Rogers iPhone 3G vs BlackBerry Bold: Who Will Win?

By Gary Ng on August 22nd, 2008 66

Competitors to Apple’s iPhone have a long ways to go. We previously mentioned about Bell’s Samsung Instinct and Telus’ HTC Touch Diamond, the so called “iPhone Killers”. Well, just yesterday the highly anticipated Blackberry Bold was launched by Rogers. Just how will these other phones fare against the almighty “Jesus-phone”?

For starters the Blackberry Bold is being pushed by Rogers at a much higher pricepoint than the iPhone 3G. Pricing is at $399 for the Bold on a 3 year contract (the 8GB iPhone 3G is priced at $199 and the 16GB is $299) What do you get for that price? Well, if you’re a Blackberry fan you will be able to…(this made me chuckle):

…create awe with this powerful and feature rich smartphone. From the leather textured battery door to the luminous display and design, you know from the moment its in your hands that you’ve got the premium product of the already impressive BlackBerry suite

But the fun doesn’t stop there. This new Blackberry “is the pinnacle of desire – the embodiment of style, ambition, and prestige.”

 

VS  

Okay, enough with the Rogers Blackberry Bold marketing regurgitation. The bottom line is that the Blackberry Bold is being geared to a different segment of mobile users. I see Blackberries as more of a secure smartphone for business solutions and the iPhone 3G as a user friendly internet/multimedia device. Some people will favor the QWERTY keyboard instead of the iPhone’s touchscreen keyboard.

The Bold does look better than older models with its new form factor and it does come fully packed with features (think WiFi, GPS, 3G, leather back). However, I love my iPhone 3G because at the moment it offers the best internet experience on a cellphone. The iPhone’s touchscreen works great for me, even with my monstrous sized thumbs (I blame the mailman!).

Being able to render webpages exactly the way it looks on your computer is a huge bonus. Throw some intuitive touch controls and the package is complete. When I think of the Blackberry’s trackball, small screen, and web browser I shudder slightly with disgust. However, there are features the Blackberry has that the iPhone doesn’t. A couple I’m thinking of are turn by turn GPS and being able to email your GPS map location to others.

Check out the following Bold vs iPhone (first gen) showdown posted by Mobile Computer Mag (via Gizmodo). This might sway your decision on which device to buy (get ready to see some pain):

 

 

Okay so it looks like the editor of that video might not have optimized his test because this user responds to his video:

 

 

So what do you think about the Blackberry Bold vs iPhone “war”? I think the Bold will be successful, but it won’t be “iPhone 3G” successful. Apple’s marketing machine is much too powerful to overcome, plus the phones are geared towards different users. The big question I have to ask is: anyone going to sell their iPhone/iPhone 3G for a Blackberry Bold? :)

Thanks: [Mobile Computer Mag]

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  • tom

    the iPhone 3g is still more user friendly then the BlackBerry bold… the iPhone its all in the main screen dont have to go left to right with a scroll wheel access sub folders to get to what your looking because its all in the main screen with a nice and sleek icon. Plus the bold is the equivalent of an iPhone with no touch capability but it would have a mouse pad.

  • tom

    the iPhone 3g is still more user friendly then the BlackBerry bold… the iPhone its all in the main screen dont have to go left to right with a scroll wheel access sub folders to get to what your looking because its all in the main screen with a nice and sleek icon. Plus the bold is the equivalent of an iPhone with no touch capability but it would have a mouse pad.

  • ayyywa

    Since I am currently using a BB, an iphone and I haven’t abandoned totally my Treo 680, I can tell you that the most frustrating thing with the iphone is the very short battery life (even when everything is shut down like wi-fi, bluetooth etc..) and the fact thatthe iphone is a whole lot slower than the other two.

    It has a great screen, the ability to see the web as it was intended, etc.. but those two issues need to be addressed and not talking about it is really not healthy because, imho, I suspect we all want better efforts from all including Apple.

  • ayyywa

    Since I am currently using a BB, an iphone and I haven’t abandoned totally my Treo 680, I can tell you that the most frustrating thing with the iphone is the very short battery life (even when everything is shut down like wi-fi, bluetooth etc..) and the fact thatthe iphone is a whole lot slower than the other two.

    It has a great screen, the ability to see the web as it was intended, etc.. but those two issues need to be addressed and not talking about it is really not healthy because, imho, I suspect we all want better efforts from all including Apple.

  • Manduh

    @ TOM just forward your hotmail to one of your (pushed) accounts then you can get it pushed to you! :)

  • Manduh

    sorry meant @ Andrew

  • Manduh

    @ TOM just forward your hotmail to one of your (pushed) accounts then you can get it pushed to you! :)

  • Manduh

    sorry meant @ Andrew

  • JP!

    I am still strugling between the two. I would just love the Iphone to have windows live messenger, and I know it won’t happen other than on wifi (apolloim). :/

  • JP!

    I am still strugling between the two. I would just love the Iphone to have windows live messenger, and I know it won’t happen other than on wifi (apolloim). :/

  • http://mattsblog.ca/ Matt

    Check out Palringo, you have to create an account with them, but otherwise it works pretty good.

  • http://mattsblog.ca/ Matt

    Check out Palringo, you have to create an account with them, but otherwise it works pretty good.

  • http://marketingthatmatters.blogspot.com/ Chris Herbert

    Would you happen to know if 3.0 will support “cut and paste” and encryption? Also, I’m collecting comments in the ff iPhone room on iphone vs bb (have added this blog article to the room): http://friendfeed.com/e/ec78b468-2404-4637-83ee-6a2d19592bfb/Is-will-the-iPhone-become-as-popular-as-the/

  • http://marketingthatmatters.blogspot.com Chris Herbert

    Would you happen to know if 3.0 will support “cut and paste” and encryption? Also, I’m collecting comments in the ff iPhone room on iphone vs bb (have added this blog article to the room): http://friendfeed.com/e/ec78b468-2404-4637-83ee-6a2d19592bfb/Is-will-the-iPhone-become-as-popular-as-the/

  • Bob

    Hello,

    Being an apple developper, we have the chance to run the iphone OS 3.0 and we also have to maintain our workflow applicaiton for both blackberry & iphone.

