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Topic: Mobility

Nokia, BlackBerry aim to elbow in on Android parade

Summary: Nokia and BlackBerry may have a tough chore as they try to get attention amid an Android news onslaught in May.

Larry Dignan

By for Between the Lines |

Nokia and its Microsoft's Windows Phone franchise and BlackBerry are looking to make some product headway in May as a steady stream of Android devices from the likes of Samsung and HTC hit the market.

For the two platforms battling to be a viable No. 3 May could prove to be a critical month to gain traction.

Nokia is planning on launching its latest Lumia on May 14 in London. CNET noted that a new flagship could be on tap. Details about the event are sparse, but the timing is notable since BlackBerry has its BlackBerry Jam event the same week in Florida. In addition, Google's Android-heavy I/O conference will kick off at the same time in San Francisco.

NokiaLondon

 

As for BlackBerry, the company's main devices are the Z10 and q10. The Q10 received good reviews overall, but it's unclear whether BlackBerry can widen its base of users.

 

BlackBerry Jam is likely to be part BlackBerry 10 cheerleading session with a mix of future roadmap dropped in.

In either case, Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 need May to be productive to grab mind- and market-share. After all, once the Android onslaught---HTC One and First and Samsung Galaxy S4---ebbs it'll be time to talk about Apple's latest iPhone.

Topics: Mobility, Nokia, BlackBerry, Smartphones

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4 comments
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  • If either of them marketed as well as apple or samsung they wouldnt be

    having any mindshare problems right now. apple and samsung dont build better phones or better services, in fact they have worse ones. Nokia and MS and RIM need to grok mobile marketing.
    Johnny Vegas
    Reply 3 Votes

    • I don't understand

      I don't see much advertising for iPhones or Android. I think that something bigger and stronger is at play here. Android is promoted by legions or young men and teenage boys who like it because they think that it is their friend. It is open source, it is cheap ... It is not the evil empire of MicroSoft or even Apple. These faithful write blogs and reviews to promote Android phones over all others. These faithful also make up the majority of the cell phone store employees. I have witnessed the store employee Fandroid faithful promoting their favorite phones/OS over all others when a customer needs assistance (and even many times when they don't).

      Apple phones benefit from the Steve jobs coolness factor and the high end branding of Apples products. They are fairly easy to use and for many older people and females this is what they are looking for.

      Windows Phones and Black Berry OS devices are great offerings but they have to figure out how to overcome these two factors before they can steal any meaningful marketshare.
      Panwo1@...
      Reply Vote

  • Blackberry Ask

    I'm a business smartphone user, and for the most part, I find using my BlackBerry very well suited to my business lifestyle. I do a lot of email and texting, and they full qwerty keyboard is a life saver.

    BUT ... when it comes to dialing a new phone number ... one that's not already in my contact list ... ARGH ... dialing with keys designed for texting is a complete frustration for my man-sized hands. Let's get a real phone-dialing option on the BB, please!
    draku.zeos
    Reply Vote

    • phone dialing

      With a real dial? That would be fun. Even an eletronic version of a dial, not keypad would be different.
      dhays
      Reply Vote
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