[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Chen serves at the pleasure of the board.
He was likely given a mission with parameters.

I imagine the mission was "Keep the plane from crashing in the sea." and the parameters were something like "Throw out the cargo first and if required throw out passengers."

And the Board was DESPERATE in the Fall of 2013... there were no takers on the "For Sale" option, Prem came in an offered them some funding if they voted his guy in. I still think that they had some short term HOPES that someone would be interested in buying BlackBerry and they would not have to deal with the last three years. But at some point they figured out no one wanted to pay enough, and that they needed a plan "B" as hardware was a dead end... Chen started making some strategic software "buys".

Maybe in 10 years Chen will write his memoirs and we'll know more about what was planned from the beginning and what developed over that first year.... either way I think BB10 fate was already sealed.

[Chuck Finley69]

I also have an MBA and I have a right to my opinion. Many others agree with me but stopped posting on Crackberry because they got sick of your attitude and others' attitude on this topic which is one of opinion and speculation.

BB10 is not Windows phone. Apple had a "lack of apps" on its desktop machines for a decade in the '90s and did not give up its crown jewels for a silly emulation program on Windows that would alienate loyal users. It took schrewd marketing with the first iMac to make Mac relevant again.

I'm going to try to stop arguing about this but I think your attitude is wrong and counterproductive to the success of this website because it is very annoying for thoughtful posters.

Posted via CB10

The success of this website depends on differing viewpoints and conversations that discuss things like the failure of BB10. These are facts, not opinion.

[Carjackd]

Without apps, BB10 is useless as an operating system... LINUX has more support than BB10 does. And 3rd party support is simply out of Chen's control.

Chen has always had a very clear strategy... most FANS just don't like what the strategy is - so they choose to ignore it for some reason.

I don't always agree with you Dunt but you are bang on here. He has not sugar coated anything....in fact he may have hung out in the hardware business longer than he wanted to. But BlackBerry the company is headed in the right direction... although it's a slow turn. People just don't want to hear it .

[markmall]

The success of this website depends on differing viewpoints and conversations that discuss things like the failure of BB10. These are facts, not opinion.

It's not about the "failure of BB10." It's about why and precisely when BB10 failed.

Posted via CB10

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

It's not about the "failure of BB10." It's about why and precisely when BB10 failed.

Posted via CB10

Why.... Apple and Google had a very long head start. By 2013 they had fairly stable products that were being supported by everyone. BlackBerry released a buggy OS, that most (developers, enterprise and even BBOS users) took a wait and see attitude with, which didn't yield any results but bad. So the WHY is really shortsighted management, that delivered too little too late.

When.... I'd say about 2005, long before Chen came onboard. Maybe if they had reacted sooner and release BB10 in 2010, things might have been different.... we will never really know.

[Chuck Finley69]

It's not about the "failure of BB10." It's about why and precisely when BB10 failed.

Posted via CB10

Precisely. BB10 failed long before it was even introduced. Long before JC, previous CEO TH acknowledged importance of complete ecosystem not just an OS. BlackBerry asked for all the major Android/IOS app developers including Fortune 500 companies with proprietary apps like financial institutions to make BB10 compatible apps. They offered to pay all development costs. NOBODY, I mean NO major companies, wanted to support, a third or fourth OS in 2012/2013. This all happened almost 12 months before JC was hired. You could have transferred all of Google's and/or Apple's cash and short term equivalents to BlackBerry and BlackBerry would still be in roughly the same position like Microsoft. Other companies would have continued to support Android/IOS because that is where other companies have spent billions of dollars in their infrastructure. It's the same reason why Microsoft leads in the areas it does and Google and/or Apple lags severely behind. BlackBerry never had and never would have the Assets, Cash or Resources of Apple, Google or Microsoft based on any decisions made before they even started BB10. The major two platforms in smartphone OS were Microsoft and BlackBerry until 2005-2007 when Google purchased Android while Apple developed IOS. Even TH was really just a scapegoat for ML and JB poor decisions. The only real choice was to embrace the current business model when they had huge marketshare and huge cash position. To do so though, would have cost them 6-7 years of monthly BIS revenue. That's why ML and JB cashed out when they did. BB10 was just ploy or distraction that faced long odds to ever succeed but gave the founders the cover they needed to liquidate their holding. They left TH holding the bag and never expected or cared if the company survived past TH.

[Soulstream]

It's not about the "failure of BB10." It's about why and precisely when BB10 failed.

Posted via CB10

As other have said, BB10 failed before any line of BB10 code was even written. They were just too late.

If we consider that BB10 took about 3 years to be made (from 2010 when they bought QNX to 2013) and consider that 2010 would have been a good moment to launch a new platform.... then 2007 was the year BB10 died; they had to start then to build the new OS.

[LuxuryTouringZone]

How would you rate John Chen?

10/10
Would slap again.

[markmall]

Once BB10 was mature and the Z30 and Passport were released, Chen had the best OS in the world and compelling hardware on his hands. Neither he nor Blackberry will ever have a product like that to sell again. How is BES 10 or whatever panning out? Heard anything about that lately?

