Will Blackberry be redundant?

Research In Motion (RIM) had a fantastic idea -- send your email directly to your phone. It introduced Blackberry (BBerry) device as well as an email service.

This idea becomes a big business. If you are in Malaysia and using Maxis, you will be paying RM150 monthly for this push mail service.

If RIM can do it, so can others.

Two companies responded: Nokia and Google. The more people buy BBerry devices, the less sales go to Nokia. The more people subscribe to BBerry email service, the less people will use Google's Gmail.

Of course, Nokia wants a chunk of the pie. Nokia has the capability -- it produces mobile device, network equipment and writes programs. It then came up with Nokia E71 device and introduced email.nokia.com service. The service is free for now. So, Nokia responded with hardware and software.

Another powerhouse in communication is Google. It came up with Gmail for mobile phones and BBerry device. The software and email service are free. It did not introduce hardware; instead, it came up with Android, a platform (operating system) for mobile phones and let device manufacturers produce the hardware. Android is free, too. The first Android product is HTC G1. More are coming.

In the very near future, I foresee that Nokia and Google will come up with Blackberry-equivalent email-in-your-mobile solution or better. Nokia will be charging a premium for this service. Google will probably keep its business model; i.e. free for public and with option to go corporate for a premium.

And when that future arrives, who wants to pay a bomb for Blackberry service?

Nasi panas, telur goreng dan kicap

Seafood lunch in Paris ...



... accompanied by dessert ...

... can't beat lunch at home with nasi putih panas, telur goreng dan kicap.

Alhamdulillah.

The most peaceful spot in Paris -- the garden of la Grande Mosquée de Paris

True, there are a lot of breath-taking monuments in Paris. You might have seen them in person or in pictures. Or you might search for their images using internet right now and admire them.

But the garden in the courtyard of the grand masjid of Paris wins as the most peaceful spot in Paris.

Alhamdulillah, God granted me the opportunity to visit the masjid for solat asar. The masjid looked plain and humble from outside.


Step inside and the most striking feature of the masjid greets you. The garden looks stunning and the roses smell fantastic!



Even the journey there was worth chronicling. I took off with the metro from Chateau Landon station and got down at Censier Daubenton. Emerging from the underground, I approached an elderly lady waiting for a bus, wearing a tudung.

"Excuse-moi. Ou est la mosquee de Paris?" I asked.

The lady enthusiastically gave instructions in French and lucky me she liberally supplemented the mostly incomprehensible words with hand gestures.

All I caught were the words "un deux troi" when she was explaining to turn left only after the third junction.

While inching away from her, I smiled and said "Merci beaucoup. Assalamu'alaikum."

She flashed back a much wider smile than mine and said, "Alaikumsalam. Anta Muslim?"

I replied, "Ana muslim."

"Alhamdulillah! Solatul asar?"

I said, "Yes. Jazakumullah."

She said, "Alhamdulillah. Shukran, shukran."

I felt very warm inside me, despite being alone in a cold, foreign country.

Safe inside the mosque, I joined the solatul asar jemaah and it was normal, as expected. However, immediately after as-salam the jemaah grabbed copies of Al-Quran, formed a circle and loudly read Al-Quran in a very fast manner.


The old and the young all joined and read in unison (although tajweed as I was familiar with was not adhered to). Some of them recited Al-Quran from memory. They read a lot of pages and adjourned in the middle of surah at-taubah.

It was a tadarus. They continue the tadarus past ramadhan. This is what I've been hoping to happen at my surau. And they are doing it in the grand masjid of Paris. Subhanallah!

For more pictures of Paris (typical monuments, cité des sciences et de l'industrie, grand masjid of Paris), please visit web album h e r e.