[sonbuster]

BlackBerry chief lays out survival plan and says iPhone is old news BlackBerry chief lays out survival plan and says iPhone is old news

[QUOTE]PUBLISHED: 0 HOUR 38 MINUTES AGO | UPDATE: 0 HOUR 28 MINUTES AGO
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Thorsten Heins said BlackBerry was making good progress with its new smartphones and that Apple’s iPhone had been overtaken Reuters
PAUL SMITH[QUOTE]

some key quotes :

predicted his company would have 100,000 native apps available for its Z10 devices in time for the US launch later this week.

Mr Heins said one area that the new BlackBerry phones had surpassed the iPhone was in the ability to multi-task - running multiple apps at once - meaning that users could work in the same fashion on their smartphone as they liked to on a laptop.

“The point is that you can never stand still. It is true for us as well. Launching BB10 just put us on the starting grid of the wider mobile computing grand prix, and now we need to win it,” Mr Heins said.

It had 70,000 native apps available at launch, which was well above the number offered by Microsoft at the earlier launch of its Windows Phone OS...
Mr Heins said he expected 100,000 apps to be available for the US Z10 launch later this week.

Re: Instagram and Netflix
“We are working constantly on getting these important apps on board,” he said.
“I think we are seeing the dynamic changing over time as they want to watch and see how BlackBerry 10 is making it in the market. They want ROI on their development dollars as well. I think this is a very respectful way of looking at your business, and it is our job to convince them that BB10 is a successful platform”

Mr Heins cited the quiet period ahead of quarterly reporting as a reason why he couldn’t disclose early sales figures for the BB10 devices, but said the company had been pleasantly surprised by the number of customers leaving rival platforms to come to BB10.

“In the context of the financial viability of the company that is where I shake my head sometimes and wonder what everyone is talking about. The company has no debt, I will report pretty good cash position by the end of March in my earnings call, so I think we did a really diligent job in, not just keeping the company afloat, but also bringing it back to health,” Mr Heins said.

Mr Heins said [licensing] was an option which was being actively considered following a strategic review of the future of the company, but that more attention was currently focused on the global phone launches.

re: 1M Unit order
Mr Heins said he was bound by a confidentiality agreement not to reveal who the customer was, but that it was a symbolically important milestone for the company.
“It is the biggest ever in BlackBerry history and we are really happy with the vote of confidence. This is huge, those customers take on inventory and a financial risk, and in doing this it shows that they have a very strong belief that they can be successful with BlackBerry 10,” he said.

“There is a reason why I took a 23 hour flight from cold Canada to Melbourne and that is because Australia is a very important market for us. Australia is a very innovative and mature market, and is also a very wealthy smartphone and mobile computing market,” Mr Heins said.
“Australia is one of our top ten markets, we need to succeed here, so you will see us pumping a lot of energy into this market.”

“Our devices are great for the consumer use, while being just as good as the old BlackBerrys for corporate use. If you have an open OS then it is open, you have a ton of keys out there to your main entrance door, government and financial services firms understand that.”

[MartyMcfly]

Pretty good read.


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[MartyMcfly]

The UI on the BB10 looks dated IMO. I think they should have went with the PB UI. I am not a fan of those hideous shadows on the icons.


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[luv4berrycrack]

Thanks for the read. Thorsten is a very smart fellow. Here's to the money he will make all the shareholders and turn around BlackBerry to be a #1 phone again.

[Markymark 23]

Yes thanks sonbuster. I posted the link in the "I buy shares" thread in case the group misses your original post. Wow...it's a good read and very revealing in some areas. Surprised he said some of the things that he did.

[rackeonracke]

Great interview. I love reading/listening to interviews with Thorsten. He's so straightfoward and honest; it's such a refreshing change from many other CEOs out there.

[omniusovermind]

The UI on the BB10 looks dated IMO. I think they should have went with the PB UI. I am not a fan of those hideous shadows on the icons.


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It's just an app drawer.

[MartyMcfly]

It's just an app drawer.

I understand. Maybe I'm being overly picky.


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[312Lorden]

Hmmm. I wonder which client/country ordered 1M BB10s. My guess is some Asian country or Australia.

[jrlong]

I continue to gain respect for Mr. Heins, though I find that the history of BB distorts my ability to actually trust him. That being said, he's not making any promises about ANYTHING, so I guess there's nothing to mistrust... Wait, maybe I wish he was LESS honest and would pump things up a bit (like publish the 2013 product road map). Probably why he is BB's CEO and I am not. Humbling. I like people that make me be patient, and I can only imagine the pressure he is under.

[Bbnivende]

Surprising that OP did not include this quote:

In the near future he said the business case for taking a plunge back into the tablet market was not compelling.

“I wouldn’t want to do it the same way again, if I do something around tablets, I want it to be really substantial and meaningful, and quite frankly it would need to be profitable as well,” he said.

“I think the profit pool is very very thin. Kudos to Apple, I think they really managed to own that space, so it doesn’t make sense for me to just take this head on. I need to figure out, for my enterprise customers, for my consumers, for my BB10 audience, what can I do that provides them a mobile computing experience in the form factor of a tablet, which goes beyond just the puristic tablet experience.”

It is also interesting when he says: "One pressing issue is the local banking sector, which is competing strongly for mobile banking supremacy through rival apps. Bank technology executives have conceded that they have all but given up developing apps for BlackBerry, due to the low number of local users."

My comments :

I don't think we will see a BB10 Playbook for a while. I am not sure what type of tablet experience he is referring to. I would suggest that the Surface offers a different tablet model than the iPad. The only way that I can see BB making a more useful tablet is by making one with an OS that operates like a traditional touch PC and has the ability to edit MS docs. There has to be more value added in order to sell the tablet at a profit. Contrary to many posters here ... the bridge is not a difference maker. The need for a budget BB10 phone is a bigger concern right now (IMHO).

