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If a picture is worth a thousand words, the addition of a 1.3 megapixel camera in the next-generation BlackBerry deserves at least 500.

Several years ago, Research In Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie was in Toronto discussing his firm’s long-term product roadmap, a company sales rep told one of our staff there was no reason for picture-taking capabilities, because the BlackBerry is a business device. If what we’ve learned about the next version is correct, though, it will soon be simply a device, as open to recreation as it is any other activity.

Wireless data users have been buzzing ever since Engadget offered a sneak peak at the forthcoming BlackBerry, code-named Pearl, which will also reportedly feature a media player and colour LCD screen. Based on the pictures I’ve seen, it’s pretty. It looks a lot like a cell phone. It doesn’t look like something I’d necessarily want to see handling mission-critical data. 

At some point, none of this will matter. At some point, the devices we use as consumers will perform double-duty as business tools. At some point, we will have developed ways to integrate these personal devices into enterprise IT environments while respecting security and acceptable use policies. But we’re not at that point. We’re not even really half-way there, despite the preponderance of BlackBerries purchased by individual users at retail. 

That puts IT managers who have deployed or are deploying BlackBerries in a precarious position. If they want to one day upgrade to the Pearl, they risk giving employees a device that will handle e-mail and other data functions but it will also be used for listening to music, capturing images and other personal tasks. These are the kind of functions that have lead some companies to ban technologies they feel saps productivity or presents a security threat. Today, we use “podslurping” when we refer to portable media that could download corporate files. Once the Pearl debuts, we may start to talk about such theft as “BlackBerry picking” instead.

RIM, in order to avoid being labeled as a one-trick pony, can’t afford to ignore features that could spur device consolidation and increase its popularity among consumers. On the other hand, it might make sense for the company to consider a dual-product strategy that sees one roadmap for business users whose device is purchased and managed by their employer, and one that they are free to play with on their own. 

The business device (which I’m suggesting be code-named Oyster), would not necessarily be the less innovative of the two. There are plenty of business applications around supply chain management, enterprise resource planning and especially customer relationship management that are not used much on BlackBerries today, but could be if given the proper interface. The Oyster could also include built-in endpoint security features that would keep corporate secrets safe. The Oyster, however, might require a more substantial reseller channel to help companies take full advantage of its add-ons, and RIM doesn’t seem interested in establishing a strong sales force of resellers.

I don’t really think RIM is going to offer an Oyster, mind you, so the Pearl will test its audience once it eventually comes out. A lot of organizations have already become dependent on their BlackBerries, but RIM is in danger of making them so addictive someone’s going to have to stage an intervention.

sschick@itbusiness.ca

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