Posted via CB10

[tre10]

Once BB10 was mature and the Z30 and Passport were released, Chen had the best OS in the world and compelling hardware on his hands. Neither he nor Blackberry will ever have a product like that to sell again. How is BES 10 or whatever panning out? Heard anything about that lately?

Posted via CB10

BES 10 has been announced EOL. They will go forward with the UEM(Unified Endpoint Managment) strategy which is the merger of good with the other stuff they acquired.

On a side note, wasn't BES 10 the only mdm that was compatible with BB10?

[Soulstream]

BES 10 has been announced EOL. They will go forward with the UEM(Unified Endpoint Managment) strategy which is the merger of good with the other stuff they acquired.

On a side note, wasn't BES 10 the only mdm that was compatible with BB10?

Not since 2014: BlackBerry opens up BB10 to outside MDM platforms | CrackBerry.com

[CHIP72]

Once BB10 was mature and the Z30 and Passport were released, Chen had the best OS in the world and compelling hardware on his hands. Neither he nor Blackberry will ever have a product like that to sell again. How is BES 10 or whatever panning out? Heard anything about that lately?

Posted via CB10

Whether BB10 was the best mobile OS in the world is based on opinion, but what isn't based on opinion is that there was limited adoption of BB10 by consumers and companies. The market collectively did not think BB10 was the best mobile OS, or one wants to be less harsh, collectively did not think BB10 was significantly better than Android OS or iOS that it warranted adoption.

This has already been said above, but BB10 died when the then-RIM didn't release BB10 by no later than fall 2010 or at the absolute latest fall 2011. To be even more specific, BB10's fate was sealed when the Lazardis/Balsillie team (especially Lazaridis) decided to push ahead with the Blackberry Storm on the classic BBOS platform rather than create a new mobile OS despite the fact BBOS was not optimized for touch and appeared clunky compared to iOS and Android OS.

[CHIP72]

To answer the original poll question, about a B+, maybe an A-. Many analysts, arguably most analysts, didn't think BlackBerry would exist as an independent company, or arguably in any form, at this point if you asked them where BlackBerry would be in early 2017 at the time John Chen took over in late 2013.

[danifulger]

5. or an E.

Posted via CB10

[conite]

The fact that BlackBerry even exists today gives him an automatic 8/10. I'd give him a 9 for dropping hardware and moving to a high-margin licencing model.

[danifulger]

The fact that BlackBerry even exists today gives him an automatic 8/10. I'd give him a 9 for dropping hardware and moving to a high-margin licencing model.

anybody with a bit of know how could've done it.

Posted via CB10

[conite]

anybody with a bit of know how could've done it.

Posted via CB10

Ok.

[danifulger]

Ok.

transition the company to a successful, mobile OS, licensing the hardware to other manufacturers? a 9?

Posted via CB10

[conite]

transition the company to a successful, mobile OS, licensing the hardware to other manufacturers? a 9?

Posted via CB10

Dropping the stink bomb that was BB10, acquiring and integrating Good and WatchDox and BES into BlackBerry Secure, developing a high-margin mobile OS licencing model, developing AtHoc and SecureSmart, licencing BBM, monetising IoT through BlackBerry Radar, further development of QNX Auto with autonomous vehicle R&D centre, returning to breakeven on cash and earnings, etc, etc. Yes, a 9.

[danifulger]

Dropping the stink bomb that was BB10, acquiring and integrating Good and WatchDox and BES into BlackBerry Secure, developing a high-margin mobile OS licencing model, developing AtHoc and SecureSmart, licencing BBM, monetising IoT through BlackBerry Radar, further development of QNX Auto with autonomous vehicle R&D centre, returning to breakeven on cash and earnings, etc, etc. Yes, a 9.

bb10 stink bomb? wow.

Posted via CB10

[conite]

bb10 stink bomb? wow.

Posted via CB10

Don't get me wrong - I like BB10. I'm talking about it from a business perspective.

[danifulger]

Don't get me wrong - I like BB10. I'm talking about it from a business perspective.

what does BlackBerry 10 have with the business team? I though we cleared it up in this thread http://forums.crackberry.com/showthread.php?t=1059398
BlackBerry Global Marketing Team
The only one excluded from that list was John chen himself, previously at Sybase (SAP), exchanged teams members in between Sybase and BlackBerry, for the board members eyes ?
John Chen saved some peoples butts isn't it ?

Carmel
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmelcoscia/
Roger
https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-baxter-3a843bb/

posted via del virtual

[elfabio80]

I would rate J Chen with 5,5 from 10. So insufficient!

Posted via CB10

[conite]

http://mobilesyrup.com/2017/04/04/bl...er-rbc-canada/

Not too shabby given the dismal (most would say unrecoverable) state of BlackBerry when he took over.

“The risks with BlackBerry’s turnaround appear to have diminished. The company is no longer dependent on SAF-related cash flow and the liability from hardware has been largely eliminated. As such, we are removing our Speculative Risk qualifier. Investor focus will shift to the growth of BlackBerry’s software business; new opportunities are emerging, but they are difficult to value at the moment,” said Treiber.

[conite]

John Chen named Executive of the Year by Ascend Canada https://www.crackberry.com/john-chen...-ascend-canada

"Sponsored by TD, this award recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions to their organization; delivering business results, demonstrating leadership and being at the forefront of innovation."