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BlackBerry CEO says iPhone UI is old, lacking innovation

By: , IntoMobile
Monday, March 18th, 2013 at 5:57 AM
vzw-z10-650

Speaking to The Australian Financial Review, BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins was very outspoken about BlackBerry 10 and its place in the smartphone market.

Heins touted BlackBerry’s new OS, mentioning that the company has seen a fair amount of early adopters who have switched from another platform to BlackBerry 10 OS. BlackBerry may not be winning by a long shot, but it enticign customers to leave iOS and Android. Heins notes that the release of several high-profile devices has loosened Apple’s grip on the smartphone market and Apple has been slow to overhaul iOS.

“Apple did a fantastic job in bringing touch devices to market … They did a fantastic job with the user interface, they are a design icon. There is a reason why they were so successful, and we actually have to admit this and respect that,” Mr Heins said.

“History repeats itself again I guess … the rate of innovation is so high in our industry that if you don’t innovate at that speed you can be replaced pretty quickly. The user interface on the iPhone, with all due respect for what this invention was all about is now five years old.”

This statement will no doubt cause a stir, especially since BlackBerry is on the death watch list of many analysts. So what do you think? Is iOS old and musty?

[Via AFR]

About The Author

Kelly Hodgkins

Kelly spent the last four years covering mobile technology at places like BGR, Gizmodo and The Unofficial Apple Weblog. Before writing, she spent a few years working with and teaching others how to use Adobe Flash and Macromedia Director. Even earlier than that, she spent several years as a Ph.D student in Microbiology. When she's not writing, she can be found fishing the lakes and hiking the mountains of Western Maine with her husband and tribe of children. You can follow her on Twitter @kellyhodgkins.

  • oomfoofoo

    As much as I don’t care for Blackberry. He’s right.

  • http://www.twitter.com/gtinari George Tinari

    Ha.

  • boballistic

    They need to revamp the UI

  • Philw2011

    Coming from a company that hasn’t innovated in 10 years, he shouldn’t talk. z10 is far from being innovative, if anything they just “caught up” with everyone else. I’m sure Apple can sit on their current idea for the next 10 years then finally make a drastic change and say everyone else aren’t being innovative too. In the end, Apple (and the top 3 Android manufacturers) bottom line looks better than RIM’s.

  • http://www.deklao.com/ ???????

    CEO BlackBerry Don’t Care Apple

  • http://www.deklao.com/ ???????

    Thank for News IT
    IPhone UI Old but i love iphone forever