Chinese Telecom Company Launches 'RedBerry'

Ubergrendle writes "The Globe&Mail is reporting that Chinese telecom company China Unicom Ltd. is launching a new wireless device unapologetically named 'Redberry'. This comes in the wake of an almost 2 year regulatory delay blocking the introduction of RIM's Blackberries to mainland China. Certainly this delay was convenient to China Unicom, if not deliberately staged to allow for domestic competition."

Leave it to China

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at the name "RedBerry." Does the "awakening dragon" suddenly have a sense of humor??
It sounds like something a college kid would make up as a prank and try to sell.
There's gotta be some marketing exec in Beijing reading the paper and going "ROFL" over this...

Re:Leave it to China

It sounds like something a college kid would make up as a prank and try to sell.

Hmm, I think the kid would have called it Dingleberry...

Re:Leave it to China

From one of the articles I read, the Redberry name is just a nickname for the "Uni Pushmail" software running on the phones.

The first wave of Daxian CU-928 Pocket PC phones
bundled with Uni PushMail software has started pouring into the market. Not
to be outdone by the internationally renowned Blackberry, the Redberry, as
Uni PushMail is nicknamed, flourishes in the Chinese telecom value-added
service sector.

see previous post for link to full article.

Why is blackberry so unique?

What I don't understand is the pervasiveness of the Blackberry product for email. Email is an extremely simple application for a client to do, requiring just a simple TCP/IP stack and the ability to do either POP3 or IMAP. I believe that most cellphones now have some email capability built into them. Also, there exist plenty of WAP web-based email platforms out there.

That leaves just the mini-keyboard interface as the big deal in the space. Personally, I'm not all that impressed by that as an input mechanism. But, if people like it, why isn't it copied all over the place? Is the concept of a little QWERTY keyboard seriously patented? Also, what about all those other ideas like having two letters assigned to each keyboard button and then having the phone sort it out based on what it thinks you're probably trying to type? Or something like a chording keyboard (though that would require learning)?

So anyway, what's the big deal with Blackberry in particular. Why is this stuff so hard/interesting/compelling?

Re:Why is blackberry so unique?

I used to wonder the same thing. The closest I've ever heard to an explanation is that Blackberry's "product" is less the little handsets but the infrastructure that the cellular carriers use to provide email service. Apparently BB is very easy to deploy, and they have patents on some rather vague concepts regarding (don't quote me on this exactly) where the email is cached. I think the crux of it is that when a cell carrier deploys a BB system, they don't have to dick around with actually running the mailservers or anything else; it's a very holistic/'total package' type solution from their perspective.

Now why somebody else doesn't just make a similar network and market it to the cell carriers, I'm not sure. That's where I'm betting the patents come in. But I think BB has sold itself to the cell carriers as being easier to implement and maintain than a roll-your-own solution, and their handsets and all-you-can-eat pricing (versus SMS) have gotten them a good userbase and the associated name recognition.

If anyone can elaborate on exactly how the BB system works, I would be interested.

Re:Why is blackberry so unique?

"Also, what about all those other ideas like having two letters assigned to each keyboard button and then having the phone sort it out based on what it thinks you're probably trying to type? Or something like a chording keyboard (though that would require learning)?"

The only types of people I know with crackberries are attorneys, hedge fund managers and accountants that would have zero patience for learning a new way to type. They don't want to fiddle with T9 when most of the stuff they type is very specialized and wouldn't show up automatically. A mini-QWERTY kbd is quick and good enough for their needs.

Re:Why is blackberry so unique?

From a users perspective, here's the reasons I was almost inseperable from my old RIM 950 (I'm pretty sure 950 was the model - this was prior to them becoming cell phones also):

* Push email. I ran an agent on my Outlook at work and email appeared on my Blackberry, subject to the filtering rules I put in place. This is better than IMAP and POP3, I literally only saw emails I care about on the device. I'd much rather design my filters in an Outlook-like interface than on a small device.

* The scroll wheel. It seems lame, but it's dead simple to navigate around the device with just your thumb.

* Small, efficient keyboard. Writing email was simple. A lot easier than T9.

Re:Why is blackberry so unique?

So anyway, what's the big deal with Blackberry in particular. Why is this stuff so hard/interesting/compelling?

Don't look for a "killer feature", because there's not a specific killer feature. In fact, each of the Blackberry's features alone is pretty mediocre. This may be hard to understand, but it happens sometimes.

The trick is that, taken as a whole, it has just the right amount of everything to make it a "killer device". Email works well enough. Web works well enough. Calendar is decent. Everything integrates with Exchange. The phone interface is really nice, and the address book is good and can do directory lookups. Companies can run their own internal servers and keep the devices behind the company firewall (big difference between general cell phones). The screen is big enough to read and the full keyboard (or half keyboard with uncannily good predictive text for the more phone-like models) is a must. Connectivity is constant wherever you have cell coverage. For a regular work day, this addresses just about everything.

Finally, you can charge it, and it'll remain connected and on the data network at all times for days before you have to recharge it. And it charges over USB. It will even work offline (i.e. no cell/data network). I can't remember the last time I actually turned mine off, though I have turned off wireless to save battery or switched off work email.

There are other neat features, as well, like the holster functionality. (Unlike any cell phone I've seen, when it's in the holster it will be silent/vibrate, and when it's out it will ring. Nice for never worrying if your phone will embarrass you in a meeting.)

