The iPhone-BlackBerry Showdown Continues

The battle between Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) in their key smart phone markets – business customers and consumers, respectively – continues to heat up. RIM recently unveiled the BlackBerry Bold (9000), which runs on high-speed 3G networks and can better synchronize with Apple’s iTunes music software. It may also launch a touchscreen device – codenamed “Thunder” – later in 2008.

Apple, meanwhile, is expected to a show off a 3G iPhone at its World Wide Developer Conference [WWDC] in San Francisco that begins on June 9, 2008. While Apple may indicate that as many as 250 large enterprise customers are interested in the iPhone, RIM has more than 50,000 very large enterprise customers on its platform, according to Peter Misek at Canaccord Adams.

Apple will also showcase the iPhone’s interoperability with Microsoft Exchange and claim it offers “push” technology, the analyst said. But he insists that it really isn’t “push” since exchange wireless synching “initiates a data call from the device and checks the server within a defined frequency (typically 1 to 30 seconds).” Mr. Misek also told clients that this “pinging” creates a security hole for hackers, consumes a significant amount of bandwidth and depletes battery life.

In a report he said:

We would argue that these attributes of Microsoft Exchange are the reasons why Microsoft has been unable to make a dent in RIM’s market share in the enterprise. With iPhone relying on the same technology, we do not see any reason to expect more from Apple in the enterprise.

So while Apple may make a lot of noise about opportunities in the enterprise segment, Mr. Misek does not expect its WWCM announcements will impact RIM. Nonetheless, he highlighted several likely iPhone announcements and features investors should be aware of. These include: 3G access to iTunes, audio and video streaming via Apple TV, a revamp of Google Maps (GOOG) to take advantage of the GPS function, and a camera upgrade to include video. And while it is not expected at this event, Mr. Misek said carrier checks suggest a third iPhone may be slated for 2009.

He also said all of Apple’s Web applications for the iPhone are either available now or will be eventually on the BlackBerry, and it is by far the most profitable device for carriers, which means they will allot it more marketing money and shelf space.

Mr. Misek expects Apple will sell 10 million iPhones this year and 20 million in 2009, while RIM could sell as many as 50 million units next year. He said:

While Apple may not see it this way, we believe that both RIM and Apple will take significant market share in the 50%+ growing smartphone market. We see these market share gains at the expense of Nokia (NOK), Motorola (MOT) and most especially, Palm (PALM).

Comments

[Danthemason]

"He also said all of Apple’s Web applications for the iPhone are either available now or will be eventually on the BlackBerry,"

This is laughable. OSX provides a more robust and user friendly interface.

[User 141198]

Did RIMM have the world's leading entrepreneurial firm (KPCB) start a $100 million fund specifically to develop apps for a BlackBerry? No, but they did it for the iPhone. More than 200,000 developers have downloaded the iPhone SDK and tens of thousands are now furiously writing apps that will work on the iPhone (not BlackBerry). You are just dead wrong that the BlackBerry will have all of the same apps as the iPhone -- nothing could be further from the truth. And as stated by Danthemason, the BlackBerry will be incapable of some of the things that the iPhone can do because the iPhone is a handheld computer that is running on OS X (Unix).

[tom1234]

has the crack in the shutdown of blackberry been cured