[BBThemes]

I wonder why the US department of trade or whatever isn't looking into that. There's a fine line between a company being able to manage it's product portfolio and its customers having to buy (and resell) devices in quantity: sure it's a compelling device, and any carrier that doesn't have the iPhone on their network will be missing something... but Apple's antics force carriers to set aside marketing competitive devices to ensure they sell "enough" of the Apple product... it stinks, if you ask me.... but Apple's in the position to do it. Let's hope Android devices continue to erode their cach� so real competition can resume.

why does anyone need to look into it? apple offered a contract and the carrier accepted, apple didn't hold a gun to their head to sign, they didn't have to sign, but they did. if a carrier cant manage its device allocation then that isn't apple, BB or any suppliers fault tbh. remember when a company bought 1m BB10 devices? should that be investigated too? same thing

[CHIP72]

To the OP:

Based on what I read when Heins was named the CEO, I thought he would be a "more the same" CEO relative to Lazaridis/Balsillie duo previously in place. Heins didn't represent bold, new blood; he represented more of the same older blood. Based on what he's done since taking over as CEO in early 2012, my opinion of Heins hasn't changed.

[robin11]

Thorsten is a genius. He knows BB is not large enough to do world wide product releases, and market to enterprise and consumers at the same time. Thorsten's answer was to do rolling product releases, country by country, and to initially focus on marketing to enterprise, where they stand to quickly rebuild and grow substantial cash flow from BES 10 subscriptions. Once that gains traction, then BB can ramp up the marketing to consumers, and with most of the bugs out of OS10. The screaming negative talking heads that want Thorsten's head because he didn't turn the company around in just one quarter, and want to see the company either dead or sold or broken up, conveniently forget that it took Apple at least a couple of years to get back on their feet. Thorsten's plan is so far on track to be growing profits and market share after just one year of investing available cash flow into re structuring. The noise of "sell the company, or sell the patents, or break the company up blah blah blah" etc is from idiots who know absolutely nothing about business and especially the time it takes to turn a company around with new product, new services and a new business plan.

[BBThemes]

Thorsten is a genius. He knows BB is not large enough to do world wide product releases, and market to enterprise and consumers at the same time. Thorsten's answer was to do rolling product releases, country by country, and to initially focus on marketing to enterprise, where they stand to quickly rebuild and grow substantial cash flow from BES 10 subscriptions. Once that gains traction, then BB can ramp up the marketing to consumers,

really? I didn't know the superbowl was for enterprise users only. the only business adverts iv seen from them are Balance and Hub. stuff like a dude being an actor and on a flying carpet? not too sure that had the enterprise user in mind lol.

Also, if you aren't big enough to do worldwide releases, release to your biggest potential countries first.

[lorax1284]

why does anyone need to look into it? apple offered a contract and the carrier accepted, apple didn't hold a gun to their head to sign, they didn't have to sign, but they did. if a carrier cant manage its device allocation then that isn't apple, BB or any suppliers fault tbh. remember when a company bought 1m BB10 devices? should that be investigated too? same thing

It's not the same thing. It's one thing to say "if you want to sell my product you have to buy 10 million" vs. "Hello, vendor, I would like to buy 10 million of your product". Apple does the former, the 1 million device blackberry deal was initiated by the customer.

There's nothing to investigate, because Apple's not doing anything illegal, but it does keep other good products out of customers lines of sight.

[BBThemes]

It's not the same thing. You either know it or you didn't think about it very carefully. It's one thing to say "if you want to sell my product you have to buy 10 million" vs. "Hello, vendor, I would like to buy 10 million of your product". Apple does the former, the 1 million device blackberry deal was initiated by the customer.

and as I said, the carrier isn't forced to enter the agreement, they don't have to sign, they can re negotiate terms, there are multiple choices open to them. If you honestly think the carrier didn't have all their lawyers trying to figure out the way to get them for the cheapest price possible so they could make the biggest profit possible then your sorely mistaken.

end of the day they accepted an agreement by choice, so what grounds would there be to investigate?

[mithrazor]

really? I didn't know the superbowl was for enterprise users only. the only business adverts iv seen from them are Balance and Hub. stuff like a dude being an actor and on a flying carpet? not too sure that had the enterprise user in mind lol.

Also, if you aren't big enough to do worldwide releases, release to your biggest potential countries first.

I think that Superbowl commercial was more about garnering public interest that there's a brand new revamped BlackBerry out.

But whatever you make of the Superbowl commercial, Thor's plan wasn't a bad one. BlackBerry was just screwed with hte previous two CEOs. Surprised they're not dead yet.

[darkehawke]

No leave this guy alone, he is doing a great job. Trust me.

No he is not.
I hate to say bring in another ceo but I think BlackBerry needs it. TH has no vision. No master plan.
We need someone who has.

Posted via CB10

[darkehawke]

I think that Superbowl commercial was more about garnering public interest that there's a brand new revamped BlackBerry out.

