Blackberry Bold versus iPhone 2.0

Written prior to Steve Jobs' speech at WWDC yesterday.

As you know with my earlier iPhone post, I'm very excited about the upcoming announcement regarding the new iPhone. However, I would be ignorant to think that iPhone's next-generation 3G phone is going to be the only one on the market. Blackberry Bold has consistently kept it's users happy by continually upgrading it's 9000 series so that it can be a strong contender with Apple. I thought it may be interesting to compare the two and then let you, the reader, make a decision on which one is going to take the market.

In order to do this, we must all agree that no one knows for sure what exactly iPhone 2.0 will be. Rumors are continually swirling that it will be 3G and have an integrated GPS inside. Others say that it will be a bit slimmer and offer more functionality than its predecessor. For more information on next week's upcoming announcements by Apple, click here. So, just for argument's sake, lets agree that the new iPhone will have 3G and GPS. How does the Blackberry Bold stand up to it?

Apple and Blackberry have both announced their new models will have GPS inserted into the handheld which will be an amazing and wonderful piece of functionality. They both will have a strong integration with Active Exchange so that businesses can and will begin to take them seriously from an enterprise standpoint. I think it's fair to say that Blackberry has consistently met this challenge and is still one of the most popular phones used in business today. However, the new iPhone is rumored to have better synchronization for Microsoft's Exchange which may mean iPhone begins pulling its weight in the enterprise world and will begin being taken seriously.

The iPhone dominated its competition in regards to music, video, photos and other "multimedia" which is why it became one of the most successful phones ever in history. The iPhone's web browser is one that can't be beat with it's awesome HTML capabilities, fast bandwidth (when on Wifi), and an ever-so-easy browser (Safari). Blackberry realized their mistake in a "not-so-fancy" HTML browser and has thus completely changed their capabilities with the Blackberry Bold 9000 series. It has an awesome web browser, rich multimedia and a powerful 2 megapixel camera. Blackberry has successfully reached the bar that Apple set with the iPhone. But is it a little too late?

The iPhone's major setback is that it currently only works on AT&T (unless your illegally jailbreak it) which will obviously keep some away. The Blackberry can be used on most all the major cellular networks. The Blackberry Bold also has "real keys" while the iPhone has an industry-changing user interface with 3.5 inch multi-touch display. Apple got it right with this multi-touch display as no other phone had this technology until the iPhone came out. Both the Blackberry Bold and the new iPhone will have 3G which will transform the way users do business and personal browsing/uploading/downloading and multimedia.

Now, in my opinion (which keep in mind, I'm a consumer, not an expert), who will win? Personally, I will have to give the winning call to Apple. The Blackberry Bold is a serious contender but it still lacks things that the iPhone delivers. The iPhone is synonymous with multimedia. It's an iPod (and I still haven't seen any other phone competitor do the iPod justice), it's a desktop web browser and it's also a powerful mini computer. It works fantastically with the Apple TV and other Apple products. The 3rd party applications that Apple will soon be releasing via it's App Store is also a sure way to beat its competition. We're holding our breath in anticipation to see what the iPhone can do next once these applications get released. It truly will change the iPhone for the better.

So what are your thoughts? Do you think the new iPhone will stamp out its competition? Do you think Blackberry's Bold will beat iPhone? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below!