iMatt :: The Blog of Matt Clare

My top-five Research In Motion jokes about their streak of poor products and refusal to attribute their current situation to their unconventional Co-CEO model:

1. Research In Motion is said to be losing so much money now that Gary Bettman and the city of Glendale are interested in investing.
2. At RIM our motto is “The buck stops here… and over there.”
3. At RIM we know that “Those that learn from history repeat it”. In fact, this is exactly how we pitch our products to our CEO, an then repeat for our CEO.
4. RIM’s mistake with the Blackberry Playbook was underestimating the overlap between tablet consumers and people that use E-Mail.
5. Do you know why messages are so secure on a Blackberry? No one uses it.

Best of luck to a Canadian innovator…. that could use some good luck.

The BlackBerry Playbook coming out on April 19^th has some familiar plays in it – if you grew-up in Ontario:

1. RIM is a Waterloo-based company
2. RIM is/was known for their trackball
3. The device is running the QNX operating system, developed by Waterloo/Ottawa-based QNX Software Systems (which RIM just bought)
4. The screen and input device is are an all-in-one deisgn
5. The whole enterprise seems like a string of poor decisions to create something that will be expensive and will not be successful

Where have we seen these plays before?

The Unisys ICON! Wikipedia Article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisys_ICON

The computer built specifically for use in Ontario schools commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Education.

(Thanks for the image, Old-Computers.com)

Unisys ICON computers were kicking around my public school when I was a kid. They didn’t do much beyond very basic word-processing and had a lot of games on them, thanks to the local board of education, and a few of my friends. They were all networked, and relatively reliable, save for the poor teacher/”computer lead” who gave admin access to some of the Grade 8 students.

The ICONs had a trackball (the PlayBook won’t, but the BlackBerry Pearl and others do), it had an all-in-one hardware design, and sat in the corner of our classroom, mostly unused.

The most relevant commonality is that the old ICONs were running the QNX operating system!

The ICON was ultimately deemed too expensive to keep in use or develop for and was cast-off in favour of Apple and others’ more user friendly products.

So now you know Ontario: when you think BlackBerry Playbook, think Unisys ICON.

Apparently two more things they have in common is no E-Mail application and they both can’t connect to the internet on their own!
Read more... (297 words, 1 image, estimated 1:11 mins reading time)

Five issues that are worth protesting at the Toronto G20 meeting about that the rioters are preventing from being heard:

1. The environment, it’s exploitation and climate change and the global response it requires.
2. Sovereign debut levels….. of poor countries.
3. Maternal health AND family planning.
4. The rights of women and minorities in discriminatory cultures.
5. The many diseases that disproportionally affect poor countries.

Issues I couldn’t care less about include “Who’s streets are who’s” and who started the fire, you or the police cruiser.

During lunch with Don Cherry in Philadelphia Ron MacLean responded to someone looking for help to save a drowning man by jumping into the Delaware to save the man who was apparently trying to take his life. Written up here: www.theprovince.com/mobile/story.html?id=3108588

My response was to make fun of this man who is national treasure:

1. Ron MacLean jumps into the Delaware river to save a man while Don Cherry stands on shore and signals rescue aircraft with his jacket.
2. Ron MacLean was able to rescue that guy because he is used to working with dead weight.
3. Ron MacLean was able to be cool under pressure because he’s used to working with the man beside him complaining that he’s running out of time.
4. Run MacLean asked the man he pulled out of the river in Philadelphia if he received a “brotherly shove”. The man asked to be thrown back.
5. Run MacLean saved this mans life, but he was trying to take his life. Bud Selig, commissioner of Major League Baseball, has ruled “too bad” he still has to die.

Based on the election coverage I’ve identified five technologies that are needed to cover a Canadian election (apparently) – from highest cost to lowest.

1. On-Screen numbers and graphs — WITH fancy transitions!
2. Seat projection software – this is generally in second place, but CTV want’s you to know that they’re first
3. Eyeglasses – for people you thought didn’t need them
4. A Smart Board
5. A Twitter account – and of course a so-last-election special E-Mail address