Boygeniusreport.com has an update on the new Blackberry. He indicated that the 8800 won’t come with WiFi and will be released in February. The next version release on the platform is th 8900 which will include WiFi and a camera. I am not sure what to do with this because it is unclear what the benefits of the 8800 really are. How much of an upgrade is it over the 8700?
There is a bigger issue that I am pondering which is where RIM is going with this platform. My issue is that the 8700C is not that much different from the 7290 which is not that different from the previous versions. It seems to me that RIM is just evolving the basic platform with little true value added enhancements. For example, there still is not a good web browser or media player for the platform. What is up with that? When you can get a phone for $30 from any carrier that exceeds this.
I think that part of the issue here is the iPhone. I previously posted on the iPhone and how it looks to be a consumer oriented device. It is clearly a multi-functional device and it makes the Blackberry look like a basic rotary telephone by comparison. Now I understand that the two devices target different markets, but I do not believe saying “this is a business device” gives RIM an excuse to produce phones that are so lacking in features. I am not sure why this is and am wondering if part of the issue is the Java platform that all the BB’s run on. Who knows, it is interesting to see how RIM reacts to the iPhone and whether we finally begin to see more feature rich phones.