Given I recently bought some RIM stock, it got me thinking about RIM's future, which gave me an interesting thought in the RIM vs. Apple debate.

I've always had a RIM for my job. I love RIM and the blackberry. Yet, I probably wouldn't buy one for my own personal use. Yet I would probably buy an Apple. So why would I not buy a product that I think is great?

It struck me that the reason is pretty simple. When I have a RIM in my hand my mind instantly turns to work. After 10 years of using RIMs - way back when all they did was email - my mind now associates a blackberry with work.

Now, when I'm not working I don't want to think about work. I want to relax and enjoy myself. So having a personal blackberry would totally impinge on that non-work mindset I like to occupy outside of work.

An apple iPhone however, I associate with 'fun' - with mp3s, surfing the internet, watching videos, etc.

All this got me to thinking how a company's brand strength in one area can actually hurt it in another, for reasons totally unrelated to the strength of the product.

The folks at RIM are smart and I'm sure they will catch on to all this and eventually end up with two product lines - one for consumers and one for the business world.  Because the model of trying to extend business tools into the consumer space is flawed for the reason I mention above - people don't want to bring work home.

Apple on the other hand has an opportunity. If people associate the iPhone with fun (not work)... then it's very possible that they will want to bring that 'fun' to work!

It's long been debated as to when personal and work devices will merge. It will happen and will probably do so at the application layer - for instance, smartphones with dual application and billing profiles - one device but two different profiles - one for work and one for personal use.

It will be interesting to see how RIM's marketing and R&D strategy works to extend their devices into the consumer space. Likewise, it will be interesting to see if Apple even attempts a strategy to bring the iPhone to the corporate setting... or if they just hope that consumers make that change happen on its own by demanding IT departments support the iPhone.