[Chicago777Guy]

There were some really good comments on this in one of the threads on A10's specs.

The only way out for BlackBerry's problem is Android ports, Android Ports and Android ports...Good quality Android ports...BlackBerry should focus in getting it's run time environment so efficient that these ports run as good as they run on Android.
Once it does that these ports need to be available from BlackBerry world of course with due consent from the owner.

In a perfect world Native would be the best option and there is no shortage of BlackBerry fan boys on CB who would not accept anything other than Native...But the issue is that it's not a perfect world for BlackBerry and in fact it is a very difficult world for them.

So stop blaming developers for not relasing apps or netflix CEO or AT&T .they are smart people just like everyone else and are trying to generate returns for thier shareholders...

You have to make best of what you have and that right now is Android ports.




Posted via CB10

[berklon]

The question you have to ask is, if it's essentially just a phone that will mostly run Android ports - why not just buy a SG4 - which doesn't require ports, has many more features and has much better specs?

It's becoming harder and harder to justify why anyone should buy a Z10. There isn't much it has that the competition doesn't have - and yet if falls behind the competition in so many other aspects.

[lnichols]

Maybe what they should do is if they have to do this,then just integrate in Android where it is seem less and add Google Play support too. The problem is that it would further discourage the devs going with native apps.

Posted via CB10

[Chicago777Guy]

BlackBerry has many advantages over S4 but they all get lost because of lack of popular apps..leverage Android ports and then go native once you have scale

Posted via CB10

[araskin]

If BlackBerry does not allow the installation of Android apps OTA from Google Play, then they may as well give up.

They don't care about native versus Android. They just want the app regardless of the technology.

But the average user will never side load. If we can't install Apps from Google Play OTA then BB may as well declare bankruptcy now.

Posted via CB10

[lnichols]

If BlackBerry does not allow the installation of Android apps OTA from Google Play, then they may as well give up.

They don't care about native versus Android. They just want the app regardless of the technology.

But the average user will never side load. If we can't install Apps from Google Play OTA then BB may as well declare bankruptcy now.

Posted via CB10

Exactly side loading is not the answer! It needs to be easy for anyone to do from the phone with no PC required. Also the ports don't run great currently.

Posted via CB10

[Troy Tiscareno]

Google's licensing for the Play Store requires the phone is running un-forked Android and comes pre-loaded with Google Apps, which is why, for example, Amazon can't have the Play Store on their Kindle Fires (not that Amazon wants to; the whole point of Amazon is to try to pull people away from the Play Store).

The point is, Google's licensing does not allow Blackberry to have access to Google Play, and given that Blackberry is trying to build their own ecosystem and eventually sell their own services (which is where the majority of the money will be in the mobile space in the years to come), Blackberry simply can't do this without completely undermining themselves anyway. If they were to do this, they'd have been better off making Android phones to begin with.

Sideloading Android apps is only supposed to be a stop-gap until they can get native apps, but unfortunately Blackberry obviously assumed that their sales, and especially their conversion rates of BB7 to BB10 users, would be far greater than they are. The situation they are in now just doesn't have a good solution, which is why everyone is trying to come up with a "new idea."

[madman0141]

BlackBerry needs to head in a different direction for sure. If OP is right then it shouldn't be that hard. BlackBerry needs to become the Glock of cell phones. Quality interchangeable parts that will work on other BlackBerry devices allowing the user to do simple upgrades. It may not be the best idea but I didn't take a company that had stock trading at $140 a share and pis* it away.

[araskin]

Google's licensing for the Play Store requires the phone is running un-forked Android and comes pre-loaded with Google Apps, which is why, for example, Amazon can't have the Play Store on their Kindle Fires (not that Amazon wants to; the whole point of Amazon is to try to pull people away from the Play Store).

The point is, Google's licensing does not allow Blackberry to have access to Google Play, and given that Blackberry is trying to build their own ecosystem and eventually sell their own services (which is where the majority of the money will be in the mobile space in the years to come), Blackberry simply can't do this without completely undermining themselves anyway. If they were to do this, they'd have been better off making Android phones to begin with.

Sideloading Android apps is only supposed to be a stop-gap until they can get native apps, but unfortunately Blackberry obviously assumed that their sales, and especially their conversion rates of BB7 to BB10 users, would be far greater than they are. The situation they are in now just doesn't have a good solution, which is why everyone is trying to come up with a "new idea."

If what you say is true (it certainly sounds plausible) then IMO, they may as well give up. They have no other way to close the app gap and it will be a slow (and painfull) demise for them. The only other glimmer is if they can reverse the trend in the enterprise. Though from what I have seen, this seems unlikely.

Posted via CB10

[Clinto]

I completely agree with the Op.

If you can't beat em. Join em. Port those apps BlackBerry. Netflix and Instagram (and Pandora my fave) are never going to come to BlackBerry until you sell more phones. But BlackBerry is never going to sell more phones without these apps. So fu#%ing port them already. If you want to sell more phones to bring in more profit, stay afloat and yes have the said app makers bring their app to you... You need plan accordingly and "do what you have to do".

Now Fu#%ing Do It.

[Troy Tiscareno]

Port those apps BlackBerry. Netflix and Instagram (and Pandora my fave) are never going to come to BlackBerry until you sell more phones. But BlackBerry is never going to sell more phones without these apps. So fu#%ing port them already.

