1. Xthought's Avatar
    For goodness sake,
    Why does BB management develop a serious strategy to address the constant badmouthing from cnet? Cnet takes every possible opportunity to publish hyper-negative content related to BB.

    I have wondered if cnet works for apple! They are certainly systematically working against BB.
    01-02-14 09:05 AM
  2. anon(2313227)'s Avatar
    Is this a general gripe or a specific one at a specific article recently?
    01-02-14 09:06 AM
  3. Xthought's Avatar
    General gripe AND the number of BB trashing articles that one can easily find online. I guess Chen addressed negative press somewhat is his open-letter.
    In my opinion CNET seems to be a real offender (just search cnet BB articles over the past 12 - 18 months). Sometimes these folks have trashed BB without necessarily offering a formal review of a BB feature/product.
    BB needs to develop a careful strategy to address the kind of thing and develop a better "press" machinery.
    nt300 likes this.
    01-02-14 09:45 AM
  4. Wiki Cydia's Avatar
    I have wondered if cnet works for apple! They are certainly systematically working against BB.
    I'm curious; let's say CNET is working for someone. Why would you assume it's Apple? You do realize that Android took most of BBRY's customers, not iOS, right?
    TGR1 and Blacklatino like this.
    01-02-14 09:50 AM
  5. JC Superstar's Avatar
    Any response would simply be widely reported in the media and highlight the negative perception of the company. Would you really want ads that cause more people to read negative reviews?

    By the way, I want everyone here to know that the reports of drinking and domestic violence at my home are very exaggerated. The people who are propagating this story are really being irresponsible.
    garnok and draconis123 like this.
    01-02-14 09:52 AM
  6. ibpluto's Avatar
    Any response would simply be widely reported in the media and highlight the negative perception of the company. Would you really want ads that cause more people to read negative reviews?
    ^This

    As frustrating as it is, seeing/reading the same old rehashed negative spin on everything Blackberry does (And I agree CNET and BGR are some of the worst), any response would be seen/taken as another opportunity to propogate negativitey because it could be spun as a desperation move. Also, I am sure advertising dollars are at play, I think we would all be fools not to think that.

    Best thing Blackberry can do is begin to win some success in areas away from Apple and Samsung. Could be M2M or enterprise, but any wins in any area are the only thing at this stage that could turn any tide. If Blackberry begins to gain traction and it begins to be reported outside of some of these outlets, it may force the CNET's of the world to report on it as well or risk them looking either bias or non current. Its also conceiveable that regardless of how successful Blackberry is outside the mobile consumer space, outlets like CNET and BGR won't let them off the mat.

    One interesting thing will be to see is how 10.2.1.xxxx is reported when it hits. It will address many complaints. Will it even be reported? Will it be spun negative (the good ol' "too little too late" schtick)? Or will they finally start to give BlackBerry some dues for making strong and rapid improvements to some of their initial complaints?
    01-02-14 10:12 AM
  7. Frank Castle's Avatar
    The worst is every year at Blackberry World / Live! all these Blogs are there having a fine time eating, drinking and being entertained on Blackberry's dime. They already had a falling out with BGR (Jason) as they sued his @$$ so he's been pissy about them for awhile now.
    01-02-14 10:35 AM
  8. m1kr0's Avatar
    Its clear they don't prefer BlackBerry and that is very obvious from articles from the last year or so already. What I do see is a clear preference for another platform and I won't mention the platform, but I bet you already know that. Just flip through their articles.

    STL 100-1 OS 10.2.1.1925
    01-02-14 11:42 AM
  9. milo53's Avatar
    When they stop talking,,,this would be worse.
    01-02-14 07:11 PM
  10. Kobe Barksdale's Avatar
    What about Engadget, Gizmodo and Tech crunch? They all equally as worse as CNET

    Posted via CB10
    01-02-14 07:16 PM
  11. skibnik's Avatar
    The best BlackBerry can do is concentrate on its comeback so when or if they do succeed BlackBerry can turn around and make all these media clowns eat a huge crow pie!

    Z10 Running 10.2.1.1925 Take that Mr App Gap!
    Blacklatino likes this.
    01-02-14 07:36 PM
  12. RyanGermann's Avatar
    I think the silence by BB execs doesn't show "professionalism" absolutely... sometimes it shows a kind of dispassionate detachment that has its own negative impact on how BlackBerry is perceived. People love a fighter... if someone's being "bullied" and they stand up for themselves and punch the bully in the nose, that underdog gets a cheering section, despite whatever flaws the 'bully' was drawing attention to.

