With the Wi-Fi-equipped BlackBerry 8820 coming soon to an AT&T store near you, business folks around the country will be faced with the decision of switching to the trendy new iPhone or upgrading to a more iPhonesque version of their trusty CrackBerry. To determine whether the grass really is greener on the iPhone side of the fence, we have chronicled the experience of a venture capitalist (who wishes to remain anonymous) who has been using an iPhone and a BlackBerry 8800 side-by-side for the past few weeks. His conclusion: despite the overall attractiveness of the iPhone, it lacks too many vital features to replace the BlackBerry as the corporate weapon of choice.
For starters, a BlackBerry set up with Microsoft Exchange Server sports intelligent push email while the iPhone does not. When an email is sent to an account on a BlackBerry, the message is downloaded immediately and an LED on the phone notifies the user that he or she has a new message. The iPhone, on the other hand, recognizes new messages at most every 15 minutes and must be checked actively to see if anything has arrived. This deficiency makes handling email on the iPhone slower and less efficient; it also translates into wasted battery power as users need to perform the extra step of opening the iPhone’s email program every time they want to check for new mail.
Perhaps even more significantly, the iPhone fails to synchronize as well as the BlackBerry. When a BlackBerry user changes a calendar event or some contact information on his or her desktop computer in Exchange, the changes automatically appear on the BlackBerry. This makes keeping track of basic business information a snap because one never has to worry about acting on outdated data or manually updating one’s handheld. In contrast, the iPhone does not synchronize calendar and contact information wirelessly, which makes it less dependable for information ultimately stored on a server.
In addition to these major drawbacks of the iPhone, our venture capitalist cites the following as reasons to prefer the BlackBerry:
- The BlackBerry 8800 possesses GPS, which makes Google Maps much more useful, especially for turn-by-turn directions
- The iPhone lacks basic cut and paste capabilities
- Despite Apple’s reputation for superior user interface design, the BlackBerry possesses keyboard shortcuts that make navigation around and between applications a breeze
- The BlackBerry’s phone quality is better than the iPhone’s
- The Safari browser is certainly more stunning than the BlackBerry’s primitive browser, but the iPhone seems to load even text-only pages more slowly than the BlackBerry over the EDGE network
- The BlackBerry possesses a general contacts application that makes contacting people by any given method more convenient
- The battery runs out faster on the iPhone simply because it is used for more tasks. This makes it less reliable for when one must take the device somewhere overnight without the opportunity to recharge.
Despite all of these criticisms of the iPhone, our venture capitalist admits that he would switch over to the iPhone if only it supported push email, calendar and contacts synchronization, and GPS. For him, the prospect of ridding his pockets of a separate device for music (an iPod nano), as well as enjoying all of the iPhone’s slick features (such as full-featured web browsing, stocks and weather apps, and its YouTube program), makes the iPhone very tempting. However, until Apple resolves these shortcomings (and perhaps Google makes its applications, especially Gmail, work as seamlessly with the iPhone as Microsoft makes Exchange work with the BlackBerry), others are going to have to pry his BlackBerry from his cold, dead hands (his words, mind you, not ours).
(Image credit: RhysyNet)
So…the analyst would switch to the iPhone if it implemented 3 features, 2 of which *CAN’T* be implemented in the iPhone without physical modification?
My Macwhore-sense is tingling. After all, that’s like saying that a gamer would buy a PS3 instead of a Wii if only the PS3 had built-in Wii-style controller.
The iPhone may be a great phone for people who don’t actually use it, and only intend to pull it out for show, but for people who actually use their phones, the iPhone is the clunkiest POS on the market. (Yes, sound quality matters, as does the ability to dial without looking at the damn screen).
Hey Mark, I read your first post yesterday which I quite liked, and this second post is awesome. I like it that you had someone else, a real user, make the comparisons, instead of you yourself or some other journalist. I think Michael has a good one with on board. Keep up the good work!
The e-mail issue is very important, and a notorious advantage for the Blackberry. Great article, I loved the comparison.
THE IPHONE SUCKS!
LONG LIVE THE PALM VII
Hello!!
