When Steve Jobs took the stage at the iPhone SDK Roadmap event, it was with business eyes fixed squarely on market leader RIM’s Blackberry device:
“Why aren’t CIOs really worried about security? Every email message sent to or from a RIM device goes through a NOC up in Canada. Now, that provides a single point of failure, but it also provides a very interesting security situation. Where someone working up at that NOC could potentially be having a look at your email. Nobody seems to be focused on that. We certainly are.”
And so is the Indian government it seems! Engadget sums up the current situation, which seems like it couldn’t have been scripted better for Apple if El Jobso himself held the knife… er… pen:
Apparently the Indian government is demanding that RIM either allow it to snoop on its encrypted email service (or worse, drop down to 40-bit encryption), or shut down the entire Indian Blackberry network at the end of the month. That’ll cut off an estimated 400,000 subscribers…
Unlike RIM’s three-tiered true “push” model that routes everything through the NOC, Apple has licensed Microsoft’s competing pseudo-”push” technology, ActiveSync, which relays mail directly between Exchange servers and the iPhone. This would mean that, rather than simply going after a single manufacturer like RIM to snoop on every user’s email, a government would have to go after every single Exchange server in every single business in the country — a potentially much more complicated and difficult process.
Is this a tempest in a teapot, or should Indian Crackberry addicts be worried? Would government “spying” on email lead you away from a Blackberry and towards an iPhone or even (merciful Buddha) a WinMob device? (Treo bone for completeness).
UPDATE (via Engadget):
Today the Indian government ruled out banning the BlackBerry service. Instead, the government will continue working with the Telecom Commission on security matters
We already told you that Apple threw a brick-stuffed glove down on RIM’s foot with their Enterprise plans during the iPhone Software Roadmap event. So it’s only natural that it would be the topic du-jour for the next CrackBerry.com Podcast (iTunes link).
They invited yours-truly on to talk about the SDK and Apple’s enterprise plans and it’s a pretty comprehensive chat. Fun too — even though I led us down a couple of somewhat unnecessary forays into Windows Mobile (hey, I still use and love that too).
Anyhow, if you’re jonesing to hear what BlackBerry fans are thinking about the iPhone, it’s definitely worth a listen. Also worth noting: if you’re wanting to get all the Smartphone Experts podcasts (TreoCentral, CrackBerry.com, WMExperts, and Phone different) in a single feed, we have that up on iTunes now as well.
Podcast Episode 003 – RIM's New Enterprise Challenge | CrackBerry.com
During the iPhone SDK Roadmap event today, Apple strolled up to RIM, slipped out a glove, dropped a brick into it, and slapped out one “boom” of a challenge.
Blackberry is an email monster, no doubt about it. Intoxicating “push” delivery and back-end IT administration have made it the darling of the enterprise world. But it isn’t without problems: due to the centralized server-model RIM utilizes (where all mail is collected by RIM prior to being pushed out to end-users), there’s a single point of failure for all Blackberry users everywhere (as seen in two recent, service-wide outages) — and a single point of exploit as well (where an attack on RIM’s server could compromise the privacy and security of the entire user base).
Read on for more!
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Yankees vs Red Sox. Coke vs Pepsi. Obama vs Hilary.
Apple vs RIM?
Are we walking down a path that will lead to a no-holds-barred smackdown between smartphone giant RIM and newcomer Apple? Chris Ullrich over at TUAW certainly thinks so. He recently pitted the iPhone against the Curve and comes away with a conclusion not so much different from our good friend Mike Overbo.
The iPhone and Blackberry have long been on a collision course since the iPhone’s inception. With Treos still stuck in the 1990’s and Windows Mobile’s, well, Window-ness, these two companies are destined to battle it now and for the rest of eternity.
So where do you place your bets? Apple, in all its gleam and glory or RIM, with its utilitarian approach? Or is there enough room for the two of them?
So, my time with the Curve has come to a close. It’s a dirty little secret of the Smartphone Round Robin, but I’m glad that I got to use the iPhone again for a day. I airlifted the 8310 Curve off to Jennifer of TreoCentral, and Kevin is shipped me the Windows Mobile-based AT&T Tilt. I got to keep my SIM card firmly seated in the iPhone for a full day!
It’s been an interesting week with the Curve, but the limitations of it started to wear pretty thin on me as the week progressed. Once the newness of the curve wore off, I started eyeing my iPhone a lot more. I’ve been looking forward to shipping the Curve off so I could use my iPhone. Looking to the future, I began — shudder to think — looking forward to the Tilt. But there are some strong redemptive features to the platform.
