Birth Of The Anti-iPhone (And More)
Finally, an iPhone killer that doesn't look like an iPhone.
Waterloo, Ontario-based Research In Motion (nasdaq: RIMM - news - people ) this week introduced the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smart phone at the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment 2008 conference in San Francisco. The Flip is the smart-phone specialist's first device that users can flip open to make a call.
More important, it's a departure from the passel of touch-screen smart phones cranked out by everyone from Samsung to Research In Motion to counter Apple's (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) slick iPhone. Rather than relying on a touch screen, the Flip can be snapped shut to end a call and slipped easily in a user's pocket.
In Pictures: Wireless Showcase
Of course, the flip phone is already popular among consumers, and carriers offer scores of cheap, foldable camera phones. Unlike cheap flip phones, however, the 3.6-ounce Flip is packed with smart-phone features. The phone includes a camera for taking photos and making movies, wi-fi support, a Web browser, the ability to play music and show movies, and BlackBerry's powerful e-mail capabilities.
The gizmo was emblematic of a conference that tried to straddle the geeky world of enterprise IT and consumer-friendly entertainment. For serious phone users, Research In Motion said it is putting Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Live search service on RIM's BlackBerry phones, and Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people ) plans to add Microsoft's e-mail and calendar software onto the Finnish giant's phones. Start-up MobiTV launched a pay-per-view service, Mobi4BIZ, that puts business and finance news on mobile devices.
Meanwhile, on the show floor, actors clad as stormtroopers stalked the aisles of the show floor promoting THQ's (nasdaq: THQI - news - people ) "The Force Unleashed" game for mobile phones. A few steps away Taiwan-based Portman promoted a wild collection of business- and government-friendly gadgets such as solar- and wind-powered tracking devices and a new product that can be clipped onto a police officer's gun to alert colleagues when the officer fires a shot or if the gun leaves an officer's possession.
Finally, an iPhone killer that doesn't look like an iPhone.
Waterloo, Ontario-based Research In Motion (nasdaq: RIMM - news - people ) this week introduced the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smart phone at the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment 2008 conference in San Francisco. The Flip is the smart-phone specialist's first device that users can flip open to make a call.
More important, it's a departure from the passel of touch-screen smart phones cranked out by everyone from Samsung to Research In Motion to counter Apple's (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) slick iPhone. Rather than relying on a touch screen, the Flip can be snapped shut to end a call and slipped easily in a user's pocket.
In Pictures: Wireless Showcase
Of course, the flip phone is already popular among consumers, and carriers offer scores of cheap, foldable camera phones. Unlike cheap flip phones, however, the 3.6-ounce Flip is packed with smart-phone features. The phone includes a camera for taking photos and making movies, wi-fi support, a Web browser, the ability to play music and show movies, and BlackBerry's powerful e-mail capabilities.
The gizmo was emblematic of a conference that tried to straddle the geeky world of enterprise IT and consumer-friendly entertainment. For serious phone users, Research In Motion said it is putting Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Live search service on RIM's BlackBerry phones, and Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people ) plans to add Microsoft's e-mail and calendar software onto the Finnish giant's phones. Start-up MobiTV launched a pay-per-view service, Mobi4BIZ, that puts business and finance news on mobile devices.
Meanwhile, on the show floor, actors clad as stormtroopers stalked the aisles of the show floor promoting THQ's (nasdaq: THQI - news - people ) "The Force Unleashed" game for mobile phones. A few steps away Taiwan-based Portman promoted a wild collection of business- and government-friendly gadgets such as solar- and wind-powered tracking devices and a new product that can be clipped onto a police officer's gun to alert colleagues when the officer fires a shot or if the gun leaves an officer's possession.
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