1. insman1's Avatar
    The news that Blackberry is exploring options to sell the company or part of its patents reminds me of another corporation a long time ago: Fisher Radio. In both cases it came down to competition and keeping up.

    Fisher Radio was once the darling of every audiophile. Celebrities, monarchs, and even politicians lusted after the Fisher brand. It was said that The Fisher was the finest audio equipment on the planet. Frank Sinatra, and others, including three Presidents owned Fisher equipment. Not one manufacturer, not Marantz or Scott or even McIntosh could reach the lofty quality of a Fisher. From 1937 to 1970, their products were the gold standard in quality audio components.

    Then something happened.

    The Japanese companies came into the market with cheap solutions that maybe were not the equal of The Fisher, but they brought innovation into the markes. Avery Fisher, who has his name on a concert hall, saw the writing on the wall. He sold the company to Emerson Radio and the rest is history. Emerson, and later Sanyo, who bought Emerson, tried to market Fisher products with Mr. Fisher hired as consultant. That didn’t last long. Before too much time, the Fisher brand was found on boomboxes and televisions. I imagine Avery was devastated.

    Blackberry is in much the same situation. I imagine that the board has seen the handwriting on the wall. Hoping to see the brand continue, they’re looking at options. What will save Blackberry as a significant brand. That’s easy. Innovation and better products. I got tired of waiting for a new Blackberry in 2011 and bought my first iPhone. I really like the phone. It had tons of apps, even for my small country bank and the best music system in the world based on iTunes. I became a convert, but kept my Torch as a second phone. I waited more and nothing happened, so at renewal time, I bought an iPhone 5 and a z-10. The z-10 is amazing, but what do you do for apps? They’re just not there nor is music any better. Add to that the fact that the new Blackberrys seem cheap in comparison to the new Apple and Android offerings.
    With $3.1 Billion of cash on hand, Blackberry will survive, but for how long?

    The z-10 and Q-10 were just not good enough and horribly late to the market. I wish for great things in the future for Blackberry because I’ve owned seven of them and loved them all. I hope they don’t end up like Fisher Radio Corporation.
    Last edited by BergerKing; 08-16-13 at 08:27 PM. Reason: Edited for readability.
    08-16-13 07:57 PM
  2. BergerKing's Avatar
    One of things I see from time to time is a write up that comes out as a wall of text. I took the time to make your story readable so that people would read it. Nothing was changed.
    a1s2d3f4g5 and danprown like this.
    08-16-13 08:29 PM
  3. amazinglygraceless's Avatar
    I'm a little lost in your comparison. Fisher produced the "gold standard" of it's product type and after selling to Emerson (and Emerson to Sanyo) watched their product degrade to cheaply made, mass produce equipment.

    BlackBerry at this point cannot be said to be producing the "gold standard" of anything, they are hoping for a partner / buyer ostensibly with the hope of reversing their slide and producing better and more competitive products.

    Whether that works out or not I think Fisher as a presage of BlackBerry's outcome is premature.

    BTW, and it wasn't said but implied nonetheless, Avery Fisher Hall is so named not because of anything Mr Fisher did in the audio industry. Philharmonic Hall was renamed in 1973 AFTER Mr. Fisher gave the Philharmonic Orchestra a $10+ million donation. That kind of money usually gets your name on a building
    BergerKing likes this.
    08-16-13 08:39 PM
  4. insman1's Avatar
    Strange. I composed that on Word and cut and pasted it here. Must be something with the formatting. My apologies.
    08-16-13 10:01 PM
  5. BergerKing's Avatar
    Strange. I composed that on Word and cut and pasted it here. Must be something with the formatting. My apologies.
    It happens, and wasn't a big deal to fix. Formatting gets screwy, sometimes.

    Sent from my SPH-L710 using CB Forums mobile app
    08-17-13 12:25 AM
  6. Skatophilia's Avatar
    BlackBerry at this point cannot be said to be producing the "gold standard" of anything, they are hoping for a partner / buyer ostensibly with the hope of reversing their slide and producing better and more competitive products.
    How could they make their products better and more competitive? (still a BlackBerry n00b I apolgize)
    08-17-13 12:31 AM

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