Blackberry doesn't have the source code to these apps, so Blackberry can't do anything more than what they've done (paid portathons, etc.). It's up to the individual developers to port apps, not Blackberry.

[Chicago777Guy]

Blackberry doesn't have the source code to these apps, so Blackberry can't do anything more than what they've done (paid portathons, etc.). It's up to the individual developers to port apps, not Blackberry.

That may be the case but it's not acceptable answer for the customer.
They are paying full price and for them the only fact that matters is that app is missing..So BlackBerry needs to convince them to port..if they can't then BB10 will not succeed.

Posted via CB10

[BlackBerry Guy]

I wonder if BlackBerry can license and develop some of the key apps like Netflix and Instagram in-house. Like what they did with the native Facebook and Twitter apps.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[nquyen]

I wonder if BlackBerry can license and develop some of the key apps like Netflix and Instagram in-house. Like what they did with the native Facebook and Twitter apps.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

They worked with Facebook and Twitter.

[JasW]

This isn't going to happen. BBRY devices will never be allowed into Google Play. Many if not most developers will never allow their apps to be ported. What you see now is what you're going to get: a smattering of ported apps, and a smattering of other apps that can be sideloaded. Anything beyond that is just a pipe dream. If having access to a full array of apps is that important to you, you picked the wrong platform. It will never change.

[monil11]

Side loading helps the likes of us here at CB. An average user upon not finding his favourite app in bbworld will at most Google it eg 'Instagram for bb10'. Upon facing what seems be a lot of extra effort in side loading they most probably would give up.

And out of all the bb10 users I wonder the % of users who actually resort to side loading.

It might help shut up the trols but it doesn't go too far in helping an average user.

Posted via CB10

[Chicago777Guy]

What I was suggesting was not side loading or going to Google place but making these available on BlackBerry world by convincing app owners to port them to BlackBerry world.
The key here is that this should be a NO cost activity to App developer.
Average user would never go beyond BlackBerry world.

Posted via CB10

[BB-04]

The question you have to ask is, if it's essentially just a phone that will mostly run Android ports - why not just buy a SG4 - which doesn't require ports, has many more features and has much better specs?

It's becoming harder and harder to justify why anyone should buy a Z10. There isn't much it has that the competition doesn't have - and yet if falls behind the competition in so many other aspects.

Ya including the master key feature. This lets an approved app in the google play store take over your phone and gives the app author more control of the phone then the user. This is one reason the Z10 is better than the SG4.

PS. Specs mean nothing on android since the os cant use more than 2 cores so give 4,8,12 it doesnt matter it wont perform better than a duel core phone. Specs on android are a smoke screen that most people fall for.

[Mo Cat]

Indeed, OP forgets that if people want mostly android apps, they could get an android phone instead and not even bother with BB.
Instead of spending money on bogus advertising clips like the Superbowl one or Alicia Keys, BB should have gotten the major apps, money would be more wisely spend.

CB10 - Q10

[Chicago777Guy]

Indeed, OP forgets that if people want android apps mostly, they could get an android phone instead and not even bother with BB.

CB10 - Q10

Not really....BlackBerry email access, keyboard quality, security, multi-tasking, gesture are all better than Android for a lot of people...the only missing part is apps.

Posted via CB10

[Mo Cat]

We're not talking about the hub, email,etc. We were talking about apps. Coming from android myself and I knew why I came back, surely not for the apps cause I hardly use any.

CB10 - Q10

[Chicago777Guy]

We're not talking about the hub, email,etc. We were talking about apps. Coming from android myself and I knew why I came back, surely not for the apps cause I hardly use any.

CB10 - Q10

Your point was why would people not buy Android if they need Apps and I gave you the resoans....Also what you want may not be others need....A majority of folks cannot onboard BlackBerry because of lacks of Apps...

Posted via CB10

[Tre Lawrence]

PS. Specs mean nothing on android since the os cant use more than 2 cores so give 4,8,12 it doesnt matter it wont perform better than a duel core phone. Specs on android are a smoke screen that most people fall for.

BBRY needs more smoke and more screens then.

[Aleksandr Trubach]

so what's the point to pay 400� for blackberry and buy Android ports/apps ? would it be simplier to buy an Android smartphone with NATIVE ******* apps, or iphone . Both of those BIG gamers get all the newest and coolest apps, the ONLY couple of things that still holds me with blackberry is my carrier contract, HUB and gesture UI, as soon as android or iphone get that: buy buy Blackberry, we had long relationships but i thing i'm the only one who had some feelings here...

[LoganSix]

So stop blaming developers for not relasing apps or netflix CEO or AT&T .they are smart people just like everyone else and are trying to generate returns for thier shareholders...
Posted via CB10

Well, you can blame the CEO of Netflix for not allowing an app to be developed for free by BlackBerry.
And, you can blame Facebook, for not opening the API for Instagram or developing a BB10 app.
And, you can blame the developer who owns the data/backend to an app and doesn't want to create a version for BB10.

BlackBerry can only throw so much money at something out of their control.
I don't buy the "returns for their shareholders" argument either. Ignoring a few million users and potentially millions more, is not in the best interest of the shareholder.