a physical address for the location or one of the telephone entries for that contact in the case of conference calls.

I understand that RIM may be a little scared since the release of the iPhone. I understand how the new and improved 3G iPhone with push technology may threaten to invade some of RIM‘s territory in the market. Honestly, I don’t think Apple will be able to compete with BES, even with their push technology support using ActiveSync. Palm hasn’t been able to compete since the addition of push technology for Microsoft Exchange SP2 users.

Truth be told, I love devices with multimedia capabilities, but not on my business device. I believe RIM should stick to what they know best – the needs of the businessman. The integration of multimedia in a BlackBerry is not desirable to me. Rather than trying to make the BlackBerry more like the iPhone, let Apple spin their wheels trying to be more like the BlackBerry.