RIM: "Apple should stop telling its customers what to think"

Kevin over at CrackBerry picked up RIM’s response to Apple’s kicking of the 7″ tablet form factor (among other things).

Co-CEO Jim Balsillie released this hard-ball statement today:

“For those of us who live outside of Apple’s distortion field, we know that 7″ tablets will actually be a big portion of the market and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience. We also know that while Apple’s attempt to control the ecosystem and maintain a closed platform may be good for Apple, developers want more options and customers want to fully access the overwhelming majority of web sites that use Flash. We think many customers are getting tired of being told what to think by Apple. And by the way, RIM has achieved record shipments for five consecutive quarters and recently shared guidance of 13.8 – 14.4 million BlackBerry smartphones for the current quarter. Apple’s preference to compare its September-ending quarter with RIM’s August-ending quarter doesn’t tell the whole story because it doesn’t take into account that industry demand in September is typically stronger than summer months, nor does it explain why Apple only shipped 8.4 million devices in its prior quarter and whether Apple’s Q4 results were padded by unfulfilled Q3 customer demand and channel orders. As usual, whether the subject is antennas, Flash or shipments, there is more to the story and sooner or later, even people inside the distortion field will begin to resent being told half a story.”

Way to go RIM.

Mobile device manufacturers are beginning to understand that it’s quite easy to respond to the Steve Jobs reality-distortion-field. For years now, they’ve all sat and cowered at the back of the room, stamping their feet with annoyance at how people could be so taken in by what Jobs says. Obviously Steve does a brilliant … job… of presenting his company in the best light. It’s about time the other manufacturers countered this.

Take note, Nokia.

You can check out the full transcript of the Apple earnings call featuring Mr Jobs in full flow thanks to MacWorld.