TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

CNET – RIM’s Lazaridis: Qwerty is the next big thing

Full Qwerty keyboards. I’m sorry, it really is. I’m not making this up. People are running out of their two-year contracts and they’re coming into the stores and they want to be able to do Facebook and they want to be able to do instant messaging and they want to be able to do e-mail and they ask for those features thinking that they’re going to get another flip phone and they’re walking out with a (BlackBerry) Curve or a Pearl because they’re the best devices for doing those kinds of activities. And so what is the defining factor? The keyboard.

I think he’s right — except in saying a Blackberry is the best option to browse the web, IM, and do email.

There certainly is an increase in demand for QWERTY keyboards over number pads, which is good. I hate T9.

I think where his point jumps off the rails, though, is in presuming that consumers want a physical keyboard, or that it is a superior solution altogether. Earlier in the CNET article he comments on touchscreens, and says that he was around for when touchscreens first became available to the consumer, so he knows the technology and knows it isn’t a new technology.

Which is all true, but what he is ignoring is the quality of Apple’s touchscreen. The capacitive touchscreen, as opposed to a typical Pocket PC’s pressure-sensitive screen, is absolutely incredible. It responds to touch perfectly, without error. There is no thinking involved when using an iPhone, like there is a Pocket PC, because the user knows the iPhone will react exactly how they expect it to every time they touch the screen.

So sure, the technology isn’t new, but Apple’s implementation is, and it creates a whole new way of interacting with a phone, or any device for that matter. It’s intuitive with almost no abstraction involved — no mouse, no stylus, just your finger and the software.

That’s what is different about the iPhone, and the keyboard is good enough to use for web and email use. It’s satisfactory for what you gain — you get a huge screen with nothing tied down. It can do whatever you want. It’s all software.

Which is why, of course, RIM is making a touchscreen phone. But it is also probably a safe presumption that it will suck, because RIM doesn’t really believe in a touchscreen phone. They believe in a “real” keyboard, with a “real” trackball that is a pain in the ass to use. Which all integrates with some not-so-well designed software on the phone.