Sep 13, 2010
Blackberry needs to eliminate its app store, at least for the Curve
On Saturday I went for a short 2 mile run and I brought my Blackberry Curve along to stream Pandora while I ran. Big mistake. As soon as I opened the app, it froze (or gave me that spinning hourglass that is so familiar to Curve users everywhere)…and it stayed frozen…for the entire length of my run. Mind you, a few times it would unfreeze and I would try to exit the Pandora app, which of course would cause it to to freeze again.
I finished my run determined to warn everyone I know away from the Blackberry, but then I remembered that my girlfriend is having trouble getting used to the Droid 2 after using a Curve for years. She brings up a good point to explain her frustration: the Blackberry is a near ideal communication device. Typing is easy; BBM is strangely addictive; the email app is dead simple; etc. My problem with it is that I want it to run 3rd party apps and it absolutely sucks for that purpose.
Which brings me to the point of this post. I am using my Blackberry for something it was not designed to do. However, if there was no option of downloading apps that only slow it down, I would have to concede that it was a pretty damn good communication device. RIM has let itself be dragged into offering an app store which has crippled the Curve and led users like me to think it’s a terrible phone, which it of course is not. RIM is competing in a game that it cannot win. If all phones compete based on apps and touchscreens, RIM is always going to lose.
However, if RIM focused on improving the communication and security abilities of its line of smartphones and let Apple and Google kill each other over App Stores, they would be competing in a game they could win. Would they lose some share to Google and Apple? Of course. But trust me, no one buys a Blackberry when they prefer a good apps to excellent communication abilities. On the other hand, would they have been forced to lower the price of Curve ($20 with a 2 year contract after rebate from Verizon) because it was obviously inferior to the $200 iPhone? Probably not.
While RIM kept the Curve app-free, thereby insuring its continued good reputation for communication, it could have released a line of phones that really had the processing and memory capabilities to handle apps. The Bold could be a contender for this. It seems to handle apps a bit better than the Curve and it maintains Blackberry’s reputation for great communication devices. Apps may be all the rage but that does not mean that every smartphone has to offer them. Companies need to compete in games that they can win. RIM should probably heed this advice before we all forget what makes Blackberries great in the first place.
