RIM Co-CEO Fires Back at Apple’s Jobs

Research In Motion Ltd. co-Chief Executive Officer Jim Balsillie fired back at Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs by saying customers are getting ‘tired’ of Apple’s controlling business strategy.

Balsillie was responding to criticisms Jobs made yesterday of RIM and Google Inc.’s Android software for mobile phones. Jobs said RIM would struggle to attract application developers to support its BlackBerry smartphone and that devices like its planned PlayBook tablet are “dead on arrival” because they’re too small to compete with Apple’s iPad.

“Many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple,” Balsillie said in an e-mailed statement today. “For those of us who live outside Apple’s distortion field, we know that 7-inch tablets will actually be a big portion of the market.”

RIM, Apple and Google are battling for customers as computing moves to mobile devices from desktop machines. RIM, which has been making phones the longest, has seen its share of the global smartphone market slide to 18.2 percent in the second quarter from 19 percent a year earlier, according to Gartner Inc. The iPhone boosted its share to 14.2 from 13 percent and Android software surged to 17.2 percent from 1.8 percent.

The Apple CEO yesterday pointed to the fact that Apple sold 14.1 million iPhones last quarter to RIM’s 12.1 million BlackBerrys.

“I don’t see them catching up with us in the foreseeable future,” Jobs said.

Misleading Comparison?

Balsillie responded by pointing out that such a comparison of handset shipments is misleading as RIM’s quarter includes more of the summer months when consumers make fewer purchases. He also pointed out that Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM expects to sell 13.8 million to 14.4 million BlackBerrys this quarter.

Still Balsillie has to fend off inroads the iPhone and Android are making with RIM’s traditional corporate customer base. JPMorgan Chase & Co., for example, is testing whether to allow employees to use Apple and Android smartphones as an alternative to the BlackBerry for corporate e-mail, two people familiar with the situation said last month.

RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, is trying to differentiate its PlayBook tablet computer by emphasizing its ability to support Adobe Systems Inc.’s Flash technology used for video on the majority of websites. Apple’s iPad doesn’t support Flash.

“While Apple’s attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of web sites that use Flash,” Balsillie said in today’s e-mail. “We know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real Web experience,” Balsillie said.

RIM fell $1.24 to $47.30 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock has dropped 30 percent this year while Apple has jumped 47 percent.

via Hugo Miller