The BlackBerry Colt leaked out this morning, promising to be the first of RIM’s handsets to use the QNX OS, as found on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. It doesn’t look set to hit until 2012, but what does it need to do to succeed?
Click through for five things we don’t think it can do without.
1 BES
So far, rumours abound the BlackBerry Colt will launch without support for BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server), allowing native email on the handset. Apparently RIM is working on a QNX-specific version of BES for handsets, but that won’t be ready in time for the Colt’s launch (the PlayBook lacked native email because the BES code had to be rewritten to support the new OS). For company email using Microsoft Exchange, you’ll have to fall back on Microsoft ActiveSync, designed for Windows Mobile devices. Seriously. We can’t see Blackberry owners being too pleased about that.
2 Flash
The PlayBook had its issues with Flash – updates were fed out to users to deal with the problems – but to compete with the iPhone 4 you really do need seamless Flash compatibility straight out of the box. Especially when almost every other rival seems to manage just fine.
3 More than a single core processor
Let’s be straight on this: RIM has been slow out of the gate with a host of features rapidly becoming standard by other phone makers. Packing more than just a single core processor inside is one of these things, the compromise of RIM’s (admittedly worthwhile) insistence on releasing phones with decent battery lives. But more casual users seem content to sacrifice battery for speedier performance, as opposed to BlackBerry’s power users. Word is the Colt will ship with single-core, though multi-core QNX handsets are incoming. We can’t see that going down too well in the face of the multi-core competition.
4 Better design
We got hands on with two brand new BlackBerrys last week – the Torch 9810 and Torch 9860, and while they were working well enough, the design is still seriously lacking some imagination. Admittedly BlackBerry’s hardcore aren’t going to want to ditch the QWERTY anytime soon, but there are still plenty of improvements to be made. An optical trackpad? In this day and age? It feels as old fashioned as a 1980s arcade joystick, so why has the Colt got one too? And the buttons on the 9810 are sitting in a tricky to reach recess. Compare these kinds of design flaws with the buttery smooth operation of the iPhone and its ilk, and the BlackBerry isn’t going to come off favourably.
5 Apps, apps, apps
It’s a little known fact that BlackBerry App World actually grosses more revenue per app than Apple’s App Store and Android Market, probably due to the high pricing of some of its business apps. But that doesn’t stop it lagging behind both in terms of choice – there are just 39,770 apps to choose from, compared to over 425,000 in Apple’s App Store and more than 250,000 in Android Market. If RIM wants to build an ecosystem to rival Android and iOS, it’s got a way to go.
