[LuvULongTime]

With some of Blackberry's recent investments/deals/acquisitions (Nanthealth, Movirtu), I was wondering why Blackberry doesn't go down this same road with consumer apps? If I were in their shoes I would keep my eye on new iOS and Android apps and look at strategically purchasing the ones that have the potential to be the next instagram, candy crush, etc. IMO this would be a very easy way for BB to secure hip, new apps onto their platform. Imagine if they identified Instagram's potential way back when and scooped it up. Or what about Songza? Why they didn't grab it before Google is beyond me. At the end of the day they will need to start building out their eco system and services. And some of these potential apps could help in that regard. John Chen can focus on enterprise all he wants, but even these folks have lives outside of work and will need a strong consumer offering from Blackberry.

Anyway, just thought I would throw this out there for discussion. :-)

[SparkyBC]

Blackberry is no longer focused on the consumer market. They're focused on enterprise which is the only thing that will let them dig out of their hole. Why throw away good money on no return?

[Tre Lawrence]

It is an expensive proposition though. Those dev houses command some major bucks now, and predicting that specific market is really hit or miss.

Minecraft is an example.

[bbzp]

Instead of buying these app's companies, it might be better if BlackBerry paid only the popular apps to create a native BB10 app. That should be more affordable than buying the whole app's company and it would be less risky for BlackBerry.

This will also allow BlackBerry to stop paying the developer once the app becomes profitable on its own on BB10. This way the developer has more incentive to develop native apps.

BlackBerry doesn't need to have millions of apps. Most of the apps on iOS and Android are low quality junk apps anyway, so I would prefer quality over quantity. BlackBerry just needs to have all the popular apps to get the mainstream users on BlackBerry. Once BB10 gets more market share, they will naturally get more apps.

[Phi Nguyen]

Instead of buying these app's companies, it might be better if BlackBerry paid only the popular apps to create a native BB10 app. That should be more affordable than buying the whole app's company and it would be less risky for BlackBerry.

This will also allow BlackBerry to stop paying the developer once the app becomes profitable on its own on BB10. This way the developer has more incentive to develop native apps.

BlackBerry doesn't need to have millions of apps. Most of the apps on iOS and Android are low quality junk apps anyway, so I would prefer quality over quantity. BlackBerry just needs to have all the popular apps to get the mainstream users on BlackBerry. Once BB10 gets more market share, they will naturally get more apps.

Considering bb world has over 40% from one vendor i doubt bb world has less junk apps

Also bbrys market is wrong for apps

Most of bbrys clients are foreign and enterprise only
So developing an app for English regions is highly risky in an foreign market where it would be useless
For example no developer can justify doing Netflix when most of bbrys market is in non supported regions

Bbry seems to advertises mostly overseas

As mentioned by many developers in another thread it's not a charity and bbrys focus is wrong with enterprise and foreign market focus
also bbrys market share is decreasing not increasing less then 1m per month and less then 1% globally that's a huge gamble on a ecosystem that is not only foreign but enterprise focused
you would have better odds playing Russian roulette solo
Posted via CrackBerry App

[LuvULongTime]

It is an expensive proposition though. Those dev houses command some major bucks now, and predicting that specific market is really hit or miss.

Minecraft is an example.

No disagreement here. I guess I was dreaming more of that startup app that they could get their hands on for a song. But that is probably not too common anymore.

Posted via CB10

[chickenman18]

I don't believe Blackberry can be successful playing the "popular app game"
What I see coming is Blackberry having the ability to make every smartphone secure... For a fee. Or you can buy a Blackberry device, and the security fee will cost you less.
For those interested in security, you can have the device of your choice plus a monthly fee to Blackberry to secure it, or get everything you need in a cost effective package straight from Blackberry.
I don't see this fully coming into play for another 2 years. Picture gate icloud hack, the Heartbleed security flaw, etc... These all point to the need for greater mobile security... And while security is still just a niche market, Blackberry is building it's business on being profitable in this space.
Will security become sexy? Who knows. But at least Blackberry is doing something different from other manufacturers in this space. If they can do it and make a profit, they will be in it for the long haul.

[systemvolker]

BlackBerry already tried I think but no avail. Let the developers come if they really want to be part of BlackBerry.

Hehehe

[LuvULongTime]

I don't believe Blackberry can be successful playing the "popular app game"
What I see coming is Blackberry having the ability to make every smartphone secure... For a fee. Or you can buy a Blackberry device, and the security fee will cost you less.
For those interested in security, you can have the device of your choice plus a monthly fee to Blackberry to secure it, or get everything you need in a cost effective package straight from Blackberry.
I don't see this fully coming into play for another 2 years. Picture gate icloud hack, the Heartbleed security flaw, etc... These all point to the need for greater mobile security... And while security is still just a niche market, Blackberry is building it's business on being profitable in this space.
Will security become sexy? Who knows. But at least Blackberry is doing something different from other manufacturers in this space. If they can do it and make a profit, they will be in it for the long haul.

