[Zildjian71]

Not to rehash the rehash of the rehash, but read this AP article. This is how a company stays on top when the market changes because the competition did something different.

AP News: Retailers take on Silicon Valley

I saw this article and thought this is how it is done.

BTW, posted with my 9860.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I think BlackBerry should have required all engineering and design team members to use either an iPhone or an Android device on a regular basis.

But having a team in Silicon Valley and seeing what might be coming in a year or more is also a good way of staying ahead of the curve.

[woofhaven]

The problem is that BlackBerry management never saw the threat coming. They probably would have done stuff like this if they thought they could be threatened. I get the impression, though, that they thought they had figured out the one and only right way to make a amart phone, and no one else would ever catch up.

What a shame.

Posted via CB10

[skibnik]

BlackBerry's customer base was and to a large degree still is business people what happened to BlackBerry was that these businessmen/women then took their phones home with them and shared them with their families. Apps such as BBM and of course push email were desirable to the youth and trend setting young adults but blackberry ignored this burgeoning new market and focused on making business tools. Then along came Apple. BlackBerry's co-CEOs refused to change with the times then along came Android and of course the Co-CEOs still kept up their stubbornness and refused to adapt so now here is BlackBerry playing catch up. Just hope it's not too late!

Z10 Running 10.2.1.1055 Take that Mr App Gap!

[richardat]

The real truth is, and it's harsh, is that BB was a one-trick pony. Push email - was their single biggest contribution to tech and to their success. Data compression and great keyboards of course also helped create their marquee product, but that was it.....since that time....they haven't shown the ability to bring one innovative thing to market. In fact, they've shown that they won't be 2nd to market, they'll be last to market - and the product will be terribly flawed. That's why, after having a corner on the industry, and an incredibly dedicated fanbase for whom BB had changed their way of communicating, they disappeared at an unbelievable speed.

In addition, woofhaven was right if Mike is to be belived - they didn't see the iphone coming at all. Then, even Mike (hey, we should STILL be selling keyboards like it's 2003!) knew they were in deep trouble as soon as it was released - which is a relief to me - at least they weren't that stupid!

The battle was essentially lost then. Though BB's dedicated fans, marketshare, reputation, gave them a few YEARS to respond - you could hardly ask for more in the tech world, they still were dead because BB couldn't even bring a credible response to market until 2013. The truth is there hasn't been a single success of note, or reprieve from the decline since then. That in itself is remarkable - that a dominant player, with the resources of BB could not mount any resistance whatsoever - only bluster...no products. Their best product (not including legacy) was the z10...which wasn't near enough by 2013.

[GadgetTravel]

The real truth is, and it's harsh, is that BB was a one-trick pony. Push email - was their single biggest contribution to tech and to their success. Data compression and great keyboards of course also helped create their marquee product, but that was it.....since that time....they haven't shown the ability to bring one innovative thing to market. In fact, they've shown that they won't be 2nd to market, they'll be last to market - and the product will be terribly flawed. That's why, after having a corner on the industry, and an incredibly dedicated fanbase for whom BB had changed their way of communicating, they disappeared at an unbelievable speed.

In addition, woofhaven was right if Mike is to be belived - they didn't see the iphone coming at all. Then, even Mike (hey, we should STILL be selling keyboards like it's 2003!) knew they were in deep trouble as soon as it was released - which is a relief to me - at least they weren't that stupid!

The battle was essentially lost then. Though BB's dedicated fans, marketshare, reputation, gave them a few YEARS to respond - you could hardly ask for more in the tech world, they still were dead because BB couldn't even bring a credible response to market until 2013. The truth is there hasn't been a single success of note, or reprieve from the decline since then. That in itself is remarkable - that a dominant player, with the resources of BB could not mount any resistance whatsoever - only bluster...no products. Their best product (not including legacy) was the z10...which wasn't near enough by 2013.

I think the response time after the iPhone was the last straw. It was what, one year for Google to jump in and 5 years for BB to respond with the Q10 and Z10. In that intervening time the customer base became iOS or Android users. They invested time and money in apps and developed ways of using their phones and their ecosystems. And BB wasn't really around as an alternative. I think virtually all of those people won't look at BB again unless they have a really dramatic product improvement over Android and iOS and I haven't seen anything remotely like that.

