[nickthebold]

Lets begin with a quick scenario/conversation between two people under the assumption that QNX has been rebranded to Blackberry --> a Blackberry user and an outsider:

Outsider: "Whoa what phone is that?"
BBuser: "Its a blackberry z10/q10/q5"
Outsider: "What operating system is that sexy phone running?"
BBuser: "oh its a blackberry 10 device running blackberry 10"
Outsider: "Yes, but what operating system is it based on"
BBuser: "Didnt you listen? i said its a blackberry 10 running blackberry 10 which is based on blackberry..."

Think of it like this, you wouldnt sit there and say " The operating system an Apple iphone is running is Apple.." or "The operating system a google/samsung etc phone is running is google" or "its a microsoft laptop running microsoft" or "Its a google chromebook running google" - hence why apple have 'iOS' ,google have "Android and chrome" and Microsoft have "windows".

Also, we know that highly regarded corporations and equipment use QNX such as NASA etc, so how would people feel if NASA begun using 'blackberry' as their operating framework? Yes, as blackberry addicts we would know that its essentially QNX but to the general population this would not look good at all especially because of the general consumers perception of blackberry at the moment.

I also saw a funny comment regarding the reputation of QNX and Blackberry by by forum member kuczco "BlackBerry should be named QNX! It has a much better reputation." which funnily enough is actually true (the reputation part).

I was actually really shocked to see the polling with more members voting to rebrand QNX because if you think about it, its just not logical at all.

"Blackberry 10, powered by QNX" not.. "Blackberry 10, powered by blackberry" lol.

The only advantage of rebranding QNX to Blackberry i can think of is that in the long run, if consumers hear that NASA and other businesses etc are using Blackberry to power important equipment and such, it could actually make Blackberry as a whole look really good and powerful e.g. "christ, NASA use blackberry to power their space equipment, technology and essentially rockets??? i gotta get this phone then!"
This thread is completely my opinion and i welcome rebuttal or support. Lets get discussing.

[lynxs_claw]

QNX as an operating system just sounds cool...

[xBURK]

OP, Your last paragraph is exactly why the company QNX should be changed to BlackBerry. BlackBerry has to change its reputation now. Along with this and BBM going cross platform, BlackBerry would get a second glance for all the right reasons. BlackBerry has to go beyond bold with their next moves. Remember, this for people unlike use. It's for people who seriously would never take BlackBerry seriously. Do it now!
Posted via CB10

[anon5759238]

Very true good sir... also I'm sure with the industrial aspect of it the QNX would be the name to go to. but for the average consumer with the phones and such BlackBerry is all they need to hear as opposed to RIM and QNX and neutrino kernel... for the average dude tho BlackBerry is all they need to know about really. And how many people are going to get into the details of the OS. "Kool! It's blackberrys new phone" that's really all that they'll be thinking.

Sam

[notfanboy]

The only advantage of rebranding QNX to Blackberry i can think of is that in the long run, if consumers hear that NASA and other businesses etc are using Blackberry to power important equipment and such, it could actually make Blackberry as a whole look really good and powerful e.g. "christ, NASA use blackberry to power their space equipment, technology and essentially rockets??? i gotta get this phone then!"

Just a clarification. QNX powers the Neptec camera and has nothing to do with the rockets or avionics. The role of QNX tends to get magnified and distorted in the retelling here on Crackberry. Somehow QNX is now suddenly powering the Large Hadron Collider according to one poster however I could not find evidence of this.

I agree with you that they shouldn't rebrand QNX to BlackBerry. QNX has a good reputation, and it can only be tarnished if renamed. RIM should keep a clear separation. Any random reboots are the fault of the BB10 OS, and not QNX.

[belfastdispatcher]

They'll be saying "wait, isn't qnx what runs the infamous killing drones? "

Might put some people off, especially in the middle east.

[nickthebold]

Just a clarification. QNX powers the Neptec camera and has nothing to do with the rockets or avionics. The role of QNX tends to get magnified and distorted in the retelling here on Crackberry. Somehow QNX is now suddenly powering the Large Hadron Collider according to one poster however I could not find evidence of this.

I agree with you that they shouldn't rebrand QNX to BlackBerry. QNX has a good reputation, and it can only be tarnished if renamed. RIM should keep a clear separation. Any random reboots are the fault of the BB10 OS, and not QNX.