Why is this comparison even being made. The iPhone was not designed for corporate use, get it??? Yet, everyone feels it necessary to crap all over the iPhone based on what is was not built for. I, for one, do not own an iPhone, but I, for one, know it was not designed for corporate use. Let me compare the Xbox to a Dell Optiplex and show you what a lousy choice the Xbox is for corporate use, duhhh! Morons, all of you.
Having attended RIM’s annual meeting where the Blackberry 8820 was announced, an 8820 is not an 8800.
- the obvious: supports WiFi in addition to EDGE
- supports up to 32GB memory
- Roxio Media Manager to manage and handle all forms of media including facility for formatting video to work on it.
- stereo audio output (with appropriate BT support)
- A-GPS support (allows GPS to work inside covered spaces)
- and at the business end, single number calling to access multiple phone devices/handsets with simultaneous ring, seamless switching
- Voice-activated dialing, conference calling, speed dialing and call forwarding
More at my post last week: http://skypejournal.com/blog/2....._smar.html
Suffice it to say it’s somewhat more than an 8800. And, at the end of the presentation we were told to expect some siginificant announcements shortly re media content.
U want an iPhone cuz it’s sexy? U want an iPhone cuz it might get u some noogie!!!!! U want an iPhone for call the groovy colors and cool looking icons…whoopee…anyways…
Look…u want a sexy looking wife/gf..NOT a freaking sexy phone!!! And if u need an iPhone to get lucky…then u have social issues… And yes…I would rather have a physical k/b as it makes typing so much easier cuz I don’t have to look at the freaking screen!
Besides the groovy icons and cool colors….what does it do that my 700wx can’t…
The sad part is that Apple’s marketing machine can probably rebrand Trojan condoms under the Apple name and u folios would actually get in line to buy this so u can enhance your sex lives…..
Strangely the BlackBerry 8820 sold in France does have the Wifi, but the BlackBerry 8830 sold in US does not…
And the 8820 have a microSD card reader, so you can see video and listen to music (player embedded) too.
Just for clarity, as one of the people who sells both, while it is interesting to compare the two devices, the purposes of each are vastly different. The iPhone was made stricty as an entertainment device. Crackberry’s, even when used for personal email, are meant as a productivity tool.
Each serves a different niche of the population.
And, the iPhone can NOT be activated on certain corporate responsible accounts. Period. Generally, it is the big companies. Small companies, there is a way around that.
I’ll leave the rest to y’all, I’m not here to sell you on either.
Doesn’t sound like most of you have used an iPhone. Anyone seen the iPod functionality on it? Can the BB touch it? Not within a mile. SD cards and shitty multimedia apps don’t put in the same league, folks. The video looks insane on the iphone. The GUI really is superior. There is so much stuff the iphone does that is ridiculous compared to the any “smart” phones out there. Until you spend a couple of weeks with one you won’t get it.
Email is lame. If you are emailing all day the BB is for you. Or maybe a Treo? (talk about a horrible device). That push email is amazing stuff, gosh! Calendar syncing, awesome!!! Once the flood of iPhone apps for corporate functions are out in the next quarter, what will the BB have going for it then? Ahh, a real keyboard!! My point is that iPhone is already in a league by itself…and it’s practically a beta product…it’s ferr-real folks!… and it’s only going to get better.
I smell a whole lot of iPhone fear in this thread.
I have both the iPhone and blackberry and I prefer the iPhone by far. How long does it take you to learn to use the BB without looking at it? Even when I look at it I have to spend a lot of time looking around for the correct button. I was surprised to see someone say the BB had good sound quality. When our group got the BB we could tell as each person switched as they sounded like they were under water. The sound quality on my iPhone is much better.
I think the term “business” conveys different things to different people. Some jobs entail being constantly connected to one’s group. Some jobs entail working without interruption.
I carry my iPhone on my belt and use it all day long for my calendar, email, google and phone. I make a lot of presentations so now I am repurposing my Keynote presentations as PDFs and loading them onto the phone via iPhoto. The BB sits in my computer bag and I check messages twice a day.
Finally, why is the BB so big? It seems awkward to hold it while making a call.
BlackBerry? Never heard….
(1) What does he think about the keyboard?
(2) Can we institute a new rule here that commenters at the top of their comments about the iPhone need to state whether they own one or not? I suspect that a lot of these comments are by people regurgitating what they’ve read elsewhere, filtered through their biases.
