[Brewer James]

I know it's early in his tenure but I'm optimistic given the early moves by him. He understands that Blackberry can ill afford to lose it's existing customer base, for he knows it far cheaper to keep a customer than having to go out and get a new one. To that extent he's giving the customer what they want with his announcement of the restart of the Bold line. He knows short term that he has to have revenue coming in and that can't happen if customers bolt. He also has a long term vision of the company and where it's future lies, that may not make all happy but it's a realistic vision moving forward. I read today in the WSJ where almost 2/3 of the phones sold last quarter were the legacy OS devices, that's telling! I may be in the minority but I'm excited about Chen's leadership and looking forward to the new Bold, a phone I've never owned, my BB have been curves.

[anon721037]

I have all the faith in the world with him running the ship.

[anon(1852343)]

Perhaps a new bold with better specs might do something positive

Q10 with Telus on 10.2.1.2141

[Brewer James]

I agree, if they can improve the Bold that could help them.

[boody78]

I'm pretty sure it's the same bold, they are just making more of them, and at a lower cost.

Posted via CB10

[playbookster]

I can't see myself going back to a qwerty after owning a z30

The GIF Exchange C001B7B16?

[Brewer James]

Even if it were the same bold at a lower price I'd probably buy one, especially if it incorporated FM radio like some of the handsets now.

[anon(5828343)]

You mean this "direction"?



You're right, it is early in Chen's mandate.

So far, he's said as many contradictory yet feel good things as Heins.

So far, we haven't seen anything that is really his except perhaps his decision to overrule his marketing department on the name "Classic".

So far, he's said lots and done little.

[Solar 77]

I can't see myself going back to a qwerty after owning a z30

The GIF Exchange C001B7B16?

Same here.

Posted via CB10

[djpailo]

I think the question on everybody's lips is whether he mentioned the Playbook or not.

[richardat]

259225[/ATTACH]

You're right, it is early in Chen's mandate.

So far, he's said as many contradictory yet feel good things as Heins.

So far, we haven't seen anything that is really his except perhaps his decision to overrule his marketing department on the name "Classic".

So far, he's said lots and done little.

Besides the fact that he's shown no clear leadership, direction, or ideas ( I don't blame him for that - he's simply desperately pressing every viable avenue to see if there is a business in anything), IF HIS interviews are too be believed ( and perhaps it's just spin and lies), then he is completely and hopelessly out of touch, and very confused. He's still spoutng the prosumer garbage and proclaiming that the only problem is education and getting people familiar with the product :-O. WOAHHHH...... Sounds like some fans here - and its completely wrong.

In terms of execution - so far there are no results. We will have to see - but as it is, they are losing ground wildly every day, and Chen seems to think he can keep the remaining base with focus on what they used to do - totally totally wrong. If he really believes that he's in for a rude surprise. Anyways, in terms of execution so far, and announced plans, bes, bbm, phones - are on track to fail.

And good lord- he's still spewing the internet of things ridiculouysness !!

The best concrete thing he's done so far is to eliminate the company (employees, property. Research) a bit at a time - then again, deja vu like experience- that's exactly what I said about heins!! It's necessary but as such demand no insight or vision.

[badiyee]

I liked what he did after taking over the helm. He has indicated where is the long term goal for BlackBerry, as simplistic and quite humble-pill-biting as it is ( he layed out two goals, to get back to profitability and to focus on entrenching in the enterprise sector), he's pulling a lot of short term maneuvers that other CEOs would have (and did) ignore on every other thing.

I think he has balls to go low. Some people are too high and mighty, sitting on a high horse, or on a high perch throne, but he's got the balls to go low, and walk low, and be frank about it. He's the kind of businessman you'll want if you want profitability. He's not concerned about rebranding and stuffs (which is good) and he knows if something can be fixed in less than 2 minutes he gets it done instead of overglossing it.

