[robber]

[QUOTE=Good_Guy]How long was it between the 7100 and the 8700? What technological advances did the 8700 make? I am not asking that sarcastically, but being that I have held one once and don't use it, what user advantages did the 8700 bring that other devices didn't/don't have?QUOTE]

This is more of a question of the entire market rather than just the BBs. It is easy to say the same thing about the treo 600 vs the treo 650. Or the 6600 v 6700. Better screens, refined interface, more memory, faster processors and a few more features. Nothing very innovative.

When is the last time we saw some truly ground breaking on any platform? It has been a while...

[danbra]

Originally Posted by bbgurl171

Came across this article yesterday... Apparently Thomson is switching from BB to Good. Wondering if anyone had any comments on this? Do you think this is something that we are going to see happening more often? Anyone else here thought of or thinking of switching to Good?

Well, I don't think this incident will have a wide range tendency. I assume RIM has more than just stable position within the enterprise solutions market. Moreover, the same day when Thomson decided to leave RIM for the sake of Good there was another big company choosing RIM.

[Good_Guy]

Originally Posted by robber

This is more of a question of the entire market rather than just the BBs. It is easy to say the same thing about the treo 600 vs the treo 650. Or the 6600 v 6700. Better screens, refined interface, more memory, faster processors and a few more features. Nothing very innovative.

When is the last time we saw some truly ground breaking on any platform? It has been a while...

You make a valid point. Better screens, refined interface, faster processors..those are all improvements. Improvements don't have to be revoloutionary to be effective. The key difference is that BB users are 100% dependent on RIM for their devices, whereas others can go to various manufacturers. Don't like the Treo, go to Motorola for the Q (when it ships) or go to the 2125 from Cingular. Don't like Palm, go to a WM5 device and vice-versa. You are not dependent on a single source for ANY innovations, improvements in devices. Now, RIM has done a nice job with their improvements, but if there is a featuer that you want in a BB that isn't available, you are stuck until RIM decides to add it. If you have a Treo 650 and you want a feature in Windows Mobile, get the 700W or 6700. Yes, there are pluses to a single company having complete end-to-end control of a solution, but there are also drawbacks.

By the way, the 6600 to the 6700 was a HUGE difference. Night and day.

[Good_Guy]

Originally Posted by strobate

Uh, Boeing is manufacturing the wings for the 7E7 entirely offshore. Do you think they'll be of inferior quality? I doubt it.

BBs are manufactured to RIM's specs. That can be done anywhere.

Did not say inferior quality. It is more along the lines of RIM maintaining as much control over the development process, from code to hardware manufacturing, and increasing outsourcing in any step along that line gives up some of that control. The question is will RIM be willing to do that to maintain margins? I personally think they will.

[robber]

Originally Posted by Good_Guy

By the way, the 6600 to the 6700 was a HUGE difference. Night and day.

Ok- I'll give you that. However, the 6600 does have an EVDO radio and a much larger screen. If sprint had opened it up on the powervision network it would have done well. A lot of the geeks hesitated on the 6700 because of the screen size.

[Good_Guy]

Originally Posted by robber

Ok- I'll give you that. However, the 6600 does have an EVDO radio and a much larger screen. If sprint had opened it up on the powervision network it would have done well. A lot of the geeks hesitated on the 6700 because of the screen size.

The 6600 does not have EVDO. There was some leaked beta code to upgrade the radio in the 6600, but it was never released. The 6700 was the first device from Sprint to support EVDO.

[robber]

Originally Posted by Good_Guy

The 6600 does not have EVDO. There was some leaked beta code to upgrade the radio in the 6600, but it was never released. The 6700 was the first device from Sprint to support EVDO.

Your kind of right. EVDO requires a seperate radio in the CDMA handset. The 6600 has it. All of the other legacy vision phones do not. The rest of your story regarding the leaked upgrade is exactly right but the intent of the upgrade was just to enable what was already in there.

My point was that if sprint allowed the 6600 to be powervision compatible it would still be a viable device. I.E not selling for <$200 on ebay. Verizon's VX6600 has full EVDO support. Hardware is exactly the same.

[Good_Guy]

Gotchya.

[Berry One]

Originally Posted by Good_Guy

RIM's hardware margins are starting to decline. Remember, they are in the market to make money.

They sell more hardware and have higher profits with lower margins. It is natural path for any company which is #1 or trying to be among top players in highly competitive market.