RIMM doesn’t have any promising phones in pipeline nor do they have a platform to die for. So what is it that they are good at? RIMM is good at providing enterprise services and that’s what they should be doing.

So I suggest a plan for them. Dismantle the company. Spin off the hardware business. Let’s face the fact here. RIMM’s hardware is not the top of the line. They do not know any form factor other than candy bars with QWERTY key board. Nokia, HTC or Samsung would be ready to buy it. Now they can partner with any of them to create phones for them. I think Nokia is the best match for them. I’ll tell you the reason in a bit.

Next step is to, stop developing a new platform (BBX). Stop supporting the existing platform and partner with Microsoft for windows phone 7. This would give them a solid platform to build on. The synergy of BlackBerry+Microsoft+Nokia would be a thing to watch out for.

Following this plan, RIMM can trim fat and prepare a small and lean team to work on BlackBerry services. Considering the outage that occurred a couple of weeks ago and lack of capability to figure out root cause on RIMM’s part are reason enough to believe they need some solid investments in these area in terms of reliable infrastructure and men power.

Do you think this plan work for them or do you suggest something else?

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As promised here is a post on how the watching television experience should be?

So for the starters, I think it should be all IP and no cable. There is no need to have clunky set top box. If we look at the hardware, it should have wifi inbuilt. Remote Control should have a way to input text (like a keyboard or voice input). And if it must have 3D, it has to be glasses free, headache free and viewable from all angles.

Now let’s talk about the software on the TV. It should be intuitive and responsive. When the user turns on the TV, it directly should bring them to a dashboard where all categories (like sports, news, movies etc) are displayed. User can pick a category to watch and all available channels should be displayed.

Now let’s talk about the content. How that would be delivered to your TV. Here is where the cable company comes in to picture. The user goes to cable company and buy a package or the list of channels he/she wants to view. Once subscribed the cable company gives them credentials which can be used on the TV to login. This setup is done when you first time buy the TV. After logging in, the TV software is designed is such a way that it goes to your cable provider, get’s the list of channels and files them under appropriate category.

As a user, you have a liberty to install application on your TV. So for example, there is  a channel called XYZ and they are providing their application free of cost. User installs the application and it’s filed under “Movies” section because of it’s content. Now, That application can be used by the user as a channel. Please note that these are the application which displays video only and nothing else. Users hate any add-ons when they are viewing their content.

And this interface that we are using on the Television can be used from iPad, iPhone and any other device with a screen and internet connectivity. Because essentially TV should be everywhere. No matter where you are. I’ll explain how the DVR functionality can be added to the TV in another post.

Everyone knows what Netflix did recently. But we need to understand why they did it. For the record, I think splitting the company was a good idea and they should have stick with it.

Let me tell you what Netflix was thinking when they announced that they are splitting up the company. They thought DVD arm is pulling Netflix down. It’s a more or less a liability. It comes in the way of where they want to go with streaming. So it was like removing extra fat.

But they were not ready to kill it so soon. So the best way was to let it run on its own. It can run till it has juice. And it can die peacefully in a corner when Netflix is getting big.

Previously Streaming was not so big. So it had to be with DVD business. Content wasn’t enough, consuming devices were not enough. It wasn’t so ubiquitous as it is right now. Streaming needed DVD business to ride on it.

Going forward DVD business wouldn’t have enough steam to run on its own and that’s fine. Splitting the company was the best way Netflix would’ve let DVD business die. But now it’s going to drag along and who knows for how long.

Google releases iOS native Gmail app just to pull it in a very short time.

There is only one reason Google waited this long to release the Native iOS Gmail app…
There was no need. The email client was perfectly good enough because it had IMAP support. But now gmail is expanding. It’s adding many new features which are exclusive to gmail and cannot be implemented in an email client.
Plus there is Google+ which they said is getting integrated with Gmail.

Product manager Matthew Izatt hit the highlights of Gmail for iOS in a blog post today, touting the app’s speed, navigational efficiency and touch-based interface. Source

There is something google needs to learn from Apple. When something goes out the door, make sure it has been quality checked “properly” and not for the sake of it.

GigaOm:Return to sender: Google pulls new iOS Gmail app

And finally, it’s a day to celebrate.

Internet Explorer can no longer claim more than half of the web’s traffic, as of October, ending more than a decade of the default Microsoft browser’s reign. Source

In Continuation to my last post regarding the dumb pipes, let me propose another scenario.

Since, the pipes are capable to transferring data of any kind or protocol, they can be used for voice, video and data. This will allow any voice/tele company to continue their services over these pipes. There is no need for separate telephone line. Your future telephone can have wifi in it. That will allow them to get connected to your home wireless network and work within your house as a landline. Anybody can build a telephone service company without having to have a cable network spread out.

Another thing that needs to be done is, Television. TVs today are hybrids that can tune into Digital Cable and stream online videos. But if somebody (Hint: Apple) can design a proper interface for the television, it can go all IP. There is no need for the cable connection in its traditional definition. The internet subscriber can get an Internet TV and hook it up with the internet. Once it’s up, you can enable the apps for individual channels and get the content. This resolves the biggest problem for a subscriber that is to choose which package to subscribe to. Should it be with HBO, without Showtime, etc. They can pay directly to HBO to have their app enabled. TVs today are too complicated that can be resolved with one paragraph. An entire post needs to be dedicated to this.

So the final scenario is, a user calls the ISP to get a line to his home. Once, the line is working, he can get any internet TV, subscribe to any content, buy any telephone (probably with Skype or Google Voice). And at the end of the day, he pays for the data he downloaded or uploaded. It’s not the ISPs job to monitor how many minutes he used calling international numbers.

This is not over. To be continued.