First, Apple kills the PC, then it attacks a weakened BlackBerry, and finished up sticking it to its carrier partners. Not bad for one day’s work in Silicon Valley.
After pronouncing the start of a “Post-PC Era,” Apple officials announced iMessage, taking aim at its frequent target Research in Motion as well as firing a shot over the bow of carrier partners getting rich on cheap text messaging. iMessage, part of the iOS 5 update expected this fall, allows users to send text, photos, contacts and more for free over iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices.
“Assuming it is widely adopted by iOS users broadly, it will become one more reason for users to defect from Blackberry in 2012,” Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair said. However, Apple has the huge base of users capable of making iMessage do well against the BlackBerry’s Messenger component, he adds.
While BlackBerry Messenger is used more often to send dry business notes, the service is also popular with teens and college students. “There are regions around the world and college campuses where you see high rates of BlackBerry adoption and BBM is the main reason,” according to the analyst. It’s uncertain whether the similar iMessage service of iOS 5 devices will make young people switch.
Also in danger from the iMessage service unveiled Monday are the many carrier partners who inked deals with Apple. Visions of iPhone and iPad users slurping large amounts of data via texting could be damaged by iMessage. Also in question is how carriers will react to the surprise announcement of iMessage, effectively killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Will carriers stop following Apple like a lost puppy and place more emphasis on Android? Or, could iCloud be a way for carriers to replace the revenue stream? So far, neither RIM nor the carriers are talking. However, we shouldn’t expect that silence to last long.