Agreed, the.rocket bit was more of an extreme to explain how the general consumer reacts to hearing qnx being used by nasa

Posted via CB10

[Thunderbuck]

There are a few reasons why BB should resist rebranding QNX, at least for a fair while:

• QNX provides a major platform for automobile telematics, one that has to "play nice" with all the other platforms, too. If it starts getting identified too closely with a single platform, the others may stop offering needed technical support.
• BlackBerry has NOT completed its brand rehabilitation. It's made a good start, and after some clear market success they'll start to change some minds, but in the meantime QNX has more brand equity in its own market than "BlackBerry" does.
• QNX has a great history, and a great record. It has a great name, for that matter (I'd never heard anyone actually say the acronym out loud--it's not pronounced "Q-N-X", it's pronounced "Q-nex", sounding a lot like "connects"). I think BB has a great asset in this name and this history and might do better to play it up as the "foundation" of the new BlackBerry.

It's possible that these conditions will change over the next couple of years, and maybe then the idea could be revisited, but I'd stay away from it for now.

[emtunc]

Maybe I'm being silly but:

- Microsoft owns the Windows trademark and their OS is called Windows x
- Canonical Ltd owns the Ubuntu trademark and their OS is called Ubuntu x

If BlackBerry owns or has their name over QNX, why does it mean the OS needs to be called BlackBerry? It's just being labelled under the BlackBerry umbrella or parent company.

Posted via CB10

[Thunderbuck]

Maybe I'm being silly but:

- Microsoft owns the Windows trademark and their OS is called Windows x
- Canonical Ltd owns the Ubuntu trademark and their OS is called Ubuntu x

If BlackBerry owns or has their name over QNX, why does it mean the OS needs to be called BlackBerry? It's just being labelled under the BlackBerry umbrella or parent company.

Posted via CB10

QNX isn't actually the OS. The OS is BB10, which is built around a QNX kernal.

QNX also builds a variety of control systems that are also based around the kernal, and they have a variety of operations that don't relate directly at all to BlackBerry.

[robtanz]

There are a few reasons why BB should resist rebranding QNX, at least for a fair while:

• QNX provides a major platform for automobile telematics, one that has to "play nice" with all the other platforms, too. If it starts getting identified too closely with a single platform, the others may stop offering needed technical support.
• BlackBerry has NOT completed its brand rehabilitation. It's made a good start, and after some clear market success they'll start to change some minds, but in the meantime QNX has more brand equity in its own market than "BlackBerry" does.
• QNX has a great history, and a great record. It has a great name, for that matter (I'd never heard anyone actually say the acronym out loud--it's not pronounced "Q-N-X", it's pronounced "Q-nex", sounding a lot like "connects"). I think BB has a great asset in this name and this history and might do better to play it up as the "foundation" of the new BlackBerry.

It's possible that these conditions will change over the next couple of years, and maybe then the idea could be revisited, but I'd stay away from it for now.

Totally agree. Not yet...especially the brand rehab point.

[1raygin]

I totally agree with the OP.

Posted via CB10

[hannibalmoot]

I don't care if they completely change the name to Blackberry or maybe just Blackberry QNX but they need to do something to make that connection blatantly clear to everyone, in particular, American consumers.

I have a feeling most analysts and even some journalists know the relationship but are not pointing it out to the consumers. In reality, I guess it's not up to them to educate people anyway. It's up to Blackberry. But the naysayers are using the popular belief that Blackberry is no more than a few new handsets on a new platform with not enough apps. American consumers (I only single them out because it's the large base that BB obviously wants to attract) are not going to go out of their way to find positives about a company if all they read are negatives from the media.

It makes absolutely no sense to not use every asset they have to self-promote. People need to know that BB is more than 3 new phones. The majority of consumers are only going to back who they feel has the potential to be a winner and be around 5 years from now. Showing off technology that is theirs certainly can't hurt.

Can you imagine how foolish some of these analysts will start to appear to the average consumer when they read BB will be gone soon when they now know that BB technology is used all over the place? They'll start realizing how bogus some of these articles actually are once they have the insight that we have about QNX.

[notfanboy]

I don't think most people have even heard of QNX though. The first time I heard of QNX was when Blackberry acquired them. How many of you can honestly say that they've known about QNX from before the acquisition?

