BlackBerry Bold 9800 Slider running BlackBerry OS 6

[george]

BlackBerry Bold 9800 Slider running BB OS 6

The BlackBerry Bold 9800 Slider is going to take things to a new level. While some of the specs that were released early on sounded good but lacked any real “wow” factor, the newest updates on what consumers expects delivers that. Whether it is all going to work great is a whole other issue, but for now it looks like the BlacckBerry Bold 9800 Slider is going to deliver the goods.

Expected delivery for BlackBerry Bold 9800: Q3 2010 (June - July 2010)

[Lizard2010]

Can it do voice recognition.

[george]

Can it do voice recognition.

BB Bold 9000 can do voice, so sure this one will. It looks awesome.

[nikster]

Wow. I guess they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.. what they pulled here is certainly bold.

90% of the features shown here - which I assume are the most exciting new additions to the BB OS - are exact copies of iPhone features. Cover flow... the browser... the search feature... what's amazing is how blatantly they ripped it off. They just did it. Exactly the same. They didn't re-interpret the features in their own way, or provide the same functionality, or even - god forbit - invent new useful features a'la Android. No, they chose to do a 1:1 clone.

I guess I just lost a lot of respect for this company. Business wise, of course, Microsoft has shown that blatant rip offs are no barrier to success. So they'll continue to do well. I suspect that RIM has a huge pile of relevant patents which they will use when (and not if) Apple goes and sues them.

To put another way, if I were to start a company making mobile phones, and I came out with this, Apple would sue me into oblivion.

[quiksilva]

I think all phone makers are suing each other at the moment...

[nikster]

I think all phone makers are suing each other at the moment...

Well at least they would like to. The flawed patent system in the USA has created a situation where there are two kind of companies: Those who do own a pile of relevant patents. And those who don't. For those who don't, they have no chance of entering the market. Even if they came up with a remarkable new device, they'd get killed by patent lawsuits. For those who do, they can copy each other all they want, even patented stuff, because for every patent lawsuit against them, they can file a counter lawsuit with their own patents. Since patents are near impossible to defend against, this always ends up in a draw. In the end the companies negotiate a settlement of some sort and leave it be.

Then there are patent trolls which do nothing but sue companies that have money. Leeches. Counter patent lawsuits against them don't work because they don't make anything. These then get lots of money. I remember RIM had to pay $700M to one a few years back.