iPhone 4S – another nail in the coffin for Blackberry?

News: December 2011

iPhone 4S – another nail in the coffin for Blackberry?

BlackBerry has long been the smartphone of choice for business users – mainly due to its “push email” functionality and its security features. However, the iphone now has a sizeable chunk of the personal mobile phone market and the new iPhone 4S has its sights set on attracting Blackberry users.

To start with, the “Retina Display” on the Apple iPhone 4S gives the latest BlackBerry Bold’s display a run for its money (Blackberries are renowned for their high quality displays). Under the bonnet, the Apple iPhone 4S gets a dual-core 1GHz A5 chipset with 512MB RAM. As for the BlackBerry Bold 9900, it comes with a 1.2GHz processor with 768MB RAM. As for the memory, the Apple iPhone 4S has three versions – 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. On the BlackBerry Bold 9900, there is 8GB internal memory with a microSD slot that supports up to 32GB.

On the connectivity front, the Apple iPhone 4S is a world phone with both CDMA + GSM support. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is the GSM version in the Bold range and there is also a BlackBerry 9930 that works specifically for CDMA networks. Both have WiFi functionality, but WiFi hotspot is only available on the Apple iPhone 4S, there is Bluetooth support as well. WiFi hotspot is particularly useful for business users as it allows the iPhone 4S to be used as a wifi router to connect your laptop to the internet wirelessly (using the iPhone’s 3G network connection).

The other big news in the latest iPhone is Siri, the voice recognition personal assistant. This is possibly the most advanced voice recognition system currently on the market and is particularly useful for business-users who use their device while on the move or in the car.

The big question is whether the enterprise / corporate user will make the jump to the Apple iPhone 4S? With its good looks and accessible operating system, the Apple iPhone 4S may appeal to casual users, in spite of its pricing. But for the serious enterprise user or BlackBerry addict, the Apple iPhone 4S is going to be a tough sell. The BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) is still a huge advantage for business users as it allows companies to secure sensitive emails, or shield browsing and BlackBerry Messenger is also a favourite among Blackberry users.