Mr. Balsillie said such scrambles [to get the Storm out for Black Friday]– and the subsequent software glitches that need to be fixed — are part of the “new reality” of making complex cellphones in large volumes (WSJ).
For some reason, I don’t think this is really the case – I can certainly accept that frequent updates are going to be the new reality (having updated my mom’s phone over the break), but buggy stuff that wasn’t ready for prime time? I really hope that people don’t let companies get away with this. I know the Bold was delayed several times and I’m pretty sure the iPhone was padded to be released with usable software – but it seems that the handset makers have learned little from the desktop/laptop world – if you rush something to meet a deadline, more often than not, you are going to ship sh1t.
Consumers might be able to deal with this a little bit more if they were not shackled to certain releases of the OS sanctioned by the network that they are on (really… if I take a phone with a higher OS than what is sanctioned onto a network… it still works). Apple was able to do this as they control the version of the iPhone software that is used on all their devices, but RIM et. al. are all still bound to what the networks allow. If consumers could go to the handset maker directly for the software updates (I think non smart phones work this way), this new reality might be easier to take – but with both the network and the handset maker between the user and usability… I don’t think Mr. B’s “new reality” is going to come to fruition.
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