It's been 5 years since they acquired QNX so we can tell precisely how well BB did and the answer is that they failed.
It's also sad that you haven't learned from this and have the same mentality that led to BB's demise.
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New Book Explores How the iPhone Contributed to BlackBerry's Downfall
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It's been 5 years since they acquired QNX so we can tell precisely how well BB did and the answer is that they failed.
It's also sad that you haven't learned from this and have the same mentality that led to BB's demise.
BlackBerry, has always been and originally a Networking and Security business:
NOC, Radio stack on routing corporate data to mobile devices, securely!
Provider GGSN connection to RIM's NOC, BES servers for MDM, and mobile devices starting with imbedded radio devices then the 850 debuted.
Their going back yet forward to that business model. More layoffs announced.
BES
Mobile Security
Secure Network (Data: Data in route to/from mobile) transmissions
IoT
And you are mixing the situation with the previous management with the turnaround being staged by the CEO who joined in November 2013.
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People don't know that BB security starts at the hardware level.
When you boot BB10, it takes a bit of time because the hardware checks that the system has not been tampered with. As far as public knowledge goes, nobody has been able to root a BB10 device (you can find some reports on the internet of people trying to do it and finding out how hard it would be to accomplish).
I remember when the iPhone came out, 2 weeks later I went to a convention for Sony Ericsson, Rim, Nokia and the rest of them.
No one wanted to look at the iPhone but basically the wanted to ignore it, they were into "our product is the better". Sony Ericsson has several models, one for music, one for pictures, another one more towards web.
Back then people were buying cellphones because of the fancy enclosure and the ability to text and being able to send a picture, probably using is as an mp3 player.
The iPhone actually used the best of the technology out there, a quantum leap. Like "lets throw everything to the trash and starts from scratch". The other manufacturers had a path already regarding hardware and specially software "if it works, don't change it" kind of mentality. And Apple had the best programmers and created a device based on the software, remember Apple is Apple, you can not beat that. In the world of drones wait until NASA decides to create their own... In other words, while everybody where playing with legos and putting a Geo Metro together, the Mc Laren F1 came out.
No one wanted to look at the iPhone but basically the wanted to ignore it, they were into "our product is the better". Sony Ericsson has several models, one for music, one for pictures, another one more towards web.
Back then people were buying cellphones because of the fancy enclosure and the ability to text and being able to send a picture, probably using is as an mp3 player.
The iPhone actually used the best of the technology out there, a quantum leap. Like "lets throw everything to the trash and starts from scratch". The other manufacturers had a path already regarding hardware and specially software "if it works, don't change it" kind of mentality. And Apple had the best programmers and created a device based on the software, remember Apple is Apple, you can not beat that. In the world of drones wait until NASA decides to create their own... In other words, while everybody where playing with legos and putting a Geo Metro together, the Mc Laren F1 came out.
I just pre-ordered it on iBooks.
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You're wrong on both counts. It's was several years before RIM made a real effort to compete for consumers. By that time, it was too little and too late.
Win Mobile was never even that popular with enterprise. They had, at the peak, a 17% smartphone marketshare here in the USA, and almost none outside, except for a small number in Canada. The OS was continually panned in reviews, and few people actually liked using it. It was the first major phone OS to die.
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I still say the biggest mistake RIM made, was trying to compete with the iPhone in the consumer market, instead of keeping their core enterprise customers happy.
For instance, we had just spent years converting corporate apps to the Blackberry platform, when RIM announced that they were going to no longer support their old OS. From management's viewpoint, that was an immediate kiss of death. (I think they later said otherwise, but by then it was too late.)
Microsoft had already made the same mistake dropping Windows Mobile, which was also popular with enterprises.
Never bite the hand that feeds you. At least, not until you have other hands
You're wrong on both counts. It's was several years before RIM made a real effort to compete for consumers. By that time, it was too little and too late.
Win Mobile was never even that popular with enterprise. They had, at the peak, a 17% smartphone marketshare here in the USA, and almost none outside, except for a small number in Canada. The OS was continually panned in reviews, and few people actually liked using it. It was the first major phone OS to die.
Blackberry and nokia both of them; once dominant players in the market, didnt see big apple coming from behind
And guess who's ahead of Apple?
Android.
Oh and Nokia is jumping back into the phone market. More Visigoths to swirl around Rome That Is Apple That Shall Stumble And Fall. And Blackberry is still alive and kicking.
I'm getting a hunch that 2016 is when things start to get very interesting when Apple start losing its grip. It's going to come to a breaking point where it'll slip. After all, Cook and his execs are mortal and won't live forever to keep the company around long enough.
This book might be an interesting read. I'm curious though what any experts think Blackberry could have done to stay more relevant and not lose basically their entire business. Yes, they were poorly managed, slow to react to the iPhone, etc. But what positive things could they have done? I'm not excusing them, just curious what people think.
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Apple is already showing many signs of slipping, from falling iPad sales to sabotaging their own products (mac mini) to badly designed products to losing focus and trying to do too many things at once.
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Apple is already showing many signs of slipping, from falling iPad sales to sabotaging their own products (mac mini) to badly designed products to losing focus and trying to do too many things at once.
