<IT WORLD> BlackBerry bites
back By Martin J Young
HUA HIN, Thailand - The battle over
smart-phone supremacy is heating up as a
once-leading player returns to the arena with new
armory. After lengthy delays, promises, and 18
months without a new product, Research In Motion
released its BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system
this week in an effort to claw back some market
share from the dominant duo Samsung and Apple.
The move could be a make or break for the
company, whose stock has slid by an average of
over 10% per year for the past four years. Its
market share has been eroded and fell to 4.7% last
year from 10.3% in 2011,
rivals Samsung and Apple accounted for an
estimated 87.1% of global smart-phone shipments in
2012, up from 68.1% in 2011 according to research
firm IDC.
Company Chief Executive Thorsten
Heins took the stage on Wednesday to launch two
new handsets and, more importantly, the new
operating system. He also mentioned that the
company formally known as Research In Motion will
be called BlackBerry from now on in an effort to
focus marketing strategies on one brand.
BlackBerry 10 OS needs to appeal to the
company's existing largely business-focused
customer base and those that have switched to iOS
or Android in recent years. The key elements to
its appeal are likely to revolve around security
and data protection, two issues that both Google
and Apple have struggled with.
Google's
open source Android has had a propensity to
hacking and software exploits and Apple's closed
iOS is flawed by the restrictive level of control
the company exerts over what users can and can't
do with their own devices.
The handsets
themselves come in the form of a touch screen
BlackBerry Z10 and a keyboard equipped Q10.
Specifications, which are respectable but not
cutting-edge, include a dual-core Qualcomm
Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of
expandable internal storage, and an 8-megapixel
camera. Screen sizes are 4.2 inches (10.6
centimeters) and 3 inches for the Z10 and Q10
respectively.
There is some resemblance
between the Z10 and iPhone 5 so it is possible
that Apple's lawyers are already rubbing their
hands together in anticipation of another "rights
to rectangles" suit.
Another key component
to the success of BlackBerry's resurgence is the
availability of mobile applications. The company
has acknowledged this by seeking out developers
across the globe to work on BlackBerry 10 and
modify apps built for Android to run on the new
OS. It claims that 70,000 apps will be available
for the new platform.
Carriers have
welcomed the return as they don't like the idea of
the current duopoly and are happy with having a
new operating system to offer, however they have
pushed the company for concessions on the service
fees BlackBerry charges for use of its software
and secure data transmission network.
Even
with the hype and high-impact Super Bowl marketing
planned this weekend, the announcements have
failed to impress investors, with shares sliding
12% following the New York event. A long wait for
the March release date when the new handsets hit
the shelves in the US, and a high price, between
US$150 and $200 with a two-year lock-in contract,
are said to have caused the stock tumble on the
day.
Industry Rumors were
finally confirmed this week of a planned Apple
research and development center in Shanghai. A
Chinese business news report confirmed that Apple
has registered three buildings in Pudong, with one
of them dedicated to procurement management and
R&D. Registrations for the buildings, which
will cost Apple a total of $8 million in rent each
year, were filed with the Shanghai Municipal
Administration for Industry and Commerce.
Chief Executive Tim Cook recently
described China as already Apple's second largest
region. The People's Republic generated revenue of
$7.3 billion for the last quarter, despite the
fact that most of Apple's products are typically
priced out of reach of the average urban Chinese
worker.
Internet Google's ever
reaching digital map-mastery claimed more turf
this week as the company charted out North Korea
in greater detail than ever before. The search
giant, knowing that an invasive patrol of photo
snapping Street View vehicles wouldn't be welcome
in Pyongyang used a team of "citizen
cartographers" via Google Map Maker, who added
things like road names and points of interest.
Google stated that the effort has been
ongoing for a few years and was finally made
available on Google Maps this week. The updated
view on North Korea also highlights areas where
the country allegedly operates prison and
workcamps; these can be seen as brown-shaded areas
and are labeled as gulags.
A
senior product manager with Google Map Maker said:
"While many people around the globe
are fascinated with North Korea, these maps are
especially important for the citizens of South Korea
who have ancestral connections or still have
family living there". The cartographic creativity comes shortly after
company boss Eric Schmidt visited North Korea
urging it to open up the
Internet to its citizens. (See Mapping North
Korea: Google catches up, Asia Times Online, February 1, 2013.)
Martin J Young is an Asia Times
Online correspondent based in Thailand.
(Copyright 2013 Asia Times Online
(Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact us about sales, syndication and
republishing.)
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