It is interesting that he brings up bank apps ... it seems to me that we have the same problem in Canada . I am not aware of any major banks with a BB10 app.

I think that the BB10 OS will win over customers but it will take some time. I would be more confident if the Z10 was a tad better on the hardware side. It may be equal to but not better than.

There certainly has been a lot of talk about stealing customer base from iPhones or Android. I hope that is true. I remain a little sceptical. I only know one person who converted and he was your classic "early adopter". I think that some of the early adopters must be coming back to BB because they had one earlier on and they are sympathetic to the BB brand. The Z10 gives them reason to come back. I like BB's marketing strategy based on productivity but the in store presentation leaves a lot to be desired.

[kevinnugent]

Surprising that OP did not include this quote:

In the near future he said the business case for taking a plunge back into the tablet market was not compelling.

�I wouldn�t want to do it the same way again, if I do something around tablets, I want it to be really substantial and meaningful, and quite frankly it would need to be profitable as well,� he said.

�I think the profit pool is very very thin. Kudos to Apple, I think they really managed to own that space, so it doesn�t make sense for me to just take this head on. I need to figure out, for my enterprise customers, for my consumers, for my BB10 audience, what can I do that provides them a mobile computing experience in the form factor of a tablet, which goes beyond just the puristic tablet experience.�

Extraordinary that the whole article wasn't quoted. But then again, Thorsten did just drive a huge nail into the twitching Playbook.

[kevinnugent]

Hmmm. I wonder which client/country ordered 1M BB10s. My guess is some Asian country or Australia.

There is no way on God's green earth it was here in Australia. BB have about 1% market share here, and there's only 23 million people here, let alone smartphone users.

I was suprised to hear Thorsten say we were in the Top 10 markets for BB in the world.

[SaysSmithy]

There is no way on God's green earth it was here in Australia. BB have about 1% market share here, and there's only 23 million people here, let alone smartphone users.

I was suprised to hear Thorsten say we were in the Top 10 markets for BB in the world.

My guess would be a telco ... Maybe in the US ahead of the launch there. But I don't know, he wouldn't tell me in the interview (even off the record)

[jxnb]

If you are the author of this Financial Review article, SaysSmithy, you've done a fine job. Your conversation with Heins obviously was probing, fair, and thoughtful. His comments and your capturing of them are tremendously helpful. Thanks!

[Bbnivende]

Another debatable quote: "“History repeats itself again I guess ... the rate of innovation is so high in our industry that if you don’t innovate at that speed you can be replaced pretty quickly. The user interface on the iPhone, with all due respect for what this invention was all about is now five years old.”

Well the WP8 certainly is innovative ... just not very successful. I think the Apple UI can be improved upon but it is simple and intuitive. The problem BB has is that the consumer needs to spend some time with it to "get it".. The average phone consumer who walks up to the phone in the store will not know how to do anything. They need the sort of manned displays like you see in supermarkets demonstrating the device in malls etc.. Crackberries are by nature phone geeks or close to it. Most consumers are not phone geeks. I would like to hear from PB owners who now own the Z10. Do you find the UI easier to use on the Z10 or the PB?

Some say that the reason the iphone5 is not as popular as it could have been is the outdated OS. Nobody I know with a Iphone 4 or 4S has upgraded. The reason seems to be that they like their current phones. Call them isheep or whatever ... they are happy. There is a chance here for BB though because there will always be a segment who wants the best phone. I think BB has some room to build the best phone and best OS. If they do that the customers will eventually come.

[SaysSmithy]

If you are the author of this Financial Review article, SaysSmithy, you've done a fine job. Your conversation with Heins obviously was probing, fair, and thoughtful. His comments and your capturing of them are tremendously helpful. Thanks!

Yep, I got about half an hour with him. He answered everything I asked apart from stuff I knew he couldn't answer anyway due to the financial quiet period (sales numbers etc). Seems to have a clear idea of where he wants to take things, will be interesting to watch how things pan out.

[Marc_Paradise]

I meant to post this in this thread...

Mr Heins cited the quiet period ahead of quarterly reporting as a reason why he couldn?t disclose early sales figures for the BB10 devices, but said the company had been pleasantly surprised by the number of customers leaving rival platforms to come to BB10.

This concerns me if I read between the lines. He went from saying quite vocally that the company had been pleasantly surprised by early sales numbers, to being pleasantly surprised by customers leaving rival platforms...

And as others have mentioned, "pretty good" cash position doesn't inspire confidence, though this could again be a Heins mis-speak I would expect "good" if it were going to be above 2bn as he stated in last ER, and "pretty good" meaning "we're close to that number but didn't quite make it..."

But I probably read too much into it all anyway.

[Marc_Paradise]

I missed a couple of things on my first read through (I skipped the summary from OP and went straight to TFA, but only skimmed it ...)

“It is the biggest ever in BlackBerry history and we are really happy with the vote of confidence. This is huge, those customers take on inventory and a financial risk, and in doing this it shows that they have a very strong belief that they can be successful with BlackBerry 10,” he said.

^---- big flashing neon sign: the 1mm sale order was to a carrier or redistributor.

so I think we did a really diligent job in, not just keeping the company afloat, but also bringing it back to health

Now *this* is intriguing indeed, and has me rethinking my earlier pessimism. I would not have expected a statement like this for another two quarters...

[bitek]

The UI on the BB10 looks dated IMO. I think they should have went with the PB UI. I am not a fan of those hideous shadows on the icons.


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Ui is dated. Awesome joke of the day. And the reason why BlackBerry has these icons is to make sure apple does not sue for copying its "Innovation "

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