stuckmojo Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 They've been making some truly awful business decisions over the last year. Their tablet, the PlayBook, was a complete joke - underpowered and didn't come with the business apps that core Blackberry business users need and demand. Plus they have delayed introduction of new phone models and just been all-round losers in the smartphone race. Can't believe heads haven't rolled at the board level yet. I agree, the tablet at full price was a joke. At 169£, with Android access and all the other bells and whistles with the 2.0 software, it's a steal. I love mine and it basically replaced my laptop for work. I can launch presentations through HDMI on a projector and use the BB phone as a mouse. The problem is that they were shit at marketing it. If Apple had anything that professional they'd made a packet on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone baby gone Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share Posted March 30, 2012 (edited) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17559111 Profits have collapsed. Looks like a major change in strategy. Developing their own tablet + tablet OS was an epic mistake. Not including a hardware keyboard on it shows that they don't even understand their own market never mind anyone else's! Edited March 30, 2012 by What's'isname Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbonic Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 I've recently been looking into the logistics of distributing corporate apps at an enteprise app store level (not iTunes or Google Shop). Android are the easiest and cheapest by a mile, Apple/iOS have higher minimum quality standards, have good usability, and are more secure, but gouge you on price. We considered Blackberry briefly and then dismissed it as not worth the effort as it's probably a dying platform (and thus hastened it's death by a tiny amount). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madpenguin Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 I've recently been looking into the logistics of distributing corporate apps at an enteprise app store level (not iTunes or Google Shop). Android are the easiest and cheapest by a mile, Apple/iOS have higher minimum quality standards, have good usability, and are more secure, but gouge you on price. We considered Blackberry briefly and then dismissed it as not worth the effort as it's probably a dying platform (and thus hastened it's death by a tiny amount). Blackberry's use in business came from basically 2 things, good integration with Microsoft Exchange and security, however they haven't moved on and have made some appalling decisions. In 2008 I did some work for a large telecoms company which meant using most of the mobile phones on the market at that time, I always dreaded having to use Blackberries as they always seemed to bury the options you want in a maze of menus, and at my current company our network admin can frequently be heard swearing at the Blackberry server software. The industry has moved on and Blackberry failed to build on their early advantages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbonic Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 ... I always dreaded having to use Blackberries as they always seemed to bury the options you want in a maze of menus, and at my current company our network admin can frequently be heard swearing at the Blackberry server software. My wife had a blackberry (until she dropped it in the sink!) and she hated it for that reason (lousy usability for non teenage, non techie newbies). She now has an HTC Android phone and loves it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madpenguin Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 My wife had a blackberry (until she dropped it in the sink!) and she hated it for that reason (lousy usability for non teenage, non techie newbies). She now has an HTC Android phone and loves it. Moving to Android was the best thing HTC ever did, they always had good hardware but it was spoilt by the appalling Windows mobile they used to use, used to crash at the drop of a hat. I'm seeing a lot more people with HTC devices since they moved to Android Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgia O'Keeffe Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 ive got a phone, you can talk to people miles away and everything, its great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@contradevian Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 ive got a phone, you can talk to people miles away and everything, its great Just joined the space age. I now have a phone that has apps! I don't know why they are still called phones as they are more mini hand held computers and internet devices. I have yet to make a call on it! My last phone was the Lg Viewty KU990 which was promising but very disappinting. Currently posting this with a Samsung Galaxy Ace tho I'm wishing I wasn't such a cheap scate now and had gone for Galaxy S2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest_flaps_* Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 I'm more than happy with my Blackberry, seems user friendly enough for a technophobe. I wanted a non touch screen phone I could get decent internet on and it does the job just fine. Good battery life and pretty tough. Not that I'll be looking to upgrade it at the firt opportunity, I reckon it will last me a fair few years yet (cue dropping it down the bog!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darwin Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 (edited) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17559111 30 March 2012 Last updated at 07:09The company that makes Blackberry smart phones says it is withdrawing from the consumer market to concentrate on business customers. Wow. So they think their business customers will stay loyal? Edited March 30, 2012 by darwin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Control Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 They've been making some truly awful business decisions over the last year. Their tablet, the PlayBook, was a complete joke - underpowered and didn't come with the business apps that core Blackberry business users need and demand. Plus they have delayed introduction of new phone models and just been all-round losers in the smartphone race. Can't believe heads haven't rolled at the board level yet. Ironically the Bold 9900 has the best keyboard on any phone I've ever used. I can almost type as quickly on mine as I can with a full size keyboard. It's actually designed to be productive rather than just look nice. Apple do the razzmatazz better and there's dosh in razzmatazz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@contradevian Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Most people I know with Blackberrys now are chavs who use blackberry messaging and exchange their pins on social sites like Facebook. Seems to have replaced MSM and Yahoo style instant messaging and not to say good old fashioned texting. Guess business people communicate this way too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longtomsilver Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17559111 Wow. So they think their business customers will stay loyal? My brother-in-law has replaced all the blackberries in his law firm with apples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Control Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 My brother-in-law has replaced all the blackberries in his law firm with apples. In an ironic twist of coincidence my brother in law just cut down his apple tree and replaced it with blackberries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juvenal Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 In an ironic twist of coincidence my brother in law just cut down his apple tree and replaced it with blackberries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madpenguin Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 In an ironic twist of coincidence my brother in law just cut down his apple tree and replaced it with blackberries. Leading nicely into this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traktion Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Just joined the space age. I now have a phone that has apps! I don't know why they are still called phones as they are more mini hand held computers and internet devices. I have yet to make a call on it! My last phone was the Lg Viewty KU990 which was promising but very disappinting. Currently posting this with a Samsung Galaxy Ace tho I'm wishing I wasn't such a cheap scate now and had gone for Galaxy S2 Smart phones will become increasingly useful, when they become used more commonly as digital wallets. Bitcoin clients already provides this (see below), but apparently PayPal are playing catch up by adding dongles (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57395954-93/paypal-to-launch-mobile-payments-dongle/) to allow card swipes between bank accounts (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57395954-93/paypal-to-launch-mobile-payments-dongle/). I think the latter is for businesses only, but IMO the established banking cartel is being pushed to compete now that their walled garden is slowly being dismantled. