[biggulpseh]

The big transition for RIM was clearly when they switched their approach for native PIM on the Playbook. Hear me out with this.

At Blackberry world they demoed the native email, calendar, etc and it was easy to tell that it was running inside a Java emulator. Not only was the UI almost identical to the PIM apps of Blackberry phones, but there was a visible signal indicator in the top right corner of the screen, performance was incredibly slow, and opening another PIM app replaced the old one (i.e. there was no multitasking within the PIM apps). Kevin wrote a story after Blackberry World about how RIM was going for a hybrid OS between the old and the new. Clearly, RIM was either lazy or felt pressured to get their Native PIM apps to the Playbook, and decided that porting their existing BBOS apps and communication stacks was far easier than re-writing them for QNX with native code. At that point, I let my first frustrations out about how incredibly stupid of a decision that was, and that this could be potentially damaging and time-consuming for the company in both the short and long term.

At some point down the line, RIM completely ditched the idea of having a 'Java player' for the Playbook, and decided it was a better idea after all to just write the communication stacks and PIM apps natively. For any other platform this wouldn't be a huge issue, but as everyone knows, all Blackberry PIM information is sent through RIM's proprietary information system. This has obviously been an extremely daunting task for RIM, and one that has been hampered by recent layoffs.

Although I can't prove it, I truly believe the network outage was caused by RIM doing some kind of switch or test to see if the new OS was stable with their servers. Think about this. In the earnings call before DevCon, we were told by Jim Balsille that 2.0 would be "shown off" at DevCon and "released shortly afterwards". This was announced on the 15th of September. On the 10th of October, a massive 'core switch failure' occurred in RIM servers in Europe. Not to sound like a tinfoil hat man, but could they have been switching over to servers or software which are compatible with QNX, and this was the cause of the failure?

DevCon, which was on the 18th of October, had one of the most awkward keynotes most of us have ever seen. The 2.0 software, which a month prior was to be "shown off", was not shown off at all, and awkwardly used as a backdrop instead. The dev build of 2.0 released to the public had no trace of any PIM applications onboard. To ice it all off, instead of releasing 2.0 "shortly after" DevCon, the date is extended to February of 2012.

Take from this what you want, but I truly think all the pieces fit together perfectly. After trying to switch their servers to QNX compatible ones, a giant network outage occurred. RIM then quickly had to change their DevCon keynote and get rid of any 2.0 information it contained as the PIM apps would not be ready in time. After DevCon, analysis of the failure indicated that much work was yet to be done, and the timeline would now have to be extended until February.

[chrism_scotland]

It does sound plausible that the migration could have affected the servers, and its not the first time I've heard it mentioned as a possibility, would explain the sudden change in tack along with the lack of the OS 2.0 reveal and QNX Smartphones being shown,

[kingbernie06511]

I agree with the outage and pretty much everything you say.

what really ticks me off in this is the fact that all this is due to BIS/BES integration, which could have been temporarily averted by shipping PB with regular imap/pop email, and simple calendar/contact applications. Then later on, you offer BIS/BES stuff when its ready.

[rdkempt]

My thoughts on OS2. It's not coming in February.

We expect to deliver the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS to customers in February 2012 and we’ll continue to keep you updated as we progress to the launch.

We sort of think that maybe we might have something sort of done in late February hopefully is what was said.

[chrism_scotland]

As I've posted elsewhere, personally I'm not sure that native BBM is that important right now, if a 3G/4G Playbook is released then it is but it needs to be tethered to our Blackberry anyway as it stands so I don't see what the big deal is - of course native BBM independent of having a phone might convince non BB users to buy one.

But like you say I don't know why an imap/pop email client can't just be given, it would at least give consumers who just want to access their Gmail/Yahoo,etc if not giving business users full access to their email via BES.

I'm sure I read a thread in the software forum where one Dev said he had submitted such an App but that it had been knocked back... shame they can't just sell it elsewhere...

[axe50]

I honestly think that your thoughts are spot on. I thought the same thing when the outage happened...way to coincidental. (Actually my initial blame was the BIS upgrade which I think was the same weekend for parts of Europe)

[rs422a]

I thought of this when the system went down. I've known for a while that BB dual PIN was a problem. Instigate a world-wide shutdown to test? Not unless it got away from them.

Look, the deal is this: RIM like Nokia got caught off guard by the iPhone. Plain and simple. Apple was in trouble and knew it had to get something out there that would appeal to the masses. So they re-packaged a smart phone (which RIM pioneered) and made it available to the great dumbed-down. It worked. Like flies drawn to dog feces, the masses were thrilled at the new found 'device'. But lets juxtapose a couple of things here.

Apple was a computer hardware/software company that decided to jump into cellphones. It was properly positioned with both design engineers and software engineers that it could re-task. And let's not forget about money to finance said design project.

RIM (Nokia too) was primarily engaged in continued proprietary smart phone development and didn't see a need (circa 2005) to re-design it's own network. Then BOOM! out comes the iPhone and everybody is scrambling to catch up. Nokia still hasn't done it. RIM had barely the capability but did start bringing out product.