    Imagine if execs who were really passionate about BlackBerry actually got angry and "accidentally" leaked absolutely vulgar and insulting comments about C|Net editors who continually make jokes at BlackBerry's expense: C|Net folks like Molly Wood are used to being the jokesters, not the **** of insults and jokes: I wonder how they'd react to a candid and accurate assessment of the value of their "infotainment" in the tech world: sure it can affect consumer opinion, but it's not much good for anything "real".

    ...with the exception of the audio / video consumer electronics team that do scientific assessments of video and sound quality that are really second to none. But for pretty much all other tech, their reviews / opinions are inconsistent and useless: I make buying decisions for TVs / home theatre equipment based on C|Net reviews but for just about anything else, noooope.

    All you have to do is look at the debacle of CES last year where the parent company (CBS / Viacom) overrode their Best of Show award to tell you that C|Net's not firing on all cylinders any more. They're personalities whose tech chops are pretty weak, comparatively speaking.

    If you ask a talking head from C|Net about BlackBerry 10 devices, they'd say "it's over" and casually dismiss it... if you ask them "why are there still 10s of millions of loyal customers for BlackBerry devices despite the availability and pervasiveness of Android and iOS" they haven't given it the kind of serious thought that a "legitimate" tech analyst would have done, and they of course won't have an answer at the tip of their tongue... but they'll have a joke ready and some way to dismiss the BlackBerry customer base and move on to the next 3 hour segment highlighting the incremental updates to the next version of iOS.

    They're kind of pointless, largely.
    Last edited by RyanGermann; 01-02-14 at 08:02 PM.
    anand_ma likes this.
    01-02-14 07:51 PM
  13. Whyareallthegoodnamestaken's Avatar
    The worst is every year at Blackberry World / Live! all these Blogs are there having a fine time eating, drinking and being entertained on Blackberry's dime. They already had a falling out with BGR (Jason) as they sued his @$$ so he's been pissy about them for awhile now.
    They sued him? I had no idea lmao. No wonder he gets so enraged. What did they sue him over?

    Posted via CB10
    01-02-14 08:07 PM
  14. Wiki Cydia's Avatar
    I think the silence by BB execs doesn't show "professionalism" absolutely... sometimes it shows a kind of dispassionate detachment that has its own negative impact on how BlackBerry is perceived.
    There's something I heard a while ago: "don't punch down." To respond to CNET criticisms would be just that.

    People love a fighter... if someone's being "bullied" and they stand up for themselves and punch the bully in the nose, that underdog gets a cheering section, despite whatever flaws the 'bully' was drawing attention to.
    Yeah, except CNET isn’t sufficiently relevant to "bully" BBRY, as you'll note later. To use that term to describe CNET writing articles about a company many times its size is an unreasonable interpretation of the facts.

    Imagine if execs who were really passionate about BlackBerry actually got angry and "accidentally" leaked absolutely vulgar and insulting comments about C|Net editors who continually make jokes at BlackBerry's expense: C|Net folks like Molly Wood are used to being the jokesters, not the **** of insults and jokes: I wonder how they'd react to a candid and accurate assessment of the value of their "infotainment" in the tech world: sure it can affect consumer opinion, but it's not much good for anything “real".
    Wait what? "[A]bsolutely vulgar and insulting comments about C|Net editors" as a response to negative articles or opinions? (Funny how "vulgar and insulting" apparently wouldn't be enough, so the comments would need to be "absolutely vulgar and insulting." I hope you're joking, because this is one of the worst ideas in the history of bad ideas, and would only cause the rest of the media to accuse BBRY of punching down (which is what it would be), and then claim that CNET had “hit a nerve” leading to crazy, desperate actions by BBRY.

    But for pretty much all other tech, their reviews / opinions are inconsistent and useless: I make buying decisions for TVs / home theatre equipment based on C|Net reviews but for just about anything else, noooope.
    Like I wrote earlier, CNET just isn’t relevant enough to bully BBRY. This paragraph confirms it.

