I know “Lotus Knows”, but I’m waiting for “Lotus Cares”
I’m really tired of (and very frustrated) seeing this page for the last hour or so as I try to access IBM PartnerWorld page. And it doesn’t help that even this page takes forever to appear! Every single time!
IBM/Lotus– Please fix it, will you?
UPDATE (10/28/09): IBM has fixed the page now. As far as I know, it was down for at least 12 hours (that’s how long I kept checking because I needed to download something).
New RIM Alliance Program Launched
Very excited to see that the new RIM Alliance Program launched today. Or, am I?
This new program is drastically different from the previous program where the membership was slotted into three different flat streams based on the type of business you are in. The new program, however, makes it a multi-tiered structure where the amount of business you do determines the level of membership you can have. Will be interesting to see how it works out as we (PSC Group) begin to re-join the alliance.
Way to go, RIM! Not!
Say, I am a car maker and I sell you a car. You pay me the money, we sign the papers, and I hand you the keys. You walk to your brand new car, and try to open the door with your new key. The door doesn’t open. You fiddle with the key a bit, still no luck. So you walk back to me and ask me why. I check the records and confirm that the keys I gave you are indeed the right keys for the car I sold you. You ask me why it isn’t working then. I say, “hmm… It should work… not sure why it is not working. I can take a look and see if I can resolve the issue, but you will have to pay me to take a look. And remember, the resolution isn’t guaranteed, but you still have to pay me, unless you can prove it to me that I screwed up”
So, how would you feel in such a scenario? I found myself in such a situation. Well, not exactly such, but close.
Consider this:
You buy a lamp with multiple arms. The lamp, according to the specs, takes only a particular type of bulb, let’s call it Type X. And when you bought the lamp, it came with a couple of bulbs. You put them in, turned the switch, and the light came on. You are happy. Well, after a few weeks, you are not so happy. You want more light. Good news is, you still have 3 arms that don’t have bulbs in them. So you check the lamp’s specs, and buy an extra bulb, also made by the lamp’s maker. You try to put it in, but it won’t even take it. So you call me, the manufacturer, and ask me why. I check the records and confirm that you bought the right bulb for the lamp. And I tell you I’m not sure why it won’t take it. While talking, you check the type of the bulb that is already in, and to your surprise, you find that it is totally different type, Type Y. And I go “Ah! That’s why the new bulb isn’t going in! But that other (wrong) type shouldn’t have been accepted by the lamp at all in the first place!” So how do we resolve this? I say “Well, I am not a technical person, so I can’t help you, but I will get somebody else on phone who will help you, BUT, before you can even talk to him, you need to pay for his services. Whether he fixes your problem or not, you need to pay just for talking to him.”
How would you feel?
I was in a similar situation. With Research In Motion (RIM), no less!
A client of mine, running a couple of BlackBerry Enterprise Servers (BES), bought additional user licenses (CAL) for one of their servers. This is a full Enterprise Edition server, so Enterprise Edition CALs were promptly purchased. But when I got to the server to add the new license, it wouldn’t take it. It said the new license is not compatible with the existing license type. So I called RIM Customer Service. The nice support person, who was just doing his job, checked the SRP ID and the CAL order number and confirmed that I had the right license key for the right server. And while talking to him, I found that the CAL that was already on the server was actually Small Business Edition, not the Enterprise Edition that the server expected! So, how did the server accept it the first time? No clue! And how do solve the problem now?
“Well,” the support guy offered, “I can get you a technical person to answer your question and possibly resolve the issue, but first you need to pay $249 to talk him.”
The additional licenses cost only about $600. But to use it, you need to pay $249! Now, how do you explain this to the client?
Isn’t this a simple immediate post-sales support that should be offered for free?
He said “No, sir, we are a fee-based organization. We don’t offer free support.”
This model no doubt has been successful for RIM for years and has certainly been profitable, but now that their dominance in the Enterprise market is beginning to face stiff challenge from other players, isn’t it time RIM realized a better and customer-friendly support model could help them stay ahead of other players?
I know quite a few folks at RIM, I have met them and talked to them in person, and they are all very helpful, friendly and nice folks. I love the technical stuff that comes out of RIM and it is a company I respect a lot. But as far as Customer Service is concerned, RIM falls way short. I hope RIM changes its ways before it is too late.
Google’s Doodles
I have been a long time GMail user and I admire Google for the tremendous innovation that keeps happening in their labs. But at the same time, with each passing day, Google scares me more and more. And my trust in and respect for them fade with every incident that makes one believe Google is just not committed enough to safeguarding users’ private information.
If you are gmail user, you probably have seen this today:
Gmail contact list
So, what happened? Who hacked in? We may never know!
