iPhone 3.0… Should RIM and Google Be Worried?

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iphoneIn typical fanfare, Apple’s iPhone 3.0 preview appears to have brought the most requested features that users have been asking for.

  • Copy & Paste – Perhaps a basic feature, but one that has been severely lacking is now as simple as a double-tap and the typical draq and you’re done.  You can also apparently copy/paste multiple items including photos.
  • Spotlight Search – If you’ve been using a Mac, then you’re familiar with the Spotlight Search functionality of Mac OS X.  Well, Apple has brought this to the iPhone and you can, as far as we can tell, search through anything on the iPhone.
  • Push Notification – Allows data to be pushed to the device without apps running in the background to accept it.  This has been one of the reasons why the iPhone has had decreased battery life as many apps would typically need to run in the background to receive the data.
  • MMS Support - Previously lacking on the iPhone, you’ll soon be able to send MMS with attached media.  As the built-in Mail client allowed you to do this, there wasn’t a great need as you had another option.  Good to see the iPhone is supporting MMS correctly.
  • Device File Transfer – One of the coolest features is being able to transfer data from one iPhone (and iPod Touch I believe) to another device using Bluetooth.  Word was there was a self-discovery feature through Wi-fi which would fallback to Bluetooth for the actual transfer.


So the question is with all of the cool features that will be blessed on iPhone users, should RIM and Google be worried?  As smartphones jockey for market share and the economy being as fickle as it is, one slip up in not being at the top of your game, can quickly find you in the position that Motorola is in.

As someone who doesn’t have an iPhone, but a true Mac fan, I do appreciate my Blackberry and did have a bit of envy when the iPhone came out.  But, I’ve found that the Blackberry suits my needs at least for now.  If Apple continues to really take the iPhone even further and RIM doesn’t release improvements to their device, I may be inclined to seriously consider switching over.

For a complete run down of the iPhone preview and more about the over 100 features, check out Gizmodo.

  • http://tiburonphotos.com/ Kevin Edwards

    RIM yes, Palm yes, Microsoft yes…pretty much everyone in the phone business except for Google. Google wins if Apple dominates with the iPhone. The whole point of Android was for Google to have its services on phones that were going to be sold outside of the iPhone, not to compete with the iPhone.

  • http://www.cando-ent.com Jerry (CentDev)

    I agree. RIM has lost some ground — their latest devices still don’t seem to get it right yet. Palm, I can’t remember the last time I saw a smartphone which ran their OS. They’ve been trying to catch up for some time now. Though the Pre may be what can bring them back again.