2013-04-16 10:05:26 +02:00

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8075282
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# RIM hits back at Apple's 'reality distortion field'
## Jim Balsillie, chief executive of Research in Motion, the Canadian company
behind the BlackBerry, believes there is a market for smaller tablet
computers, despite Apple's claims.
![Jim Balsillie, co-chief executive of Blackberry-maker Research in
Motion.][1]
Jim Balsillie, chief executive at RIM, has accused Apple of only telling half
the story, and criticised the company's 'reality distortion field' Photo:
reuters
By Claudine Beaumont, Technology Editor 10:32AM BST 20 Oct 2010
[Comments][2]
During a quarterly earnings call on Monday, Steve Jobs, [**Apple**][3]'s chief
executive, provoked the ire of rivals by claiming that 7in tablet computers
were so small as to be unusable, and that the category would be "dead on
arrival".
It prompted Jim Balsillie, [**Research in Motion**][4]'s chief executive, to
[**respond with a blog post**][5] in which he criticised Apple's "reality
distortion field". He said that the iPad's lack of Flash support meant it
didn't fulfil the needs of customers, and that Apple was only telling people
"half the story".
RIM has recently unveiled the PlayBook, it's answer to the iPad, which uses a
7in display and supports Adobe Flash.
"For those of us who live outside of Apple's distortion field, we known that
7in tablets will actually be a big portion of the market, and we know that
Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web
experience," wrote Balsillie.
"We also know that 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 websites that use
Flash.
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19 Oct 2010
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17 Oct 2010
* [Apple expected to unveil smaller MacBook Air][9]
20 Oct 2010
* [Apple Mac OS through the ages][10]
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"We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by
Apple. As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is
more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field
will begin to resent being told half a story."
Balsillie also used the blog post to set the record straight regarding the
number of devices Research in Motion had shipped in the most recent financial
quarter.
Jobs claimed that Apple had sold 14.1 million iPhones during that period,
compared to the 12.1 million BlackBerry devices sold by RIM in their most
recent quarter, ending in August.
"RIM has achieved record shipments for five consecutive quarters and recently
shared guidance of 13.8 to14.4 million BlackBerry smartphones for the current
quarter," wrote Balsillie. "Apple's preference to compare its September-ending
quarter with RIM's August-ending quarter doesn't tell the whole story because
it doesn't take into account that industry demand in September is typically
stronger than summer months, nor does it explain why Apple only shipped 8.4
million devices in its prior quarter and whether Apple's Q4 results were
padded by unfulfilled Q3 customer demand and channel orders."
[**Steve Jobs**][11] singled out RIM in his conference call, stating that he
didn't see RIM catching up with Apple in the "foreseeable future", and warned
that the Canadian company must "move beyond its area of strength and comfort,
in to the unfamiliar territory of trying to become a software platform
company".
"I think it's going to be a challenge for them to create a competitive
platform and to convince developers to create apps for a third software
platform after iOS and Android," said Jobs. "RIM has a high mountain ahead of
them to climb."
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