A few people have asked me to weigh in on the question of whether the iPhone is superior to Blackberry, or vice versa.
First, let me caution you that if anyone ever tries to tell you that one kind of smartphone is objectively “better” than any other, that person is not to be trusted. Okay, maybe that’s a bit unfair, but at best they are a “fanboy”, and more likely, a zealot. In any case their advice is suspect.
Here’s what we tell our IT services clients at Bulletproof:
The answer depends entirely on the individual and what their expectations, requirements and even stylistic tastes are It’s like asking which is THE BEST vehicle – the only reasonable answer is: it depends.
For example, if your key needs are around calendar, contacts and messaging – I would tend to suggest a Blackberry Curve or Bold – in part because of the full qwerty keyboard, and also because of the feature richness of those apps on the Blackberry platform. For myself, I find that that I am FAR faster at pounding out an email on a Blackberry than any other device.
On the other hand, if you care more about gadgets, apps, multimedia content, and overall coolness, the iPhone is tough to beat. And for many people, the onscreen keyboard is more than adequate for their needs or at least an acceptable sacrifice in consideration of all the other things they like about it.
But wait, what about Google’s entry – the Android mobile operating system – which runs on both their own hardware and that of other vendors? Android-based smart phones fall into the same category as the iPhone, but with one overall significant difference: open architecture. Whereas Apple controls which apps are available or will run on the iPhone, pretty much anything goes on an Android. Furthermore, the fact that they license the OS to other hardware manufacturers allows for greater choice for us users. Some of the most serious gadget-geeks I know have hopped from iPhone to Android in the past few months, and aren’t looking back…
And then there are the also-rans: Windows Mobile, and Palm. Although at one time both vendors had a significant head start in the market, they have both repeatedly failed to impress over the past few years. That said, there are people out there who swear by them despite their relatively small market shares.
Which brings me back to my original point: it doesn’t much matter anymore which one you choose – even for business use, since they ALL now support two-way over-the-air sync of calendar, contacts, and email with Microsoft Exchange – which remains by far the most functional and widely used back end for business messaging.
So, what about me? Well, for starters I’m writing this on my iPad. While it’s not a smartphone, it does run virtually all of the iPhone apps, thus quenching my thirst for those goodies. And that leaves me with my Blackberry Curve – which I have absolutely no intention of giving up (for the above mentioned reasons) except possibly for a Blackberry Bold!
Oh and one last thing: Right now, the iPhone is the heavyweight in the smartphone industry in terms of market share – much as they were in the personal computer industry in the early 80′s. But, if they stick true to form and continue to only offer their OS on their own hardware and to dictate which apps people are allowed to run, I think there’s a good chance they’ll eventually wind up a niche player. In which case, my money’s on Google.
