[rodan01]

BlackBerry slipped when it forced businesses to buy its mobile device management (MDM) platform to fully support BlackBerry 10 devices, according to AirWatch CEO John Marshall.

"It's one foot on the banana peel, one foot in the grave," Marshall told Computerworld Australia this week at the AirWatch Connect conference in Melbourne.

BlackBerry's latest version of its mobile management software, BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) 10, supports Apple and Android devices. However, the company has not allowed multiple-OS MDMs like AirWatch to support BlackBerry devices-a move that has essentially forced businesses to buy BES if they want to securely support BlackBerry.

"By not opening up the APIs a year and a half ago with [BlackBerry] OS 10, it was the beginning of the end," he said. "That was such a strategic blunder. If they had opened up the APIs and not had the arrogance [to say] that everyone would have to use their management system, then a lot of companies would have said, 'OK, I'll support that one as well.'"

Many businesses have made investments in AirWatch or another MDM system that supports multiple devices and don't want to switch back to the BlackBerry system, Marshall said. "The fact that they didn't open the APIs actually has accelerated their demise."

In addition, BlackBerry lacks the extensive app ecosystem that its rivals have, Marshall said.

"They're struggling because they don't know what they want to be," he said. BlackBerry could do well if it focused exclusively on one thing: operating system, hardware or software, he said.

MIS-Asia - BlackBerry has 'one foot in the grave': AirWatch CEO

[Elite1]

He may or may not have a point, but that sure comes off as whiny to me after BBRY chose not to support his company. Sounds more like pouting than expertise, imo.

[Dennis_nl]

We checked different MDM solutions, including Airwatch. I think the new BES solution for IOS en Android is better then Airwatch for IOS and Android platform in terms of security. But if you (as a company) are just looking device management (instead of security) Airwatch is a nice system.

But there are more solutions wich offer the same as Airwatch. The container solution of BlackBerry has less competition.

But that said, BlackBerry is late to the party, they have a lot o work to do (marketing).



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[koolrosh]

I agree with some of the things he says, but Blackberry is doing the right thing to not give them their APIs. They will lose some customers, but they'll gain more with new installations and higher margin iOS and Android revenues.

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[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I've heard a lot of people complain about how closed the Apple platform is. Yet it is BlackBerry that doesn't want to allow business a choice to use BlackBerry devices without using BES10.

I'm afraid that many got tired of waiting for BlackBerry and moved on to other MDM platforms and now that BB10 is out, they can't use those devices even if they wanted. Or the have been holding off (how many companies were on hold waiting) to see what happens with the platform... and so far things don't look good for this new platform survival. Yet BlackBerry expects an all in decision to be made?

Makes it much easier on those other MDM salespeople to make their system seem more versatile.

Posted via CB10

[lorax1284]

MIS-Asia - BlackBerry has 'one foot in the grave': AirWatch CEO

That last paragraph tells me all I need to know about the moron quoted in the article: saying they have to focus on one single business model (hardware, OS, software) has been refuted pretty soundly. It's actually the opposite that is how you succeed... even Samsung who has had a great deal of success realizes that it can't be sustained indefinitely unless they have differenting features in proprietary software.... so... the fellows assessment of BlackBerry's current STATE may be sound, but his reasoning is flawed. If you have stock in any company he is in control of, I'd suggest you sell.

[danprown]

Nothing like kicking someone when they're down. He could have just made his point without the below the belt stuff.
It looks though he must have some personal animosity likely arising out of meetings he held with RIM years ago about the APIs.

[higherdestiny]

BES 10 is one of the primary competitive products to AirWatch. Is anyone really surprised that the CEO of AirWatch would have a shot at BlackBerry?

He's upset, and he should be. Many large companies (including the one I work for) have chosen BES over the AirWatch solution.

[notfanboy]

That last paragraph tells me all I need to know about the moron quoted in the article: saying they have to focus on one single business model (hardware, OS, software) has been refuted pretty soundly. It's actually the opposite that is how you succeed... even Samsung who has had a great deal of success realizes that it can't be sustained indefinitely unless they have differenting features in proprietary software.... so... the fellows assessment of BlackBerry's current STATE may be sound, but his reasoning is flawed. If you have stock in any company he is in control of, I'd suggest you sell.

