Socket Jockeying

My friend Omar is fond of pointing out the inconsistencies of Mac Fanboy arguments.  Their predilection for broadcasting in favor of their beloved OS/machine platform; how they’re prone to highlighting the great things that Apple does; how they tend to gloss over or (better yet) provide apologies for the things that Apple falls short on.

I fear that I may have become the equivalent for the Blackberry (and I fear that Omar may have the same opinion <grin>).  I certainly have become a strong “net promoter” (marketing lingo for someone who uses your product/service and would recommend it to a friend).  In the six months since I’ve returned to owning a Blackberry, I’ve also gotten my wife to buy one and more than a few friends to strongly consider it. 

Also, just the past weekend I also convinced my father to pick one up.  After years (and I do mean years, and generations) of Windows Mobile phones that barely worked, he had come to expect that the price for smartphone functionality and flexibility was poor reliability and complicated UI’s.  After his first couple days of Blackberry use, I asked him how it was going (for the record he picked up the new BB 8830 from AT&T).

New phone is fantastic.  Still learning but works so much better than anything I  have ever had in so many ways. 

Now, my father is the first person to complain loudly when technology doesn’t do what he expects and wants.  This does not mean that he won’t use it, he’s an extremely early adopter (often to his detriment, let’s just say the Vista upgrade was not seamless).   So, what I’m saying is, he uses technology frequently, and this is rare praise from him.

All’s Not Perfect

I, of course, still love my 8800.  However, in the interest of not glossing over shortcomings (perhaps avoiding total fanboy-dom) there is a piece of the puzzle that continues to frustrate.  Simply, the tethered sync program (to sync between your PC and the device when you don’t have a BES in the equation) is a miserable piece of junk.

It’s a poor product that provides few configurations or options.  However, that’s not the really evil problem.  The really evil problem, for me, is that it doesn’t work.  Almost since I started using it, I’ve had an on-again/off-again problem with the sync just bombing out and ending with the PC application crashing.

The specific problem seems to be some types of calendar events in my Outlook can get into a state that the sync engine just doesn’t play nicely with.  If I avoid syncing the calendar events, all is well.  Further, if I just wait the sync window of the calendar will pass over the offending events and will start syncing correctly again (for awhile anyway).  Finally, if I reset the sync relationship, it usually will let the initial post-reset sync work, but subsequent may or may not.

So, what does all this mean?  Well, as a technology guy, I’m still trying to piece together and debug what is happening (and if I figure it out, will no doubt post on it).  However, as an end user, it means that BB sync for non-corporate types kinda sucks.

Unfortunately, I’m not terribly surprised.  I’ve been around devices and sync protocols/technologies as a job for going on 7 years now.  Blackberry’s desktop sync conduit technology is not their own.  Instead, it’s licensed by a shop called Pumatech.  And as folks “in the know” know: Pumatech sucks.

Of course, there is no Pumatech technology in Blackberry’s bread and butter products (sync between their devices and Exchange).  No no, that’s all built in house by RIM.  The outsourcing of the desktop solution comes as a result of non-corporate users not being the original sweet spot for RIM products. 

Such non-BES customers have always been second class citizens for RIM.  However, the reality is that if RIM wants to continue to see growing market share (and a growing stock price) then their users cannot be assumed to be mostly corporate. 

RIM clearly does recognize this at some level.  It is being reflected in their new device designs (they look much cooler – no longer the boxy volvo of smartphones – and they now have consumer focused features like cameras and media playback) and their marketing.  However, it seems clear to me that they have not yet dealt with this at a software level.  If RIM truly cares about this market, they are going to have to bring their desktop software solution totally in house.

Lack of Will or Lack of Ability?

I worry that RIM doesn’t “get it” on this front.  In a past life/startup, I used meet and work with many folks at RIM.  The tenor of the place all those years ago was that they were amazing gizmo makers, top flight telecom protocol guys, and competent enterprise server makers.   What they absolutely were not were user-focused desktop software guys. 

In the “actions speak louder than words” department, RIM seems to still be this type of engineering shop.  They have made no efforts to pressure improvements on Pumatech (or to bring desktop sync in house).  Further, their new picture, video, audio solutions are similarly worrying.  The features are very consumer oriented, but the choice of licensing and outsourcing this desktop sync UI and product set to Roxio smacks a bit of “here we go again”.

I would love to see RIM grab ownership of this stuff and apply the same discipline and precision they have to device creation.  If they want to play in the world of iPhones, with a full integrated end-to-end user focused software stack, they’re going to have to.