Top 5 Small Business Reasons Why iPhone Defeats Blackberry
by Leanne Schmidt on Dec 15 at 12:00 am
(Photo by adam & lucy)
And now for the age-old debate: which smart phone is better – iPhone or Blackberry? While there are many pros and cons for each device, iPhone has a clear advantage when it comes to small business.
Why iPhone dominates over Blackberry for small business:
- Options. Simply put, the Blackberry app store sucks. At the time this article was written, there were just 9,386 Blackberry apps to choose from, and over 2,000 of those “apps” were background themes. BORING. There are over 200,000 iPhone apps, many of which are free. You do the math.
- Apps help you work better. The reason for having a smart phone for small business is so it will help you work smarter. The iPhone app store offers thousands of productivity, networking, and research apps that will help kick-start your small business. Some worth mentioning are: Things, Salesforce Mobile, LinkedIn, The New York Times, TweetDeck, and Seth Godin. Also, most major banks offer mobile banking apps to make paying vendors and transferring funds a cinch.
- Apps help you play better. The small business lifestyle can be stressful and even overwhelming. Thankfully, there are thousands of apps out there to help you blow off a little steam. Some favourites are Naturespace for relaxation, Hipstamatic for photography, Video Edit to stitch together video memories, Dinner Spinner, Kijiji, Talking Carl, and games like Tetris, The Sims, Sudoku, or iShoot.
- It can host your own small business. Building and selling iPhone apps has made it possible for tech nerds around the globe to make passive income. Apple has essentially created a platform for ideas to come to life and see profit through exposure to a gigantic audience. No matter what your profession, as a small business person, you should respect the iPhone out of sheer principle.
- Impress your clients. OK, so this sounds really superficial, but admit it, iPhones just look sexier. They exude a certain, Je ne sais quoi. Like a great pair of shoes or a Spanish accent. Blackberry’s design is more like a pair of sneakers – good enough to wear all the time, but won’t get you into the fancy restaurants and night clubs.
What’s your opinion? Please share your story in the comments.
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Peter Cameron
Dec 30th, 2010
This article delivers much less than the headline promises. The first three reasons boil down to one relevant business-related point: the iPhone has more apps that are useful for small businesses. (I haven't looked into the relevant merits of the business apps amongst the 9,000+ Blackberry apps, but – given the obvious bias of the article – colour me skeptical that there aren't some useful ones amongst them.) The fourth point asks those of us who aren't apps developers to support Apple "out of sheer principle" – as if Apple's app store was established as an eleemosynary project. Pretty weak. And the fifth point (as admitted) is, indeed, "really superficial". Sadly for Ms. Havelock, the 'je ne sais quoi" quotient of iPhones has a best before date – which may have passed already, as the device appears in the hands and ears of increasing numbers of teenagers.
Leanne
Dec 30th, 2010
Hi Peter, thx for your comment. I'm glad the article stirred such a long comment from you! (That's why I wrote it – to spark debate and get the conversations flowing.)
In response, I agree with you about the apps. I'm sure there are some useful BB apps out there, but a point I failed to mention – I've used a BB and had a VERY LARGE amt of trouble/bugs with apps, software and hardware. Perhaps that explains my bias, which I wholeheartedly admit to having
I've used both devices, and the iPhone wins for me (as a small business person) by a country mile.
As for the 4th – Maybe I was getting overconfident, but I believe the marketing opportunity for small business app developers is incredible. I respect this as a small business person and it is totally OK if you don't agree.
The 5th point – Teenagers eh? I thought they were generally the early adopters of new and cool types of technology?
Thanks again Peter, I love the debate! Keep it comin
Take care.
Marcus Leja
Dec 30th, 2010
6 Reasons Why Blackberry is Superior to iPhone:
1) Security: Digital forensics experts will inform you that every keystroke event is logged by the iPhone OS and buried in the system logs. Police love the complete trackability of the iPhone. Assume all data on your iPhone is shareable with the public. BlackBerry implements best in class encryption and data security management tools, without requiring the deployment of BlackBerry Enterprise Server
2) Messaging: BBM is the king of mobile instant messaging apps. Archive chats, set up contact communities, ability to use BBM on a low-end plan that doesn't require a full 3G cellular data service. Enough said.
3) Physical keyboards: For those that write regular, extensive e-mails and messages on their smartphones, you learn very quickly of the need for a tactile keyboard.
4) Flexibility of mobile plans: I have a voice and e-mail service plan for my BB with Rogers for less than $30 per month, all fees and taxes included. You will not find less than $50 per month service plans for iPhone.
5) Support for Flash and HTML 5: Why should a user need to install an app when a Web site designed for mobile clients can get the job done immediately? Less software that gets the same job done is more.
6) Swappable batteries. I still can't believe Apple hasn't yet allowed their iPhone users to swap out their battery after extended power use of their smartphone.
Greg
Dec 31st, 2010
Interesting piece. Just a few minor rebuttal points:
1. Options: quantity does not necessarily mean quality.
2. Working better: The majority of the apps you mentioned are available in the Blackberry App World; I didn't have to search hard to find them. Most of the apps you mentioned are 3rd party developers who develop for both platforms that you are comparing.
3. Playing better: Again, the majority of your favourite examples can be easily found in the Blackberry App World with little effort whether I'm using my Blackberry or anything else.
4. Business opportunity: There may be less apps on the Blackberry App Store but keep in mind that even though the latest Blackberry models are getting a little more fun (personally I just moved from a Curve 8330 to a Torch 9800), RIM's focus is mainly on enterprise businesses, where anywhere from tens to thousands of employees per company are using their products. Marcus Leja's encryption point is the number one reason for this. If it's good enough for armies it's good enough to conduct confidential business.
Developers need to pick their target audience (or choose both if they are able to develop on both platforms): consumers or professionals.
Iphones have a history of being clearly aimed at the average consumer and Blackberrys at enterprise business.
There's nothing wrong with either, but if one takes into account the target audiences of both companies, in *some* ways one is comparing apples and oranges.
Both have arguably large followings of somewhat different mindsets.
That makes point #4 applicable to both followings.
5. Impressions: It's hard not to laugh at you (and me!) when we're talking about smart phones being a way to impress anyone when even pre-teens can easily strut around with the same hardware being carried by anyone in the business world from entry-level techs to CEO's to small business owners.
Take a client out to a fancy restaurant, get them tickets that are hard to get or better yet – provide excellent service to get their repeat business. Pre-teens can't do that
* * * *
A bit of context: I too own a small business but I also work for a large company. I own a Blackberry Torch 9800 but I also support my parents Iphone 3GS and Iphone 4. I also own a MacBook, but I am not biased for Apple – I don't see what all the hype is about with Apple products; I just want the job done.