TECHNOLOGY

Bye-bye Black-berry

The old song about blackbirds comes to mind when the daily news re: Research In Motion, that glory of Canadaian technology and inventiveness – sadly walks “quietly into the dark”.

The 2 new phone models the Q10 and Z10 have had almost rave reviews from the geek world and BBM messaging is the industry standard for encryption and narrow bandwith = lower cost transmission.

But these innovations and the new operating system and cheaper Q5 version have come too late.

And I did not see it coming either.

What killed the company?

Three things:

1. Samsung and even Apple phones have come up with encryption that meets U.S. government standards – so BlackBerry was no longer the only player here.

2. Companies and governments went on the cheap – allowing employees to use phone they already had – their own purchases.

3. BlackBerry took too long to get its new operating system and related new phones up-to-speed, allowing #1 and #2  to steal their markets.

Timing is everything, and boy was Research In Motion’s timing off – by about 8 to 12 months.  But in the killer world of cell phones, even 4 months late is potentially disastrous.

So good bye old marvel. You have joined the unfortunate Canadian pantheon of the AVRO Arrow and Massey Ferguson – other great icons of Canada’s fleeting innovation glory.

I’m sure your superior operating system and messaging/encryption elements will soon be re-branded by some lucky vulture.

After all AVRO Arrow engineers did finally hit aviation success – through NASA and sending Americans to the moon.