Thursday, June 12, 2008

Blackberry the King of Business Mobile Phones - About to be Dethroned?

Research in Motion Ltd (RIM) has been so successful with their Blackberry phone that many people now more readily associate the term “Blackberry” with their phone more so than with the original fruit!

Yes indeed, Blackberry has truly dominated the Business market when it comes to Mobile phones and mobile email. Their Hosted mail solutions enabling “Email on the Go” has definitely revolutionised Business Communications and increased productivity levels where companies have implemented their solution.

However the playing field is changing and RIM and they may not have it all their own way for much longer. Juggernaut Microsoft Corp. is going to make a major push on the software side of mobile e-mail and lots of new devices are due to hit the Business Market.

The Treo from Palm Inc (who are BlackBerry's biggest hardware competitor) are due to launch an newly updated Treo. The new phone will run on Microsoft software. Also both Nokia & Motorola, the world's two biggest makers of mobile phones have Blackberry clones in the pipeline. Hewlett-Packard also has a iPaq mobile device that launched last Autumn.

This army of competitors couldn’t have come at a worse time for RIM as they are currently locked in a legal battle with a company called NTP Inc. over patents. And this legal battle has even threatened to shut down the BlackBerry e-mail system in the USA. However unlikely the court-ordered shutdown is, it has definitely shaken Business users faith in Blackberry and created opportunities for RIM’s competitors. Good Technology, who are probably RIM's biggest competitor on the lucrative software side of the business, has fielded more than a 100 calls from anxious BlackBerry customers recently.

Motorola's Q and Nokia's E61 both launch this summer and both devices feature QWERTY keyboards and are aimed as being direct competitors to the BlackBerry phone and who’s marketing will target Blackberry users. With all this competition going on though, RIM has been busy making plans and has licensed its system to other phone manufactures, including Motorola. The first non-BlackBerry device in the USA using RIM's network, was the Nokia 9300,which launched in November 2007. For the most part, RIM's devices are sold to Businesses who in turn section them out to their staff. Employees can then access all of their work e-mail from the road by using their Blackberry’s. Third party software solutions running on RIM’s Blackberry platform allow a host of useful Business applications. Things like GPS and hand held Satellite Navigation are great for those on the road or in the Transportation Business.

Source: www.articlesbase.com

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