The "moron" may not be that far off when you consider that a BB director said recently that there were "subsets within the company that it can get rid of." From his point of view his company Airwatch as well as Good technologies have gained success because BlackBerry failed to crush them in their infancy. Airwatch and Good benefited from BlackBerry's fragmented focus into their multiple business models. The companies are heading in different directions. Airwatch and Good have plans of going public, whereas BlackBerry's hopes to go the other way and become a private company.

[lorax1284]

The "moron" may not be that far off when you consider that a BB director said recently that there were "subsets within the company that it can get rid of." From his point of view his company Airwatch as well as Good technologies have gained success because BlackBerry failed to crush them in their infancy. Airwatch and Good benefited from BlackBerry's fragmented focus into their multiple business models. The companies are heading in different directions. Airwatch and Good have plans of going public, whereas BlackBerry's hopes to go the other way and become a private company.

...and as soon as another larger company mimics their functionality, they're toast, because they don't control their OS platform etc. I'm not saying that he's not successful NOW, but if his idea of running a business in the long term is staying in a niche, it's not long before a big player sees value in your niche and you become a niche within a niche. Ironically, that's what Apple did to BlackBerry, when Smartphones were but a niche, beneath notice of most consumer electronics companies, then along they come with their diverse product portfolio and economies of scale and take over and expand the market from being "niche".

When the OS is as good as BB10 and the devices are only "decent" not "spectacular" I can say this: BB10 is good DESPITE BB managements efforts, and the devices and app catalogue are mundane BECAUSE of BB management.

If BB management weren't dropping balls left and right (or maybe they should stop playing with them and start listening to their customers) BlackBerry wouldn't be in this position: that's what's most frustrating to me: a sound technology and absolutely bafflingly wrong market-facing decisions.

[ssbtech]

In my experience, when the boss of one company openly criticizes another company, they're worried about something.

Methinks John Marshall is worried about something. Worried about losing MDM market share when companies decide they want the simplicity and security of the BES/BB10 system with the added benefit of iDroid management.

[southlander]

From his point of view his company Airwatch as well as Good technologies have gained success because BlackBerry failed to crush them in their infancy.

So how would BlackBerry allowing its devices to be managed by Airwatch, crush or even hinder Airwatch? Seems to me it helps, not hurts. The guy is arguing it would help BlackBerry sell more handsets. Perhaps. But probably not enough to make a difference. The scenario where BB is hurt is company X says we are installing Airwatch. And because it can't manage BB devices we are replacing those devices with iPhones and Androids. So BlackBerry's response to that "threat" is to say well with BES you can manage all three.

[DivideBYZero]

BES 10 is one of the primary competitive products to AirWatch. Is anyone really surprised that the CEO of AirWatch would have a shot at BlackBerry?

He's upset, and he should be. Many large companies (including the one I work for) have chosen BES over the AirWatch solution.

This. And I sell Airwatch.

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[southlander]

In my experience, when the boss of one company openly criticizes another company, they're worried about something.

Methinks John Marshall is worried about something. Worried about losing MDM market share when companies decide they want the simplicity and security of the BES/BB10 system with the added benefit of iDroid management.

Bravo. Words of wisdom there. Yeah there's not much to gain from running your mouth about another company if you are kicking their **** already.

[scribacco]

In my experience, when the boss of one company openly criticizes another company, they're worried about something.

Didn't TH criticize Apple? What was he worried about?

[southlander]

Didn't TH criticize Apple? What was he worried about?

Isn't that obvious at this point? Pretty much everything. Heh.

Z10STL100-4/10.2.0.1047

[farside33]

I agree that BB made the right choice not to open their API's to other MDM vendors. However, I also agree partly with the story. With BB being so late to the MDM market, those IT shops that allowed BYOD had no choice but to find a vendor that could meet their needs last year. Given that BB did not open their API's many IT groups chose to not support the BB platform. As a result many of the users in those companies choose a phone that was recommended by their IT group (not BB's).