These features taken as a whole, without being loaded down by stuff like cameras and other useless trinkets, make it a very useful device. No, nothing is particularly outstanding. But it's the right combination of ingredients.

that doesn't seem very sporting of 'em

Hm. Is there a reason why the United States is just letting the Chinese practice their blatantly economic-nationalist trade policy, all the while sitting under the pretenses of free trade? How that particular "regulatory tangle" not constituting a barrier to free trade? Where are the retaliatory sanctions?

Re:that doesn't seem very sporting of 'em

Interesting - I thought the Blackberry was made by a Canadian corporation.

Re:that doesn't seem very sporting of 'em

Where are the retaliatory sanctions?

The US has fired off a bunch of trade sanctions. Unfortunately, they've got terrible aim, so they all hit Canada instead.

Re:that doesn't seem very sporting of 'em

Talking about "sitting under the pretenses of free trade", Canada and US has actually signed something called free-trade agreement, yet Canada keep iron-fisted by the US government in so many fronts - softwood lumber, wheat, beef... For one moment if you think China is the only country practising 'blatantly economic-nationalist trade policy', think again.

Re:that doesn't seem very sporting of 'em

Oh please. Like the US believes in free trade. EU steel trade tariffs? Farmers?

The day a country doesn't use it's regulatory network to preserve its own trade is the day it gets pwned by every other damn country out there.

Re:that doesn't seem very sporting of 'em

If a country were to stop paying their debts, they would find themselves unable to borrow because of a loss of credibility.

Would you borrow from a nation that isn't repaying their debts?

Look, you're willing to accept money in lieu of your services because it has a fiat value. You can exchange that currency for goods or services in trade. That currency is only valuable because it is universally accepted. Ask someone who survived ww2 in Germany about currency confidence.

Similarly with government bonds you purchase them on the promise your money will be returned, and while they have your money you earn interest. You are more than happy to buy tresury notes in the US because you know you'll get your money back. If there was ever any doubt, you'd be less inclined to give up your money in exchange for this interest bearing bond.

Certainly you cannot foreclose, but the market in general can.

Why the fascination

I know that China is the "new world" and all but for every company to fall all over themselves to deal with them is a bit rediculous. A country that prides itself in constraining all markets, destroying their populace and basically giving the middle finger to rest of the planet is put on a pedestal by the countries that should be invading them to free their people? As all the "free" countries fall all over themselves to sell and buy from a country that is as close to slave labour as we have presently. Maybe we should just forget about them for a while and they may go away, just like Soviet Russia. Before you mod me to hell, think about when you purchase your Walmart crap that is produced by children that don't make enough to feed themselves.

Re:Why the fascination

"A country that prides itself in constraining all markets, destroying their populace and basically giving the middle finger to rest of the planet is put on a pedestal by the countries that should be invading them to free their people?"

HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT ABOUT AMERIC..... oh, you're talking about China? yeah, yeah, I agree!
/me gives the middle finger to China

Odd choice for a product name

For the life of me, I cannot fathom why a Chinese company would name their device after an American folk & blues musician that was popular in the early part of the 20th century. Pencils down.

The REDberry...

"On the eve of its long-delayed China launch, BlackBerry is facing a sudden challenge from a cheaper Chinese rival called, unapologetically, RedBerry.

Oh, that's not nice... China Unicom left no doubt that it is brazenly attempting to capitalize on BlackBerry's global fame.

So they admit it!

You know, maybe they're counting on Blackberry being too worn out with the courts to persue anything, and IANAL, but isn't this a pretty blatant rip-off? I wonder how long till we see Blackberry sues Redberry - Blueberry feels left out in the cold.

Re:The REDberry...

That's true...in order to sell the product in the US, they would have to create a US subsidiary, which would be subject to US laws. However, from what I see here, this is a product intended to be sold in China. I don't think they have any intention of selling it outside China.

In Ireland too!

In other news, RIM has secured a contract for the Irish city of Dingle [wikipedia.org]. The headline?

DingleBerry is the new RIM job.

Berry Timely

China probably waited for the BlackBerry/RTP patent lawsuit to settle. So BlackBerry (RIM) would have the least cash, and maybe the case would reduce the risk China's corporation would be blocked by patents. While BlackBerry and the problems of a single supplier make all the headlines. The last couple of weeks since the settlement is just enough time to unleash the hounds, but too short for the timing to be merely coincidental.

Blackberry is canadian not american

Just to set the records straight, Blackberry/RIM is based out of Ontario, Canada NOT USA.

Was it all competition?

This comes in the wake of an almost 2 year regulatory delay blocking the introduction of RIM's Blackberries to mainland China. Certainly this delay was convenient to China Unicom, if not deliberately staged to allow for domestic competition.

You mispelled 'surveillance'.

Only one problem

If you write anything on your device that says anything about Taiwan independence or
Falun Gong, your phone tries to kill you.

No copycat hardware

RTFA. Redberry uses an existing cellphone as the device and does not require special Blackberry-style hardware. All this does is mail forwarding to an existing cell phone. All this is involved is a small incremental service cost. No need for the huge Blackberry costs.

The branding copycatting charge is a bit thin. Most people should be easily able to tell the difference between the two. It's certainly less confusing than Lindows.