[amazinglygraceless]

Thread title shortened from original article because it was way too long

Didn't see this posted but (apologies if it was). Found it interesting and the slideshow is worth a look at.

http://www.businessinsider.com/secre...y-2013-10?op=1

The fate of BlackBerry hangs in the balance. It has a deal on paper to take itself private via Canadian insurer Fairfax Financial Holdings for $4.7 billion. But the company is still shopping itself in case there is a sweeter rescue bid out there. Last week, BlackBerry met with Facebook. We'd be surprised if Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was tempted into owning his own ailing phone company, though.

The fact that BlackBerry today can only attract $4.7 billion from potential buyers puts some new perspective on a secret plan put together last year by tech venture capital investor Robin Chan.

He wanted to raise $6 billion from backers, approach the board of directors with a hostile bid to replace the management, "fork" its operating system, and turn BlackBerry into the Android of enterprise. Chan, who has funded Twitter, Square, and Foursquare among others, called his plan a "coup d'etat" that would have rescued BlackBerry. But he didn't get enough backing and the plan came to nothing.

The plan was codenamed "BBX." It is outlined in a PowerPoint deck on the following pages. You can read more about it on The Verge.

Two things that caught my eye

[ray689]

How would android rescue BlackBerry? Besides Samsung, there aren't many who are successful going that route.

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[amazinglygraceless]

How would android rescue BlackBerry? Besides Samsung, there aren't many who are successful going that route.

Absolutely no idea and I have had the same question before.

[MPLexus301]

I think that reference means more that they wanted BB to become a trusted OS that can be loaded on different hardware, much like Android....just without all of the security flaws

[DenverRalphy]

How would android rescue BlackBerry? Besides Samsung, there aren't many who are successful going that route.

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In the context of which Android was referenced, they weren't saying Android would be an actual part of it. Instead, it alluded to taking the IP and licensing it out in the same manner that Google does with Android.

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[Tre Lawrence]

In the context of which Android was referenced, they weren't saying Android would be an actual part of it. Instead, it alluded to taking the IP and licensing it out in the same manner that Google does with Android.

SwiftKeyed/Flowed via Tapatalk 4 Beta

And I find that idea pretty intriguing.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Reading the whole article, just shows that the "company" and Thor have been blind to the real challenges that they face back then. Lot's of book are going to be written over the years with details of this and other proposals that have been rejected by these guys.... some for good reason, other should have at least been a wakeup call.

[SK122387]

I think this guy was on TV a month or so ago, talking about this plan.

He also owns some Android phone manufacturer in China.

To me this is just yet another "What If" story.

It didn't happen, so I'm not sure why people like to play the What If game all the time. It's like What If you married your girlfriend in high school? How often do people really like to think about what could have been. It's not healthy, if you ask me.

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[ray689]

I guess if he was that serious then he would jump in now...pay less...and not have it be a hostile take over attempt.

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[Tre Lawrence]

Is this plan really too late? Couldn't BBRY, in a new iteration as a software stalwart, "Androidify" it's operations? Custom-made BB10 enterprise devices made by different OEMs?

[Tre Lawrence]

I guess if he was that serious then he would jump in now...pay less...and not have it be a hostile take over attempt.

Raising funds might be tougher though.

[amazinglygraceless]

How often do people really like to think about what could have been. It's not healthy, if you ask me.

OK, we'll just go back to discussing when Instagram will be available. It's posted for conversation not as drop dead proof of anything...or for anyones health and welfare.

BTW, I was just informed that this was actually posted 13 October (by another apparently unstable member ) here: Investor tried to get BlackBerry to switch to Android | CrackBerry.com

As usual we should defer to the original discussion.

[FSeverino]

This was posted a while ago. They didn't want to use android on the phones, they wanted BlackBerry os to be used on other phones... making it like android in the sense that it is on multiple manufacturers devices.

Not sure of it would have worked, but it is interesting that what chan wanted to do for 6B he isn't trying to do for under 5...

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[sjmartin007]

Why on the first slide it said crackberry is the only true brand besides apple ........?

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[Tradesman644]

I think its a great idea. Give consumers a wide range of devices to choose from, that all sport BB10, much like Android phones. Form Factor does play a role in device purchasing. Maybe cheaper phones/contracts to entice a wider range of buyer. I could see some manufacturer bloatware start happening, though.

[Tradesman644]

I think its a great idea. Give consumers a wide range of devices to choose from, that all sport BB10, much like Android phones. Form Factor does play a role in device purchasing. Could provide cheaper phones/contracts to entice a wider range of buyer.

[m1a1mg]

Really old info. It first popped in August on WSJ. But, I'll play.

Robin Chan managed to get 1 of 6 billion towards the project. Not very impressive.

The numbers from the slide presentation are over a year old.

Given 20/20 hindsight, maybe BBRY should have hired him versus TH. How the he!! could it have been worse?

[amazinglygraceless]

Why on the first slide it said crackberry is the only true brand besides apple ........?

Probably because Android is so fragmented. Apple is the only source of "I" devices and BlackBerry is the only source of BB. Android is not so much a brand as it is a system spread out across many manufacturers. The same applies to Windows Phone but to a lesser extent.

[danprown]

I think this was posted and discussed some time ago. But what I found telling -- not the slides -- anyone can put some slides and throw numbers -- was the complete disregard to the current management. So now that very same management and board has to troll the silicon valley for offers...

[guitarrista]

Probably because Android is so fragmented. Apple is the only source of "I" devices and BlackBerry is the only source of BB. Android is not so much a brand as it is a system spread out across many manufacturers. The same applies to Windows Phone but to a lesser extent.

This android fragmentation meme is really outdated. See this article

For the potential difficulty of forking android, see here

Google, and Microsoft as well, have seen the value of taking control of the user experience back from the handset makers

[cbvinh]

For the potential difficulty of forking android, see here

Difficult, but not impossible... Amazon and Barnes and Noble forked it for their tablets. Chinese companies Baidu and Xiaomi forked it for phones. Others have been successful at making runtimes, like Jolla, and to an extent, BlackBerry.

[matt4pack]

BlackBerry really needs to offer an unlocked runtime at least under the personal profile.

They could lock it down under the work profile or even disable it.

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[butterbean1983]

I wouldn't buy a BlackBerry device if it wasn't made by RIM. Sorry, but I learned my lesson with the Samsung "Sidekick". If it ain't made by the original company, it's garbage.

[Sith_Apprentice]

Android was determined to be a losing prospect for BB, as it has been for nearly every other Android OEM. Also they have been looking to license BB10 for some time with no takers. (they have even had BB10 running on hardware from other vendors as a proof of concept).

[Sith_Apprentice]

I wouldn't buy a BlackBerry device if it wasn't made by RIM. Sorry, but I learned my lesson with the Samsung "Sidekick". If it ain't made by the original company, it's garbage.

By this logic, your only other choice (really) for a device is an iPhone, as Apple controls all aspects hardware and software. You wouldnt be able to get an Android device.