iPhone v. BlackBerry: A battle for hearts and minds of developers
One of the advantages Research in Motion's (RIMM) Blackberry has over Apple (AAPL) is the number of third-party developers writing applications for it: 650 as of last summer, according to RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis (link). Except the rogue developers writing unauthorized apps for jailbroken iPhones, there has been only one developer writing native apps for the iPhone: Apple. Everybody else has been making relatively slow, crippled web apps.
All that changed after the iPhone special event on Thursday. Not only did Apple announce that it was giving IT managers everything they'd asked for in an enterprise cellphone — from push e-mail to a kill pill for lost or stolen iPhones (see here) — it released a software developers kit (SDK) that gives third-party programmers the same tools Apple's inhouse programmers used to write the apps that come with the iPhone.
The message was clear: Apple is going to battle RIM for the hearts and minds of developers, the key element in any successful computing device. As Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster put it in a report to clients this morning: "The platform with the most active developer community will likely win the battle in the mobile computing arena."
So how are programmers reacting to the new SDK, which was made available as a free download to registered developers? One sign was that Apple's servers nearly ground to a halt trying to handle the demand. Valleywag's Jordon Golson reported at 3:20 p.m. Thursday that he could barely get to the info page.
The developers Apple trotted out to demo — EA, Salesforce, AOL, Epocrates, Sega — certainly seemed pleased with what they were able to produce with two weeks lead time (see here). And the consensus among developers polled after the event was that the SDK exceeded expectations. (See, for example, Ephraim Schwartz's roundup for InfoWorld.)
"The tools look awesome," wrote John Gruber on Daring Fireball. "Far better and more advanced than what most Mac developers were expecting."
Gruber believes developers will accept the terms of the business deal the company is offering them — albeit somewhat grudgingly. "Apple’s 30/70 split with developers is steep, but initial reaction from the developers I follow on Twitter seems to be positive. Paul Kafasis of Rogue Amoeba told me via IM, '70%? That’s… that’s… livable,' which seems to sum up the consensus sentiment."
But "the $99 fee for getting your app listed in the store [per-developer, not per-app] is a no-brainer," Gruber adds. "This is going to be a gold rush." (link)
Despite the initial enthusiasm, taking on the BlackBerry in its home turf is not going to be easy. The iPhone may have captured 28% of U.S. smartphone sales last quarter versus RIM's 41%, as Jobs proudly announced yesterday, but the installed base of BlackBerries in corporations probably approaches 10 million. The only two companies Apple could name that were using the iPhone as an enterprise device were board-of-director buddies Genentech and Disney.
The first obstacle the iPhone faces are the corporate IT departments that would have to support it. IT is heavily invested in RIM across the board, not just for all those BlackBerries, but for the RIM servers that push data to them.
Moreover, the end users Apple is targeting — all those road warriors with little bricks clipped to their belts — have also made an investment of sorts, an investment of time, energy and brainpower training their thumbs on the BlackBerry's miniature keyboard. Their complaints about the iPhone's touchscreen echo the contempt PC users raised on DOS had for the original Mac, with its mouse and graphical user interface.
As Piper Jaffray's Munster points out, Apple lost the OS wars to Microsoft (MSFT) in the 1980s not because it used a mouse, but because it lacked the support of a robust developer community. In the mobile OS wars to come, Steve Jobs seems determined not to make that mistake again.
"The Iphone costs less than a blackberry." Interesting, I signed up for a two year service contract with Verizon, got a Blackberry 8830 for only $149. Alot cheaper than an Iphone. Also, with my Blackberry I can teather to my computer and utilize it as a high speed connection to the internet. Haven't heard anything about that from Iphone.
iPhone is joining MS ActiveSync market. Well now more company support Active Sync (HTC, Moto, Samsung, SonyE, Palm, and soon Nokia). That left Blackberry alone with their push-email. This is not to mention that IBM are in talk (Janurary 08) to provide sync from iPhone to Lotus. RIM is history. Only the first adopter (enterprise) will stays because they put a lot of money for infrastructure. or the company that use other than Exchange server will keep RIM as well. SMB or start-up will use MS ActiveSync. couple years from now maybe RIM server is dead and RIM only produce Blackberry with MS ActiveSync support. So MS ActiveSync for all.
RIM has always been a one trick pony. It does email and must admit it does it well, with a host of corporate features that make it very valuable to a corporation.
Apple with their new SDK has them covered.
Top execs will be pushing their IT to move to iPhone, not the other way around.
Web experience on iPhone is far ahead of any mobile device on the market. Ease of rolling web apps on the iPhone will be a plus to corporate.
The huge developer community that Apple will build with applications, will be the strongest on any platform; Win Mob included.
In short, enterprises can rub their hands in glee to get their hands on the first, real mobile computing platform to serve the enterprises.
"Apple offers one model of iPhone, an expensive model that is locked to one provider."
The iPhone costs LESS than a BlackBerry with a service contract. In fact, its true of all other smart phones with data plans.
The iPhone just appears to be more expensive because you pay for the cost of the phone upfront, instead of being hidden in the service contract.
Subsidized phones are a myth.
iPhone Price and Profits vs Nokia, LG, HTC, RIM, Palm
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2007/07/23/10-fas-1-iphone-price-and-profits-vs-nokia-lg-htc-rim-palm/
Also, while its true that Apple only has one service provider, it's because Apple doesn't want the servicer provider to control the phone and disable features like Verizon does with it's phone. Besides, once that 5 year exclusive contract is up, every provider will beg to have the iPhone on their network.
Wake up people!
"Their complaints about the iPhone's touchscreen echo the contempt PC users raised on DOS had for the original Mac, with its mouse and graphical user interface."
