[o4liberty]

As long as a marketing campaign is carried out we can look forward to increased sales. Blackberry needs the exposure so that developers start making more apps for the BB10 platform. I own both the q10 and an Apple 5s and it amazing how fast the developers are updating their apps to IOS7 on a daily basis.

[rthonpm]

There seems to be a sentiment that Fairfax/Watsa will have daily control of the company: this couldn't be further from the truth. Fairfax will make changes, and more than likely we may see some changes that the market would have seen as drastic or as toxic to the stock price, but that are completely necessary. I'm also curious whether there are any potential synergies with other Fairfax holdings that could open new opportunities.

Posted via CB10

[sulcopete]

There seems to be a sentiment that Fairfax/Watsa will have daily control of the company: this couldn't be further from the truth. Fairfax will make changes, and more than likely we may see some changes that the market would have seen as drastic or as toxic to the stock price, but that are completely necessary. I'm also curious whether there are any potential synergies with other Fairfax holdings that could open new opportunities. Posted via CB10

Admittedly I'm not very tech-savy and don't know a lot about this issue...however from my point of view just as a long time consumer and buyer of blackberry phones since 2006 - blackberry's biggest problem is that they're losing their identity by trying to emulate the popular devices - thinking that they can grab a bigger percentage of the market in doing so. To me, the formula for success is simple:
1) above all else it's gotta work. No undersized batteries - phone should be able to go for 20 hours heavy use no problem.
2) know your market - mature business users not kids. Market to them! Keep the focus business and industry and the professional.
3) The basic functionality of the phone should not change. Busy professionals should be able to pick up a new device and be able to use it like the old, and not have to learn things from scratch. Yes I understand about the new system and this and that. However, at the user level, the new tech could be made to operate for basic functions as the old devices did. Problem with the Q10 for this is that we lost the buttons. IMHO...that was a mistake. Most annoying is not being able to terminate a call right now. Screen real estate is for kids. Function over form! Any user of blackberry should be able to pick up another blackberry and do the basic things without having to learn something new.
4) Invest in your programmers - test and retest and get it right before the phone hits the market.
These point are general in nature but vital! Watsa does not need to have daily control to set the priorities straight. As the owner of the company everyone works for him and they all should understand the primary goals. If you go to Fairfax's website, their company has some pretty clear objectives and principles laid out that I liked very much. If he can bring the same core mission objectives to blackberry I think they certainly will succeed. Maybe not overnight but Watsa also understands that change will take time.

[SoxFan]

Anyone who thinks the Q10 is better off now that the company has announced it is ditching its consumer products is seriously under the influence of something strong. Who would ever buy a device from a company that's discontinuing the whole business, let alone make a two year commitment to it?

Posted via CB10

[IgotsThis]

Anyone who thinks the Q10 is better off now that the company has announced it is ditching its consumer products is seriously under the influence of something strong. Who would ever buy a device from a company that's discontinuing the whole business, let alone make a two year commitment to it?

Posted via CB10

Whoa, never met an oracle before.

BBM channels: c00121c99 for some knowledge and c00123fca for some real hip hop

[anon(870071)]

That's my take after reading what Prem Watsa said about purchasing BlackBerry through Fairfax Financial - �The brand name, a security system second to none, a distribution network across 650 telecom carriers worldwide, a 79 million subscriber base, enterprise customers accounting for 90 percent of the Fortune 500, almost exclusive usage by governments in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., a huge original patent portfolio, an outstanding new operating system developed by QNX and $2.9 billion in cash with no debt, are all formidable strengths as BlackBerry makes its comeback!�
To me, this is the best news ever for the company. It means going private, where the focus can return to the consumer rather than the stockholders. Prem Watsa is my new favorite person! BlackBerry might just experience a great revival. Best of all, I will continue to rock the Q10 proudly.

Agreed I really hope he follows through on this and puts the due work into taking BlackBerry to the next level!

Posted in CB forums and on Bbos leak 10.2.1047

[sinnar]

I dont believe they said anywhere they were discontinuing anything. They are going private and are going to refocus on business and services if i recall. The q10 definitly falls under business so im sure they'll keep updating it.

Posted via Blackberry Q10

[SC457]

10.2 coming out next month officially for everyone helps improve the Q10 also. Seems like Prem Watsa has an invested interest in turning BlackBerry around in my opinion, otherwise I don't think he would waste his time. The board knows him, if he was going to chop the company up and sell it they could just do that themselves right now. Guess we'll see how it works out if Fairfax Financial completes the buyout.

[sulcopete]

Anyone who thinks the Q10 is better off now that the company has announced it is ditching its consumer products is seriously under the influence of something strong. Who would ever buy a device from a company that's discontinuing the whole business, let alone make a two year commitment to it?

Posted via CB10

I must have missed that announcement. Do you have a link to share?

[SoxFan]

If they succeed at doing this takeunder using the $2.5B of cash to offset the purchase price, then they are exiting the consumer business (throwing it away, writing it off) and focusing on the enterprise and govt business.

Bye bye consumers. They basically knew this when they released such a poor product with such a half-baked effort.

Makes a decent paperweight if not a bad PDA.

[Crackberrykills]

Prem Watsa cannot be trusted. He is a businessman, after all. Too much conjecture on CB at this point. No one will know anything concrete for a bit longer. I am fairly optimistic things will be okay, but far too pragmatic to believe in that wholly.

[freedomx20a]

They are going to 4 devices now. Q10/5
Z30/10

High and low end.


All this means is the new torch is cancelled

Posted via Q10 using CB10

[SoxFan]

We can trust that:

(1) Blackberry will exit consumer products.

(2) At LEAST 40% of the workforce is being laid off, but I suspect this is only phase 1.

(3) App development is toast.

Wow. What a stupid decision I made to buy a Q10. Never worked effectively in the first place. Basic apps like YELP don't even exist for it. And now, such a bleak future in terms of radically needed software fixes/updates.

The story line now reads: "How to Go from Market Leader to Dinosaur in a Few Short Years" by Ma and Pa Blackberry.

[Supa_Fly1]

I thought BlackBerry was still popular world wide, just not as much in the USA. They control like 1 percent of the market, but that's still not that bad when every damn person in this country has a cell phone now.

Cellphones outnumber smartphones by over 56% of all global cellular phone users, regardless of cell phone technology used for connectivity (CDMA, WCDMA, LTE, TD-CDMA etc).

Also, only one nation globally comes even remotely close to smartphone users hitting saturation from age 19yrs up to 50yrs of age, that is in UK, but look at the total service provider user numbers... compare that with China on one provider alone. then India. You then will understand a lot more.

Posted via CB10