If they are to approach it from this angle, how would they go about doing what apple and Google cannot seem to do, and that is secure their own OS's successfully? I could see them building out their own secure services to complement competing devices (ex. A more secure cloud solution), but securing the base OS would be a tough proposition IMO.

Posted via CB10

[nah.uhh]

BlackBerry did this plenty of times.... and it ended in BlackBerry screwing up.
The best example is probably Viigo > news feeds > dead.
Another would be Dash > traffic > dead.
I'm sure there's a few I'm forgetting

[Phi Nguyen]

I don't believe Blackberry can be successful playing the "popular app game"
What I see coming is Blackberry having the ability to make every smartphone secure... For a fee. Or you can buy a Blackberry device, and the security fee will cost you less.
For those interested in security, you can have the device of your choice plus a monthly fee to Blackberry to secure it, or get everything you need in a cost effective package straight from Blackberry.
I don't see this fully coming into play for another 2 years. Picture gate icloud hack, the Heartbleed security flaw, etc... These all point to the need for greater mobile security... And while security is still just a niche market, Blackberry is building it's business on being profitable in this space.
Will security become sexy? Who knows. But at least Blackberry is doing something different from other manufacturers in this space. If they can do it and make a profit, they will be in it for the long haul.

They already have this
It just costs you a lot per year

Bes 10 and 12 provides secure workspace for most platforms except for Windows till bes 12 comes out

Posted via CrackBerry App

[--TommesJay--]

Because you can't identify "apps with potential" until they broke through. And the reason why some apps manage to break through is because they're available on iOS. And as soon as an app breaks through it's probably already too expensive for BlackBerry to buy out.

Posted via CB10

[Granrey]

I just don't see how focusing on enterprise work when people are bringing their own personal phone to work.

Even if they have to give up their personal device to use the company one. If the phone does not meet their "personal" needs is just going to create an unhappy customer.

Even if the customer is ok with BlackBerry phones . How many companies actually meet the "enterprise" criteria?

Either way, they have to return to consumer market.

Posted via CB10

[Prem WatsApp]

I just don't see how focusing on enterprise work when people are bringing their own personal phone to work.

Even if they have to give up their personal device to use the company one. If the phone does not meet their "personal" needs is just going to create an unhappy customer.

Even if the customer is ok with BlackBerry phones . How many companies actually meet the "enterprise" criteria?

Either way, they have to return to consumer market.

Posted via CB10

Familiarize yourself a bit more with MDM / EMM, and secure work containers.

People can bring their own devices (BYOD), which are then enabled for work using BlackBerry's (or a competitor's) software...



? BlackBerry? I premdict the future's gonna be chenomenal! ?

[Z10NIZED]

Blackberry is no longer focused on the consumer market. They're focused on enterprise which is the only thing that will let them dig out of their hole. Why throw away good money on no return?

Dude your profile picture... you from CR?

Posted via CB10

[Z10NIZED]

Instead of buying these app's companies, it might be better if BlackBerry paid only the popular apps to create a native BB10 app. That should be more affordable than buying the whole app's company and it would be less risky for BlackBerry.

This will also allow BlackBerry to stop paying the developer once the app becomes profitable on its own on BB10. This way the developer has more incentive to develop native apps.

BlackBerry doesn't need to have millions of apps. Most of the apps on iOS and Android are low quality junk apps anyway, so I would prefer quality over quantity. BlackBerry just needs to have all the popular apps to get the mainstream users on BlackBerry. Once BB10 gets more market share, they will naturally get more apps.

That's essentially what Microsoft has done, and with only moderate success so far

And btw, most of the apps on BlackBerry World are low quality junk too

Posted via CB10

[Z10NIZED]

Blackberry is no longer focused on the consumer market. They're focused on enterprise which is the only thing that will let them dig out of their hole. Why throw away good money on no return?

Nevermind, in the browser and see that you're from Courtenay. Still close though )

[bbzp]

And btw, most of the apps on BlackBerry World are low quality junk too

I never said BBW didn't also have mostly junk apps. Most apps are junk from all the smartphone ecosystems. This is why I thought BlackBerry only needed the few popular apps. They don't need millions of apps to satisfy the majority of mainstream users.

[systemvolker]

Opinion

The best way to aid this is, BlackBerry needs to make their own apps that are similar to useful big apps running today and make their own servers.

Good big apps are not that many. Probably from 5 up to 9.

Hehehe