[anon(5828343)]

Besides the fact that he's shown no clear leadership, direction, or ideas ( I don't blame him for that - he's simply desperately pressing every viable avenue to see if there is a business in anything), IF HIS interviews are too be believed ( and perhaps it's just spin and lies), then he is completely and hopelessly out of touch, and very confused. He's still spoutng the prosumer garbage and proclaiming that the only problem is education and getting people familiar with the product :-O. WOAHHHH...... Sounds like some fans here - and its completely wrong.

In terms of execution - so far there are no results. We will have to see - but as it is, they are losing ground wildly every day, and Chen seems to think he can keep the remaining base with focus on what they used to do - totally totally wrong. If he really believes that he's in for a rude surprise. Anyways, in terms of execution so far, and announced plans, bes, bbm, phones - are on track to fail.

And good lord- he's still spewing the internet of things ridiculouysness !!

The best concrete thing he's done so far is to eliminate the company (employees, property. Research) a bit at a time - then again, deja vu like experience- that's exactly what I said about heins!! It's necessary but as such demand no insight or vision.

All we have seen is lots of "blah, blah, blah".

Chen, like Heins, speaks but unlike Heins, Chen goes out of his way and desperately seeks media attention and speaking opportunities. Just like Heins, fanboys hang on his every word and just like Heins, his words are full of contradiction.

One day he's prosumer. The next he is launching a consumer device for Indonesia. The next day he proudly proclaims he is jettisoning hardware (he took credit even though it was later revealed the deal with Foxconn was months in the making and started when Heins was still around). The next he says that hardware is the future.

He keeps making brutally silly and naive comments about the market still loving BB7 and appealing to the "traditional" BB market. Has he been in a cave somewhere without internet access over the past 5-7 years during the time when BB's marketshare dropped from over 50% to below 1%?

And BES -- give me a break. BES10 was a total failure -- BBRY kept reporting numbers of installed servers including free trials! When customers started getting the bills, they ran away faster than you could say "BES".

So he's sold real estate, fired employees and written down BB10 devices. Big frigging deal.

Has he done anything concrete or solid?

Has he improved carrier relationships? (Not by pissing all over John Legere of T-Mobile who, actually, is really turning the U.S. phone market on its head!)

Has he launched a new marketing and sales strategy to stem the losses? (Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?)

Has he given customers or investors any real indication about BBRY's future?

I'm starting to think that his and the Board's ultimate objective is simply to keep BBRY alive long enough to take their pound of flesh from the rotting carcass and for Watsa to stem his losses from his initial investment.

[Doggerz]

I think Chen sucks. At least the last one pretended to like BlackBerry fans. Need a CEO who will hire people to perfect this OS and then advertise the hell out of it.

Unless you're a fan of BBOS I don't see why you'd like Chen. All I want is BB10 to be able to do all BBOS did and then some.

Chen is going in every direction so I guess someone is bound to like one of the directions he is going in.

via CB10 using a Z10 / STL100-3 / RFK121LW / 10.2.1.2234 / T-Mobile USA

[anon(5828343)]

I think the past few days have proven the directionless leadership Chen is providing. The comments he made (and subsequently repudiated) in Reuters about abandoning hardware is proof that he is really no different from Heins.

I have to recount an experience I just had today in dealing with Apple which provides a stark contrast with BBRY.

My daughter has an iPhone 5 which is 18 months old. Like many teens, she is a power user and the iPhone rarely leaves her side. Over the past week, she has noticed a substantial deterioration in the iPhone's battery life. Her phone was outside the original one year warranty and we also never bought the extended Apple Care warranty.

We made a Genius Bar appointment at our local Apple Store where after performing some diagnostics, the Apple Genius determined that her battery was at 60% efficiency and that while she could still get some use, he recommended a battery replacement which was $79. We agreed to his solution and were informed that the replacement would take under an hour.