If you were to search Crackberry for the word QNX, limiting the date to pre-acquisition, would even a single result show up?

[kbz1960]

BlackBerry should've rebranded themselves as QNX cause BBRY does not have a good name in places like the states. People didn't know their old crappy BBRY was made by RIM they only knew BBRY was crap to them. Never understood them changing their company name to BBRY.

[Thunderbuck]

BlackBerry should've rebranded themselves as QNX cause BBRY does not have a good name in places like the states. People didn't know their old crappy BBRY was made by RIM they only knew BBRY was crap to them. Never understood them changing their company name to BBRY.

I think BlackBerry can redeem themselves in the US as a brand, though it will take some time. Bear in mind that to a lot of people, BlackBerry isn't necessarily "crap", it's "secure but old and stodgy", and a couple of years of interesting product will start to break through that wall. BlackBerry, believe it or not, still ranks as one of the most respected brand in the world. It's standing has slipped from its peak from a few years ago, but it's still up there.

In the meantime, QNX doesn't have any "brand equity" at all outside this community. For the stuff that QNX does, it's better to let it keep its own identity.

[xBURK]

Some really good points here that I've not considered. I still think this is the time to take moves that would make heads turn. BlackBerry (except for the last four years) has everything to be proud about. They will never get beyond the brutal reputation of late without standing tall and feeling proud of their brand. Heins said the main reason they can now take BBM cross platform is confidence. QNX belongs to BlackBerry now. Be proud of that fact. Yes, I have no idea what I'm talking about, but neither do the people who think BlackBerry is dead. The world needs to realize that BlackBerry is a strong, innovative company that deserves respect. For now, I can't think of better way to do this.

Posted via CB10

[notfanboy]

In the past RIM had been a mainstay of the Top 100 Valuable Global Brands. I know they've been in the list every year since at least 2007, probably even earlier. The 2013 report is the first time they've completely dropped off the list. It wasn't because of the brand change to BlackBerry though. It had been dropping steadily in previous years. This USA Today article lists the 10 brands that lost the most value, and BlackBerry was on top of this list, with a decline of 39%, almost three times the decline of the runner ups.

[hannibalmoot]

In the meantime, QNX doesn't have any "brand equity" at all outside this community. For the stuff that QNX does, it's better to let it keep its own identity.

This is very true. It's not so much the "QNX" name that BB needs to exploit, it's the examples of the technology itself.

[Thunderbuck]

In the past RIM had been a mainstay of the Top 100 Valuable Global Brands. I know they've been in the list every year since at least 2007, probably even earlier. The 2013 report is the first time they've completely dropped off the list. It wasn't because of the brand change to BlackBerry though. It had been dropping steadily in previous years. This USA Today article lists the 10 brands that lost the most value, and BlackBerry was on top of this list, with a decline of 39%, almost three times the decline of the runner ups.

Yes, and given how badly they messed the bed in 2011 this isn't such a huge surprise. Note that they actually are still hanging in there in the Top 100, at #93.

[notfanboy]

Yes, and given how badly they messed the bed in 2011 this isn't such a huge surprise. Note that they actually are still hanging in there in the Top 100, at #93.

That's 2012 though?

JP Morgan is 93 in this chart: http://www.millwardbrown.com/brandz/...p100_Chart.pdf

[Thunderbuck]

Oh, that might be. Hadn't seen this year's yet.

If they've dropped off completely, I guess there's nowhere to go but up

[maxdaniels]

I totally agree, they should not rebrand QNX as Blackberry.

By keeping the QNX brand and associating BlackBerry 10 products with it (along the lines of "QNX Inside"), they would benefit from QNX's reputation for reliability.

If they would replace QNX brand with BlackBerry, they would only lose that reputation for the other QNX products and for BlackBerry 10 as well.

Right now they should concentrate on solving the random reboot issue - and after that they should push hard the reliability message of "QNX Inside" for BlackBerry 10 products.

[Thunderbuck]

^^^this

Yes, I like the "QNX Inside" or "Powered by QNX" or something along that line; it gets people asking "Oh? What's this QNX thing?" and gives BB a chance to educate about the QNX brand, and the history and the cool NASA stuff and nuclear plants.

I think the two brands reinforce each other.

[kbz1960]

Whatever they do they need to let the masses that don't keep up with them know that they aren't using the pull the battery, hour glassing etc OS that their old BB used.