Monday, July 9, 2007

RIM's CEO sees iPhone as "dangerous"

RIM's CEO sees iPhone as "dangerous": Research in Motion head Jim Baisilie believes the iPhone could be potentially toxic for the cellphone industry, according to a recent interview. The head of the BlackBerry firm points out that while AT&T has obtained a multi-year contract for the device, the terms leave the carrier out of much of the sales process and give it little influence over the customization of the phone's hardware or software. [...] "It's a dangerous strategy. It's a tremendous amount of control," he says. "And the more control of the platform that goes out of the carrier, the more they shift into a commodity pipe." (Via MacNN.)

I'm scared. Imagine, carriers having to focus on sending packets to their destination instead of forcing on us awfully designed, crippled, restrictive applications and services. Carriers providing an arena for unfettered innovation rather than keeping us frozen in 1960s communication and software models. That can't be allowed. After all, what would that do to proprietary platforms like RIM's?

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