I second JohnK: Every 15 minutes is more than often enough for e-mail checks for most people, for business or otherwise. I use either 1 hour or manual on Mail.app on the Mac, and I wish there was a 2 and 4 hour option.
If you deal with your e-mail more than every 15 minutes, you may need to read “Getting Things Done,” although there may be a few specific professions that need more frequent contact by e-mail (glad I’m not in them!).
Whether or not the readers of this website realize it or not, the iPhone is a tidal wave about to sweep through the industry. The first casualty will be Palm - it’s now a dead company. The second casualty will be Simbian. The third casualty will be Windows Mobile, which will look even more pathetic and frustratingly anti-productive with every passing month.
In the end, it will be iPhone vs. RIM toe-to-toe, but RIM will also lose out. RIM will profit from the “iPhone halo” for the next year or so, but after that, it’s a lost cause. Why? Cause they’re totally dependent on Microsoft and Exchange. There will be no way RIM will be able to create even pale equivalents to some of the stuff one will be able to do on the iPhone in 2-3 years’ time.
For all the gleeful cackling by the Apple haters, people are forgetting one thing. RIM’s had many years to produce something like the 8820 and they still can’t even make a decent web browser (wow, fast loading crappy looking pages that are barely readable, as much as half the time! AWESOME! Incredibly more productive than browsing real, nicely rendered websites using that horrible, awful EDGE *sarcasm*). Ask yourself why RIM et al. can’t make a decent mobile web browser after all these years while Apple has pumped out entire operating systems for three vastly different processing architectures (PowerPC, Intel, ARM) with apparent ease.
The iPhone is Apple’s first try. Let me repeat that. iPhone is the *first* try.
That should be scaring the crap out of Apple’s competitors (and if not, all the better, as it allows Apple to steamroll over the competition from behind, leaving them dazed and confused years after the fact).
I doubt anyone will pay attention to exactly what Apple is capable of until the first iPhone software update is released…then it will be more apparent that it’s a battle between a modern tank and individuals running around with bows and arrows think they’re all that because they have a bigger, faster bow than the next guy.
RIM could always use Safari’s Webkit Open Source rendering engine if it ever wants to have a real browser for its handhelds.
Nokia uses WebKit and it works pretty well for them.
@113 - yes, i do have one.
Article on an open source server with the iphone.
Not so sure, Paulo. Palm is still hot, lots of people prefer it, as do some companies, partially because of the security issues with Microsoft. Many people are upset because they cannot get a 3G palm based PDA. So, they fill a niche.
Windows based PDA’s/smartphones fill their own niche, as they can be used with either MS Exchange or Goodlink, and provide a powerful platform for business use, not to mention that some fols will prefer what MS can provide for personal usage.
Blackberry has its own niche. Internet browsing is not a real priority for them: push email is. Carrying your email program is. It is the best option for email, especially with the worldwide usage capability. Everything else is just icing thrown on.
Apple is about fun, pure and simple, particularly for those who love iTunes. Not about spreadsheets, documents, or business stuff.
It is all based on needs and wants. What are you looking for the device to do? What do you need it to do? What do you like? What are you going to be doing with it?
There will be a niche device for what each person needs.
It should also be noted about this sentence,
“However, until Apple resolves these shortcomings (and perhaps Google makes its applications, especially Gmail, work as seamlessly with the iPhone as Microsoft makes Exchange work with the BlackBerry), others are going to have to pry his BlackBerry from his cold, dead hands (his words, mind you, not ours).”
The Google actually does push to the BlackBerry much the same was as Exchange to BlackBerry. Another point on the scoreboard for BlackBerry.
The blackberry is a business tool the iphone is a kids toy!
http://myeclinic.com/
Why doesn’t our anonymous VC try out a Nokia N95? Supports GPS, MicroSDHC (up to 32GB), 5MP camera, etc etc.
You forgot that BB’s do have Weather and Stock info. Its all for free via the Blackberry Help site.
Also the 8800 does store pictures and the 8300/8100 can take them…
The 8820 has WiFi.
So that list should have had only 1 no for the BB.
You also missed music capabilities. Thats one of the big selling points for the iPhone. The music player on the 8800 is a little rough, but its very polished on the 8300 (Curve).
Also what about custom ring-tones? Thats a big deal for the consumer segment.