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The fourth annual iLounge 2008 Buyers Guide works for the iPhone and iPod, and is viewable online for smaller screens like the iPhone, iPod Touch, or laptops. If you prefer, for desktop viewing.
Verizon is lowering their data rates for feature phones in preparation for competition with the iPhone. Expect a snarky comment from Dieter on this one. Unfortunately, their smartphone data rates are still sky-high. And, you can add a Canadian roaming plan for just $20. The Phone they’re thinking about using to “compete” with the iPhone is the Samsung F700, though they might re-brand it as the U940. That’s some “brilliant marketing.” I don’t usually report on “iPhone killers,” but I’m glad to see the iPhone forcing prices down for everybody.
Rumors from AppleInsider indicate that iTunes 7.5 will be coming out in the next couple of weeks. This probably means that any iPhone updates with post-Leopard goodness require an iTunes update. This iTunes update will also bring support for the UK, German, and likely French iPhones. Oh, and it will include better duplicate song management. w00t!
Mark/Space, makers of many popular “Missing Sync” smartphone sync softwares, have announced their intent to release “Missing Sync for the iPhone” later this year. Their software will include Notes.app syncing, SMS backups, better call log management, and a migration tool to copy data from a BlackBerry, Palm OS, or Windows Mobile smartphone.
The BlackBerry Curve (8310)
For the first week of Smartphone Experts’ Smartphone Round Robin, I was assigned the BlackBerry Curve 8310. As I’ve indicated in the Crackberry forums, I’ve said some nasty things about BB in the past. Some of that is going to have to be put behind me this week; this BlackBerry 8810 isn’t going to use itself.
And don’t forget – a comment on this post counts as an entry in the Round Robin Contest!
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We are now launching the cool project we were hinting at in the last podcast: the Smartphone Round Robin. For the next 2 or three weeks, all of the editors of the various Smartphone Experts sites will be using one of the “other” smartphones out there.
For me, this week, it means using a BlackBerry 8310. For Dieter of WMExperts, it means using a Treo 680. for Jennifer of TreoCentral, it means using her iPhone. And for Kevin of CrackBerry.com, it means using the AT&T Tilt. There are rules that we’ve all got to follow — we all have to give the device a full shakedown. I’ll be posting an article later today about my first few days with the Curve, and then a full article on Friday.
This week, I’ll be posting a few articles about the strengths and weaknesses of using a BlackBerry. I’ve already got a few posts in at CrackBerry.com.
So what’s in it for you? Well, there’s a chance to win a prize: a smartphone of your choice and plenty of coupons to spend at the store associated with it. Just leave a comment in any Round Robin thread in the forums. Four sites, four chances to win per day. Just head on over to the Smartphone Round Robin update page for the deets.
We just finished watching the day 1 keynote by Steve Ballmer (Microsoft CEO), and Dieter has posted the details up on WMExperts.com. It was a fair keynote; Ballmer was better in person than I thought he would be. His stage voice and personality are both ridiculously brash.
He had a lot to say about Windows Mobile, this of course being a mobile conference. He didn’t have a lot to say in regards to competition with the iPhone. Windows Live Search, Microsoft’s one-stop app for personal searches, crashed on stage. The presenter handled it quite well, there will be no horror stories of 5 minute waits for devices to reboot, etc.
The biggest news of his keynote is that Microsoft is bringing all of the parts of Windows Mobile phones further into their domain network structure. Windows Mobile devices will be further managed by the network administrators. They can push applications out, settings, practically the entire phone experience. It looks like it will be quite popular with the enterprise; but not by any means at the cost of the iPhone. No, this isn’t a shot across the iPhone’s bow. It’s a direct hit on Blackberry. I’ve said over and over in our Treocast podcasts that RiM plays a very dangerous game in the mobile space — they compete directly with Microsoft, and their job just got a lot harder.
It’s curious to me that Ballmer never really even mentions Google. Thinly-veiled insults are hurled their way a fair amount by both Ballmer and former Seahawks player / former U.S. Representative / current CTIA president Steve Largent, but Microsoft curiously has the decency to mention Yahoo!. Anyway, we’re off to the show floor. I’ll be posting more later.
The people at rogersmj.com have hacked their Blackberries to get the iPhone Home screen interface on their Blackberry. If you have a hunger for the iPhone user interface on your Blackberry, they are your people to thank. Apparently, it’s a bad idea to install if you have an OS older than 4.2.1; they list compatible models as 8800, 8700, 8100, 8300, and 8380 (those numbers include the Pearl and Curves). It’s always best to download these things sooner than later, in case Apple lawyers show up, so get on over there. [via]
