iPhone 'Just Kind of Sitting There,' Says BlackBerry CEO

Call it sour grapes or call it a realistic assertion of the overall mobile technology environment, but BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins recently had some choice words for one of BlackBerry's biggest competitors just ahead of the launch of the new touchscreen-driven BlackBerry Z10 in the United States, a launch that itself was frequently delayed and came more than six weeks after other launches.

Among the remarks, Heins said that Apple was suffering in terms of innovation, that the user interface was outdated, and that the iPhone line wouldn't allow users to multitask in the fashion they so desired. Heins even referred to the iPhone as "still the same," and "a sequential way to work and that's not what people want today anymore." Heins further asserted that the iPhone was indeed revolutionary five years ago, but that it was now "just kind of sitting there."

Heins' barbs, meanwhile, also came with word of further delay on the sales of other BlackBerry products. He told the Associated Press that a keyboard-driven version of the BlackBerry wouldn't hit shelves in the United States for somewhere between two and three months from now. While originally, delays were only projected in the eight to 10 week range, an additional two weeks' worth of delay came into the picture. Reasons behind the delay were few, and seemed largely out of Heins' control, saying "It's our job to deliver the right software package and the right software quality to the carriers. Then it is on the carriers to decide how intense they want their testing cycle to be and that really can range from a few weeks to three months."

Of course, many would likely take issue with pretty much everything Heins is saying. After all, it's hard to accuse a device of lacking in innovation when it brings out something like Siri. Indeed, the iPhone has had quite a bit in the way of innovation to its credit; some say its part of the drive behind the connected car, while others have looked at the way it has had at least a hand in the fall-off of stand-alone digital cameras.

It's perhaps even worse to suggest that the competition is outdated in the same breath that delays on the newest releases are mentioned, but Heins clearly thinks that the newest BlackBerry devices will offer up a more innovative experience overall. Given the wide sales success of--and high customer satisfaction involved in--Apple products, though, it seems that maybe people aren't as concerned about multitasking as Heins' remarks suggest. Only time will tell, however, if BlackBerry can recover its prominence in the market with the newest line of BlackBerry releases, or if people will continue to flock to Apple and Android devices.