Is the BlackBerry History?

0
1599
Rating :
(0 Votes )

With layoffs at Research in Motion and with the future of the platform in doubt, some small businesses are wondering if it is time to abandon BlackBerrys. My answer is yes: The time for BlackBerry is past.

With layoffs at Research in Motion and with the future of the
platform in doubt, some small businesses are wondering if it’s time to
abandon BlackBerrys. My answer is yes: The time for BlackBerry is past.

The BlackBerry is now a dinosaur living on borrowed time. This borrowed
time will continue to diminish at the hands of the mighty iPhone.
Whether for personal use or small business, there is no need to hang on
to an old BlackBerry brick any longer.

Cost

BlackBerrys typically come along with a BlackBerry Enterprise Server
for small businesses. Yes, email does work well on BlackBerrys, and
that’s their saving grace. But the cost to run a BlackBerry server with
licenses and administration time is a big expense for companies. Do you
know how often a company requires enterprise activation passwords to
reset, add or update accounts? Quite often!

That being said, RIM has smartened up in the last few years by
offering a free licensed plan with Blackberry Enterprise Server Express.
Also, you don’t have to pay extra on your cell phone plan as you would
if your users were connecting to a regular BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
The Express version is free, but it’s limited to 75 users and doesn’t
work with Lotus Notes or Domino or with Novell GroupWise. With 35
policies (compared with 450 for the full version), it offers weaker
administrative functions. And it still means sticking with the
BlackBerry club of a phone.

Email

Once you
get past the “I can’t type on glass” mentality, email on the iPhone
actually works a lot better. It’s so much easier and faster to scroll
through emails and multiple accounts. Plus, with the bigger iPhone
screen, you won’t get “BlackBerry thumb” from constantly scrolling up
and down to view more emails. Timestamps are true on iPhones, but
BlackBerrys only show when a message was downloaded to your phone. That
makes for tricky and annoying email management, especially when dealing
with time-sensitive emails. On the other hand, for attachments, the
iPhone nicely shows all docs, spreadsheets and pics, but the BlackBerry
is the only one that can open .zip files. However, this is rarely a
deal-breaker.

Apps

The amount of business
apps on the iPhone is phenomenal. You can turn your iPhone into a
scanner, fax and credit card swiper with ease. The BlackBerry … not so
much. The iPhone pretty much doubles as a remote control for your office
computer, allowing you to view documents stored online. You can even
remote into your computer if you like. With the BlackBerry, you have to
concern yourself with questions like, “Do I have enough space for this
app?” “Do I want to wait an hour for this app to download?” “Will my
fuzzy screen give me a headache?”

Even BlackBerry PlayBook Won’t Save the Day

When
advising small businesses, I recommend the iPhone, of course. But if
they are the traditional type that doesn’t like to learn new tricks or
already have a company chock-full of BlackBerrys and an Enterprise
Server, I make an exception. This almost sounds like the old PC versus
Mac debate. Nowadays, it’s almost as if Microsoft, Google and everyone
else is banding together to battle the surging Apple company. But Apple
is on a creative edge all by itself, even though Steve Jobs has left.

The BlackBerry PlayBook was a nice idea by RIM, but even all the
BlackBerry users I know prefer iPads over the Playbook. Let’s face it:
The Blackberry had its good years, but those times are over. Even if
Google were to buy RIM, it would not help foster BlackBerry sales. The
iPhone is the new king, and it’s here to stay.

Richard JaramilloRichard “RJ” Jaramillo, is the Founder of SingleDad.com,
a website and social media resource dedicated to single parenting and specifically for the newly divorced, re-married, widowed and single Father with children.
RJ is self employed, entrepreneur living in San Diego and a father of three children. The mission of SingleDad is to help the community of Single Parents
“Make Life Happen…Again!”

SHARE
Previous article5 Easy Ways to Green Your Home
Next articleIs Groupon Sucking You Dry?
Richard “RJ” Jaramillo, is the Founder of SingleDad.com, a website and social media resource dedicated to single parenting and specifically for the newly divorced, re-married, widowed and single Father with children. RJ is self employed, entrepreneur living in San Diego and a father of three children. The mission of SingleDad is to help the community of Single Parents “Make Life Happen…Again!”