We returned to the Apple Store an hour after we left her iPhone 5 and one of the Geniuses looked up our device. He returned to inform us that while the battery was replaced, they noticed that one of the small clips inside the device appeared faulty. My daughter, like any teen, has likely dropped the device over the past 18 months and, in fact, had to have the screen replaced because one of her drops cracked the screen. In a surprising move, the Genius didn't try to upsell us to a new device or try to lay or find any blame, he did what we have come to expect from Apple, he offered a brand new device for the price of the original work quoted (a $79 battery replacement). We're not talking about a refurbished device but a brand new, out of the box, factory iPhone 5.

Any company that stands by their product when it is out of warranty and when the optional extended warranty wasn't purchased deserves my business and loyalty.

Any company that makes it easy to contact them for product consultation and repairs deserves my business and loyalty.

Any company that doesn't try to blame the user for product defects deserves my business and loyalty.

Any company that makes me feel good about the entire experience deserves my business and loyalty.

Instead of the suing, whining, complaining, contradicting and excuse making, Chen and BBRY could learn something from this story.

In the past, whenever I've had problems with my BB devices (and I've had many), all I get from BBRY is defensive statements about how their device can't possibly fail.

Whenever I ask for support, I have to deal with my carrier first where most tech support associates know less about my BB devices that I do.

Whenever I finally got an acknowledgement from my carrier that the BB device had some "known issue" (ie. battery life, trackwheel failure), the option provided invariably meant buying a brand new device at full price or buying a "reconditioned" device at a lower price with zero guarantee that the "known issue" would even be resolved.

So if Chen wanted to take BBRY into a new and successful direction, he might want to take a page from Apple and make it easier for BB users to interact with BBRY and obtain the service support for their product.

Through physical and online product support, Apple has really changed the nature of smartphone customer service and BBRY and Chen would be well advised to study and emulate what their competitor is offering.

[donnation]

What you described above is why so many people stay loyal to Apple. For all of the posts about buying one to fit in, or to play games or because of good marketing, or blah blah blah, one thing that they should be applauded for is customer service. BB's customer service is a complete nightmare and has always been a nightmare. It's a disaster trying to get a phone replaced from them and the whole "we'll give you a POS loaner while we fix your phone and it may be 2 weeks" is so bad it's borderline criminal. Apple is by no means perfect but they do a better job than any company at making you think they care about their customers. BB doesn't act like they care about their customers and doesn't even attempt to try and show it. They make a nice product in BB10 but haven't a clue on how to treat their customers when it comes to servicing devices and keeping their buyers happy.

[ChainPunch]

The thing is Blackberry has never been Apple like when dealing with customers, except for the playbook. Blackberry has always used the carriers as their support network and their only point of contact for regular customers getting their phones repaired. What worries me is that I have not heard about any changes in Blackberry's support network and if they are still going to be carrier dependent going forward for device support.

Only time will tell and at this point Chen is still trying to figure out what direction Blackberry is going to go in regard to devices. If Chen is unsure about the direction, then he should not be making public comments about plans that are not set in stone. There is no point in talking about devices that carriers have not agreed to sell, as it make your company look bad if you hype up something and don't come through with said results.

I think the Z3, the classic, and BES12 are the first steps. The one thing I don't understand is coming out with 2 additional Q devices, unless they are going to retire the Q10/Q5. Blackberry is having problems getting carrier support now for their current BB10 devices and I wonder how much interest from carriers are they going to have for other BB10 devices, if Blackberry don't start retiring some of the current BB10 devices.

I am going to stick with Blackberry because I really don't have a better option out there,as I am only interested in physical keyboard/trackpad devices, but with that I said I understand limits of Blackberry support.

[anon(5828343)]

The thing is Blackberry has never been Apple like when dealing with customers, except for the playbook. Blackberry has always used the carriers as their support network and their only point of contact for regular customers getting their phones repaired. What worries me is that I have not heard about any changes in Blackberry's support network and if they are still going to be carrier dependent going forward for device support.