    Even if apple has made significant progress with the OS 3.0, it is still no blackberry. Blackberry offers more options in terms of business application development as well as more comprehensive SDK.

    User wise, the iPhone on rogers’ network in Canada is virtually unusable. You get drop calls out of the yin yang, keeps switching between 3G & Edge. We don’t believe that this is only phone related issues but the radio on the Bold & storm are definitely better.

    Blackberry has made significant improvment to their web browser. Safari is the cream and untouchable at the moment but the blackberry browser is not as marginal as it use to be.

    Both phone support push mail but the fact that you need to use MS-Exchange with the iphone to get the full benefit is beyond me. They don’t event have push mail for OS X server! There are several options with the blackberry that make the push mail system better such has IMAP with a constant listener on the account. You don’t need a BES server & Exchange in order to get push mail on the berry.

    The UI of the iphone is definitely more attractive. But the UI of the blackberry is 1000x more effective in day to day usage. Even if apple has mastered the touch screen, you still cannot acheive the speed of typing on the berry’s keyboard. Now I have to agree that the storm SUCKS and the keyboard is virtually unusable. Most of our customer have returned their storm and switched back to the curve.

    Both device are very capable units but Apple still has to give more options to the developers for other things than games and picture editing to make it a business phone!

    I would recomend the iphone if:
    - You’re alone in your office and you don’t care about other people’s agenda, contacts
    - You’re ready to live with MobileMe and its limits (no group calendar, no support for vcs etc)
    - If you can get an unlimited data plan (iphone sucks data like crazy, about 10 time more than the berry, we have the bills to prove it!)
    - If you’re willing to live with no internal modem or internet sharing (Still not working in OS 3.0)
    - If you can wait up to 15 minutes to get your emails that are not in exchange or mobile me.
    - NO NATIVE TASK SUPPORT!
    - Roaming sucks since some provider disables the 3G on their network for foreign users. I had a nightmare experience with my iphone in NYC right after the launch and we receive reports of being unable to access the data stream on ATT with rogers’ phones. Or might just be that ATT’s network is too crowded ;)
    - Super browser and interface
    - Amazing gaming platform

    Blackberry:
    - If teamwork and business apps is your life
    - If you can live with limited browser capability
    - If you can live with a screen that is not as sharp as the iphone
    - If you’re a business user and looking for flexibility in terms of calendar, mail and tasks
    - Don’t think about gaming: Games are more like comodore64 than wii (read: marginal compared to the iphone)
    - If you like the flexbility in terms of network (CDMA, GSM, 3G, HSPA etc…)

  • Bob

    Hello,

    Being an apple developper, we have the chance to run the iphone OS 3.0 and we also have to maintain our workflow applicaiton for both blackberry & iphone.

    Even if apple has made significant progress with the OS 3.0, it is still no blackberry. Blackberry offers more options in terms of business application development as well as more comprehensive SDK.

    User wise, the iPhone on rogers’ network in Canada is virtually unusable. You get drop calls out of the yin yang, keeps switching between 3G & Edge. We don’t believe that this is only phone related issues but the radio on the Bold & storm are definitely better.

    Blackberry has made significant improvment to their web browser. Safari is the cream and untouchable at the moment but the blackberry browser is not as marginal as it use to be.

    Both phone support push mail but the fact that you need to use MS-Exchange with the iphone to get the full benefit is beyond me. They don’t event have push mail for OS X server! There are several options with the blackberry that make the push mail system better such has IMAP with a constant listener on the account. You don’t need a BES server & Exchange in order to get push mail on the berry.

    The UI of the iphone is definitely more attractive. But the UI of the blackberry is 1000x more effective in day to day usage. Even if apple has mastered the touch screen, you still cannot acheive the speed of typing on the berry’s keyboard. Now I have to agree that the storm SUCKS and the keyboard is virtually unusable. Most of our customer have returned their storm and switched back to the curve.

    Both device are very capable units but Apple still has to give more options to the developers for other things than games and picture editing to make it a business phone!

    I would recomend the iphone if:
    - You’re alone in your office and you don’t care about other people’s agenda, contacts
    - You’re ready to live with MobileMe and its limits (no group calendar, no support for vcs etc)
    - If you can get an unlimited data plan (iphone sucks data like crazy, about 10 time more than the berry, we have the bills to prove it!)
    - If you’re willing to live with no internal modem or internet sharing (Still not working in OS 3.0)
    - If you can wait up to 15 minutes to get your emails that are not in exchange or mobile me.
    - NO NATIVE TASK SUPPORT!
    - Roaming sucks since some provider disables the 3G on their network for foreign users. I had a nightmare experience with my iphone in NYC right after the launch and we receive reports of being unable to access the data stream on ATT with rogers’ phones. Or might just be that ATT’s network is too crowded ;)
    - Super browser and interface
    - Amazing gaming platform

    Blackberry:
    - If teamwork and business apps is your life
    - If you can live with limited browser capability
    - If you can live with a screen that is not as sharp as the iphone
    - If you’re a business user and looking for flexibility in terms of calendar, mail and tasks
    - Don’t think about gaming: Games are more like comodore64 than wii (read: marginal compared to the iphone)
    - If you like the flexbility in terms of network (CDMA, GSM, 3G, HSPA etc…)

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