iPhone-Blackberry Battle Will Be Fought Over Keyboards - InformationWeek

While Apple may be planning to utilize its iPhone for a major assault on Research In Motion's corporate fortress, the shaper of the blackberry looks to be preparing to turn the tabular arrays on Apple.

RIM have been seeking applied scientists steeped in Apple engineering to mount a countermove of its own.

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In malice of all the well-deserved ballyhoo about the iPhone, rim still have an impregnable place in endeavor and corporate marketplaces -- its tactile QWERTY keyboard is manner more accurate than Apple's glass keyboard, and corporate types are less tolerant of e-mail mistakes than rank-and-file consumers.

On the other hand, RIM, which have got been advertisement for experienced Apple engineering experts, may be able to retroflex the Apple touching silver screen -- other French telephone shapers have similar French telephone touching silver screens -- easier than Apple can come up up with an accurate adequate keyboard to fulfill corporate users.

According to the Web site, an internal occupation listing at rim reads: "As portion of a newly created team, you'll act upon the development and designing of blackberry software." The listing travels on to mention a scope of requirements, including experience with Macintosh development, JavaScript, XML, and Macintosh Sync services.

While many iPhone users curse by the truth of the iPhone's keyboard, have got establish iPhone users do manner more mistakes than users of French telephones with tactile QWERTY keyboards. Research into developing haptic engineering for the iPhone, while progressing, isn't generally believed to be ready for premier time.

Haptic innovators at the Glasgow University recently introduced an improved keyboard for the iPhone, but referees haven't embraced the engineering yet.

RIM is well aware of the iPhone's keyboard problem. "I couldn't type on it and I still can't type on it and a batch of my friends can't type on it," rim co-chief illusionist Mile Lazaridis said, according to a study in The New House Of York Times this week. "It's hard to type on a piece of glass."

Also this week, rim forged a new partnership with Prometric to do the blackberry Certification Program available on a worldwide footing for the first time. Prometric's 4,700 diagnostic test centres will be available for users who desire to develop or better their blackberry accomplishment sets. Also helping to better RIM's corporate programmes is a new partnership with SAP.

Meanwhile, Apple is expected to unveil respective iPhone improvements in June, ranging from cut-and-paste capableness and bigger memory to improved location technology. The keyboard could be improved, too, but the large inquiry is whether corporate types will wish it.