‘We’ve Seen This Before’

Jan Libbenga, writing for The Register back in November 2007:

The iPhone? Undoubtedly a very nice product, but there is no virtual substitute for a real keyboard, reckons RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis: “Try typing a web key on a touch screen on an iPhone, that’s a real challenge. You cannot see what you type.”

Lazaridis told European reporters in Waterloo, Canada last week, that he isn’t too impressed with Apple’s iPhone and it won’t be a threat to the success of BlackBerry’s smart phone (with over 10.5 million users).

“The iPhone has severe limitations when it comes to effortless typing. Of course you have more screen space, with more artistic interactions, but that’s not enough. We’ve seen this before when Palm tried virtual keyboards. When they launched the Treo they licensed our keyboard.”

I don’t know what a “web key” is, but I do know what good claim chowder tastes like, and this is it.

Update: Best guess, submitted by a few readers, is that Lazaridis said “WEP key”, not “web key”, and was misquoted.

★ Tuesday, 1 May 2012