1. remus2k's Avatar
    At launch I was disappointed to realize that Balance would only work with a BES account... perhaps it was my own fault for not keeping up to date with the new OS as info was released but for a long time I was looking forward to having a phone where I could separate my personal contacts/emails from my business ones. (I do a lot of contract work.)

    I'm pretty sure that BB has no intention of opening this up to at the consumer level, unfortunately... but initially when I heard about 10 and this feature I thought it was a FANTASTIC idea on their part and would help them to secure a good deal of consumer-level users away from the other platforms. Keeping it on a BES level really hinders the reach of this really great function of the phone and I have found myself in the last week wishing it functioned for me.

    Anybody else feel this way?

    -Chris-
    brian4591 and phylez like this.
    02-15-13 10:09 AM
  2. Crowezine's Avatar
    Gotta agree - Balance is really a great tool to separate your work space from your private space, but sadly you need to be on BES. They could release it to consumer levels, but really the idea of Balance is that the workspace is connected to your business (by BES) including all the apps connected to everyone within that business, yet separate from your personal life. If it was available for consumers, work spaces would be irrelevant because you need BES for that to work in the first place. So really, the only thing consumers could use it for would probably be email, but business emails like "[email protected]" (<-- I don't know if that's real) are generally set with their IMAP - and others - turned off for protection reasons. So, again, pointless for general consumers.
    02-15-13 10:17 AM
  3. remus2k's Avatar
    For me it was the concept of having a separate contact book, BBM account, email, and apps. I had this concept in my head when they announced it that I would almost literally have two phones in my hand, but in one unit. Kind of like a partitioned space.

    Like I said I probably misunderstood it but I was excited about that feature and felt it was a BIG step forward for BB if they included it allowing small business people to separate their lives.

    If I hand my phone off to my kid I don't want them messing with anything business related... the "personal" side could just be friends/family contacts and games etc to entertain the little one. A partitioned space would keep my work profile "safe"... if that makes sense.

    Either way, I feel it's a *bit* of a missed opportunity for BB... I think it would have taken off. The device is plenty powerful to handle it!

    -Chris-
    BernFlo likes this.
    02-15-13 10:21 AM
  4. croman's Avatar
    Crowezine: I wouldn't necessarily say pointless for general consumers...I would consider myself a general consumer, although I own and operate a small business (construction company with anywhere from 25-70 employees) and no, I do not run BES - yet I would LOVE it if it were possible to run BB Balance. Sure I don't require the work profile to have its own apps etc, but the ability to have all work related items (call logs, emails etc) in their own separate partition would be awesome. Just wish there was a way that this was possible without BES.
    BernFlo likes this.
    02-15-13 10:29 AM
  5. Ecm's Avatar
    I'd love to see Balance avaialable to all as well. I think it was poorly communicated most of the way leading up to and including the launch event.

    It would have been a very nice distinction.
    02-16-13 12:02 AM
  6. dcbo89's Avatar
    All they need to do to make it viable for the prosumer at least is just to make a barebones version of BES10 available. Say 1, 2 or maybe 4 devices max. Charge 10/20 dollars for it and I'd still do it.

    I dont need the enterprise level support, I dont need it to do anything really except to enable Balance
    Last edited by dcbo89; 02-16-13 at 01:31 AM.
    02-16-13 01:19 AM
  7. b320's Avatar
    All they need to do to make it viable for the prosumer at least is just to make a barebones version of BES10 available. Say 1, 2 or maybe 4 devices max. Charge 10/20 dollars for it and I'd still do it.

    I dont need the enterprise level support, I dont need it to anything really except to enable Balance
    BlackBerry has already worked on this. You can get Microsoft Office 365 hosted Exchange boxes and couple them with BES 10 for Microsoft Office 365.

    BlackBerry has lowered pricing on BES already. Server licenses of BES 10 cost $0. You have to pay for device licensing which works out to $99/device/year (or less depending on the size of your account).
    Quoted from http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...no-bes-770846/
    02-16-13 01:34 AM
  8. dcbo89's Avatar
    While that is a good direction, 100 per year is too high for this service for me personally. I'm looking for something simple
    02-16-13 02:55 AM
  9. dejanh's Avatar
    I agree with the OP. I would love to have this option without BES.