A few months ago, a friend reported (and I saw) that Google automatically sent out emails to her Picasa Albums’ “fans” with links to her “unlisted” albums — those that would be accessible only with an authorization key. Sure, Google apologized and reset all the album links, but only a few hours after it happened!
You could argue that it is a free service and we shouldn’t expect any real protection of private information, right? Wrong! When we signed up for service, we both agreed to a privacy policy which, along with a lot of other stuff, said:
And, if you have any doubts that paying customers are treated any differently, check this out.
Google may have gotten rid of the “Beta” tag they took refuge under for way too long, but they are still operating with the same mindset as far as privacy is concerned. Or, their mind is definitely somewhere else!
PS: Thanks, Ed, for the above link to NY Times story.
New WebKit-based browser on BlackBerry!
So, here is further proof of how committed RIM has been in recent months and where they are heading as far as web browser experience on BlackBerry (which I mentioned in my previous post) is concerned:
And here is the reason why RIM acquired Torch Mobile:
Webinar: Web Development for the BlackBerry Smartphone
While there has never been any doubt about the greatness of BlackBerry devices over the years as a powerful enterprise mobile device, one of the areas these wonderful devices have lagged behind their competition such as iPhone (and now Palm Pre) is web browsing. While iPhone sports a great web browser in Safari (which is quite close to the full-blown Safari browser in look and feel and functionality) and Palm Pre has the whole device running on WebOS which makes it much nicer to browse the web but also develop any Palm Pre application as if it is a web application, BlackBerry browser looks clunky and is quite slow. There haven’t been many web applications for BlackBerry and the limited IDE support for web application development is just one more reason for that.
Since the competition has gotten tougher in recent months, RIM is under pressure to rectify this weakness. And there have been enough signs and credible rumors to indicate that RIM is very serious about it. RIM recently released/revamped its web development tool kits to write, test, debug, simulate and deploy web applications for the (much improved) BlackBerry browser. And looking at the list of session abstracts for this year’s Developer Conference, you can tell RIM is taking UI and web improvements very seriously.
So, if you are curious/interested/excited about the new web development tool kit from BlackBerry, you should register for this webinar.
RIM’s Social Networking — By Invitation Only
So the rumor was not just a rumor, it turns out. MyBlackBerry, RIM’s official social networking site has launched (it did a couple of hours ago, I think).
MyBlackBerry
I was all excited to login and preview the site, but, oops! I can’t register without an invitation:
So, the question is, how do I get one? Who gets the first round of invitations?
BlackBerry Developer Forums — Where did they go??
Late last year, RIM made a lot of noise about the hugely improved developer forums they are hosting on their site. RIM wanted developers to view these forums as the preferred way to get technical support. And they are completely justified. These forums are really awesome — and a lot of folks like me have not only gotten their kick-starts from here but also have managed to find answers when situations seemed hopeless. RIM’s employees (like Mark Sohm, Sarim Aziz, Tim Neil, et al) as well as other developers have been contributing their time and effort into making these forums a fantastic resource.
However, something seems to have gone horribly wrong today (or last night)! The forums are still there but all the development-related sections have gone missing! You can’t search for them and none of the direct links are working! I waited ALL DAY hoping that they will come back. But they haven’t.
And the most disappointing thing is that there is not a word from RIM about what happened!
Come on, RIM, developers, more than anybody, do understand that things can go wrong! I am sure you have backups of all the messages. If it has taken you all day to figure out what happened, it must be quite serious! Be honest, take your developer community into confidence, and tell us what is happening! Honesty goes a long way in maintaining good relationship with your developer community!
One cable charges all. Well, not quite yet, but soon.
Top mobile telephone suppliers have agreed to back an EU-wide harmonization of phone chargers, the European Commission said on Monday, hailing the pact as good news for consumers and the environment.
“People will not have to throw away their charger whenever they buy a new phone,” said EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, estimating that unwanted phone accessories accounted for thousands of tons of waste in Europe each year.
The standardized chargers will be compatible only with European phones, but Verheugen said he hoped other countries would follow Europe’s lead.
But why does common sense always arrive late?
BlackBerry has been keeping me very busy…
BlackBerry development, that is. And I am loving it!
I can’t talk much about the specifics yet, but I can tell you that an idea that stuck me when I recently found myself in a situation where I needed just this kind of an application on my BlackBerry is now growing into a very cool and very useful application. I have spent crazy hours in the last few weeks trying to give life to the idea, and I have totally enjoyed it. I have been giving demos inside PSC and the response has been great. Can’t wait to finish a couple of more features I am working on and officially launch the application!
So, stay tuned to this blog and PSC website for more updates coming soon!