I am actually a statistic of this problem. Because of the rapid pace of mobile phone growth by our global employees, our IT group had to implement a MDM solution that meet the needs of the company and the majority of users. Unfortunately this majority was Apple, Android, or Windows. So our IT group officially ended BB support at the end of 2012. While we could still use a BB phone if desired, it would not be allowed to connect to any of our backend systems except for e-mail. Given that the majority of my mobile needs rely on these backend systems (mostly in the form of apps), I had to make the hard decision to switch platforms this year. In traveling around the world to our different customers sites, this issue has come up a lot, and I am hearing the same story. IT groups are only supporting the three platforms. I used to have over 300 BBM contacts (colleagues and customers). By last November I had only 3 (two of them were my family members).

I really hope that BB can make the appropriate (hard) decisions that is best for its future. At this point it seems that there are way too many rumors and not enough answers (some things never change). This bad media is hurting them in the general consumer market. I also have to wonder how much this is hurting them in their so called niche market, the corporate BB users.

[techvisor]

So how would BlackBerry allowing its devices to be managed by Airwatch, crush or even hinder Airwatch? Seems to me it helps, not hurts. The guy is arguing it would help BlackBerry sell more handsets. Perhaps. But probably not enough to make a difference. The scenario where BB is hurt is company X says we are installing Airwatch. And because it can't manage BB devices we are replacing those devices with iPhones and Androids. So BlackBerry's response to that "threat" is to say well with BES you can manage all three.

An ideal scenario for BlackBerry is BB10 would be in high demand and this would help drive sales of BES. But what happened is there has been low interest in BB10, and the fact BB10 devices can only be managed by BES has discouraged sales even further. Right now BB needs to do everything they can to drive interest, demand, and sales of BB10. From what I read the MDM market size is on 784 million USD:
http://www.crn.com/news/security/240...st-gartner.htm. and is tiny compared to smartphone market size. Seems like BB would have been better off allowing other mdm's to manage BB10, potentially sacrifice some mdm sales, but ensure BB10 gets adopted. I think BB has been totally caught off guard by the low BB10 adoption and they are probably wishing that BB10 devices could be managed by third party mdm's. Easy to say now what they should have done, hindsight is 20/20. I can't blame BB for expecting great sales of BB10, but unfortunately for them it hasn't happened yet.

[notfanboy]

Excellent points. Regarding the relative size of the MDM and smartphone markets, BlackBerry is a big fish in the first small pond and a tiny fish in the second one. This must have factored in their thinking.

[southlander]

An ideal scenario for BlackBerry is BB10 would be in high demand and this would help drive sales of BES. But what happened is there has been low interest in BB10, and the fact BB10 devices can only be managed by BES has discouraged sales even further. Right now BB needs to do everything they can to drive interest, demand, and sales of BB10. From what I read the MDM market size is on 784 million USD:
http://www.crn.com/news/security/240...st-gartner.htm. and is tiny compared to smartphone market size. Seems like BB would have been better off allowing other mdm's to manage BB10, potentially sacrifice some mdm sales, but ensure BB10 gets adopted. I think BB has been totally caught off guard by the low BB10 adoption and they are probably wishing that BB10 devices could be managed by third party mdm's. Easy to say now what they should have done, hindsight is 20/20. I can't blame BB for expecting great sales of BB10, but unfortunately for them it hasn't happened yet.

Oh no doubt BlackBerry could sell a few more handsets if they allowed other platforms to manage them. But you can see where at least up through the launch of BES 10 and BlackBerry 10 BlackBerry would focus on getting both adopted. This might be something they have to give in on. If they even remain a hardware maker.

Z10STL100-4/10.2.0.1047

[FSeverino]

BES 10 is one of the primary competitive products to AirWatch. Is anyone really surprised that the CEO of AirWatch would have a shot at BlackBerry?

He's upset, and he should be. Many large companies (including the one I work for) have chosen BES over the AirWatch solution.

Seems like JP Morgan doesnt have a problem using OLD BlackBerries while they wait for the fate of BB... i wouldnt mind having one foot in thegrave but still being the apple of JPs eye...