Analyst: RIM Needs Fresh Innovation

The BlackBerry has not been reinvented in years. The new devices, like the Bold and the Storm, are better than previous versions...

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RIM/Blackberry's used to set the standards for any PDA/Smartphone. Back in the day (not too long ago, either), if you had a BlackBerry, you were in! You were connected!

RIM decided to make it more accessible for the main stream public, the average user with the Pearl, and more recently, the Storm. But, what is dragging RIM down is the lack of upgrades on the OS. Sure, going from OS 4.1 to 4.5 is a huge jump with great benefits, they are starting to do what Motorola did, and what almost killed Motorola.

Instead of making great leaps with their OS, they (Motorola) made one OS standardized throughout all their lines of phones (with the exception of iDEN phones).

Think back when the RAZr came out, it was huge. They took that OS, cut it apart and started putting it on every phone, from low end to everything but the "Q". And slowly, Motorola fell behind the pack (LG, Samsung, Sony). Now they are scrambling to catch up. I can't think of a Motorola Phone that I have seen the OS and said "Wow! Now this is a phone that I want!"

Sure, the designs are getting better, but they are still chasing their tail. And this is what I fear is going to happen to RIM and Blackberry's. Instead of being the industry leader in features, they are almost falling back and waiting to see what Windows Mobile, Apple, and PALM are going to do, then quickly scramble to develop that software for their systems.

OS 4.6 is awesome! But they limited themselves to either the Bold or to a really high end Blackberry to enable these features.

The next revision of the OS, I personally think they should scrap everything and rebuild from the ground up. Take time, develop what people are using their phones for, and develop a strong OS that just doesn't compete with the competition, but dominates them like they used to!