Apple Inc.'s new iPhone has many competitors trembling, but Research In Motion Ltd. chief executive officer Jim Balsillie believes it will not be all bad news for his company's popular BlackBerry.
The iPhone will clearly put yet another challenger into the smart phone market, but that's nothing new for RIM, which has already faced possible BlackBerry-killers from the likes of Palm Inc., Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc.
Despite all that competition, RIM, based in Waterloo, Ont., still has strong market share, starting at 55 per cent depending on the area, Mr. Balsillie told an industry conference Tuesday.
Moreover, the fact that Apple, the maker of the iPod, is introducing a phone that also plays music, like the BlackBerry, means there is no longer a need for consumers to carry around two separate devices, Mr. Balsillie believes.
Research In Motion
Apple
"Our world has always had competition from day one, and it will never end," Mr. Balsillie told the 2007 Canadian Telecom Summit. "We have a strong position. They're in our space.
"I think the great, great favour they've done for the industry, is they've said you should expect an MP3 player to be a software [application] on your smart phone," Mr. Balsillie said. "Wow."
Apple's power to sway consumers shouldn't be underestimated, however.
The maker of the Macintosh computer revolutionized the music industry, persuading music lovers to download songs and listen to them on the iPod instead of running to the store and buying CDs.
The iPhone, scheduled to make its debut later this month in the United States, could be a big hit with consumers thanks to its sleek design and multimedia features, which include a camera and iPod player.
It will go head to head in that market with RIM, which has recently started targeting consumers with products like the Pearl that offer similar multimedia features.
Mr. Balsillie reckons that consumers and small-business clients account for about 27 per cent of RIM's current subscribers. But he says the line between consumer and business users is quickly blurring.
"They don't separate as much as you think," he said in an interview.
"We launched the Pearl that was supposed to be consumer and guess what? Over half of them went [business to business].
"It's about personal preference, and preference doesn't necessarily segment according to what you do all day."
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