“In a research note, Hallaren writes that RIMM is ‘having a big trackball problem,’ especially with the Tour,” Savitz reports. “He reports that RIMM ‘needs customers to clean the track ball frequently, and preferably with compressed air.’ He adds that, ‘not surprisingly, most customers prefer not to.'”
MacDailyNews Take: “Especially” with the Tour; not “exclusively.” Not good for RIM.
“TownHall reports that return rates on the Tour at Sprint ‘have been climbing toward 50%.’ He adds that Sprint perceives RIMM overall quality control is a huge problem,” Savitz reports. “The firm also says Verizon is ‘experiencing serious problems’ with the Tour.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Sounds like there’s another Storm a brewing! Research In Motion should get their two half-CEOs to put their heads together on this RIM job and get to work on those balls. Surely, Bono would be glad to lend a helping hand, too.
But But RIM has U2 backing it. I mean, they are THE band
That’s what you get with mechanical clunky POS design. Unlike the iPhone full Star Trek like experience. RIM is riding on the scared to changed IT/CIO people.
hahaha, best MacDailyNews Take ever!
Scuzzy guy Boner. Not me 2.
It takes SuBo to sing his song.
Google this: Blackberry Tour trackball problems and you get 2.7 **million** hits: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=blackberry+tour+trackball+problems&aq=1&oq=blackberry+tour+track&aqi=g10
To be fair, if you Google this: iPod Touch problems you get 186,000,000…
Getting a little risque with our MDN Take comments, aren’t we? Guess it goes over many people’s heads.
@ Jubei:
“RIM is riding on the scared to change IT/CIO people.”
Just like Microsoft.
Research in Fail.
Perhaps Bastille is spending too much time chasing a Phoenix hockey puck when he should be out looking for a basketball team.
@Jay-Z
Amen brother!
Maybe they used the same trackball in the mighty mouse
Titillating take from MDN!!
@ Bobo and Jaundiced
The Mighty Mouse is perfect. I know: I buy two per year. (I work in the fashion industry: lots of fabric, fibre, lint, etc.)
It should have been easy to design the Mighty Mouse so we can open it and clean the mechanism.
That was a pretty gay take MDN.
Big Gay Als MBP,
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
@ Lookithere
re “To be fair, if you Google this: iPod Touch problems you get 186,000,000…”
Yes, but one of the results in that search includes, “…Why iPod touch will never be a major gaming platform…” and if you Google that phrase, you get 794 thousand hits
Most of the 186,000,000 are references to the same reference and most have nothing to do with any physical problems as seen with the RIM product.
It has a TRACKBALL? A mobile phone with a trackball? Really?
@Giles
That was the same thought that I had when I read about the RIM trackball problems. I have great appreciation for most things from Apple, but not their mice. The hockey puck was reviled by most people, and the Mighty Mouse has a major scroll ball problem unless you keep your kids away from the computer. I don’t mind all-in-one form factors (when they are functional) and non-removable batteries (when they are reliable), but a trackball/scroll ball that cannot be cleaned is a disaster waiting to happen. It is a mystery to me how this ever got past SJ and company.
I have a suggestion for Apple. Either contract with Logitech to build mice for the Mac, add an access port to remove and clean the MM scroll ball, or use the touch screen technology from the iPhone and iPod touch to replace the scroll ball on the MM with a small touch sensitive scroll pad that serves the same function. Apple can even make the scroll pad “oleophobic” if that floats their boat.
Meanwhile, I finally replaced my cordless MM with a corded Logitech M500 for $40. It is ergonomically designed and it works well with modest adjustments to the MM preference settings (I didn’t install any Logitech software) – it scrolls and tracks faster, so you need to set those lower. Also, I do not inadvertently click the side button and engage Expose when I pick it up (unlike the MM). I would prefer the scroll ball over the tilt wheel, but better a tilt wheel that works than a scroll ball that doesn’t. Non-functioning balls are a bummer.
OK, for all you Mighty Mouse bashers, all it takes for me to clean the trackball is to spray a little window cleaner on a paper towel, roll the ball on it for maybe a minute, and Voila! it is back to normal. I have to do this about every four months.
My girlfriend just got rid of her 6 month old Blackberry (neither of us even know what kind it was) because of all the problems she has had. She was paying for internet but could never get on; her yahoo email never worked; her work email was a hopeless cause; even getting the damn thing to type correctly for a text was a chore).
She looked at the manual and couldn’t even figure out how to use more than half its features. I looked at it and had a hard time trying to figure the damn thing out. So, she just got an Android phone today because of her current T-Mobile contract. BUT, in a year and a half when that contract is up, she will be joining me in iPhone heaven (but it seems that Android is at least a nice purgatory).
ABW – Anything But Winblows
@Arnold Ziffel,
Or, some DustOff…..a little for the trackball, a lot for me, a little for the trackball……
“…RIMM needs customers to clean the track ball frequently, and preferably with compressed air.”
So, if I understand this correctly, the Blackberry Tour is the first mobile device you clean by farting on it.
@Cubert,
Yep. I imagine that works too. There’s more than one way to zune a cat…or a mouse, I suppose.
When can I expect a Wireless Mighty Mouse form Apple with no moving parts that can get dirty, like that silly trackball?
Until then, I’ll quietly swallow any snide remarks about phones and trackballs (WTF?).
I really like my Mighty Mice, but I hate the fact that they get dirty so easily and that there is no easy way to open them!
I have no problem with the iPhone battery not being user-serviceable – but then I don’t need to open it and clean its inside!
Maybe the CEOs could t-bag those those balls to suck them off rather than blow them with compressed air. ???
MDN…. I totally did a spit take on that…