I expect a similar outcome in this battle.
Apple offers one model of iPhone, an expensive model that is locked to one provider. RIM has several models depending on customers need and they are available on all networks. I think this is a significant difference between the two.
I would never let Apple hold a gun to my head and allow them to dictate conditions like this to implement iPhone on our network. User may only look as far as the new shiny thing out there but as someone who has to deal with the nittygritty of it all I say no way. I don't believe in extortion.
I think this will be big for Apple but it might take a little time. If I was a company interested in switching to the iPhone I think I would definitely wait for the next generation of iPhone's and give the developers time to do their thing. Say around late June or early July.
I don't think the author gets it. You don't turn on push on exchange. Exchange pushes data out to exchange clients (ie. outlook). The iPhone will be an exchange client requiring no additional hardware or configuration.
ex ped: I think it may be a little more complicated than that when corporate security is involved. At least that's what my IT dept. tells me.
RE: "The only two companies Apple could name that were using the iPhone as an enterprise device were board-of-director buddies Genentech and Disney."
Apple JUST introduced the SDK today. How can you expect Apple to have a stage-full of companies officially using the iPhone. The SDK was produced as quietly as possible per Apple's usual product development process.
RE: "The first obstacle the iPhone faces are the corporate IT departments that would have to support it."
The IT departments would be UN-burdened by using the iPhone. Apple products and services tend to require the LEAST support. In fact, the iPhone would free up the IT departments to be more creative and to ACTIVELY support their corporation, rather than be the typical anchor that they are for a corporation.
RE: "IT is heavily invested in RIM across the board, not just for all those BlackBerries, but for the RIM servers that push data to them."
IT departments already have an enormous negative cloud about their heads. They hindered and frustrated businesses by fighting the PC evolution into the workplace by fighting to keep the mainframe as THE computing service in the corporation. Unfortunately, the typical IT mindset is "circle the wagons."
Today, corporations need forward thinking and forward ACTING IT departments. The iPhone is a opportunity for IT departments to be PRO-ACTIVE, and not reactive.
I'm just curious about how it works with RIMM. My understanding is that for a companies to work with RIMM, they need to install software onsite that sends all the mail through RIMMs servers so that it can be pushed to Blackberry devices. Companies must also pay RIMM for this service and I'm assuming it is not an insignificant amount.
Whereas with the proposed iPhone solution, you can connect directly to the Exchange server and their is no middle man involved. Even if you have an investment in RIMMs infrastructure, it sounds like iPhone users will be able to get all the capability of a Blackberry without IT having to do anything.
After watching the presentation, it appears like the iPhone will have all the push capabilities that the Blackberry has at no cost so why will companies need RIMM anymore?
As S.Jobs said Apple is not aiming for Rim, seeing further Jobs already knows that it has exceeded by far blackberries capabilities or potential (12 million installed base), Steve is already aiming for much bigger pie. It's like the guy who invented the jet engine realized that piston engines were done and the potential on the horizon – intercontinental flights, massive aircraft etc. were on the horizon. This is not just iPhones but a potentially a whole slew of mobile devices, an entire mobile ecosystem. As John Doerr the venture capitalist (who financed Google, Amazon) said it's the launch of a whole new platform and he said "bigger than the PC". I just added to my Apple shares. How often can you get in on tipping point when a whole new platform of such massive potential is introduced when the company's stock is so discounted, it's like an IPO.
From an IT support prespective not having to deal with a Blackberry Enterprise server would give the iPhone an advantage.
One thing laymen fail to recognize is that Apple's dev tools for OS X are eons ahead of anything else on the market. And these tools are similar enough to the new iPhone tools– the iPhone being a stripped down version of OS X– that there will be a an enormous influx of developers CAPABLE OF WRITING QUALITY APPs FOR THE MAC. A "halo" effect, as it were. RIMM development– I can't speak to that. A lot of those portable devices have specialized– and limited programming interfaces.
Until yesterday, RIMM was the undisputed king in mobile enterprise communications. With yesterday's event, Apple didn't just fire a shot accross the bow, they made a direct hit. MS Exchange support, a killer SDK, iApps distribution and a 100M start up fund have ripped gaping holes in the armor of many already in the space. The shift to the AAPL ecosystem is a no brainer.
RIMM and others are taking on water, and they will soon find themselves surrounded by a lighter, faster and more efficient APPL fleet- and they're taking no prisoners. Game Over
Uhm – you apparently don't get it… what IT support? resistance from IT? – Apple products ALWAYS require very little IT support compared to other products/systems.
ex ped: I don't know about your IT department, but unless mine agrees to push Exchange e-mail to the iPhone, it doesn't get pushed. As far as training and hand-holding, you're right. Set up and maintenance for the iPhone should be a dream for IT compared to the BlackBerry.
Error, Error Will Robinson From 'Daring Fireball''s site: $99 listing fee — although that fee is per-developer, not per-app.You simply can't get that right, can you…?
ex ped: Don't get your knickers in a twist, Jim. That was a direct quote. But brackets added in case anyone else is confused.
I have used the Blackjack and really liked it but did not like the small screen. When the iPhone came along I got it after it was out about 6 months. I really like most all of the features EXCEPT can't hear as clearly, no GPS & the speaker is very low. But I can live with those things but because the battery goes down so quickly I very seldom use the features that were meant to be used like movies, music, internet or games. And I hate it that when the battery needs to be changed I have to send the whole phone in to get the new battery. IF I could at least change the battery myself I might keep the phone but when it runs down for good I will get a different phone but will do a lot of research. The way it is now I am sorry I spent so much & can barely do anything with it before it has to be charged again.