Tech companies poke fun at one another on a daily basis, as evidenced by Google’s and Microsoft’s rivalry when it comes to Scroogled and many other campaigns. In these kinds of hits at the competition, you have to understand that there is usually some truth, though it is hidden behind half-truths.
Now Blackberry is joining the game, poking fun at both iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. CEO Thorsten Heins shots about Apple’s mobile platform actually came a few days ago, says that the interface is now five years old. Again, that is the truth (although it is nearing 6 years actually).
Next, he said that he had considered offering Blackberry services on Windows Phoen and Android platforms but neither one shares the company’s vision of supporting users being able to carry out all the same tasks on a mobile device as they would on a PC.
“We thought really hard about it,” Heins said. He than ended by saying that Windows Phone and Android “are not mobile computing platforms”.
Where’s the half-truth in there? I’m no exactly sure. With Office integration and plenty of other security features that are more PC-like in many ways, Windows Phone offers many of the same experiences you’d find on a PC while offering a great mobile experience.
Whether you like Android or not, it also has tons of apps that let you carry out your business and entertainment needs. There are also some enterprise-level features thrown into the mix.
I think perhaps he was trying to say that somehow the experience with these OSes still isn’t as good as a standard PC OS. He might be right in some ways, but how is Blackberry 10 any different? Especially when you stop to think that out of 100,000 Blackberry apps, a good deal of them are just Android apps that have been quickly ported to run on Blackberry devices.
What do you think of about Heins statement? What is a “mobile computing platform” to you. Do today’s mobile operating systems satisfy that need or not? Share your thoughts below.
