RIM's new Blackberry and NIHD's IDEN Network

Implications: + A slow network is not a short-term impediment for NIHD to sell Blackberries or service to businesses in general. + In the mid to long-term 3G access will be a commodity and something all customers will perceive as a given.    

Analysis: "What do customer think of iDEN?, being iDEN an old, low-speed technology with no future".

That is a frequent question when I consult about NIHD prospects and I always answer that today's businesses demand basic e-mail access without needing a high-speed 3G network.

It's interesting that the story in the WSJ about the BlackBerry Bold mentions that RIM has been slow to embrace 3G since it is not needed for their devices' core functionality: basic text e-mail.

However, 3G still will be a challenge in the medium and long term.

While most business users do not require handsets with camera or video streaming, given two choices of service providers with pretty much the same pricing, businesses in Mexico always opt for the one with "nicer", "better" handsets (those with more features).

Free in-group or on-net calling provided from all cellular operators, is becoming a better substitute for some customers to the Push to Talk Functionality of iDEN (it does not provide the immediate communication of iDEN but the functionality to talk to have unlimited communications for a monthly fee with employees, business partners, etc.). This trend will continue while 3G will become available from the 3 cellular operators in Mexico, adding add more pressure to NIHD to define a technology roadmap for the future.