That's why I am suggesting that if Chen really wanted to take BBRY in a new, successful direction, he may want to emulate Apple's customer service support.

BBRY may have been able to outsource its customer service support to carriers when they had 50% marketshare but when your marketshare is less than 2% (that's being generous because it is south of that) and carriers don't really see you as a bread and butter option, can you afford to outsource your customer service support/contact to carriers?

BBRY needs to re-establish its credibility and loyalty with its customer base and grow it. The arrogance of the past when BBRY could do no wrong is long gone. The widespread perception of BBRY today is BBRY can only do wrong. By pursuing a new direction that puts BBRY on the forefront of customer service support -- and I'm not necessarily talking brick and mortar like Apple Stores but maybe even a virtual presence which is so easy to do today -- Chen could potentially give BBRY a fighting chance to set itself apart and take a dramatic leap from its past.

A good/great OS isn't enough for BBRY. Especially when the OS (BB10) needs so much "genius bar" instruction to really make things work. How about what Amazon is doing with its interactive product support on its new Kindle models? Push a button and get video product support instantaneously? While I can't guarantee this will be the silver bullet, I can guarantee that it will have a much greater positive impact than the utterly pointless pronouncements we have seen from Chen thus far.

[ChainPunch]

That's why I am suggesting that if Chen really wanted to take BBRY in a new, successful direction, he may want to emulate Apple's customer service support.

BBRY may have been able to outsource its customer service support to carriers when they had 50% marketshare but when your marketshare is less than 2% (that's being generous because it is south of that) and carriers don't really see you as a bread and butter option, can you afford to outsource your customer service support/contact to carriers?

BBRY needs to re-establish its credibility and loyalty with its customer base and grow it. The arrogance of the past when BBRY could do no wrong is long gone. The widespread perception of BBRY today is BBRY can only do wrong. By pursuing a new direction that puts BBRY on the forefront of customer service support -- and I'm not necessarily talking brick and mortar like Apple Stores but maybe even a virtual presence which is so easy to do today -- Chen could potentially give BBRY a fighting chance to set itself apart and take a dramatic leap from its past.

A good/great OS isn't enough for BBRY. Especially when the OS (BB10) needs so much "genius bar" instruction to really make things work. How about what Amazon is doing with its interactive product support on its new Kindle models? Push a button and get video product support instantaneously? While I can't guarantee this will be the silver bullet, I can guarantee that it will have a much greater positive impact than the utterly pointless pronouncements we have seen from Chen thus far.

I like how you think. Well the Z3 is the first one out of the gate and foxconn is managing inventory for that device. I wonder if they are also going to be providing warranty support as well.

[anon(5828343)]

I like how you think. Well the Z3 is the first one out of the gate and foxconn is managing inventory for that device. I wonder if they are also going to be providing warranty support as well.

I actually think it has to go well beyond warranty support to create enough "wow" to make a dent at the woeful reputation BBRY has earned from consumers, the media, observers and analysts. It has to be "Apple Store-like" in accessibility and "Apple-like" in terms of product commitment. Whether or not a BBRY device is still under warranty, BBRY can and should create a direct customer interface (phone, online and/or physical stores) that provides product support and also a "genius bar" type service that gives new BB10 users free tutorials on how to use BB10.

[anon(5828343)]

What you described above is why so many people stay loyal to Apple. For all of the posts about buying one to fit in, or to play games or because of good marketing, or blah blah blah, one thing that they should be applauded for is customer service. BB's customer service is a complete nightmare and has always been a nightmare. It's a disaster trying to get a phone replaced from them and the whole "we'll give you a POS loaner while we fix your phone and it may be 2 weeks" is so bad it's borderline criminal. Apple is by no means perfect but they do a better job than any company at making you think they care about their customers. BB doesn't act like they care about their customers and doesn't even attempt to try and show it. They make a nice product in BB10 but haven't a clue on how to treat their customers when it comes to servicing devices and keeping their buyers happy.

