The last 10 days have been pretty rough. I haven't been able to sit down for more than five minutes at a time because yours truly threw out his back last week and is still dealing with it. I'm actually off to the Mobile Enterprise Magazine Executive Summit on Wednesday and PRAYING that I will be able to sit in a plane for six hours without dying. But, as usual, I digress. There's been a lot of press in the last couple of days that has me disturbed...nay, annoyed that makes me think of Rodney King's (in)famous quote: "Can't we all just get along?"
The Internet has been all a twitter (all puns intended) with the new "Droid" coming from Motorola and Verizon Wireless. In fact an analyst at Citigroup is really excited about it. CNET wonders if Motorola can make a comeback with Android devices. Another analyst downgrades RIM. Then, Gizmodo says Palm "lost". People keep on panning Windows Mobile while saying the iPhone is the greatest thing since sliced bread. These inflammatory titles really need to stop.
Now, let's be clear...I'm not confused. I understand full well that provocative titles get people to read what you have to say. Can we at least do this in the RIGHT way people???
First of all, let's look at the platforms. What's the probability of the following going out of business in the next 3-5 years?:
- Android - zilch. Too much hype and support.
- BlackBerry - zilch. Too much enterprise credibility.
- iPhone - zilch. Duh.
- Symbian - zilch. Sure, not great at all in the US, but still huge everywhere else.
- webOS - zilch. Palm *may* not make (I don't agree with that statement), but the OS is too good not to be gobbled up by someone else.
- Windows Mobile - zilch. While it may be the punching bag of mobility "du jour," you really think Balmer is gonna let this one go? Not likely.
OK, so hear me out people. The six major platforms are going NOWHERE but up. They are all going to grow! Why? Because the world of smartphones and enterprise mobility has only one trajectory. Up!
Funny how 18 months ago Palm was dead. Then 10 months ago, they were the golden child...now "they lost?" What about Motorola? Today they are on top of the world. TODAY. RIM...RIM had the #1 most popular device last quarter and now there's a "sell" recommendation. Apple...the iPhone is the answer to world peace...today. This needs to end.
I think we all need a reality check. All six platforms will make gains. They will all have their following and they will all have "fanboys" and people who hate them. Get over it people. We need to stop having people try to make headlines or manipulate stock prices for short term gains with outlandish comments and headlines.
Let's try instead to focus on what matters in (enterprise) mobility.
