RIM said "hello" to the iPhone this morning when it introduced the long-anticipated BlackBerry 9000, also known as the BlackBerry Bold. Aside from its dashing good looks, the Bold has tweaks under the hood that not only improve upon past BlackBerry offerings, but ensure that it stays a step ahead of the competition. For now, anyway.
The Bold is RIM's first BlackBerry to support tri-band HSDPA (3G) networks, which complements its built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. The half-VGA screen features 480x320 resolution, which is twice the resolution of the most recent BlackBerry Curve. The Bold, of course, continues with RIM's commitment to the "real" QWERTY keyboard along with a trackball located just under the screen. The built-in 2MP camera has video recording capabilities, built-in camera flash that is common on BlackBerry devices, and 5x digital zoom.
Software-wise, the company revamped its menu icons to look a little more cutting edge, and the phone also boasts "desktop-style web pages." Users can choose to navigate through websites either with the full, desktop-style HTML pages or mobile-formatted versions. RIM also says that it has enhanced the Bold's media player to play video smoothly in fullscreen mode and manage a user's full music collection.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that RIM has taken a few design tips from the iPhone this time around. The Bold's all-black enclosure with a chrome border, combined with the high-contrast screen make it indeed a very, er, bold-looking new BlackBerry. Physically, the resemblance is striking:
Of course, the iPhone currently lacks many of the features that the Bold has—namely 3G capabilities, integrated GPS, Bluetooth that actually works with something besides a Bluetooth headset, video recording capabilities, and camera zoom. However, many of these features are expected to be announced soon at WWDC for the next-gen iPhone. At the very least, a 3G iPhone is all but guaranteed, and GPS is widely-rumored to be included. And, of course, the iPhone already offers desktop-style web browsing in addition to a giant multi-touch screen that the Bold doesn't have.
On its own, however, the Bold is still a very attractive option for those in business who are married to things like the BlackBerry's handling of corporate e-mail and the non-touchscreen keyboard that many BlackBerry enthusiasts still love. On the flip side, Apple said at its SDK Roadmap event in February that the iPhone 2.0 software will introduce "real" Exchange support, push e-mail, and other enterprise features that it currently lacks, possibly bringing it up to speed with the BlackBerry in that regard.
Unfortunately for RIM, the Bold is not yet commercially available. The company says that it will be widely available this summer, and told CNet that it expects the price to be somewhere around $300-400. If it were available today, RIM might be able to capture more sales than it will after the next-gen iPhone is released. By then (whenever that may be), the two may be roughly on par in terms of features once again.
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has quit President Donald Trump's American Manufacturing Council, he announced in a Monday statement.
"I resigned to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues, including the serious need to address the decline of American manufacturing," Krzanich wrote.
Krzanich hinted that his resignation was connected to this weekend's violence in Charlottesville, VA. "I have already made clear my abhorrence at the recent hate-spawned violence in Charlottesville," he wrote. "Earlier today I called on all leaders to condemn the white supremacists and their ilk who marched and committed violence."
Trump was slow to call out white supremacists, initially criticizing hatred and violence "on many sides." That outraged critics, who argued that the hatred and violence in Charlottesville came almost entirely from one side—the side that happened to see Donald Trump as their champion.
"Nearly every issue is now politicized to the point where significant progress is impossible," Krzanich wrote on Monday. "The current environment must change, or else our nation will become a shadow of what it once was and what it still can and should be."
Krzanich isn't the first CEO to exit one of Trump's advisory councils. Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier also quit on Monday in response to the Charlottesville attacks, prompting a mocking tweet from Donald Trump. Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank also quit on Monday.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Disney CEO Robert Iger quit Trump advisory councils in June to protest Trump's decision to leave the Paris Accords on climate change. In February, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quit Trump's business advisory council in the face of a consumer boycott related to Trump's immigration policies.
At least two prominent tech CEOs remain on Trump's advisory councils: Dell CEO Michael Dell and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty.