RIM Works to Maintain Dominance

Research in Motion, Ltd. (RIM) announced several new application developer tools and a new application marketplace to provide access to a richer collection of enterprise and third-party applications. Elsewhere, the company announced the availability of its BlackBerry Bold smartphone for AT&T Wireless.

Focal Points:

• RIM announced numerous key programming initiatives to help the BlackBerry platform keep current with competitive offerings from Apple, Inc., Google Inc.'s Android platform, and others, at its BlackBerry Developer Conference held this week in Santa Clara, CA. Plans were announced to roll out several new Developer Tools for Web development in 2009 including plug-ins for Eclipse and Microsoft Corp. Visual Studio. The tools will enable development of Web applications that can package HTML, JavaScript, and XML as native Java executables that run on BlackBerries. The company also intends to roll out Gears Support, which can turn applications into standalone BlackBerry applications that can use local cache, database, and JavaScript to provide support for connected or disconnected usage models. Tools are now available in beta, including a new BlackBerry Mobile Data Studio 2.0.
• The company also announced the availability of BlackBerry Web Signals, which leverages the BlackBerry push application programming interfaces (APIs) to allow carrier, developer, and enterprise content developers to push out alerts to devices using opt-in preferences. Examples of push alerts could include essential corporate update information, as well as entertainment, financial information, news, sports, and weather. BlackBerry Web Signals will likely become a highly utilized function for new applications launched in the forthcoming BlackBerry Application StoreFront, expected to arrive in March of next year. The BlackBerry Application StoreFront will let developers set their own application pricing and allow consumers to pay for programs simply and quickly using Ebay, Inc.'s PayPal payment system. RIM intends to allow developers to retain 80 percent of the revenue realized from application sales.
• Originally slated for availability in early October, AT&T announced that the highly anticipated BlackBerry Bold will be launched on November 4. Rumors about the delay pointed to issues regarding both the new BlackBerry Bold device and AT&T Wireless' previous problems with its Apple iPhone launch in June of this year. Priced at $299 with an accompanying two-year commitment, the BlackBerry bold features built-in Wi-Fi and Global Positioning System (GPS) support, a half-VGA screen for better content formatting and clarity, and memory expansion up to 16 gigabytes (GB) using a micro secure digital high-capacity (micro SDHC) card. The BlackBerry Bold can connect to AT&T's 3G BroadbandConnect third generation network and its slower Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) network where 3G is not available in addition to the more than 60 countries globally operating GSM-based networks.

Experton Group believes Research in Motion understands the changing nature of the handheld device market, wherein both consumers and enterprise users are demanding support for more interactive applications. RIM's newest developer tools fit nicely with the company's existing product set and with a wide range of enterprise programming skills, thus providing many corporate users with additional means for easily porting applications to BlackBerry devices. Additionally, users should be attracted to the updated looks, performance, and widescreen of the BlackBerry Bold – making it a far more worthy competitor to iPhone and other smartphones with the "it" factor. Though the BlackBerry Application StoreFront will arrive nine months behind Apple's competitive offering, the stability and manageability of the BlackBerry infrastructure and availability of new productivity and entertainment applications should help enterprises. Users should be able to get the variety of personal and corporate applications they desire while IT executives maintain a stable platform that is centrally manageable and secure. IT executives should work with RIM to understand how new Web application development tools can best be leveraged in the enterprise while simultaneously working to ensure that the implications of the pending marketplace will not compromise the enterprise stability and security for which RIM has become famous.