AK
RIM, which makes the BlackBerry, is reportedly developing a touchscreen version of their device which is code-named “AK,” for “Apple Killer.” Right away, you can guess that it probably will be nothing of the sort. I am pretty sure that when Apple designed the iPhone, while they may have been aiming to make a device that was far better than other devices, they were not focused on making a “BlackBerry killer,” or a “Nokia killer.” If they had, the iPhone would probably be a lot worse than it turned out to be.
Any time you design something based upon trying to beat someone else, you usually wind up short, because you’re basing your design on something other than the user’s actual needs or desires. If RIM were smart, they would simply hire the best engineers and tell them, “forget every other device; simply start from scratch and make the best communications device you can imagine.” Which is what I imagine Jobs told his design team.
Instead, they probably went to the engineers who were stuck in BlackBerry mode and told them, “imitate the iPhone, but make it better!”
Long story short, I’m not selling my Apple stock any time soon.
The large screen, no buttons, touch screen concept is something that be done by others. The downside is the large display sucks up a lot of energy. Yet the device can certainly be designed and manufactured. I think many companys are headed toward offerring a range of devices, from the tiny phone, to something larger w/ buttons, to something larger w/ no buttons and a large display. The last piece is something that Apple has a head start on.
Actually, Steve Jobs didn’t tell his developers anything of the sort. He strongly believes in micromanagement, and would have given them very specific instructions on all sorts of things.