But whatever you make of the Superbowl commercial, Thor's plan wasn't a bad one. BlackBerry was just screwed with hte previous two CEOs. Surprised they're not dead yet.

His execution was awful. The BlackBerry 10 mess is firmly with him not the previous leadership.

Posted via CB10

[Pilchard]

Just read he gets 55 million dollars on a sale

[kevinnugent]

No he is not.
I hate to say bring in another ceo but I think BlackBerry needs it. TH has no vision. No master plan.
We need someone who has.

Posted via CB10

Pretty sure the new owners will escort Mr Heins to his golden parachute. $55m. Thanks for coming.

[darkehawke]

Thorsten is a genius. He knows BB is not large enough to do world wide product releases, and market to enterprise and consumers at the same time. Thorsten's answer was to do rolling product releases, country by country, and to initially focus on marketing to enterprise, where they stand to quickly rebuild and grow substantial cash flow from BES 10 subscriptions. Once that gains traction, then BB can ramp up the marketing to consumers, and with most of the bugs out of OS10. The screaming negative talking heads that want Thorsten's head because he didn't turn the company around in just one quarter, and want to see the company either dead or sold or broken up, conveniently forget that it took Apple at least a couple of years to get back on their feet. Thorsten's plan is so far on track to be growing profits and market share after just one year of investing available cash flow into re structuring. The noise of "sell the company, or sell the patents, or break the company up blah blah blah" etc is from idiots who know absolutely nothing about business and especially the time it takes to turn a company around with new product, new services and a new business plan.

A genius who priced his main users out of his product.
Genius is not the word to use here.

Posted via CB10

[omekaac]

In my thoughts, the BlackBerry CEO has done well. The most annoying is when he gives in to pressure to sell.
He should be able to buy more time to prove himself worthy of the position and trust that his capable or simply throw in the towel.
BlackBerry can survive and then go on to profitability again. The BlackBerry OS10 is great, just need the consistent on going improvements and better marketing strategy.
Another success route is going bigger screen size and better camera to compete with other platforms.
Then pricing policy of BlackBerry should be looked into. It's very important that the OS10 should be experienced by a majority of the people. The way to do this is by adoption of the economics principle of demand which says that the lower the price, the higher the quantity demanded.

Posted via CB10

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Don't see a change at this point making much of a difference, unless they could get someone that instill a lot of confidence in investors. But that would do little to fix the problems. Even if BBRY could afford to give devices away as some have suggested, it doesn't mean that people would LIKE them or USE them. They need Apps, and at this point if those big developers aren't already working on bringing their apps to BB10 - they aren't likely to change their minds without some big incentives.

[danprown]

I was a pretty vocal critic of TH and the rest of the euro-troika at the top from the start, but now I think something else is afoot. He was bought in to cut the fat and get the company sold. There is no other reasonable explanation (not ascribing total incompetence and bad judgment) of why get a no-name insider who can't speak English as a CEO to turn a failing NA tech company around.

This reminds me of another no-name German insider who was bought in as a CEO of a Canadian tech company. He trimmed the fat and sold it Semtech.

[darkehawke]

I was a pretty vocal critic of TH and the rest of the euro-troika at the top from the start, but now I think something else is afoot. He was bought in to cut the fat and get the company sold. There is no other reasonable explanation (not ascribing total incompetence and bad judgment) of why get a no-name insider who can't speak English as a CEO to turn a failing NA tech company around.

This reminds me of another no-name German insider who was bought in as a CEO of a Canadian tech company. He trimmed the fat and sold it Semtech.

I believe TH can speak English, and a lot better than a lot of Americans can.
Other than that I agree with your assessment.

Posted via CB10

[FlashFlare11]

In my thoughts, the BlackBerry CEO has done well. The most annoying is when he gives in to pressure to sell.
He should be able to buy more time to prove himself worthy of the position and trust that his capable or simply throw in the towel.
BlackBerry can survive and then go on to profitability again. The BlackBerry OS10 is great, just need the consistent on going improvements and better marketing strategy.
Another success route is going bigger screen size and better camera to compete with other platforms.
Then pricing policy of BlackBerry should be looked into. It's very important that the OS10 should be experienced by a majority of the people. The way to do this is by adoption of the economics principle of demand which says that the lower the price, the higher the quantity demanded.

Posted via CB10

Yeah, I kind of agree here. I feel that BlackBerry is throwing in the towel a bit early. By announcing the possibility of a sale of the company, potential BlackBerry 10 adopters will no longer be willing to take the plunge on BB10 out of a fear that their device won't be supported in the near future. In addition, with the recent announcement, should we question BlackBerry's dedication to new products and software?

I only hope that BlackBerry hasn't given up on "Plan A" and is using the announcement as backup in case the main plan doesn't work out in the future.

