Why bother, RIM?

Posted on Jan 18, 2009 in Design | 1 comment

My wife’s aging “blueberry,”—a Blackberry cell phone so old that it was actually made of the original blue plastic–finally gave up the ghost and she needed a replacement. Off to the AT&T store we went and I was pleased to find the company’s newer models were attractive, functional, and more affordable than an iPhone. She chose a sleek, red Blackberry Curve 8310. We got her SIM, data plan, and voicemail transferred and we were off. All in all, a very positive experience.

Until she dug around in the box for the phone’s holster, which all Blackberries have. “That’s weird,” she said to me as we drove home. “The holster has a fake belt clip.”

“Hmmmm?” I asked, unsure of what a “fake” belt clip meant. “It’s FAKE,” came the annoyed reply. I was annoyed, too. Turns out that the black leather holster that comes with the phone has a piece of leather sewn on the back that looks like a belt clip to hold the holster—and the phone—secure. But it’s sewn completely onto the holster, and can’t be slipped into a pocket or belt. Upon further inspection, I saw that the portion of the holster to which the clip is sewn is cut away.

What was RIM thinking with such a useless design? First, the entire holster itself is cheaply made and doesn’t fit the phone well. In fact, pushing the Curve into the holster actually presses the “shift” keys on the left and right corners of the bottom row of keypad buttons. The top of the phone sticks out and because it’s wedged in there it’s difficult to pull it out. It really is completely useless! Why bother, RIM? You should have saved yourselves the 25 cents this thing is worth and us the insult of thinking we wouldn’t know any better.

Ah, here’s the reason: search Google for “blackberry curve 8310 holster” and you’ll see the first few pages of results are for accessory makers selling replacement holsters. That’s fine—after-market accessories are often better and provide different features for different use styles. But with the older Blackberries, the hard plastic cases they came with were useful out of the box so you didn’t have to purchase something else unless you wanted to.

Perhaps the case that accompanies their more expensive models is better, but even if so it’s no excuse. You owe your customers better than this, RIM.

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UPDATE – A day after I forwarded this blog post to RIM, I received a polite response informing me that the carrier, not RIM, produces the case and accessories for the phones they sell. I need to forward this to ATT and see what response I get.