    If you ask a talking head from C|Net about BlackBerry 10 devices, they'd say "it's over" and casually dismiss it... if you ask them "why are there still 10s of millions of loyal customers for BlackBerry devices despite the availability and pervasiveness of Android and iOS" they haven't given it the kind of serious thought that a "legitimate" tech analyst would have done, and they of course won't have an answer at the tip of their tongue... but they'll have a joke ready and some way to dismiss the BlackBerry customer base and move on to the next 3 hour segment highlighting the incremental updates to the next version of iOS.
    Ah. So BBRY should leak “absolutely vulgar and insuring comments about CNET editors” even though CNET “[hasn’t] given [BB10] the kind of serious thought that a ‘legitimate’ tech analyst would have done”? Does that make any sense? (Hint: it doesn't.) And if these actions by BBRY wouldn't result in any changes at CNET anyway, what's the point of legitimizing CNET's reporting by responding?

    They're kind of pointless, largely.
    There you go.
    01-02-14 08:48 PM
  15. Mr.G_under's Avatar
    I'm curious; let's say CNET is working for someone. Why would you assume it's Apple? You do realize that Android took most of BBRY's customers, not iOS, right?
    Find me the stats to show that most Android users were BlackBerry users?
    01-02-14 09:08 PM
  16. birdman_38's Avatar
    Many CrackBerrians speak of CNET's affinity for Apple. However during CNET's live coverage of Apple's launch events last year the hosts were filled with contempt for the company. It was kind of disgusting to watch, actually.

    Some CB members believe only what they want to believe about the tech media's treatment of BlackBerry.
    eldricho likes this.
    01-02-14 09:13 PM
  17. Mr.G_under's Avatar
    It may be a thing of the past but it could very well be this way...some writers do get paid by organisations to write negatively about the other. I am not saying that CNET get paid by Apple or Google, but who knows. This is how press helps build a brand. While some people who are genuinely interested in BlackBerry devices want their devices, once the negative press has been read they may, will not or surely hesitate to buy a device.

    A similar attempt was made by BB when they gave away the Dev devices at their jam sessions. This was a means of saying 'while you'll find it relatively easy to build apps, take this phone and say all the good about the device'. Did it work? I don't think I needed a developer to tell me that I'm going to be BlackBerry forever.

    I live in Australia and I know a particular female who leaves in Seattle who loves BlackBerry but hesitated for months about getting a BB device regardless of my vast education to her. I haven't been in touch lately but not sure if she finally got one. She kept reading all the trash talking. Some of the guys do it for hits to their sites (ratings) while people know for themselves that BB devices are outstanding.
    01-02-14 09:20 PM
  18. RyanGermann's Avatar
    There's something I heard a while ago: "don't punch down." To respond to CNET criticisms would be just that.
    Despite what I say about the relevance of C|Net (which I mean "from a legitimate technical perspective" not just sphere of influence) who would you say has greater reach? C|Net is owned by (what is essentially) VIACOM, which owns Paramount etc. If you watch CBS news and there's anything to do with technology, they usually scrape up a C|Net talking head. VIACOM has a share price of over $87 and a market cap of $37 Billion. I wouldn't call that "punching down". Similarly, BGR and Engadget are owned by AOL (but has been subsumed under the Huffington Post "Tech" umbrella) which has a market cap of $3.2 Billion... the same size as BlackBerry... they aren't independent bloggers like the Gadgeteer or Leo Laporte... this isn't punching down.

    You really grabbed on to "absolutely vulgar and insulting"... I don't mean a press release here.... I mean the kind of thing that Steve Jobs might have said in a meeting, and people would be saying "Right on, Steve!" if it leaked out.... maybe something John Chen might say to his spouse in exasperation when he reads an unflattering comment about BlackBerry 10, or BlackBerry's market prospects (which are most often based on gross lack of understanding of technology, or an outright lie, or oversimplification, or combination of the three)... but you think that would be ineffective, fair enough. I think all types of communications have their place, including calling someone a bleeping bleep (use your imagination!) to get their attention, but back it up with facts (accurate and NOT oversimplified would be indicated).

    Many CrackBerrians speak of CNET's affinity for Apple. However during CNET's live coverage of Apple's launch events last year the hosts were filled with contempt for the company. It was kind of disgusting to watch, actually.