[woofhaven]

The real truth is, and it's harsh, is that BB was a one-trick pony. Push email - was their single biggest contribution to tech and to their success. Data compression and great keyboards of course also helped create their marquee product, but that was it.....since that time....they haven't shown the ability to bring one innovative thing to market. In fact, they've shown that they won't be 2nd to market, they'll be last to market - and the product will be terribly flawed. That's why, after having a corner on the industry, and an incredibly dedicated fanbase for whom BB had changed their way of communicating, they disappeared at an unbelievable speed.

I agree with much of what you have written but not with the statement that BlackBerry is last to market. The dirty little not-so-secret of the mobile tech world is that Apple is now the last to market on most new innovations.

BlackBerry was first to market with NFC, guesture-based UI (Playbook), and with a true multi-threading OS (remember, this innovation actually came first in the Playbook 2 years ago). Note that Apple still doesn't have NFC or multi-threading, and they just barely starting introducing guesture-based navigation, very late to the party, with iOS7. Yeah, they have Siri, and now that fingerprint thing. Maybe that fingerprint thing will turn out to be really useful, but not even Apple fanboys think Siri is anything more than a parlor trick. I put that in the same category as BB10's time-shift camera.

Although it's hard to use the phrase "first to market," BlackBerry is also way out in front in HTML5 integration. My point here is that it is a mistake to suggest that BlackBerry failed to innovate. They've been very good, I think, at being on the leading edge of mobile technology. It's that they have failed to innovate in ways that are compelling enough to consumers for those innovations to result in market share gains.

Part of this is worst-in-the-industry marketing, but a big, gigantic part is the fact that they really, really don't seem to understand the importance of putting their shiny new really cool technology in a product that, starting with version 1.0 is fully functional, complete, bug free, and fluid. The Playbook is Exhibit A in support of this argument. I mean, what a great tablet! But wtf with no native email (initially)? No BBM (ever)?? Terrible pdf viewer (this is "the first business-grade tablet," but you can't view secure pdf files...even today)? Wifi only (initially)? Unusable power button? And even though BlackBerry had NFC on their phones by then, no NFC? Terrible GPS? No compass? How on earth was anyone supposed to notice that they just moved the ball forward--way forward--on HTML5 and multi-threading capabilities, and that they just brought to the mobile tech world the concept of guesture-based navigation? I mean, you had to be a real fanboy to care.

Fast forward to the introduction of the Z10, with its Android integration. That would be...oh yeah, Android 2.3.3, and only for apps that the developer decides to submit to BlackBerry World. Unless you are, again, a true dyed-in-the-wool fanboy who is ready to go through all sorts of extra steps (getting a debug token, downloading special software, etc) to sideload Android apps, and then hope they work, how could you possibly get excited about the Android runtime in BB10? And, of course, the fanboys hate Android anyway, so they don't care either. So here we are a year later, and the exciting announcement is that sometime next year, BB10 will finally have the ability to intall apk file OTA.

No more app gap. That would have been big news, okay HUGE news, if that were the case when the Z10 was first introduced. Especially if it had been released on time. But watch all the current BB10 owners cheer for joy while the rest of the world just shrugs once this finally happens next May, July, August? Whenever the carriers finally push out that update.

I've said many times in these forums that BlackBerry's problem is execution. Execution! Let's all say it together, now. Fing EXECUTION! They don't have a culture of execution--getting things done on time and correctly. John Chen, are paying attention? Teach these people how to execute. Teach them how to execute. Teach them how to execute.

Posted via CB10

[GadgetTravel]

I agree with much of what you have written but not with the statement that BlackBerry is last to market. The dirty little not-so-secret of the mobile tech world is that Apple is now the last to market on most new innovations.