That has been my experience. I still carry both a Q10 and an iPhone 5S. As with any smartphone, I've had trouble with both. With my iPhone 5S, support is literally a click, call or appointment away (I've really only had to call Apple once with my iPhone 5S due to an issue I had when I upgraded my Mac to Mavericks). With my Q10, I had an issue with my wifi configuration and my Q10 not being able to sign on my home wifi network (after an OS upgrade since it was always able to find it before). Dealing with carrier support because I kept getting a confused associate who couldn't figure out what device I was actually using. It was painful. When my call was escalated to (what I think was) Blackberry tech support, the Blackberry tech support associate was incomprehensible.

If Chen wants something to show he is serious about change, this would be an easy way to do it.

[MobileZen]

I think the past few days have proven the directionless leadership Chen is providing. The comments he made (and subsequently repudiated) in Reuters about abandoning hardware is proof that he is really no different from Heins.

I have to recount an experience I just had today in dealing with Apple which provides a stark contrast with BBRY.

My daughter has an iPhone 5 which is 18 months old. Like many teens, she is a power user and the iPhone rarely leaves her side. Over the past week, she has noticed a substantial deterioration in the iPhone's battery life. Her phone was outside the original one year warranty and we also never bought the extended Apple Care warranty.

We made a Genius Bar appointment at our local Apple Store where after performing some diagnostics, the Apple Genius ...
... My daughter, like any teen, has likely dropped the device over the past 18 months and, in fact, had to have the screen replaced because one of her drops cracked the screen. ..

Instead of the suing, whining, complaining, contradicting and excuse making, Chen and BBRY could learn something from this story...

So if Chen wanted to take BBRY into a new and successful direction, he might want to take a page from Apple and make it easier for BB users to interact with BBRY and obtain the service support for their product.

Through physical and online product support, Apple has really changed the nature of smartphone customer service and BBRY and Chen would be well advised to study and emulate what their competitor is offering.

Uhm didn't Chen say he was going to focus on the enterprise/corporate customers first? And maybe only the consumer side in stronger markets? You are talking from a consumer POV using an Apple example with your daughter where they are mainly consumer side. However, did you not remember that BlackBerry already has stores like the Apple Store and similar experiences in their stronger markets? I.e. Indonesia, India, etc. This was being done already before Chen arrived. Now those regions are getting the launches made for those markets like the Z3.

Basically, you just wasted all of that time typing about your opinion of strategy Chen isn't focusing on initially. There's not that much money to go around either so it's all about prioritization on making money for the road to profitability. So how is Chen unclear and directionless? Same goes for others in this thread saying the same thing. I'd say Chen has clearly said what he was focusing on and being prudent and wise about it and that's what he keeps saying over and over yet he keeps getting slagged or taken out of context. Again, those still speaking from the consumer POV just wasted your time typing all of the things you did. LOL

Also, thanks for killing any enthusiasm the OP had in creating this thread in the first place on a BLACKBERRY FAN SITE. If I wanted to see continuous slagging in comments/forums, I could go to sites like BGR, CNET, The Verge, Engadget and even the Canadian site MobileSyrup but on a BlackBerry fan site? Sorry, I'm not going to sit here and not say anything. This is getting ridiculous and turning people off that care and want BlackBerry to do well and ultimately raise the competition that all customers will benefit in the end.

Brewer James, I agree. Enterprise/corporate customers are the focus with the reissue of Bolds (for existing customers or those wanting to upgrade from older devices and the "Classic" (to help transition from BBOS to BB10/BES12). That is what Chen is doing and listening to his corporate customers in the regulated industry. I hope Chen continues to execute and get out there talking to his corporate clients in meeting their business needs. Go BlackBerry and Chen!

