[propeller10]

The author of "Do NOT buy a Blackberry Passport until you read this" is back with a response.
<click bait link removed by moderator> Why I'm still right about the BlackBerry Passport (and other things)[/url]

Why I'm still right about the BlackBerry Passport (and other things)
Randall C. Kennedy

What a firestorm! I sort of knew going in that my previous entry, "Do NOT buy a BlackBerry Passport until you read this", would evoke a heated response from the BB faithful. However, I never imagined there were still so many dedicated BlackBerry fans out there. Over 200 (mostly scathing) comments later, and I can feel the rage (the "Zionist" quips, in particular, were hilarious).

Another pundit might try to backtrack in light of such unrelenting animosity. But not me! The potent combination of unbridled hubris and geographic isolation have emboldened me to double-down on my original assertions. So, instead of dancing around the issues, I’m tackling a few of the major objections head-on to show you why I’m right (and you’re all wrong) about the BlackBerry Passport.

First up is the "business user" objection. Many have pointed out that the Passport is designed specifically for BB fans, with features that benefit users who have traditionally skewed towards physical keyboards and other signature BlackBerry elements. They claim that I’m missing the point by focusing on a market of users for whom the device was never intended.

My response is that I agree with their analysis of the Passport’s feature set: It is indeed designed for hardcore BB fans. However, as was the case with the Playbook, the buzz around BlackBerry’s "funky" new phone has greatly broadened its potential appeal. Which, in the case of a device like the Passport, is a very bad thing.

Customers who listen to the buzz and mistakenly purchase a Passport thinking it’s just like any other Android or iOS handset will quickly bump into the very real compatibility and app selection issues that have plagued BB10 from the beginning. The resulting high return rate, coupled with the inevitable scathing reviews from journalists who have no clue about BlackBerry or the design philosophy behind the device, will create the same kind of negative media spiral that doomed the Playbook.

None of this would be such a big deal if, as a company, BlackBerry was willing to settle for simply maintaining its legacy customer base. But years of belt-tightening and cost-cutting -- not to mention the unceremonious axing of underperforming products, like the Playbook -- have shown that the folks from Waterloo have little patience for small volume platforms with niche appeal.

BlackBerry’s shareholders want the company to do more than just tread water. They want it to start growing the business again, and the temptation for BlackBerry to oversell its portfolio in an effort to tap into the larger consumer market may be too strong to resist. In other words, all of the ingredients are in place for a repeat of the Playbook fiasco.

The remaining comments mostly fall under either the "you’re a shill for Apple/Google/Microsoft" category, or the "you’re a discredited journalist with questionable ethics and thus should be ignored" mantle (yet you took the time to comment).

With regard to the first line of attack, I consider it a badge of honor any time I get accused of being on some company’s payroll. And when I successfully provoke a response from two or more major camps within any 30 day period (as I have here on several occasions), I give myself an extra pat on the back for a job well done.

And as for the "discredited journalist" comments, seriously? Four years later and people are still beating that old horse? Larry Dignan’s "Watergatian" effort to discredit me dug up what, exactly? That I ran a small, one-person consultancy firm? Check. That I really did have huge Wall Street clients, like Morgan Stanley, who site-license my software? Check. That I never actually falsified any data or otherwise published anything demonstrably untrue? Check.

In fact, the only thing this buffoon ever managed to "pin" on me was that I once used the name "Craig Barth" to separate my very real, full-time job supporting Morgan and others, from my very frivolous, part-time gig as a shock-jock blogger for InfoWorld. And even then, he got the story wrong when he claimed that Mr. Barth was some fictitious character I created.

After all these years, I’m still amazed that nobody ever thought to ask what the "C" stands for in "Randall C. Kennedy" (hint: it rhymes with "Greg"). Or bothered to do a vital records search (I’m notorious, after all) and thus discovered that (surprise) I wasn’t born a Kennedy.

Let it go, folks. And meet me back here in a year so I can say "I told you so!"

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

If you don't agree with him, the best thing is not to feed him with hits..... Just Let it go... and a one, two and a three...

Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door!

I don't care
What they're going to say
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway!

[gebco]

Unfortunately I don't disagree with him regarding the consumer side of things and apps. I think some people may purchase the phone expecting full Android app availability and compatibility, and with Amazon app store we know that there are many apps missing; the app gap is closed a little more, but the full app experience won't be there compared to Android and iOS. I'm losing optimism for the future of the consumer side of things; Chen is doing exactly as he said he would: retrench into the corporate side of things.

