Disqus
One of the co-CEOs of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion had not long ago made the somewhat ballsy statement of equating the BlackBerry Storm to a netbook. Mr. Lazaridis’ compatriot in executivity, Jim Balsillie, has one-upped that angle, and gone so far as to dismiss netbooks as a remote threat to smartphones. The constraints of size, he claims, will keep people coming back to something they can easily pocket and won’t cost an arm and a leg. If a bigger screen or other functions are in demand, Bluetooth connectivity to peripherals can pick up the slack. While smartphones are making great progress, they still don’t quite have the horsepower of an honest-to-goodness netbook, and it will be some time before they do. Besides, who’s to say the tech world isn’t big enough for both? Using a smartphone to gain tethered connectivity for a netbook sounds like a match made in heaven. What’s your take? Will people with BlackBerrys necessarily shy away from picking up netbooks?
[via Reuters]
About The Author
Simon Sage
Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.
