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BlackBerry v. iPhone


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Recently I contacted Groundspeak regarding the lack of a BlackBerry Geocaching application similar to the one developed for the iPhone. The reply I received was a vague boilerplate response,

 

Thank you for your email. Groundspeak has a limited number of developers and as of yet we have not addressed the blackberry issue. This does not mean that we will not look into it at some point. If just means that we have not yet had the time to look into this as a possible program we might address. I thank you for your patience and we hope to look into the possibility of a blackberry program in the future.

 

See what I mean by vague? I read this as a "throw the dog a bone" response. We might but there's no guarantee. And the "might" is that they "might look into the possibility of a" BB application. That's like saying, we might think about it but as of yet, we haven't decided whether we should even think about it.

 

Now I ask, why address the iPhone issue but not the BlackBerry issue? Is it that Groundspeak only cares about their iPhone users and not those using BB or Palm? BB and Palm have both been around much longer than iPhone. Yet with their limited resources, Groundspeak is able to develop an iPhone application in rather short time.

 

I do like using GSAK with CacheBerry but CB is really an inferior product when compared to the iPhone App. After seeing the iPhone app and it's real-time capability, I think that's the only way to go. Now that I see the other side, I realize it takes so much time to load the data into CacheBerry. If I go on a trip, I can only imagine how much time it would take to sort everything out.

 

I would continue to use CacheBerry for those times that I'm caching in remote areas without a signal so I don't see that CacheBerry would go away. At least not from my end.

 

Okay, that's my rant for the day :rolleyes:

 

Now back to more important things!!

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...Okay, that's my rant for the day :rolleyes:...

 

It's a great rant.

 

I'll translate the vague answer for you. "We would love to build applications for everthing as it would help us pay the bills but we have limited staff and have to pick and choose where we can apply their efforts"

 

Now why they chose the iPhone instead of something else? I can speculate that it would come down to a few things. The app market would help sales. The lack of other products (like other platforms have) would help sales. The sheer tidal wave of people jumping on the iPhone bandwagon would help sales. Plus I'll bet that you find the demographic of the iPhone user shows they have a bit more disposable income than some of the other platforms that already have some competition.

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Maybe they disregarded the BB 'cause the Verizon GPS is crippled and they would have no idea how many people wouldn't be able to use their app.

 

Imagine the flood of tech questions as all the Verizon users across the country were not able to use the app and did not know the GPS didn't work with other apps.

 

Apparently the Storms GPS works. Who knows maybe a update will come out freeing up the GPS in the other models. We'll see.

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...Okay, that's my rant for the day :mad:...

 

It's a great rant.

 

I'll translate the vague answer for you. "We would love to build applications for everthing as it would help us pay the bills but we have limited staff and have to pick and choose where we can apply their efforts"

 

Now why they chose the iPhone instead of something else? I can speculate that it would come down to a few things. The app market would help sales. The lack of other products (like other platforms have) would help sales. The sheer tidal wave of people jumping on the iPhone bandwagon would help sales. Plus I'll bet that you find the demographic of the iPhone user shows they have a bit more disposable income than some of the other platforms that already have some competition.

 

This sounds completely reasonable and probably closer to the truth than the poo-pooed answer I got from GS and that's what ticked me off in the first place. It's not so much that they are ignoring the 'Berry it's that they thought I was stupid enough to believe what they told me. Though I am a little peeved that they released an iPhone application only. Dang Apple Snobs!!!! :rolleyes::lol:

 

As for some of the 'Berrys having the GPS locked, that's hijacking. I'm lucky that ATT does not lockout functions. In my opinion, the manufacturers (RIM) should insist that any provider offering service must not lock out functions. Just MHO.

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Or could it be that Apple made a development environment (iPhone SDK) and distribution system (App Store) that made it easier for GS to create, distribute, and make money off of the app?

 

Not that it's a better platform - just maybe a better return on investment for the developers?

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Or could it be that Apple made a development environment (iPhone SDK) and distribution system (App Store) that made it easier for GS to create, distribute, and make money off of the app?

 

Not that it's a better platform - just maybe a better return on investment for the developers?

 

That may be it. Apple marketing genius? Perhaps. I guess Groundspeak is just trying to be polite by not saying that. :laughing:

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Or could it be that Apple made a development environment (iPhone SDK) and distribution system (App Store) that made it easier for GS to create, distribute, and make money off of the app?

 

Not that it's a better platform - just maybe a better return on investment for the developers?

 

It's a fair point. I'm not a developer but I do know the App Store has grown like a weed in a very short time. While I don't like the lock in, I can't knock the results they have gotten and which others are working hard to duplicate.

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From the Which BB topic.

FYI

 

QUOTE(fstbusa @ Apr 3 2009, 06:02 AM) *

 

I started using a program that is offered by donation called Blackstar with my BB storm. It works excellent and I've found 12 caches so far using it. tongue.gif

 

 

I have just started to use a BB8330 curve W/Blackstar as the navigator & BCaching for the caches and info. Seems to work fine. I had my Delorme PN-20 at GZ and the BB said it was 13'. Which ones right I don't know. It seems good enough as a back up. cool.gif

JMHO

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I have been using the 60CSx since 2006 with my palm TX. I recently downloaded blackstar navigator www.blackstarnavigation.com and paired it with www.Bcaching.com and a verizon wireless BB Pearl (8130). It seems to work pretty well, and although I am still experimenting, I am pretty happy so far. I do have a freedom gpsr keychain as well that I can use or not. The Freedom gpsr keychain is more accurate, but that was expected with any phone gpsr. The best part about this (other than it works) is that the Blackstar and Bcaching are free. The freedom GPS wasn't free but not too expensive. Give it a try.

 

-- Coyot21

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Recently I contacted Groundspeak regarding the lack of a BlackBerry Geocaching application similar to the one developed for the iPhone. The reply I received was a vague boilerplate response, .... Now I ask, why address the iPhone issue but not the BlackBerry issue? ...

The definitive answer is over in the Geocaching for iPhone forum. Skip down to Jeremy's posts (#4, #9) to read why Groundspeak's developers did the iPhone app and not the G1 -- and by extension, I think you could replace "G1" in his remarks with any other smartphone.

Edited by lee_rimar
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