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ-pqo0cLcE IMO, the future of e-payments will circumvent VISA et al altogether and smart phones acting as digital wallets are the future. You can even use them for online payments (web site just needs to display a bar code for the phone to capture). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrashedOutAndBurned Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 It's amazing how these heavyweights of mobile phones are imploding. The iPhone came out in 2007 and RIM and Nokia were just, 'Hmmm, hope that kinda just goes away... yeah, let's just hope it does...' Early Android was a Blackberry-like crappy OS at the time but Google quickly made copying the iPhone a top priority which, combined with the open licensing has served it well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stay Beautiful Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Smart money flowed to Elderberry a long time ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lone_Twin Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17559111 Wow. So they think their business customers will stay loyal? if they do they are massively mistaken if they stick to current strategy. A critical mass has now moved to ios/android over activesync. Businesses esp smes did the cost/ben of the excelent business features of blackberry vs the cost of extra tarrif, licences and servers and switched. Those who want to add back some of the function are using tools like "good technology". Blackberries only hope is to play on their hardware specialism (qwerty, security, battery), instal android or at least android ap compatability then bring out something that incredibly easily integrates activsync (ideally something hosted) into a high function system and hope M$ are not a step ahead with the next exch release. They'll never properly recover though, email is a low end commodity function on phones now. Not something you can charge millions for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funinhounslow Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Just joined the space age. I now have a phone that has apps! I don't know why they are still called phones as they are more mini hand held computers and internet devices. I have yet to make a call on it! Well this is it exactly. Just rewatching hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and remembering as a teenager really wanting such a gadget. But our "phones" are so much better - Adams did a good job in predicting such a device but didn't (couldn't) anticipate email, texts, and the Internet. Oh, and phone calls... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecrashingisles Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 To add to their woes, someone got stabbed in the neck at a Blackberry party in London. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2125185/Jessie-J-BlackBerry-party-stabbing-Hero-actor-Kenny-Solomons-acted-instinct-save-victim.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@contradevian Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 (edited) Glad this topic re surfaced. Here is Karl Denningers view on RIMM. http://market-ticker...www?post=204286 Nonsense. A big part of it came as a guest on CNBS commenting on the "Apple to $1,000" claims said that if that happened then RIMM would be bankrupt. The problem with that call is that RIMM generated one billion in free cash flow on $4 billion in revenue last quarter. Companies don't go bankrupt when they're generating one dollar in free cash flow for every four they take in the front door -- and have no debt. Oh, and this "guy" on CNBC, it is later disclosed (after the damage is done to the stock price on RIMM, of course), doesn't even follow RIMM and thus obviously hasn't analyzed their balance sheet. He probably doesn't know that the company has no debt and cleared 1 billion in fcf last quarter on $4b in revenue -- for openers. This got a "30 second" mention an hour later, after the stock had tanked straight down by another 4-5% from the morning sell-off. We're all entitled to our opinions but there are statements that are simple bull****. Predicting that RIMM will go bankrupt in the next 12 months (which is what this clownface said, basically, as the Apple price is a 12 month target!) is ludicrous. The company has nearly two quarters of that free cash flow on hand! and http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?singlepost=2906051 The QNX-based phones will be important, if they work. If (and I stress "if"!) RIMM can get devices out later this year, more-or-less "on time" and can capitalize on what should be material power budget improvements then you have a foundation. Now couple this with the rumor flying around that at least one carrier has had it with the Apple subsidy bleed that they're taking in the butt from Apple's business model and the potential is there to capitalize on the business model issues. Again, I'd like to see RIMM open their devices to Android apps. And they can -- with a literal decision as opposed to technology changes! The Playbook, which runs the same OS as BB10 phones, can support nearly all Android apps; RIMM simply blocks making it "easy." Edited April 5, 2012 by "Steed" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonb Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 1333091936[/url]' post='909003107']I agree, the tablet at full price was a joke. At 169£, with Android access and all the other bells and whistles with the 2.0 software, it's a steal. I love mine and it basically replaced my laptop for work. I can launch presentations through HDMI on a projector and use the BB phone as a mouse. The problem is that they were shit at marketing it. If Apple had anything that professional they'd made a packet on it. But they are making a huge loss on them at £169. The iPad is actually very good value for money, that's why nobody else can compete with Apple in the tablet market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deckard Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 (edited) RIM Said to Discuss Hiring Bank to Weigh Strategy Options A bank? And what's RIM's management for, I ask? Unless they have decided to sell... Heins, who replaced co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis in January, said on March 29 that RIM will redouble efforts to attract business customers while reviewing options, such as licensing, partnerships, joint ventures and other ways to “leverage” assets. “It is difficult to say at this point in time what kinds of opportunities may surface throughout this strategic review process, but we intend to keep you updated, where possible, as we progress through this exercise,” he said then. The man is worth his weight in gold, isn't he Edited April 16, 2012 by Deckard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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