Arrogance certainly did kill Nokia. Just 6 months before hiring Elop, the CEO said that they weren't concerned about the iPhone, because it was "a boutique" phone, and was not a threat. They also said that Android wasn't a serious phone. That certainly was arrogance.
Elop was hired because, obviously, the Nokia board had already made a decision to go to Win Phone. I'm positive that Nokia and Microsoft were in talks. There is no way that Nokia would have hired a top manager of the Windows business division, an executive who was never in charge of a major hardware platform, without some idea of where they wanted to go.
Since Elop was with Microsoft, it seems pretty obvious to me, even if it hasn't seemed obvious to others, that the decision to go to Win Phone had already been made. When Elop came aboard, he almost immediately made the infamous memo about the burning platform that got him in so much trouble, and helped to destroy Nokia's Symbian platform. That was too quick for it to have been a considered position unless that decision was already decided previously.
Blackberry is pretty much gone. Sales continue to drop. Even the President, who said that he was required to use a Blackberry because of security, now uses an iPhone, as do the leaders of many countries.
And then the BlackBerry Playbook that launched with no standalone email client and required a BlackBerry phone for a lot of basic functionality. It was like a gigantic Apple Watch in that respect
Even better was when they introduced it, they showed how it really killed the iPad 1 in various performance tests... But they didn't release it until just around the time the iPad 2 came out.
I had that BB Playbook. It was very good quality device, it did work with my BB phone too. I think it needed some apps.
Then they got new software, and the Playbook cannot be updated. That's pretty much it for me, no more BB.
I had the Storm when it first came out. I did not think that it was that bad. I still have it now, someone in my cupboard where I store all my past gadgets.
Today, I would still look at blackberry phones once in a while but would not go that route again because there are too many things on the iPhone which I have grown accustomed to and also love.
Today, I would still look at blackberry phones once in a while but would not go that route again because there are too many things on the iPhone which I have grown accustomed to and also love.
Oh I had a Storm. It really sucked. Like sucked because Verizon wouldn't let RIM/Blackberry put WiFi in the device to force users to their crappy EVDO network. Also didn't help that it crashed all the time requiring hard pulls and such.
Fortunately for RIM/Blackberry, I love the new Passport and I hear a lot of friends like the new "Classic."
Fortunately for RIM/Blackberry, I love the new Passport and I hear a lot of friends like the new "Classic."
I remember the storm and strongly considering it as an option to the iPhone. Back then I hated Apple and thought the iPhone was a bit of a joke with no video camera, no mms etc. I went to a store and actually used both devices and straight away saw the iPhone was superior in all aspects. I've only owned iPhones in the since 2008.
What about the forced access to their server network?
I think the thing that started the death spiral was governments forcing RIM to allow access to their secure networks. People who have not spent time outside the US don't realize how popular BB was in the Middle East.
A lot of that popularity was the security of the RIM network. I distinctly remember a time when we had to warn all our staff in Saudi Arabia that the Kingdom was pulling the plug on RIM until they allowed them (the government) in. The same threat opened the network in Dubai.
Up until this point the servers were RIMs and they held all the keys. If you had a group chat on BB Messenger it was secure. Once that broke a lot of the non-business users fled BB for the more stylish iPhone.
FWIW
DLM
I think the thing that started the death spiral was governments forcing RIM to allow access to their secure networks. People who have not spent time outside the US don't realize how popular BB was in the Middle East.
A lot of that popularity was the security of the RIM network. I distinctly remember a time when we had to warn all our staff in Saudi Arabia that the Kingdom was pulling the plug on RIM until they allowed them (the government) in. The same threat opened the network in Dubai.
Up until this point the servers were RIMs and they held all the keys. If you had a group chat on BB Messenger it was secure. Once that broke a lot of the non-business users fled BB for the more stylish iPhone.
FWIW
DLM
1. There was no simple app store or source on US carriers. The best you could do was sideload or deal with your Verizon or AT&T imaged store on your smartphone...
2. Lol to even suggesting there were nice browsers during those days. Even well into 2008, most smartphone browsers were still in the stone ages.
Forget the Blackberry, it was always irrelevant to my eyes. But I was really angry when Palm decided to shoot themselves on the foot. iOS was/is too locked for my liking (only got an iPad for the living room), Android is just crap (but I stayed with it because I prefer Java over C for development), and I would never touch Microsoft (for many reasons). Technology is so crap these days and Internet is definitely broken. I would happily give up everything and live in the mountains (ok, maybe with an iPod Classic and an old PowerMac Cube).
Sorry I missed this comment earlier, I certainly wasn't intending to rewrite history! I didn't mean to suggest the App Store launched with the iPhone -- that was worded poorly. I've clarified. According to the source material, RIM had wanted to sell apps to consumers, but had difficulties with carriers. Apple got a deal with AT&T that other companies weren't able to secure and established its App Store without needing to offer payouts to AT&T.
"One of the biggest puzzles was what to do about apps. For years Mr. Balsillie had fought carriers for the right to sell apps to customers, reassuring them RIM was constructively aligned with the wireless carriers. Then Apple waltzed in with an app store despite AT&T exclusion from any app revenues."