I Want Some of What Blackberry’s CEO Is Smoking
The company leader also downplayed the importance of touchscreen-only phones. While it’s important to give customers what they want, touch-only phones (like the iPhone) aren’t as popular anymore, Lazaridis argued. He claimed that most of the people who bought touchscreen-only phones in the past two years were going back to phones with hardware QWERTY keyboards, whether touch-enabled or otherwise. It’s those keyboards that made RIM "famous," he said.
That’s a statement attributed to RIM’s Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis in a recent report at Electonista.
I’d say whatever he’s got in his pipe is good stuff. Every recent report I can recall seeing on smartphone market share shows only two platforms gaining – iPhone and Android. Blackberry also generally appears as a tiny, insignificant blip in any charts showing mobile browser usage, and mobile apps share. Nowhere even remotely close to the iPhone platform.
What his statement most reminds me of is the classic bit of come-back-to-haunt-you trash talk offered up by one of Palm’s lead investors last year:
You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone, ‘ McNamee told Bloomberg today. ‘Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later. ‘
I think Lazaridis’ words may prove just about as accurate as McNamee’s, which really isn’t a good neighborhood to be in. 
“Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.”
No, actually he's got something there. They've all upgraded to the iPhone 3G S.
BLACKBERRY: The ship has sailed, and you are not on board. Either get a boat, or find another sea to sail in.
Did you read the updated version of the article? They clarified his remarks and it doesn't sound quite so ridiculous now.
Yes, and that is where I took the quoted statement from. Remarks still seem plenty ridiculous to me.
hahahahahahahahaha
hah. Thanks for the laugh. Gotta love people stuck in their bubbles.
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I went from a Sprint Motorola Q to a Sprint Touch phone to the BlackBerry Bold, to the 3Gs. As a Bold user, I daily went to Crackberry.com and other sites and learned about the best software, mods, etc. What I thought was so odd… nobody could allow for the possibility that the iPhone would offer a better experience; however, many admitted that they carried a Blackberry and an iPod Touch. When someone would say they were going to go try the iPhone people would mock them and say you'll be back, they all come back. I can honestly say I don't miss my BlackBerry Bold, and I did NOT go back, and things that frustrated many bold users would probably be fixed by switching to the iPhone. I can also honestly say that my wife stayed with her Bold and it works perfect for her. Neither are bad options, and neither are totally best in all categories. I really get sick of the polarizing stuff, too me this isn't much different than the political crap, in which people agree on the most pressing issues, but tune-out because of one niche issue that is relatively less important…
I went from a Sprint Motorola Q to a Sprint Touch phone to the BlackBerry Bold, to the 3Gs. As a Bold user, I daily went to Crackberry.com and other sites and learned about the best software, mods, etc. What I thought was so odd… nobody could allow for the possibility that the iPhone would offer a better experience; however, many admitted that they carried a Blackberry and an iPod Touch. When someone would say they were going to go try the iPhone people would mock them and say you'll be back, they all come back. I can honestly say I don't miss my BlackBerry Bold, and I did NOT go back, and things that frustrated many bold users would probably be fixed by switching to the iPhone. I can also honestly say that my wife stayed with her Bold and it works perfect for her. Neither are bad options, and neither are totally best in all categories. I really get sick of the polarizing stuff, too me this isn't much different than the political crap, in which people agree on the most pressing issues, but tune-out because of one niche issue that is relatively less important…
Hey John – good point on the polarizing stuff. I agree with that – and it's true of course that different devices work well for different people, and none of them are perfect. I just think it's funny and can't resist sharing when some of the major players come out with trash talk like this that just looks ridiculous.
Admittedly, Apple have done some strong trash talking of their own as well (netbooks do nothing well for recent eg) – but so far they seem far more able to back it up.
This guy still doesn't sound as idiotic as Steve Ballmer of Microsoft. Patrick, don't you really wonder if they truly believe this garbage, or if they think its help their company? Then again, maybe its just something that bored CEOs do, like players who just trash-talk in sports for fun? If you really want to see a product that can challenge the Iphone then look no further than the dog phone!
http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/images/4/2010/04/…
Well yeah – you have to get up pretty late in the morning to sound as crazy as Ballmer.
I think maybe some of the time there is an element of just toeing the company line, but guys at that kind of level should know some boundaries for their talk of this kind. Otherwise they just end up looking super silly, and that can't be good for their leadership positions.