And I don’t think its accurate to simply say yes when comparing the iPhone’s VM and Web Browser capabilities to the offerings on the 8800. The iPhone’s are far superior.
I think the 8300 or 8100 would have been better BBs for comparison.
The 88xx series is more Enterprise/Business focused. Where as the 8300 is more Consumer/Pro-sumer/Personal focused, like the iPhone.
… Your retail pricing is wrong. $499 is the price for the 4GB iPhone with contract and activation. $499 is the price for the BB without contract. It’s about $150 with a contract in the US and its free in the UK with a 1year…
Also your memory sizes are wrong. The BB comes with 64MB internal and from 128MB to *4GB* by MicroSD.
The battery on all BBs is Lith-Ion.
You don’t mention the BB’s bluetooth syncing capabilities, LDAP, and numerous enterprise security options.
Another over site is 3rd part application support. BB OS has an SDK, large existing developer community and countless existing applications.
I guess I’ll stop posting comments now. I keep thinking of things that were missed and I imagine I could think of many more, but I won’t.
Next time please research more throughly and pick a better comparison.
GPRS and wifi connectivity are the “must” features for the european market … So both BB and IPh are meager devices.
I upgraded from a BlackBerry (non Exchange-based) to an iPhone. Something nobody seems to have pointed out is that if you’re currently an AT&T BlackBerry user, an iPhone upgrade will pay for itself in a bit less than 17 months. Unlimited BlackBerry data is $49.95/mo. Unlimited iPhone data - same network, same speed - is $20/mo.
iPhone users are glued to their devices…everywhere there is an iPhone to be found, there are at least a handful of people looking over the owner’s shoulder to see how it works. go2, a mobile, local search engine, has more than 350 mobile websites that have been enhanced for use over AT&T’s EDGE network, simplifying use and providing a dynamic experience. go2 sites are full screen, flashy and simple to navigate, with many single-click applications. With stylish looks and an ease of use, go2’s network of mobile sites (which includes go2 Movies, go2 Dining, go2 Golf and go2 Colleges) are quickly becoming a popular destination for iPhone users.
The iPhone does do push email, sync calendar and contacts.
No disk mode and no voice dial are killing iPhone. It is also locked to ATT, so I can’t use it when travel overseas. Plus I do not want to stick with the same phone for 2 years. So no iPhone for me until Apple fix it. I checked Apple store today and noticed nobody purchases iPhone.
iPhone has serious security flaw. Any kid can create a simple JavaScript which will steal all your personal data from iPhone. So it isn’t device for business type person. It can be good for kids who have rich parents.
How about with Nokia E90? I think this device can win the smartest gadget than Blackbery + Iphone. E90 is superior, i think. Like a mobile office + business tools + multimedia stuff on your hand. Prove it, guys? Are u dare? E90 will answer all your needs.
Yo creo que depende desde que punto de vista se haga la comparación, ya que BB está enfocado para empresarios y profesionales, además de email, contacto, calendario, etc. por qué no se mencionan las aplicaciones corporativas para blackberry? Que bonito sería que estando en Chichen Itza recibieras una notificación, evento, incidente, noticia, etc y la pudieras atender con tu iphone; con BlackBerry sí.
Me refiero a aplicaciones corporativas, no a sitios web.
Access to a BES or not, how can you possibly think that the iPhone is a better business device? First of all, typing on that touchscreen is a pain in the ass and I hate not being able to type with only one hand. That stupid thing takes 100% concentration. Second of all, even without a BES you’re blackberry will still receive real time mail VIA BIS mail whereas your iPhone can only check every 15 minutes and doesn’t even notify you of new emails.
Oh and on top of that, the iPhone can only store 200 emails. I don’t know about you guys but that’s about 1 or fewer days worth of email for me.
8800 isn’t even the best devie to compare to. A curve would be a much better comparisson. Especially considering that there is a wifi version coming out.