Posted via CB10

[STV0726]

Thorsten is a genius. He knows BB is not large enough to do world wide product releases, and market to enterprise and consumers at the same time. Thorsten's answer was to do rolling product releases, country by country, and to initially focus on marketing to enterprise, where they stand to quickly rebuild and grow substantial cash flow from BES 10 subscriptions. Once that gains traction, then BB can ramp up the marketing to consumers, and with most of the bugs out of OS10. The screaming negative talking heads that want Thorsten's head because he didn't turn the company around in just one quarter, and want to see the company either dead or sold or broken up, conveniently forget that it took Apple at least a couple of years to get back on their feet. Thorsten's plan is so far on track to be growing profits and market share after just one year of investing available cash flow into re structuring. The noise of "sell the company, or sell the patents, or break the company up blah blah blah" etc is from idiots who know absolutely nothing about business and especially the time it takes to turn a company around with new product, new services and a new business plan.

Nicely said, mate!

But gosh do I hope you are right!!

~STV on Z10STL100-3/10.1.0.2025 TMO US

[FlashFlare11]

Thorsten is a genius. He knows BB is not large enough to do world wide product releases, and market to enterprise and consumers at the same time. Thorsten's answer was to do rolling product releases, country by country, and to initially focus on marketing to enterprise, where they stand to quickly rebuild and grow substantial cash flow from BES 10 subscriptions. Once that gains traction, then BB can ramp up the marketing to consumers, and with most of the bugs out of OS10. The screaming negative talking heads that want Thorsten's head because he didn't turn the company around in just one quarter, and want to see the company either dead or sold or broken up, conveniently forget that it took Apple at least a couple of years to get back on their feet. Thorsten's plan is so far on track to be growing profits and market share after just one year of investing available cash flow into re structuring. The noise of "sell the company, or sell the patents, or break the company up blah blah blah" etc is from idiots who know absolutely nothing about business and especially the time it takes to turn a company around with new product, new services and a new business plan.

My gosh I hope you're right!

Posted via CB10

[cgk]

I believe TH can speak English, and a lot better than a lot of Americans can.
Other than that I agree with your assessment.

Posted via CB10

I'm clearly not known here as a big fanboy of the current approach but the digs at him being German are frankly beyond the pale - there are a lot of problems that can put at his door but his ethic origin is not one of them and it never should be...

[njblackberry]

So far his plan of growing profits and market share has been underwhelming.
He has been in charge for 18 months. Everyone wants more time. Lost 10% of their total subscriber base. Initial sales of their flagship BB10 devices has been underwhelming. He has cut costs and jobs nicely. He stemmed the bleeding.

And he is not the right guy as CEO. COO maybe.

[danprown]

Just to be clear, I am not making ethnic digs -- if you see my other posts I make the point that having a CEO from India or Malaysia or China or Africa would have been better. The point is you go with the best person for your target market -- a Sillicon Valley or tech industry Insider (be it Indian, American, etc.) for North America or a CEO from a country where your biggest number of customers or growth is (Malaysia, India, etc). Then who cares about your bad English. But to have a German makes absolutely no sense. What is BBRY connection to Germany? None. Evertyhing is political at the top level. Who had heard of this TH before he was appointed? Absolutely noone. Did you guys see the embarrassing dismissal by Robert Chan and the dig against management that he put in his apparent presentation to the board?

But you cannot tell me TH, or KT and FB for that matter -- speak English well enough. They are terrible English speakers. Maybe they can read well, but for all that time in North America, we have to listen to such heavy accent and bad grammer? And if you are a terrible speaker, you better back it up with something you are known for.

I'm clearly not known here as a big fanboy of the current approach but the digs at him being German are frankly beyond the pale - there are a lot of problems that can put at his door but his ethic origin is not one of them and it never should be...

[darkehawke]

Just to be clear, I am not making ethnic digs -- if you see my other posts I make the point that having a CEO from India or Malaysia or China or Africa would have been better. The point is you go with the best person for your target market -- a Sillicon Valley or tech industry Insider (be it Indian, American, etc.) for North America or a CEO from a country where your biggest number of customers or growth is (Malaysia, India, etc). Then who cares about your bad English. But to have a German makes absolutely no sense. What is BBRY connection to Germany? None. Evertyhing is political at the top level. Who had heard of this TH before he was appointed? Absolutely noone. Did you guys see the embarrassing dismissal by Robert Chan and the dig against management that he put in his apparent presentation to the board?

But you cannot tell me TH, or KT and FB for that matter -- speak English well enough. They are terrible English speakers. Maybe they can read well, but for all that time in North America, we have to listen to such heavy accent and bad grammer? And if you are a terrible speaker, you better back it up with something you are known for.

Are you kidding me. He speaks English fine. As I said he speaks English better than a lot of people for whom it is a native language.
And the dig at the accent is nothing more than a dig at ethnicity. Can't speak for the others you mentioned as I have never heard them speak

Posted via CB10

[Blacklatino]

Thorsten accepted the good and the bad when he accepted the title as CEO, and made decisions accordingly....no more and no less. There is no one person that can step in and turn around a sinking ship. Hopefully, another company can come in and make the needed changes. But, 55 million if ousted as CEO? Nah.