That being said, I for one fully enjoy my Z30, but I wonder, with Google Play Services becoming more and more prevalent on apps, whether new apps will be less and less available. My hope is that if there is a pick up in phone sales, native developers will come back. It's a cart and horse thing.

Bottom line, no matter how good the phone is, the ecosystem will still lag. It's still about the apps.

[AnimalPak200]

He should have made the first few paragraphs of this response, the entire original article.

He does have a point that iOS and Android users should be aware of the app limitations *before* switching, to avoid them returning BB10 devices simply because of that and being left with a bad taste in their mouths.

But the original article was nothing but a bash on BlackBerry and ridiculing the different design of the Passport.

Ah well... aside from the personal attacks (which are unnecessary), he probably needed a little "attitude adjustment"... lol

Posted via CB10

[anon(1035135)]

However, as was the case with the Playbook, the buzz around BlackBerry’s "funky" new phone has greatly broadened its potential appeal. Which, in the case of a device like the Passport, is a very bad thing

Wow.. Point: missed.

Blackberry Passport: A powerful business tool for enterprise, oh.. and for teens and social media, OH, and bloggers.. Oh, and the games.. You've got to see the games!

Another thing: BB10 != Playbook OS Nice try Rand!

He's the guy that buys the Z10 on the first day of launch and b*tches and moans about "this phone doesn't have any apps!" and now he's stuck with it. lol It's called "research".

These darn bloggers and their uneducated claims. How COULD THEY write something just to get attention? Preposterous...

[dbiv5445]

I am glad that you posted the article here for everyone to see and I agree with a lot of the CrackBerrians here when they say that some of those journalists/bloggers are writing these types of articles for the hits they are receiving. I realize that some articles are pain to re-post on here, but, for those of you who can, could you please do what propeller10 did here and post the article on CrackBerry for us all to read without having to visit the sites and feed their click count.

[TGR1]

I am glad that you posted the article here for everyone to see and I agree with a lot of the CrackBerrians here when they say that some of those journalists/bloggers are writing these types of articles for the hits they are receiving. I realize that some articles are pain to re-post on here, but, for those of you who can, could you please do what propeller10 did here and post the article on CrackBerry for us all to read without having to visit the sites and feed their click count.

Hmm. Then also make sure to encourage everyone else to do the same with CB articles on other sites as well.

ETA: Responsible web sites should not only not encourage this behavior but should actively discourage it. Karma, man.

[mvpcrossxover]

John Chen needs to lay down the hammer.

[AnimalPak200]

Hmm. Then also make sure to encourage everyone else to do the same with CB articles on other sites as well.

ETA: Responsible web sites should not only not encourage this behavior but should actively discourage it. Karma, man.

Don't worry, any tech blog knows that even if it is copy/pasted in CB... they will still get a deluge of page hits when the rabid, pitch-fork-wielding CB mob storms in to the comments section... lol

Posted via CB10

[guygardner73]

Wow this guy is not just stupid, he's determinedly, unrepentantly, monolithically stupid.

Z10STL100-2/10.2.1.3247 O2 UK

[bhrgvr]

I stopped reading midway into the 3rd paragraph...

Posted via CB10

[Nemzy]

He has no grounds to compare the Passport to the Playbook situation. The situation of those 2 devices are nothing alike.

[iamagod]

Tl;dr. All I can say is: STOP feeding the troll

Posted via CB10

[RubberChicken76]

John Chen needs to lay down the hammer.

John Chen probably doesn't know who he is or thinks of him as full-of-himself potato-chip eating armchair know-it-all

[bicyclexpress]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I really feel like we should be promoting and rooting for diversity in cell phones. I mean, pretty much everyone in big urban centers between a certain age range has one. Do we want to only have a choice of two?

I know I want one that is most geared to my needs. For now, bb10 does just that - it works for me, but I certainly do not begrudge anyone who feels differently. Yet, it seems like many of these tech journalists would love to have everyone rocking the same phone and operating system.

I get it though - there is a bit of an app gap. Time to stop selling phones and shut the whole company down!

Posted via CB10

[Witmen]

Wow this guy is not just stupid, he's determinedly, unrepentantly, monolithically stupid.

Z10STL100-2/10.2.1.3247 O2 UK

I wouldn't call him stupid. After all, he was smart enough to fool a lot of BlackBerry Belibers into visiting his article. Who is stupider, the people who do the tricking and profit off of it, or the people who fall for the same trick over and over?