    Posted using CrackBerry App on BB10
    02-16-13 03:06 AM
  10. Oscar_E's Avatar
    I agree with you, i am my own boss and do a lot of contract work, my business has to do with entertainment and i have a lot of contacts from suppliers and sponsors and it's a huge DB and i just dont have the time to be grouping all of my business contacts, so i was really exited when i though it was going to be a phone feature and not only for BES. I believe they should at least make a limited contacts balance for the consumers, e.g. when I'm saving a contact if it is a business one, swipe down, switch to work, and save the info there, so it's not all mixed with my personal ones.
    02-16-13 03:59 AM
  11. b320's Avatar
    I agree with you, i am my own boss and do a lot of contract work, my business has to do with entertainment and i have a lot of contacts from suppliers and sponsors and it's a huge DB and i just dont have the time to be grouping all of my business contacts, so i was really exited when i though it was going to be a phone feature and not only for BES. I believe they should at least make a limited contacts balance for the consumers, e.g. when I'm saving a contact if it is a business one, swipe down, switch to work, and save the info there, so it's not all mixed with my personal ones.
    If all that you're looking for is contacts separation, that's already built in into the Contacts app. Just like with BlackBerry Balance, you need to have your personal and business Contacts separated into two different sources. Then, simply slide left to right to view *only* the contact list you would like by tapping on it.

    BlackBerry Balance is a premium feature available to users with proper BES 10 licensing and infrastructure.
    02-16-13 08:52 AM
  12. dcbo89's Avatar
    but I dont see the point in limiting the functionality to BES though. First off Balance is a feature of BB10, it even shows up on the demo models for some reason, yet its limited to what must be a fairly small percentage of people currently.

    Since its for my own personal preference and use rather than having a corp control it I just need access to that other partition. I dont need the BES software, just a clone of the non balance mode. Allow the corps that pay thousands to run BES have higher functionality and more control, I dont need that on my Balance, just the encryption and extra privacy that it offers me.

    Balance is a great feature thats being teased by BB, dangled just out of our reach and I think that that is what is irking many of us.
    02-16-13 10:16 AM
  13. QuantumQnx's Avatar
    The beauty of QNX is that it is relatively easy to add or change the os because it is just running on top of the Qnx micro kernel. I think will see tons of features being added at a much faster pace than in the past.

    Posted using CrackBerry App on BB10
    02-16-13 10:21 AM
  14. WinnPro's Avatar
    Just something I noticed...

    When you search the device for "Balance"

    Does anyone else get a search hit for BlackBerry Balance, and then when I tap on it it says that my admin has activated blackberry balance on my device...?? But them the screen seems to be locked.

    Weird

    Posted using CrackBerry App on BB10
    02-16-13 10:43 AM
  15. supergatorace's Avatar
    Perhaps BB should consider offering BB Balance as part of BIS plans, giving another reason for non-corporate users to buy a BIS data plan on BB10.
    02-16-13 12:13 PM
  16. b320's Avatar
    While that is a good direction, 100 per year is too high for this service for me personally. I'm looking for something simple
    Perhaps BB should consider offering BB Balance as part of BIS plans, giving another reason for non-corporate users to buy a BIS data plan on BB10.
    I'm all for market segmentation at different price levels. It's one of the major reasons why Microsoft is successful and why it prevailed over a long string of competitors, large and small, over past 30 years. However, I am not sure what you're asking BlackBerry do here. Offer enterprise-level BES product or features for free or at loss?

    Certainly, you cannot expect BlackBerry to canabilize its product offering to enterprises that *do* value the BES featureset even further. BlackBerry must try to make money by selling BES, not throw it in as otherwise, it doesn't make sense for BlackBerry to remain in the MDM business.

    Anyone who seriously considers BES a need is *already* getting a two-fold price cut: #1 is the BES cost reduction (per my earlier reply) and #2 is an even more substantial reduction resulting from elimination of BlackBerry-specific plans. You no longer need a carrier BES plan, which results in a reduction of $10-$25 PER MONTH to state of affairs in place over the past 5 years. (Caveat: some carriers are playing games and currently plan on surcharging customers with BlackBerry devices but this means that you either need to pick a carrier who doesn't do this or wait for the industry to shake out just like with iPhone and Android plans before.)

    If you find $100/year/device for BES to be unfair, then perhaps go see if Good Messaging, MobileIron or MDaemon gives you better value.
    02-16-13 03:46 PM
  17. dcbo89's Avatar
    First off Blackberry only plans are terrible and there is absolutely no need for them.

    Secondly I am not asking for an Enterprise feature for free, far from it, what I see the cost of BES being is the ability to remotely manage devices, to set rules for said devices, have a higher level of support from BB itself. Giving the pro user access to a basic form of Balance, without all the external control, would hardly cannibalize Blackberry's enterprise offerings. Balance is just something that is thrown in with BES. Its been advertised enough that it should be usable.

    And its not that I think 100/device/year is unfair for BES, I think its quite a good price actually compared to the 3000 price for BES before, but 100/device/year is too much for Balance for me personally.

    I'm all for market segmentation at different price levels. It's one of the major reasons why Microsoft is successful and why it prevailed over a long string of competitors, large and small, over past 30 years. However, I am not sure what you're asking BlackBerry do here. Offer enterprise-level BES product or features for free or at loss?

