RIM Co-CEO Fires Back at Apple and Its ‘Distortion Field’ [Rim]

During an earnings call yesterday, Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance to chat Apple up and talk down virtually everyone else. But RIM’s co-CEO Jim Balsillie has a message for people that exist outside of Apple’s ” distortion field:”

For those of us who live outside of Apple’s distortion field, we know that 7″ tablets will actually be a gigantic part of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who need a real web experience. We also know that while Apple’s try and control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform can be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers wish to fully access the overwhelming majority of sites that use Flash. We predict many purchasers are becoming bored with being told what to think by Apple. And by the best way, RIM has achieved record shipments for five consecutive quarters and recently shared guidance of 13.8 – 14.4 million BlackBerry smartphones for the current quarter. Apple’s preference to match its September-ending quarter with RIM’s August-ending quarter doesn’t tell the entire story because it doesn’t remember the fact that industry demand in September is sometimes stronger than summer months, nor does it explain why Apple only shipped 8.4 million devices in its prior quarter and whether Apple’s Q4 results were padded by unfulfilled Q3 customer demand and channel orders. As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and subsequently, even people in the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story.

The message, posted on the official BlackBerry blog , comes in response to Jobs’ dismissive take on RIM’s position within the industry yesterday:

We’ve now passed RIM and I don’t see them catching up with us within the foreseeable future. They need to move beyond their area of strength and comfort into the unfamiliar territory of seeking to become a software platform company. I feel it’s going to be a challenge for them to create a competitive platform and to convince developers to create apps for yet a third software platform, after iOS and Android. With 300k apps on Apple’s app store, RIM has a high mountain previous to them to climb.

Regardless of whether or not people actually want Flash on tablets, it’s good to determine that RIM and Google aren’t just staying mum when Apple’s slinging mud their way. [ BlackBerry via BGR ]

Source

This post is tagged: apple developers, consecutive quarters, foreseeable future, overwhelming majority, software platform, surprise appearance, unfamiliar territory