[Jennifer Ryans]

Cutting 4,500 jobs and posting a billion dollar loss is certainly getting leaner....LOL.

They are eating a billion dollars worth of unsold phones.

[SparkyBC]

I don't see how this is going to work into Blackberry's corner. Clearly their savior "BB10" has bombed and now they are stuck with warehouses full of devices and in the distribution channel. (Think Playbook Again). The Z10 has not sold and the Z30 is going to be no different, are they going to ramp up production only to be sitting on millions of devices that will need a write down as well?

The news today is pretty much Blackberry 10 has bombed and no one wants the devices. Writing is on the wall the Z30 WILL be D.O.A as well. The legacy devices are their main bread and butter yet again, while Blackberry still has not found a way for people to buy their devices again.

They will now be burning through their stockpile of cash hoping the legacy devices can keep them alive while they plan their next move. If anything it will keep developers away from the platform for good now, because the fat lady is starting to sing. The name "Blackberry" is tainted the brand is tarnished for good. Once you have most of the public perception they are garbage you can never easily convince someone to try them again. You can hate apple or android all you want they execute and market their devices well, something blackberry has NEVER done well. Marketing by them is always top notch! A person can have faith the ecosystem will be around for years and years to come. Blackberry's BB10 ecosystem has been it's downfall. Why would a consumer want to invest in something that can be gone in a year or two?

A prime example is the Z30 have not heard a real peep about it anywhere, just like the Z10, Q10 or Q5. Marketing of those devices is few and far between. Do they expect people will try a device from horrible advertising, all they promote is the hub peek and flow and time shift camera. People couldn't care less about that. When someone wants to come to a platform, they see what they can't get elsewhere and what is available on Blackberry. Side loading has always been a band-aid and consumers just want apps from a store, not extra steps to get something they can get's elsewhere buy just clicking install.

[PaulInLondon]

BlackBerry shares have been suspended ..... BBC News - Blackberry shares suspended as company warns of losses

[richardat]

What's that Thunderbuck? I really do not know what exactly will happen to BB now, it depends on whether they find a buyer.....

If they don't.....things will happen pretty fast. Well, either way, things will happen fast, I believe that is part of the urgency to find a buyer. Things are happening right now....the z10 and q10 seem to be essentially out of the market already...I do not believe the z30 will do any signficant sales.....in essence, I think they're already out of consumer phones! We will see how the bb7 markets and subscribers are doing, but if one believes, as I do, that BB10 is sunk, then the only hope is too rapidly get out other services, and revenue models while clinging to BB7 revenue. If they then fire a large chunk of their workforce, they could survive as a name for a fair while - they'd just be out of the phone business, save for playing out the legacy market.

Either way, I think BB10 is already cooked. I do hope that they somehow manage to cobble together service/software revenue streams that can sustain them as a different BB, or that they get a good deal (not optimistic about that at all), and that you investors can get out happily.

Uh....so did I mention that things will happen fast?

You are SOOOOOOOO SMMMRRRRTTTTTTTT Richardat!!!

Your welcome for the long response and warning Thunderbuck! I knew it would fall on deaf ears....but I don't say that with malice....things will unfold as they will. I think you are almost pathological in your denial - and well, endless optimism can be a very good thing in some situations.

[timmy t]

In order to do this they have to get rid of Heins. He will be always looked upon as the guy who didn't think they could make it on their own and should be sold.
People will never let him forget this.
They must get rid of him and bring someone in who can distance themselves from this boneheaded decision to be so public about a sale.
Also, as a shareholder, I have completely lost confidence in his abilities and common sense.

[GadgetTravel]

I agree with you. It's an identity and culture issue that does have a solution. Marketing/advertising and a sales force that is informed enough to sell Blackberry to the common user.

Posted via CB10

They said that they aren't going to focus on consumers, common users in the announcement today.

[DueNorthBB]

In order to do this they have to get rid of Heins. He will be always looked upon as the guy who didn't think they could make it on their own and should be sold.
People will never let him forget this.
They must get rid of him and bring someone in who can distance themselves from this boneheaded decision to be so public about a sale.
Also, as a shareholder, I have completely lost confidence in his abilities and common sense.

Actually, he is the one who has to make all the tough moves. No one else wants to do it so he has to (kill Playbook, cut staff, be the company spokes person). I don't think he is as bad as everyone make him seems.

[kevinnugent]

Actually, he is the one who has to make all the tough moves. No one else wants to do it so he has to (kill Playbook, cut staff, be the company spokes person). I don't think he is as bad as everyone make him seems.

Give me his salary of $10m a year and a $55m golden parachute and I'd do it. Sh*t, i'd do it for 10% of that.

[birdman_38]

Give me his salary of $10m a year and a $55m golden parachute and I'd do it. Sh*t, i'd do it for 10% of that.

I'd do it for 1%

[SparkyBC]

Actually, he is the one who has to make all the tough moves. No one else wants to do it so he has to (kill Playbook, cut staff, be the company spokes person). I don't think he is as bad as everyone make him seems.

Tough moves? He lies to peoples faces. Bb10 is selling well, better than we expected and are on track. Fast forward to today it has never sold since launch!

Playbook was officially killed with a tweet. Like any company in tough times staff is always the first to go. As a spokesperson he has failed miserably. Can anyone believes what he says anymore. In his monotone robot voice like a broken record it's mobile computing, err wait it will be our business customers now. Which is it!

Every move under his watch he has failed to execute. BB10 would have come to market with or without him regardless. At the end of the day why would he care, he can walk away with 55 million regardless. Do you think if he gets turfed he will truly be saddened?

[cathulu15]

Heins is a total fail. I hope he and his ilk are gone ASAP, I wanted him gone a long time ago. He is mud.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk 4

[RyanGermann]

Your welcome for the long response and warning Thunderbuck! I think you are almost pathological in your denial - and well, endless optimism can be a very good thing in some situations.

Things announced today weren't decided this morning so it isn't quite accurate to say that the announcement = it has all happened, or that it will happen fast.

Also... suggesting that, of all people, Thunderbuck does not see BlackBerry's situation objectively but hopefully is, well, I think you need to read a lot more of his posts in context and apologize.

Posted via CB10

[Thunderbuck]

Uh....so did I mention that things will happen fast?

You are SOOOOOOOO SMMMUUUUUUGGGGG Richardat!!!...

Fixed that for you.

I'm not in denial, either. I was very disappointed by the preliminary statement, sure (though they seemed to go out of their way to make that press release as grim as humanly possible). I see the potential for a way forward, though.

1) Get 10.2 out as fas as practically possible (i.e. Be damn sure it WORKS). I think there's a slew of new, big Android ports waiting for that Jelly Bean runtime.

2) Let the Z10 fire sale begin. I suspect BlackBerry is sitting on 5-7 million units. Get them out there (with 10.2 of course) and at least build enough of a userbase to attract the attention of developers.

3) Dump/demote Heins and show a break with the past. Heins might be okay going back to COO; he's good with logistics and engineering, but clearly weak at marketing or schmoozing in general. BlackBerry needs a schmoozer in thr corner office.

So tell me, Richard, does that smug self-satisfaction come merely from being proven right? Because I can't help but get the sense that you're enjoying this on some level.





From the awesome PHYSICAL keyboard of my Q10