RIM announced two new BlackBerry Torch models today, along with the first real release dates for its BlackBerry 7 phones, and nobody seems to care.
That's because BlackBerry 7 isn't what the company needs. Everyone knows what the company needs: its next-generation OS, QNX, on phones. This isn't cutting-edge analysis here.
I was at the launch of BlackBerry 7 in May, and it isn't a radical change. There's nothing radical about these new phones at all. The new BlackBerry Torch 9810 looks so much like the previous 9800 that AT&T had to release a chart explaining the differences.
There are differences, to be sure. But they're the kind of differences you'd see when you're building on a successful platform: a faster processor, more memory, new graphics acceleration. The current BlackBerry OS isn't a platform for the future; even RIM admits that. RIM's phones need a gut rehab and these new Torches aren't it.
The End of BlackBerry as We Know It
BlackBerry 7 has a role. RIM's core business customers need to replace dying phones with something compatible, and RIM needs an OS to run messaging phones for the next several years. But a RIM that relies on BlackBerry 7 just becomes the world's biggest provider of cheap texting devices.
Organizationally, RIM seems to be in disarray. The company is laying off staff, executives are leaving, and its stock price and North American market share are in free fall. The company knows it's in trouble, as evidenced by the open letters executives have been sending out.
Let me add that this is one of the most poorly organized device launches I've seen in months. The devices were leaked months ago, but today's launch came as a surprise to many in the press and even to some of RIM's partners. It wasn't a good Apple-style surprise, either. (Apple warns people that a surprise is coming, so they're properly prepared for it.)
The BlackBerry PlayBook is running RIM's QNX OS, but it isn't driving conversation. After receiving lukewarm reviews, RIM shipped (not sold) a half-million units in the first quarter, which sounds good until you hear Apple sold (not shipped) 4.7 million iPads in a similar time frame. Discussion of the PlayBook seems to have faded in favor of the relentless drumbeat of Android tablet announcements.
RIM's Secret Strength: Carriers
But within this announcement lies one of RIM's secret strengths, and the possibility of rebirth.
Notice that these new BlackBerries—these unimpressive new BlackBerries, these incremental updates to a dying platform—are launching with three U.S. carriers, just to start, in both GSM and CDMA models. RIM has always been a great partner for carriers, and RIM has a secret sauce that carriers need: the ability to deliver more Web pages in fewer bytes than its competitors.
I've found it mind-boggling that when data caps are in the news every week, RIM is not drilling, drilling, drilling into consumers the idea that with BlackBerry, you get more data for your cap.
Unlike HP/Palm, RIM clearly hasn't burned any bridges or lost the faith of its carrier partners. Remember, here in the U.S., the carriers control what gets to market. Stay friends with the carriers, and you get phones on shelves.
Americans want to be able to choose the phone they want with the carrier they want. Consumers hate exclusives. Samsung's Galaxy S line, LG's Optimus One and RIM's BlackBerry Curve all rode to spectacular sales by offering Americans what they really want: the ability to get a great phone irrespective of carrier.
Carrier agnosticism means even more in RIM's core market: business. Businesses need to be able to force carriers to bid against each other or to switch contracts without having to switch OS platforms or retrain staff. Having a product on multiple carriers makes it much more business-friendly.
So the situation for RIM isn't hopeless. If its QNX-based phones work well—and that's a big if—the company could debut its next-generation smartphones on every U.S. carrier at once (or at least on three or four). If Apple sticks with AT&T and Verizon, RIM could play up the huge diversity of service plans and networks you get to choose from with BlackBerry.
A big, cross-carrier launch could revive RIM's fortunes. Just let it be soon, because BlackBerry 7 just isn't a powerful enough engine to run the company alone for long.