AppleBerry Predicted?
dr_fatty writes "The Globe and Mail is reporting that analyst Peter Misek, who predicted a partnership between Research in Motion and IBM, is now predicting a partnership between Apple and Rim. The predicted result? The AppleBerry. 'Such a deal would have huge merit because each company lacks what the other provides. RIM wants a firm foothold in the consumer market and Apple doesn't have a presence in the booming wireless data sector, he said.'"
I doubt this is in the works. Apple will more likely release their own product as they would have ultimate control of the product and the resulting user experience. I came across an article today titled "Apple's End-To-End Model Leads to Innovation and User Experience" You can find it at http://switchtoamac.com/site/apples-endtoend-model -leads-to-innovation-and-user-experience.html/
There's been a lot of speculation that RIM will be coming out with a BlackBerry with a camera in the near future, too. However, the current 8700 has lots of multimedia features already (support for video, etc) and there's talk of an impending software release unlocking even more capabilities (like more frames per second).
With that always on data connection and most users subscribing to an unlimited data plan, it's easy to imagine ways where as iTunes enabled BlackBerry would solve a lot of Apple's iPhone problems (OTA podcasting anyone?)
I've always thought of both of these companies as user interface kings in their respective categories. I'd bet that they've at least had some discussions about the possibilities of such an agreement.
Dave Mabe
Shameless plug: Author of BlackBerry Hacks
Apple Hasn't had a first foray into the mobile handset market. The only way they've been involved is lending their itunes software to run on motorola phones. They didnt' design any hardware, or the phone software. Only the itunes on the phone software the launches when you hit a button on the phone. And, as many have speculated, I believe there was some alterior motive in that move. At the same conference that the phone was announced, apple stomped all over the announcement with the intro of the Nano. Jobs knew the phones would be a flop, we just don't know what the whole strategy was yet.