If you want to read a good review of iPhone vs Curve go here:
http://fredericksburg.com/News.....007/301969
the fact is that all these devices like the BB , treo windows mobile etc..
they have had several years of life to evolve while the iphone is brand new , catching up to the bb won’t be a probem the game now is changed all these companies are afraid that Apple will do all that and do it better.. however as the ipod , the Powerbook, ibook, itunes etc.. tought us
not everything succesful has to be corporate oriented
to answer a previous question
Macs are not only good for business, they are better than windows only machine
I switch between the 2 os’s as I need and I do it on my macbook but mostly
my business is ran on OSX , i don’t really need to use windows i use it sometimes because it’s there and it’s easy to switch back and forth
I’m not sure how you can say catching up with the BB won’t be a problem. what people don’t seem to understand is that BlackBerry isn’t just a device, it’s a platform. There’s more to the BlackBerry platform then just sending and receiving emails. There is a lot of background events that people don’t even realize are taking place. One of the most important being the outstanding security provided with the BlackBerry platform.
Secondly, there is no way that any touchscreen device will ever take over as the #1 corporate email device when typing on such a device is so tedious and slow. That will just never work.
Thirdly, you are living in a dreamland if you think that the current 9-10 million BlackBerry users around the world are just going to up and move to the iPhone, especially corporations who have invested thousands of dollars into the BlackBerry platform.
There just is no comparisson right now. Apple has too many fanboys that just want to buy anything Apple made. It has nothing to do with the actual quality of the device IMO.
And to add to my previous post, the iPhone is nowhere near being comparable to a BlackBerry as a business device right now. So, what do you think? RIM is just going to sit around and wait for everyone to catch up? They will make improvements of their own whether it be business related or multimedia related. This isn’t the first time RIM has “supposedly” been threatened.
blackberry rules.whooohoo
BlackBerry x IPHONE…it is a sad joke! It has been widely rumored for months, and now it finally arrived, I am thrilled with my new IPHONE!
We have to admit it’s quite lovely, the sleek, minimalist design it is overwhelming, the vivid display looks amazing, fun interface for navigating multimedia, terrific Web browser, syncs well, the functions flow seamlessly into each other.
Overall, in despite of the high price, as predicted the IPhone is a revolutionary success, and I was not reluctant for a second to cancel my contract with T-Mobile.
I am pleased, and no regrets for jumping out off the fence and get the IPHONE. I feel terribly sorry, for the ones that can’t afford it, and chooses to speculate posting undesirable reviews.
Dear Steve Jobs,
Thank you so much! What the world of the Digital Designers, would be like without you???
May the Mighty Power Blesses your SOUL!
Haha my blackberry just successfully defeated my friend and his iphone at finding the actress in the movie Seabiscuit.
I’m still rocking and rolling with my Treo 650! Yah it’s slow as hell on the web, but it works like a tank as a phone. I dropped it like 20 times and it still fricken works.
Like a few said already..you can not compared and Iphone with a blackberry….Over all I believe the iphone is more fun to use but if you eager to check your email every second than stick with your ugly blackberry..
All he did was complain about the iPhone! I have one and it is great everything he said was false edge is super fast when you have good connection on the freeway and places like that. Also the battery is the best part I get 6 hours of straight web surfing!!! 6 HOURS!!! PC fan-boys need to take an unbiased review. I don’t mean to say the iPhone is perfect but it sure beats a blackberry and the touch screen owns.
ofcourse the iphone is gud but the blackberry has it all man nothin gis missing
i have the new blackberry curve, and having used both I prefer the curve hands down, the touch screen got annoying and the battery power was less than desired. the new blackberry is amazing, add an sd chip and i have over 1000 songs and pictures, i can also use those songs as ringtone, reminders and alarms…..which is very convienent….the email in realtime is a great feature as well
Having used the iPhone for all of two weeks. I ditched it to get back to my blackberry. The iPhone to me is a lot of hype over nothing. Nothing to write home about and definitely lacks functionality. Besides the iPhone lacking a cut and paste feature you cannot send more than one photo attachment with each email. Not forgetting that typing on the iPhone is not the best.
For some one who has gotten use to the connectivity, easy and functionality of a blackberry the iPhone is far far behind.
My 2 cents..
collection of links for iphone vs blackberry
http://www.uduko.com/topic_detail/details/48
What about music between blackberry and iPhone? From what I understand, IPhone allows me to download the songs I have already purchased from ITunes, blackberry makes me buy them again? Please advise.
The battle is unending between these two! Based on consumer reviews it’s really a tie between them. The new Bold is great for business and email, while the iPhone is made by Apple. Back and forth it goes, where it stops depends on what the consumer likes best.
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