After pouring over countless articles, slides, and pictures from RIM’s Developer conference the last couple of days, I have to admit I am really impressed by RIM’s consumer minded showing. The simple addition of BlackBerry Themes in App World combined with Widgets and actual 3D games to boot instantly jumped RIM and the BlackBerry platform up a few rungs in my book.
There’s no doubt about it, for consumers focused on multimedia and entertainment, the iPhone is where it’s at. Android still offers considerable amounts of entertainment though not as robust or rich as the iPhone’s. But where Android lacks in one area it more than makes up in another giving users almost unlimited options for customization and scalability.
So far, RIM has been wallowing in the gallows with WinMo on the consumer front with outdated GUI’s, luke warm apps, and an overall cold business cloud hanging over head. After this conference, I’m much more confident RIM can continue their move into the consumer market. Will they dethrone the iPhone over night if ever? No. But it will definitely bring the BlackBerry into or back into the minds of many whom and written it off as their dad’s business device.
Now I understand that even with some fancy widgets and themes you can’t slap lipstick on a pig and instantly have a creature of beauty (comparing OS 5.0 to OS 4.1/2′s core features and updated UI). But when strictly looking at consumer/multimedia/entertainment value, do you feel RIM has finally — if a bit late — gotten their ducks in somewhat of a row? Will 2010 be the year that BlackBerry becomes “consumer cool”?
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