It wasn't their first attempt at touch screen (the Storm was released in 2008), thankfully they've learned something since the first one.
I'm not sure where the idea came from that the PlayBook is a "dog". Not everyone wants to haul around a 10" beast of a tablet. The hardware is also quite capable, take a look at games like Need For Speed to see what it can really do.
As a business device, even with the "co-operation" (which they resisted), the business email remains securely transmitted. But in those countries, the government has legal access to any email servers inside the country anyway. If you expect privacy you shouldn't be trying to operate there. If these countries were abandoned by businesses they'd change their tune to save their economy.
I don't think RIM has forgotten what they do best, the share holders and analysts have. They constantly blast RIM for failing to appeal to consumers, forgetting that the BlackBerry was built for enterprise usage.
The problem with not shifting that focus is that businesses are increasingly moving to employee owned devices, instead of company owned. If they can't appeal to consumers it will negatively affect their presence in the enterprise. Now, instead of having to appeal to IT purchasing departments you have to appeal to individual employees who don't really care if their admin can remotely wipe their data etc. They care more if they can play Angry Birds (which you can on a PlayBook now: https://twitter.com/#!/BlackBerryDev/status/149521163180191744)
They really are driving themselves into the ground between that nasty outage and lack of response to IOS and Android.
Sure, if by lack of response you completely ignore their QNX Tablet OS (and future BB10) and that they've finally released a phone with no keyboard that doesn't suck (9860), for all those people that never have to type more than 140 characters at a time.
Another option is to write an app implementing PGP using BB PIN messages with a BBM style UI. The only text they would intercept is a public key and base 64 encoded encrypted data. Even of they got one persons private key they'd only see half a conversation. Also, they wouldn't need their own server because they would just use RIM's as the transport. This probably wouldn't be too difficult for the more sophisticated groups. The problem with lawful access is it only catches the dumb ones, but still exposes the innocent.
There are actually plenty more hurdles. For example S/MIME support, which BB has supported for years has just been included in iOS 5, as far as I know there's no good solution for it on Android. How about support SmartCards like DoD CAC? Currently an adapter seems to be required for the iPhone (besides the reader itself). Don't forget about FIPS 140-2 (which is only in progress on iOS4), CAPS, CC and the various international governments and NATO certifications. These are all time consuming to achieve and maintain. Android and iPhone still have a long way to go before they can actually challenge BB security. I'd also like to add that I've never heard of anyone rooting/jailbreaking a BlackBerry. I know it gets less attention for that kind of thing since users aren't locked into AppWorld but I'm sure it's been attempted.
Apparently everyone missed that RIM is already doing this: http://us.blackberry.com/apps-software/business/server/full/balance.jsp
They're taking a bit of a beating right now but I have to say, if I want to actually type quickly and accurately I won't be using my Android, I'd rather do it on a BB. I can type about twice as fast when there's a real, well designed, keyboard.
If you actually read this one you'll realize it's useless if the card isn't encrypted (ironically) or the user chose one of the other 3 options. Plus this option is designed to be less secure so you can put the card in another device and decrypt it with just a password.
I also wonder what character set is included in their claim of cracking a 7 character password in just hours.
http://xkcd.com/936/
These are getting popular in Canadian cities as well. I don't know about in the US but there is nothing in the driving handbooks put out by our Ministry of Transportation on proper use of them, so many people are unsure and just "wing it". Years after the city I'm in started installing them the city finally took upon themselves to educate the public with pamphlets sent to every house.
I think an important question here is why was Red Hat chosen for the other clusters? Your requirements aren't very specific, there are hundreds of distro's that could meet your criteria.
Perhaps then it's time to refine the overly large rj45 plug into something that will accommodate smaller form factors. Call it Ethernet micro. Most of the connector is wasted plastic anyway.
The fact of the matter here is that in these countries, this kind of access is lawful for the government. The people of these countries are responsible for fighting for their privacy rights, not foreign corporations. I also believe that by "dealt with this already", Lazaridis is talking about RIM having made concessions (which were announced to the press long ago) but assuring customers that BES traffic would remain as private as 3DES or AES256 encryption will allow. Until the people of these countries decide they want privacy this kind of access will remain lawful and foreign corporations will have to concede to their demands. From what I've heard, they want the government to have this kind of access to prevent attacks. Who are we (as the rest of the world) to force our ideas of privacy on societies that value something else more highly?
BlackBerry has been tested under FIPS 140-2, CC and CAPS and has been approved for NATO RESTRICTED, UK IL3 and Canada Protected B (among others). It's all available for review here. BlackBerry also supports S/MIME and/or PGP, device and media card encryption, DoD CAC/smartcards (for two factor authentication to the device), Bluetooth encryption, AES256 encryption between the device and it's BlackBerry Enterprise Server, several options for secure remote wipe of the data (even if there is no cellular connection) and all of this can be enforced from a centrally administered server and compliance verified from there as well. Show me how iPhone or Android can even come close to not only the certifications but the security features that can be easily audited for compliance. The only other phone that beat some of this is the Sectera Edge by General Dynamics (which can encrypt voice as well) but I wouldn't call their solution COTS. I know that reads like an advertisement but BlackBerry is really the only one doing all of that (afaik anyway).
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It wasn't their first attempt at touch screen (the Storm was released in 2008), thankfully they've learned something since the first one. I'm not sure where the idea came from that the PlayBook is a "dog". Not everyone wants to haul around a 10" beast of a tablet. The hardware is also quite capable, take a look at games like Need For Speed to see what it can really do.