BlackBerry was first to market with NFC, guesture-based UI (Playbook), and with a true multi-threading OS (remember, this innovation actually came first in the Playbook 2 years ago). Note that Apple still doesn't have NFC or multi-threading, and they just barely starting introducing guesture-based navigation, very late to the party, with iOS7. Yeah, they have Siri, and now that fingerprint thing. Maybe that fingerprint thing will turn out to be really useful, but not even Apple fanboys think Siri is anything more than a parlor trick. I put that in the same category as BB10's time-shift camera.

Although it's hard to use the phrase "first to market," BlackBerry is also way out in front in HTML5 integration. My point here is that it is a mistake to suggest that BlackBerry failed to innovate. They've been very good, I think, at being on the leading edge of mobile technology. It's that they have failed to innovate in ways that are compelling enough to consumers for those innovations to result in market share gains.

Part of this is worst-in-the-industry marketing, but a big, gigantic part is the fact that they really, really don't seem to understand the importance of putting their shiny new really cool technology in a product that, starting with version 1.0 is fully functional, complete, bug free, and fluid. The Playbook is Exhibit A in support of this argument. I mean, what a great tablet! But wtf with no native email (initially)? No BBM (ever)?? Terrible pdf viewer (this is "the first business-grade tablet," but you can't view secure pdf files...even today)? Wifi only (initially)? Unusable power button? And even though BlackBerry had NFC on their phones by then, no NFC? Terrible GPS? No compass? How on earth was anyone supposed to notice that they just moved the ball forward--way forward--on HTML5 and multi-threading capabilities, and that they just brought to the mobile tech world the concept of guesture-based navigation? I mean, you had to be a real fanboy to care.

Fast forward to the introduction of the Z10, with its Android integration. That would be...oh yeah, Android 2.3.3, and only for apps that the developer decides to submit to BlackBerry World. Unless you are, again, a true dyed-in-the-wool fanboy who is ready to go through all sorts of extra steps (getting a debug token, downloading special software, etc) to sideload Android apps, and then hope they work, how could you possibly get excited about the Android runtime in BB10? And, of course, the fanboys hate Android anyway, so they don't care either. So here we are a year later, and the exciting announcement is that sometime next year, BB10 will finally have the ability to intall apk file OTA.

No more app gap. That would have been big news, okay HUGE news, if that were the case when the Z10 was first introduced. Especially if it had been released on time. But watch all the current BB10 owners cheer for joy while the rest of the world just shrugs once this finally happens next May, July, August? Whenever the carriers finally push out that update.

I've said many times in these forums that BlackBerry's problem is execution. Execution! Let's all say it together, now. Fing EXECUTION! They don't have a culture of execution--getting things done on time and correctly. John Chen, are paying attention? Teach these people how to execute. Teach them how to execute. Teach them how to execute.

Posted via CB10

This is what people typically do when discussing Apple; miss the point. Apple has made some real big picture innovation. The most recent is the move towards 64 bit handhelds and deeper integration of the cloud for documents and other items. Also, they typically go in steps. For instance, the first iphone itself was a bit of a novelty item in some ways, it couldn't even do Exchange mail for instance so it was a zero in the enterprise sector. But they moved pretty quickly to change that. In the same way, Siri was a novelty item, but it sure isn't now. I use it all the time to set reminders, add tasks to Omnifocus which in turn migrates them to everywhere from my desktop to my MacBooks and my ipad. It also controls music and sends messages through my speakerphone while I am driving. It gets better each version.

[ranzabar]

Move BlackBerry to Silicon Valley?

Posted via my BlackBerry Z10

[anon(870071)]

I think BlackBerry should have required all engineering and design team members to use either an iPhone or an Android device on a regular basis.

But having a team in Silicon Valley and seeing what might be coming in a year or more is also a good way of staying ahead of the curve.

Agreed I think the operations in CAL is gonna skyrocket BlackBerry,we'll have to wait n see!

Posted in CB forums using SQN100-3

[Zildjian71]

Moving to Silicon Valley or an outpost, using the competition's devices are all good but the point is to be flexible and agile. Success is a moving target that is possessed by no one.

The fact that the big retail chains in the article are doing what it takes says a lot about their commitment to staying on top of their game. And they identified their target market and the changes in that market caused by their competition.

That's how you do it.