There they go again:
RIM announced two new BlackBerry Torch models today, along with the first real release dates for its BlackBerry 7 phones, and nobody seems to care.
That’s because BlackBerry 7 isn’t what the company needs. Everyone knows what the company needs: its next-generation OS, QNX, on phones. This isn’t cutting-edge analysis here.
I was at the launch of BlackBerry 7 in May, and it isn’t a radical change. There’s nothing radical about these new phones at all. The new BlackBerry Torch 9810 looks so much like the previous 9800 that AT&T had to release a chart explaining the differences.
Fewer products. Sharper focus. Better execution.
This is not a complicated formula, but tech companies seem to have a special knack for messing it all up.
Instead they use the Spaghetti Approach: Throw a bunch of stuff against the wall and see if anything sticks. Sony’s been doing just that since about the time the cassette went the way of the LP, and the Walkman lost its purpose. Try this: Name a major new Sony product from the last fifteen years that doesn’t start with the word “Playstation.”
Sorry, time’s up and thanks for playing. But it was a trick question. Sony hasn’t had any non-Playstation runaway hits for a long time — even though Sony makes about 17 different kinds of anything that plugs into a wall.
RIM’s going down the same road — furiously releasing new products that nobody wants. And all those me-too phones are taking cash and vital resources away from getting QNX into buyers’ hands. I can’t remember how long it’s been since RIM first promised to release their new OS, but I’m starting to think its codename is “Longhorn.”
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