RIM rushes the BlackBerry Colt, triggers rumours of no email or calendar

It hasn’t been a good year for RIM and it could be set to get a lot worse if even half the rumours about the upcoming BlackBerry Colt are true. Gizmodo yesterday said that the Colt, RIM’s first phone based on the new QNX operating system, might be released without email or calendar support.

BlackBerry phones rely on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), which connects phones to enterprise systems like Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino, and the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS), which provides access to the Internet, email and instant messaging. BES and BIS are what make a BlackBerry a CrackBerry; they underpin all the corporate infrastructure that makes RIM devices so popular among executives.

To rush out the Colt without BES and BIS support would be, as Gizmodo put it, “unfathomably stupid”.

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The rumour comes from a note to investors by Peter Misek, an analyst with Jefferies & Company, in which he lowered his rating on RIM from “Hold” to “Underperform” and suggested that the Colt was being hurried. Misek wrote:

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Based on our checks, we believe the phone is being rushed and features are being stripped. Most importantly, the integration of BES/BIS email/calendar is proving difficult, and we think a QNX phone without these would be a disaster.

But mobile website BGR says that Misek may have misinterpreted a report they published in August:

At that time, we also stated that RIM is making several concessions in an effort to launch the device as soon as possible. We noted that RIM’s first QNX phone will likely ship without support for current versions of BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which provides businesses with RIM’s famous corporate email, calendar and other PIM [personal information management] services.

Though uncited, it is possible that Misek is basing his claims on this report, which has repeatedly been misinterpreted. Our source indicated that the BlackBerry Colt will launch without support for current versions of BES. Instead, RIM will release a new version of BES that will support both its QNX-based operating system as well as older versions of the BlackBerry platform.

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After less than stellar reception of the PlayBook , which launched without email or the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) and very few apps, it would be extremely stupid of RIM to repeat that mistake and launch a dumbed-down smartphone. But if BGR is right, the plan is not to launch without BES, but without support for the current BES version. Companies wanting to use Microsoft Exchange could use Microsoft ActiveSync, which will be supported.

That doesn’t mean that the BlackBerry Colt is out of the woods. If Engadget’s information about the spec is right, it’s a phone that will underperform right out of the box:

The phone […] is said to pack a 4.3-inch display and a single-core (yes, you haven’t misread that) 1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor. We can understand if you’re already underwhelmed.

RIM may be promising dual-core processors in future devices, but with the rest of the market moving to quad-core, BlackBerry is being left further and further behind.

The confusion and rumours around the Colt reflect the turmoil at RIM. The BlackBerry has lost market share to Apple , with share prices falling as investors ask “Is [RIM] going to be the new Palm?” In July, RIM lost Ryan Bidan , PlayBook’s senior product manager, to Samsung, and earlier in the year, Keith Pardy, chief marketing officer, also left. RIM slashed 2,000 jobs this summer in an attempt to stay competitive.

The last thing RIM can afford right now is another flop. They need to sort out their problems with the new QNX-compatible BES/BIS code, improve the Colt’s spec, and launch when the phone is ready rather than rushing into what is an incredibly competitive and unforgiving market with a half-baked product. Otherwise, the Colt could be another nail in their coffin, rather than a much-needed turning point.