    Some CB members believe only what they want to believe about the tech media's treatment of BlackBerry.
    Do you mean the iOS 7 announcement? You call that CONTEMPT? Wow. Compared to what they say about BlackBerry, that was glowing praise: they were 'apologists" for the lack of innovation: "don't fix it if it ain't broke, right?","They'll still sell millions of the iPhone 5S"... "It's smart for Apple to keep doing what they're good at". That's not contempt by any standard I'm familiar with.

    Even so, these few hours of "not crapping themselves with praise" doesn't undo hours-a-day of blanket acceptance of Apple products as being better than they are... there's a certain aura of "Apple products are excellent to varying degrees" that is de-facto in everything C|Net presents about Apple: there is NEVER harsh criticism... just a slightly bittersweet "they can do better"... never a scathing "Wow, that's pathetic, considering it's Apple".

    C|Net picks and chooses who it's going to insult and who it's going to give a pass to. Apple gets a pass. Apple has lots of good technology, but if Apple does something "as bad" as BlackBerry, they don't rag on Apple and make jokes about it, they just talk about how good OTHER Apple stuff is. Is it as simple as saying that if someone makes ONE mistake you let them have a pass, but if they make a dozen, THEN they get the ridicule? Maybe so... but that would imply that when a company that's made as many mistakes as BlackBerry puts out decent tech like BB10 is, they should praise it, not just cast it aside.

    My point: criticism of Apple is downplayed because of their overall track record of success... praise for BlackBerry should therefore be UPplayed because of BlackBerry's recent track record of mistakes, but C|Net has "more fun" just dismissing anything good about BlackBerry and apologizing for Apple's faults. Legitimate tech pundits gave BB10 a lot of praise when it came out (David Pogue and Stephen Fry among them) because they recognized the technology on its merits. Praise for BB10 is something that is editorially impossible for C|Net, because they've positioned themselves as the cynical hipsters of the tech blogosphere (like so many others) that reasoned criticism just isn't what they do.

    It's not fair to BlackBerry, and I don't see why they shouldn't be called on it. It's a double standard that should be brought to light.
    Last edited by RyanGermann; 01-02-14 at 09:53 PM.
    01-02-14 09:27 PM
  19. Wiki Cydia's Avatar
    Find me the stats to show that most Android users were BlackBerry users?
    Yeah I didn't claim that "most Android users were BlackBerry users," which isn't even possible in light of cumulative sales. What I did claim was that BBRY's losses were more the result of Android than iOS. My evidence for this is simple: BBRY's annual sales grew faster after the iPhone was launched than before; 2009 and 2010 were two of BBRY's best years. (They reported 14.9 million BlackBerry devices sold in their earnings report on March 24, 2011 (http://us.blackberry.com/content/dam...ss_release.pdf), which is still the most devices they've ever sold in a quarter. Things didn't start to go bad until later in 2011 and beyond, just as Android began to rise dramatically.
    01-02-14 09:29 PM
  20. RyanGermann's Avatar
    Yeah I didn't claim that "most Android users were BlackBerry users," which isn't even possible in light of cumulative sales. What I did claim was that BBRY's losses were more the result of Android than iOS. My evidence for this is simple: BBRY's annual sales grew faster after the iPhone was launched than before; 2009 and 2010 were two of BBRY's best years. (They reported 14.9 million BlackBerry devices sold in their earnings report on March 24, 2011 (http://us.blackberry.com/content/dam...ss_release.pdf), which is still the most devices they've ever sold in a quarter. Things didn't start to go bad until later in 2011 and beyond, just as Android began to rise dramatically.
    I think what Mr.G meant was that there isn't sufficient data commonly available to conclude that most ex-BlackBerry users are now Android users as opposed to iPhone users or Windows Phone users. If most of the BlackBerry users that left BlackBerry are in the United States, and iPhone is more popular in the United States than anywhere else, it's easy to assume that most ex-BlackBerry users left to switch to iPhone, even if they have subsequently switched to Android. Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft probably knows better than anyone (by tracing the devices hosted email accounts were attached to... for example, "[email protected]" was attached to a BlackBerry in 2009, then to an iPhone in 2011, now an Android in 2013). But that data isn't readily available to 'civilians'.