As a business device, even with the "co-operation" (which they resisted), the business email remains securely transmitted. But in those countries, the government has legal access to any email servers inside the country anyway. If you expect privacy you shouldn't be trying to operate there. If these countries were abandoned by businesses they'd change their tune to save their economy. I don't think RIM has forgotten what they do best, the share holders and analysts have. They constantly blast RIM for failing to appeal to consumers, forgetting that the BlackBerry was built for enterprise usage.
The problem with not shifting that focus is that businesses are increasingly moving to employee owned devices, instead of company owned. If they can't appeal to consumers it will negatively affect their presence in the enterprise. Now, instead of having to appeal to IT purchasing departments you have to appeal to individual employees who don't really care if their admin can remotely wipe their data etc. They care more if they can play Angry Birds (which you can on a PlayBook now: https://twitter.com/#!/BlackBerryDev/status/149521163180191744)
They really are driving themselves into the ground between that nasty outage and lack of response to IOS and Android.
Sure, if by lack of response you completely ignore their QNX Tablet OS (and future BB10) and that they've finally released a phone with no keyboard that doesn't suck (9860), for all those people that never have to type more than 140 characters at a time.
Another option is to write an app implementing PGP using BB PIN messages with a BBM style UI. The only text they would intercept is a public key and base 64 encoded encrypted data. Even of they got one persons private key they'd only see half a conversation. Also, they wouldn't need their own server because they would just use RIM's as the transport. This probably wouldn't be too difficult for the more sophisticated groups. The problem with lawful access is it only catches the dumb ones, but still exposes the innocent.
Actually they busted it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(2007_season)#Birds_in_a_Truck
Most Android phones have keyboards that aren't very ergonomic. It's hard to argue that BB doesn't have an edge if you seriously use a keyboard.
There are actually plenty more hurdles. For example S/MIME support, which BB has supported for years has just been included in iOS 5, as far as I know there's no good solution for it on Android. How about support SmartCards like DoD CAC? Currently an adapter seems to be required for the iPhone (besides the reader itself). Don't forget about FIPS 140-2 (which is only in progress on iOS4), CAPS, CC and the various international governments and NATO certifications. These are all time consuming to achieve and maintain. Android and iPhone still have a long way to go before they can actually challenge BB security. I'd also like to add that I've never heard of anyone rooting/jailbreaking a BlackBerry. I know it gets less attention for that kind of thing since users aren't locked into AppWorld but I'm sure it's been attempted.
I have Swype, it's still much slower. I will admit it's much better than the standard keyboard though.
Apparently everyone missed that RIM is already doing this: http://us.blackberry.com/apps-software/business/server/full/balance.jsp They're taking a bit of a beating right now but I have to say, if I want to actually type quickly and accurately I won't be using my Android, I'd rather do it on a BB. I can type about twice as fast when there's a real, well designed, keyboard.
They're brute forcing it
If you actually read this one you'll realize it's useless if the card isn't encrypted (ironically) or the user chose one of the other 3 options. Plus this option is designed to be less secure so you can put the card in another device and decrypt it with just a password. I also wonder what character set is included in their claim of cracking a 7 character password in just hours. http://xkcd.com/936/
These are getting popular in Canadian cities as well. I don't know about in the US but there is nothing in the driving handbooks put out by our Ministry of Transportation on proper use of them, so many people are unsure and just "wing it". Years after the city I'm in started installing them the city finally took upon themselves to educate the public with pamphlets sent to every house.
I think an important question here is why was Red Hat chosen for the other clusters? Your requirements aren't very specific, there are hundreds of distro's that could meet your criteria.
Perhaps then it's time to refine the overly large rj45 plug into something that will accommodate smaller form factors. Call it Ethernet micro. Most of the connector is wasted plastic anyway.
A free BES: http://us.blackberry.com/apps-software/business/server/express/
The fact of the matter here is that in these countries, this kind of access is lawful for the government. The people of these countries are responsible for fighting for their privacy rights, not foreign corporations. I also believe that by "dealt with this already", Lazaridis is talking about RIM having made concessions (which were announced to the press long ago) but assuring customers that BES traffic would remain as private as 3DES or AES256 encryption will allow. Until the people of these countries decide they want privacy this kind of access will remain lawful and foreign corporations will have to concede to their demands. From what I've heard, they want the government to have this kind of access to prevent attacks. Who are we (as the rest of the world) to force our ideas of privacy on societies that value something else more highly?
BlackBerry has been tested under FIPS 140-2, CC and CAPS and has been approved for NATO RESTRICTED, UK IL3 and Canada Protected B (among others). It's all available for review here. BlackBerry also supports S/MIME and/or PGP, device and media card encryption, DoD CAC/smartcards (for two factor authentication to the device), Bluetooth encryption, AES256 encryption between the device and it's BlackBerry Enterprise Server, several options for secure remote wipe of the data (even if there is no cellular connection) and all of this can be enforced from a centrally administered server and compliance verified from there as well. Show me how iPhone or Android can even come close to not only the certifications but the security features that can be easily audited for compliance. The only other phone that beat some of this is the Sectera Edge by General Dynamics (which can encrypt voice as well) but I wouldn't call their solution COTS. I know that reads like an advertisement but BlackBerry is really the only one doing all of that (afaik anyway).