Then Apple decides to repackage Newton and BOOM! again- the iPad. Now RIM is in serious techno-shock. One, they don't have the software engineers and two they don't have product designers to compete in the instantaneous transition of a hybrid device. Google has the funds to go full bore and beats RIM to Android. RIM is caught struggling with QNX in order to get something on the market- anything on the market. So hence the Playbook.

It takes time folks to re-task an entire company. Especially these days. I've used a BB phone since 2000. When others were sweating issues my phone worked everytime. let's not forget who the real trailblazer in smartphones was here. Yes there miscalculations and mis-steps made by RIM. But for my business the Blackberry has and will always be the best device. And the Playbook will have a bright future. These are growing pains and nothing more.

[peter9477]

In the earnings call before DevCon, we were told by Jim Balsille that 2.0 would be "shown off" at DevCon and "released shortly afterwards".

While I have intention of defending the ridiculous pattern of repeatedly raising expectations and failing to meet them, the above is false.

It wasn't Jim, but Mike, and his exact words were "a new major software release for the PlayBook that will be demonstrated at DevCon in October and released thereafter". (This is from a recording.)

The word "shortly" never entered into it.

[Laura Knotek]

The Organizational Lifecycle is probably the best model to describe the current situation at RIM.

[biggulpseh]

While I have intention of defending the ridiculous pattern of repeatedly raising expectations and failing to meet them, the above is false.

It wasn't Jim, but Mike, and his exact words were "a new major software release for the PlayBook that will be demonstrated at DevCon in October and released thereafter". (This is from a recording.)

The word "shortly" never entered into it.

Take it up with Adam Zeis then. I didn't make it up, the words were quoted by Zeis in this article appearing on Crackberry on September 15th.

BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet OS v2 confirmed by Jim Balsillie on RIM Earnings call - Will launch after DevCon next month | CrackBerry.com

[howarmat]

The Organizational Lifecycle is probably the best model to describe the current situation at RIM.

at what stage do you think they are in?

[peter9477]

Take it up with Adam Zeis then. I didn't make it up, the words were quoted by Zeis in this article appearing on Crackberry on September 15th.

BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet OS v2 confirmed by Jim Balsillie on RIM Earnings call - Will launch after DevCon next month | CrackBerry.com

Done.

I think you and others should still stop repeating something you now know to be inaccurate.

[Laura Knotek]

at what stage do you think they are in?

I think they are still in the decline stage at this point.

There is a possibility of revival, but the keys are what is bolded:

The Revival stage is optional and can occur during a Mature or Decline stage for a firm who recognizes and initiates drastic changes to alter their current trajectory. This is typically a phase of diversification and expansion of product-market scope. Firms pursue rapid growth through innovation, acquisition, and diversification and this involves a good deal of risk taking. New top-level leadership is often required to initiate or effectively implement this stage and it is also a period of necessarily increased investment.

They need to do this quickly, or the revival will not occur.

[howarmat]

I think they are still in the decline stage at this point.

There is a possibility of revival, but the keys are what is bolded:


They need to do this quickly, or the revival will not occur.

i think the bold part says it all and will decide the fate of the company. I will also admit that this applies to all companies but just more so when a company is at a stage that RIM is

[biggulpseh]

Done.

I think you and others should still stop repeating something you now know to be inaccurate.

I don't know it to be inaccurate. It's only you telling me that. I didn't listen to the conference call so I have no idea and am only relying on second hand information from what I believe to be a very trusted source.

[howarmat]

it doesnt really matter which of the 2 airheads said it, the point is it was stated by a CEO on an investor conference call

[tumer]

so i can certainly believe this was the cause of the outage and the reasin the bbx hhs werent shown of but the big question is what if by febuary they still havent figured out how to fix it ???????????

[samab]

RIM redid a number of things --- like the UI (from flash to native c cascades), email client (from java to native c codes).

QNX has been selling their flash based UI way of doing things to car manufacturers because car manufacturers don't necessarily have the engineering expertise to design their UI in native codes.

RIM has the engineering expertise to make a native c UI, so they should have programmed the UI in native codes from the start. Buying TAT gives them the engineers and the framework to do the cool 3D UI stuff --- but even without TAT, RIM could have done a less "cool" UI in native codes.

I think that the native email via java player on the client side was scrapped because the server side wasn't ready.

[peter9477]

it doesnt really matter which of the 2 airheads said it, the point is it was stated by a CEO on an investor conference call

No, you're missing the point. "It", as in the word "shortly", was NOT said by either CEO during the investor conference call.

Listen to the recording for yourself. The first few seconds have Jim introducing Mike, and if you jump to 5:05 you'll hear in the following seconds what I quoted above.

Adam Zeis, please take note again that your blog post was inaccurate, and the above information should let you correct it.

[ifarlow]

I really doesn't matter at this point if "shortly" was used or not. Let it go. The reality is that RIM has now admitted that they are waiting to launch OS2. Waiting... as in delaying, which suggests that OS2 was supposed to be released shortly after DevCon.

Furthermore, as has been pointed out over and over again RIM said they expect to release OS2 in February. Expect... as in we hope to be able to, but might not be able to. Anyone that clings to February as the release of OS2 is a fool. How many times does RIM have to bite the hand that feeds it before that hand is pulled away?

For some of you, it seems like you enjoy having your hand bitten.