Analysts see thorny future for BlackBerry
By Alex Handy and Alan Zeichick
August 18, 2010 —
(Page 1 of 3)
It was a busy summer for the smartphone wars. The iPhone 4 brought developers fresh hardware to target, while Google's Android platform outsold Apple's platform for the first time in July. Meanwhile, third-place smartphone maker, Research in Motion, unveiled both an operating-system update, BlackBerry 6, and a new handset, Torch 9800.
But the BlackBerry Torch faces stiff competition for developer attention, said Al Hilwa, program director for applications development software at IDC. He said that one of the biggest issues, until now, has been the lack of application distribution and discovery tools for the BlackBerry. Both the Android and iPhone app stores offer thousands of third-party applications in easily discoverable locations.
In addition to upgrading its hardware and software, RIM began promoting updates to its app store, called App World. The company also provided new APIs for developers, mainly around billing and advertising service.
Even with all the new goodies, RIM is handicapped by the massive lead enjoyed by Apple and Google in the app store game, said Hilwa. But even when the BlackBerry App Store begins to fill up with new software, he said there's another major problem to be overcome: platform fragmentation.
“The difference of writing for RIM is a lot to do with the diversity of devices that RIM already has in its legacy base," said Hilwa. "There are different screen sizes and different hardware. A lot of this has to do with the fact that RIM was doing messaging before everyone else, so some of their devices are really old. It's hard to target them all. You have to make a decision as a developer as to which device to target."
Thus, RIM's head start in the smartphone game (it entered the market years before Apple) has all but evaporated as each new device adds new capabilities. Charles Golvin, principal analyst at Forrester, said that, in fact, the historic BlackBerry devices are all but thrown overboard with the release of BlackBerry 6.
But Mike Kirkup, RIM's director of developer relations, said that all hardware makers have this problem. “It is true, but the flip side is that's true for every person that makes a handset today," he said.
Related Search Term(s): mobile development, RIM
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