He wrote an article for attention and page hits. Over 200 angry comments later, it appears he succeeded in accomplishing exactly what he wanted. Calling him stupid doesn't change the fact that he was smart enough to get a lot BlackBerry fans to do EXACTLY what he wanted them to do. The author of that post even posted it on CrackBerry himself while pretending to be one of the BlackBerry defenders.

His latest article is just another attempt to further cash-in on those who'll happily march off to defend their brand of choice in the comment sections of a blog post. It is funny, the author doesn't care if he is right or wrong. He just cares if people take the time to go to his article and tell him that he is wrong. That's all that matters to him, sadly people still haven't figured that out yet. So articles like these will continue to be published.

[app_Developer]

. Yet, it seems like many of these tech journalists would love to have everyone rocking the same phone and operating system.

These "journalists", as you call them, don't care if there are 2 mobile OS choices, 10 choices, or 3 and a half.

They care about getting page views so they can get paid. That's the business they are in.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[DYLANHABKIRK]

These "journalists", as you call them, don't care if there are 2 mobile OS choices, 10 choices, or 3 and a half.

They care about getting page views so they can get paid. That's the business they are in.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

The author, Randall, actually never owned a smartphone until this past year or so. He actually wrote an article about how he's never owned one - and never a BlackBerry.

I think it's absolutely fair to disregard anything he would say. He simply doesn't know the industry, yet he professes to know everything, including the future...

Another nobody.

Posted via CB10

[Tre Lawrence]

I wouldn't call him stupid. After all, he was smart enough to fool a lot of BlackBerry Belibers into visiting his article. Who is stupider, the people who do the tricking and profit off of it, or the people who fall for the same trick over and over?

He wrote an article for attention and page hits. Over 200 angry comments later, it appears he succeeded in accomplishing exactly what he wanted. Calling him stupid doesn't change the fact that he was smart enough to get a lot BlackBerry fans to do EXACTLY what he wanted them to do. The author of that post even posted it on CrackBerry himself while pretending to be one of the BlackBerry defenders.

His latest article is just another attempt to further cash-in on those who'll happily march off to defend their brand of choice in the comment sections of a blog post. It is funny, the author doesn't care if he is right or wrong. He just cares if people take the time to go to his article and tell him that he is wrong. That's all that matters to him, sadly people still haven't figured that out yet. So articles like these will continue to be published.

Exactly.

Truly hilarious. Can't wait for part three.

[DYLANHABKIRK]

I wouldn't call him stupid. After all, he was smart enough to fool a lot of BlackBerry Belibers into visiting his article. Who is stupider, the people who do the tricking and profit off of it, or the people who fall for the same trick over and over?

He wrote an article for attention and page hits. Over 200 angry comments later, it appears he succeeded in accomplishing exactly what he wanted. Calling him stupid doesn't change the fact that he was smart enough to get a lot BlackBerry fans to do EXACTLY what he wanted them to do. The author of that post even posted it on CrackBerry himself while pretending to be one of the BlackBerry defenders.

His latest article is just another attempt to further cash-in on those who'll happily march off to defend their brand of choice in the comment sections of a blog post. It is funny, the author doesn't care if he is right or wrong. He just cares if people take the time to go to his article and tell him that he is wrong. That's all that matters to him, sadly people still haven't figured that out yet. So articles like these will continue to be published.

Except he's not profiting.

Posted via CB10

[Tre Lawrence]

Except he's not profiting.

Posted via CB10

LOL... oh yes he is.

[Bla1ze]

This guy again? lol. He's not getting a click from me. He caught me once to see what all the fuss was but not again.

[early2bed]

He makes a good point in that people may be expecting android compatibility for their favorite apps. The carriers are still going to be testing this device. If they feel that there will be a lot of returns due to compatibility disappointments then they will probably drag their feet and see how the initial sales ( and returns) go.

[Witmen]

Except he's not profiting.

Posted via CB10

If he isn't, someone else sure is:



He can claim to not profit off it if he'd like (I don't believe him for a second), but obviously the website is making ad revenue.

[Carjackd]

The only ones paying attention to him are those of you have clicked and read. I haven't done either and I am already moving on.

Looking forward to the passport (although I'm more interested in a new all touch device). Why am I looking forward to it...because it's different and different is good.

Posted Pantlessly via My Kick @ss Z30!!!