Posted via CB10

[anon(5828343)]

Uhm didn't Chen say he was going to focus on the enterprise/corporate customers first? And maybe only the consumer side in stronger markets? You are talking from a consumer POV using an Apple example with your daughter where they are mainly consumer side. However, did you not remember that BlackBerry already has stores like the Apple Store and similar experiences in their stronger markets? I.e. Indonesia, India, etc. This was being done already before Chen arrived. Now those regions are getting the launches made for those markets like the Z3.

Basically, you just wasted all of that time typing about your opinion of strategy Chen isn't focusing on initially. There's not that much money to go around either so it's all about prioritization on making money for the road to profitability. So how is Chen unclear and directionless? Same goes for others in this thread saying the same thing. I'd say Chen has clearly said what he was focusing on and being prudent and wise about it and that's what he keeps saying over and over yet he keeps getting slagged or taken out of context. Again, those still speaking from the consumer POV just wasted your time typing all of the things you did. LOL

Also, thanks for killing any enthusiasm the OP had in creating this thread in the first place on a BLACKBERRY FAN SITE. If I wanted to see continuous slagging in comments/forums, I could go to sites like BGR, CNET, The Verge, Engadget and even the Canadian site MobileSyrup but on a BlackBerry fan site? Sorry, I'm not going to sit here and not say anything. This is getting ridiculous and turning people off that care and want BlackBerry to do well and ultimately raise the competition that all customers will benefit in the end.

Brewer James, I agree. Enterprise/corporate customers are the focus with the reissue of Bolds (for existing customers or those wanting to upgrade from older devices and the "Classic" (to help transition from BBOS to BB10/BES12). That is what Chen is doing and listening to his corporate customers in the regulated industry. I hope Chen continues to execute and get out there talking to his corporate clients in meeting their business needs. Go BlackBerry and Chen!

Posted via CB10

1. You've wonderfully and concisely illustrated just how confused and directionless Chen is. In your own post, you mention Chen saying he is focused on "enterprise/corporate customers first" and in the very same post you mention BBRY launching consumer devices like the "Z3" in the so-called "stronger markets (ie. Indonesia/India)". Funny how your "fan" mindset keeps you from seeing this clear contradiction. Do you mean that BBRY has two different foci? One for the part of the world where they are weak and the other for the part of the world where they are supposedly strong? Sadly, every sales figure available shows BBRY declining everywhere and neither Indonesia nor India are "strong" when compared to iOS and Android.

2. Are you a fan of:
a) BB devices?
b) Blackberry the corporation? or
c) the Blackberry management and board?

I am a fan of BB devices. I have been since the 957. I have put my money where my mouth is and have purchased BB devices up until the Q10. But while I am a fan of BB devices, I am not delusional or blind to the problems BB has and the absolute disaster that Heins and now Chen have created because of a complete lack of leadership and direction.

Your very own post illustrates the complete lack of clear direction there is. On the one hand, Chen talks about a focus on "enterprise and corporate customers" and on the other hand he is launching what are obviously clearly consumer devices.

My suggestion about really changing BB's direction is an attempt to differentiate BBRY from its failed past few years.

Furthermore, you talk about BB stores in India and Indonesia. Have you visited those stores? I've been to the so-called BBRY stores in both India (where they are actually Reliance stores branded as Blackberry stores) and Indonesia where, while I am unclear as to who owns and operates them, are nowhere near the level of service provided in an Apple Store. In Indonesia, I actually once needed some assistance with an issue I had with my BB Curve (this is maybe 3 years ago now). The Blackberry rep at that store in Jakarta couldn't even fix the problem (my BB device was on a constant reset loop) and wanted me to leave the device for 1 to 2 weeks. And no, language was not an issue as I was accompanied by a colleague who spoke fluent Bahasa.

[anon(5828343)]

This article from Crackberry actually reinforces my suggestion even more.

What if BlackBerry had the best devices and BB10 became the best OS in the world? | CrackBerry.com

The premise in this article is largely true -- even with the best devices and the best OS in the world, BBRY will still struggle. It therefore needs to set itself apart and being more consumer-centric, in my mind, would do the trick.

Food for thought.