February 2014

According to a recent post by BGR, BlackBerry beats iPhone, Android browsers.  Unfortunately having the faster browser has not be enough to arrest the slide of BlackBerry market share.  To be sure, BB10 users love their devices (though the Z10 has fallen dramatically from the launch highs, with the Q10 attracting more recent attention and delight that the Z10 or Z30).  In fact, Web Browsing shows up in the most delightful aspects of the Z10 experience.

Web Browsing does not even make the top ten list for Apple.  There are other aspects of the iPhone UX that merit more attention from users.

BB10 is a huge step forward for BlackBerry and offers some significant contributions to mobile phone UX design but a faster browser is not one of them.  Touting browser speed is a wonderful example of not measuring the correct part of the user experience to understand what drives consumer adoption.  Distinguishing “SHOULD” from all the “COULD” is a key feature of successful companies.  Sure, a faster browser is nice to have but does not arrest the freefall in marketshare faced by BlackBerry.  RIM made the same mistake with the BlackBerry Storm, their first touchscreen device.  They worked so hard to keep the long battery life of traditional BB handsets, that they crippled the UX, sampling key sensors like the touchscreen or accelerometers so infrequently that the lag between user input and phone response drove early adopters to share tales of hate and disappointment.