July 7th, 2007
BlackBerry co-CEO on iPhone marketing: "a dangerous strategy"
Research In Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie tells the Toronto Star’s Chris Sorensen that although he could see where some people would find the iPhone’s look appealing, he doubts the iPhone will have much impact on BlackBerry sales.
Balsillie, who admits that he has not seen the iPhone up close and personal as of yet, says the iPhone will not be that big a hit with business users needing secure information technology systems of the type offered by RIM for years.
Balsillie also critiques Apple’s seeming willingness to commodize the iPhone as an Apple product, rather than bringing AT&T Wireless in as an equal partner. He seems to have issues with the iPhone being free of AT&T’s logo, and with activation necessary on Apple’s iTunes music store rather than the AT&T Mobility site.
“It’s a dangerous strategy,” says Balsillie. “It’s a tremendous amount of control. And the more control of the platform that goes out of the carrier, the more they shift into a commodity pipe.”
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
