The Death of the Non Camera-Berry???
July 17th, 2008 | by BBAdmin |
This week, for the first time I realised that a non camera-berry is about to become a thing of the past. A couple of years ago when rumours of the Pearl first surfaced, we were all surprised that RIM would be breaking the mold of the corporate blueprint and producing a device which had both a camera and external storage. Since then, we’ve all come to expect it with the later generation Pearl and Curve series. The 8800 was, of course, the exception, but with the evolution of the Curve with embedded GPS and the Bold just around the corner, we all know that the 8800 is probably on borrowed time… especially as its wholesale price continues to be higher than the more functional (and user preferred) Curve.
So we know the Bold is around the corner and of course the Thunder will come in due course (my guess is they’ll drag it to market just in time for Christmas), and we know that both devices will sport built in cameras. Throw in the BlackBerry 8200 flip-phone series into the camera-happy devices, once the 8800 begins its inevitable production slow down and eventual retirement, which is likely sometime this year, this potentially leaves a hole for those that want a device with no camera.
Is this a problem?
In all reality, probably not. Yes, there are plenty of organisations out there that forbid the use of camera phones on site. RIM’s justification in not having a non-camera device would be that customers in a BES environment should long since be running on BES 4.1 Service Pack 2 (the service pack which originally presented the option of locking out the device camera via IT policy), so there’s no excuse for not having a later service pack than that. A quick scan of the BlackBerry.com download page shows the date of availability for SP2 was 12th September 2006. As for companies not running BES, an organisation having BlackBerry devices and not running a BES is unlikely to be fussing about camera usage – if they were that bothered about security then they would be running a BES in the first place.
I think the message going forward here is very clear though – RIM will keep producing devices that have everything under the hood. If companies don’t want that functionality for their users, then they should be implementing and managing any required restrictions from the BES IT Policies.
6 Responses to “The Death of the Non Camera-Berry???”
By Robb (RIMarkable) on Jul 17, 2008 | Reply
What a difference a couple of years makes. I remember back when rumors of the the BlackBerry Pearl first started to surface some old school BlackBerry traditionalists came up with every excuse in the book why no BlackBerry should ever have a camera built in.
By ezrunnr on Jul 17, 2008 | Reply
While BES enables the disabling of camera. What about people who use a BB but do not have BES access and are not allowed to have a camera say government contractors? I think there is a need for a non-camera BB. I hope RIM will produce one
By Pete6 on Jul 17, 2008 | Reply
Not sure that the non-camera BlackBerry will totally die. There are too many companies who do not want employees having camera phones.
If a company gives an employee a camera phone and the employee makes off with a load of secret documents that were photographed on the company camera phone the laywers will be busy for years working out who is to blame.
My guess is that new models will be made with cameras and then the camera module be removed for some corporate customers. Maybe there will be a new back panel too.
This makes sense froma manufacturing standpoint as well as fulfilling the market needs.
Pete
By Mikeypants on Jul 17, 2008 | Reply
I don’t really think RIM will make another phone without a camera because of 1) the explosion of consumers using BlackBerry devices, and 2) IT policies on BES accounts which can disable the camera of any BlackBerry.
By argonnj on Jul 17, 2008 | Reply
I said that months ago and everyone dismissed me as foolish.
By The Tank on Jul 26, 2008 | Reply
BES lockout is not enough. The security guard/reception person at the company that you are visiting can’t verify your BES settings. The fact that the camera hardware is present on the phone will get it removed from your person when visiting a company that has a no camera security policy.