    Certainly, you cannot expect BlackBerry to canabilize its product offering to enterprises that *do* value the BES featureset even further. BlackBerry must try to make money by selling BES, not throw it in as otherwise, it doesn't make sense for BlackBerry to remain in the MDM business.

    Anyone who seriously considers BES a need is *already* getting a two-fold price cut: #1 is the BES cost reduction (per my earlier reply) and #2 is an even more substantial reduction resulting from elimination of BlackBerry-specific plans. You no longer need a carrier BES plan, which results in a reduction of $10-$25 PER MONTH to state of affairs in place over the past 5 years. (Caveat: some carriers are playing games and currently plan on surcharging customers with BlackBerry devices but this means that you either need to pick a carrier who doesn't do this or wait for the industry to shake out just like with iPhone and Android plans before.)

    If you find $100/year/device for BES to be unfair, then perhaps go see if Good Messaging, MobileIron or MDaemon gives you better value.
    02-16-13 05:38 PM
  18. Omnitech's Avatar
    I predicted this would happen.

    Lots of the tech journalists and other hacks covering BB10/Z10 wrote articles gushing about Balance as if everyone would have that feature on their devices.

    I agree it would be a cool feature to have as either standalone or via some service like Blackberry Protect. And interestingly if Blackberry doesn't do it, the competition will. Lots of families are now sharing tablets with the kids and so on, and are asking for multi-user / parental-lockout capabilities.
    Protocol 2001 likes this.
    02-17-13 01:18 AM
  19. Rockymtnx's Avatar
    I just like many of you was somewhat lead astray on the BB Balance. From all the advertizing I seen I thought that anyone too could have separate profiles.

    What I wish I could do is have access to my personal stuff, then have the option of looking at my work emails only when I wished to. I just don’t want access this stuff 24hrs a day. I would rather not see work related emails after 5pm or on weekends, unless I chose to.

    Hopefully BB can come up with something like this. There seems to be a few of us that would like this option.
    Last edited by Rockymtnx; 02-19-13 at 05:14 PM.
    02-19-13 04:53 PM
  20. Bluenoser63's Avatar
    You guys need to think about it for a minute. Blackberry touts Balance that allows you to balance your work and personal space. Work and Personal spaces. So if you want a Work space, get your work to get a BES 10 server. This isn't meant for Personal and Personal space.

    And it isn't $100/year. It's 99$ for a perpetual CALs that are sold as a one-time fee.

    Plus as some who has implemented Balance, you need to understand how it works to know that they cannot dumb it down.
    02-19-13 05:38 PM
  21. Sqoon's Avatar
    It also doesn't work as separate contact lists either. When balance is unlocked, you see all your work email, Calendar, and Contacts mixed with your personal.

    I don't even use my work space, there is nothing there that I need.

    Posted via CB10
    02-19-13 05:44 PM
  22. theegoldenone's Avatar
    If they could build it for the intended scenario, I'm sure they could make a similar, consumer level app and name it something other than "balance". That way, they wouldn't have to recode the original and just alter the consumer level app.
    02-19-13 05:54 PM
  23. zippy88's Avatar
    I don't think anyone here has a proper understanding of what BB Balance is.

    Its a tool that allows companies to issue corporate devices and put all kinds of restrictions on them while still allowing the end user to install their favorite social media apps and treat the phone like a personal device. Normally if a company wanted full control of a device, they would have to restrict the installation of applications and other email accounts. This is to prevent them from copy/pasting sensitive work related information that might be on their phone. Balance creates a protected enterprise space that prevents a user from copying/pasting information between the two sides. Admins could wipe the work side of the phone, restrict either side to certain hours of the day etc.

    In short, BB Balance is just a way for companies to push their most restrictive IT policies to a phone and still allow the user to treat the phone as a personal device.
    02-19-13 06:10 PM
  24. Thunderbuck's Avatar
    Crowezine: I wouldn't necessarily say pointless for general consumers...I would consider myself a general consumer, although I own and operate a small business (construction company with anywhere from 25-70 employees) and no, I do not run BES - yet I would LOVE it if it were possible to run BB Balance. Sure I don't require the work profile to have its own apps etc, but the ability to have all work related items (call logs, emails etc) in their own separate partition would be awesome. Just wish there was a way that this was possible without BES.
    In my mind, you have an excellent use case for hosted Exchange and BES. Small monthly fee, and your e-mail and PIM run on an enterprise-grade infrastructure.
    02-19-13 06:26 PM
  25. Omnitech's Avatar
    In my mind, you have an excellent use case for hosted Exchange and BES. Small monthly fee, and your e-mail and PIM run on an enterprise-grade infrastructure.
    Yep, and since you can get that sort of service from a variety of companies starting at a single user at a cost of $5-10 a month (perhaps not with BES integrated but we'll see how that works out when the hosting companies start deploying BES10), a lot of small businesses are doing exactly that.
    02-19-13 06:32 PM
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