    I'd say it's a toss up as to whether Android or iOS has absorbed more ex-BlackBerry users... but this data makes me think iOS:

    http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Pre...r_Market_Share
    01-02-14 09:58 PM
  21. Wiki Cydia's Avatar
    I think what Mr.G meant was that there isn't sufficient data commonly available to conclude that most ex-BlackBerry users are now Android users as opposed to iPhone users or Windows Phone users. If most of the BlackBerry users that left BlackBerry are in the United States, and iPhone is more popular in the United States than anywhere else, it's easy to assume that most ex-BlackBerry users left to switch to iPhone, even if they have subsequently switched to Android. Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft probably knows better than anyone (by tracing the devices hosted email accounts were attached to... for example, "[email protected]" was attached to a BlackBerry in 2009, then to an iPhone in 2011, now an Android in 2013). But that data isn't readily available to 'civilians'.
    That may have been what he "meant," but it's not what he wrote. At any rate, no, there's nothing that says that X millions of Android users either were or would have been BlackBerry users. But, if we look at when BBRY's sales began to decline, it dovetails with the rise of Android, not iOS. It seems far more likely to me that those users opted for Android (mostly) than it does to suggest that BBRY users suddenly stopped buying BBRY devices in 2011 because of Windows Phone (which did nothing for its first two years) or because they suddenly opted for iPhones.
    01-02-14 10:02 PM
  22. RyanGermann's Avatar
    But, if we look at when BBRY's sales began to decline, it dovetails with the rise of Android, not iOS. It seems far more likely to me that those users opted for Android (mostly) than it does to suggest that BBRY users suddenly stopped buying BBRY devices in 2011 because of Windows Phone (which did nothing for its first two years) or because they suddenly opted for iPhones.
    Doesn't Apple having greater market share in October 2013 in the US than Samsung, LG, and Motorola combined throw cold water on that assertion? Android has 52% to Apple's 40%, true, but if now, even after years of Android catching up, and the huge variety of LG, Samsung and Motorola devices running Android being available, Apple's market share still exceeds the top three Android vendors share in the US (and not trailing by too much in other markets), and iOS being on the market (and compelling) years before Android (that is to say that until Honeycomb, possibly ICS, iOS was a significantly better experience for most consumers than Android was), you maintain that most ex-BB users left for Android, not iOS? I don't think that reasoning works, but since there's no hard data either way, I guess your "guess" is as good as mine or anyone else's. I think low-cost Android devices lured feature-phone users into the smartphone world... early Android's weren't a compelling alternative to BBOS devices (not enough for BBOS users to abandon BBOS for Android) even if they are now.... so Apple's initial rise was at BlackBerry's cost, but Android's initial rise was at feature phone's (i.e. Nokia's) cost... but again, it's opinion, and we're all entitled to one.
    Last edited by RyanGermann; 01-02-14 at 11:30 PM.
    01-02-14 11:17 PM
  23. styleskey's Avatar
    And all this time I thought cnet was unbiased lol

    Posted by BBM#42 via Z10 (10.2.1.537) Do not fear the leaks
    01-05-14 02:53 PM
  24. app_Developer's Avatar
    Whether we like it or not, and whether it's fair or not, BlackBerry Ltd is a joke in the tech industry. That's just how it is, and no amount of fighting with the media is going to change that.

    What will change that is (1) getting proper management to run the company (which has been done) and (2) actually producing results (not there yet, but hopefully by 2015). If Chen is able to fix BlackBerry and get sales moving in the right direction finally, you will see every media outlet climbing all over themselves to praise the rebounding BlackBerry.

    It has nothing to do with conspiracies or advertising dollars or any of that nonsense. On average, the media over-indulges winners and over-punishes losers. It's that way in most industries and fields, not just this one.
    01-05-14 03:04 PM
  25. Whyareallthegoodnamestaken's Avatar
    Whether we like it or not, and whether it's fair or not, BlackBerry Ltd is a joke in the tech industry. That's just how it is, and no amount of fighting with the media is going to change that.

    What will change that is (1) getting proper management to run the company (which has been done) and (2) actually producing results (not there yet, but hopefully by 2015). If Chen is able to fix BlackBerry and get sales moving in the right direction finally, you will see every media outlet climbing all over themselves to praise the rebounding BlackBerry.

    It has nothing to do with conspiracies or advertising dollars or any of that nonsense. On average, the media over-indulges winners and over-punishes losers. It's that way in most industries and fields, not just this one.
    Someone finally hit the nail on the head.

    Posted via CB10
    01-05-14 06:53 PM
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