If you think John Chen is headless...

(this was written originally for another forum, UTB spesifically. I'm bringing it here because I feel the need to voice out a counter opinion over the drowning voice of screams of "John Chen is going backwards!"-esque posts that have almost zero substance to the entire notion)

You're getting it wrong.

Some people think that a CEO for BlackBerry must have very grandiouse plans of regenerating the company, to bring it from zero to hero in means that are just plain ridiculous (like needs more advertising campaign, we must outdo Samsung! bla bla bla) rhetorics.

IF you have (emphasis on IF) even bothered to listen to the earnings call, and also tune in to the CBC's Amanda Lang's interview with John Chen, you should have at least got a really big picture of what is going to happen, what will they be attempting and what they are doing things at the moment.

The What, Why, Where, When, Who and How has been asnwered. It is up to you to piece the pieces together, dear readers. However, if you cannot agree, that is your right and prerogative. However, if you don't like what John Chen is doing, then you go and step into his job and his shoe. You can then do whatever you want, and people can still dislike what you do. I, without a doubt, support what he does, because he's doing it for the need to generate money, not putting everything into a basket and try to pass off a hail-mary-pass like many other posters were thinking as the ONE AND ONLY correct method at converting BlacBerry's base subscribers.

There are a lot of materials dig-able from the earnings call, but I don't have a recording of that so I'll be dissecting whatever bit that is from the CBC interview.

John Chen's first priority is... "to make money". Now in case you don't get it, let me repeat.

"to make money".

John Chen has to make money, and make money fast. Making money involves a lot of things, such as trimming, changing, making full use of assets, etc.

1a. Renegotiating one of the Bold lines so that its going to be another production run, and making sure that BlackBerry is profitable with that run. That is one example of making money. Why? Because people still want to buy Bold devices. Love it or hate it, (I don't want a BlackBerry 7.1 device, please), if there is easy money to be made over that, by all means John Chen will do it.

1b. Just for your perusal, you don't expect a great deal of people to jump devices from one device to another every 2-3 months. There are people who do that, but many others don't. Many keep their phones for 1, maybe 2, sometimes 3 or 4 years, or more. There are many short term users, there are many long term users.

There are about 60million subscribers, give or take. And with whatever number is left (new users or old), you can expect some people to hang in there for another 1 year, maximum. Subscribers are those who are on BIS. BES subscribers are on different count (please correct me if i'm wrong), and 60 million subcribers is still a lot of money. But we'll get to this more later. What I want to emphasize is this number.

The way I see this Bold production re-run issue is that BlackBerry hasn't properly been able to gauge the newer low end BB10 experience on the Z3 model, or the up and coming Q20 Classic experience. Without any certainty, BlackBerry fell back to what is familiar: Get the Bold production re-run 1 more round because there is a demand, and its easy money. At least 1 year into the BIS subscription. Not much, but it is still money. Until they have a better data to fine tune their devices.

The bold production aren't newer hardware. Its the same hardware, and its meant to just be sold, if the demand is there. It isn't because BBOS7 is superior against BB10, despite how delusional some delivery people think, or is it because BBOS is the way to go. Its just simple mechanics of "if I can milk it, I'll squeeze it".

1c. Whatever else that makes quick money, he'll do it.

Secondly, John Chen has highlighted the need to convert the existing user base to upgraded models that will benefit BlackBerry. Wait, what? Isn't it as easy as making, designing and shipping newer BlackBerry 10 devices? The answer is no.

BlackBerry 10 devices, the OS is fantastic. But it may not yield the numbers needed for a mass conversion. Some people tend to forget that BlackBerry (or RIM back then) was first a caterer to enterprises FIRST, consumer next. It was just by chance they served the consumer market, but they NEVER REALLY did serve the consumer market. It just happened that consumers did like what BlackBerry had until Apple came along with iPhone.

But what am I getting at here? I can draw many parallel analogies, but it is sufficient to say that you can have the best device but enterprises are not exactly going to just upgrade overnight. Again, there are a lot of parallels that I can draw to, device and software wise. What we all need to understand is that there must be a means to allow very quick / rapid adoptions of new technology, or upgrades to that existing technology.

Again in the car analogy, there are people who are familiar with ways that the car companies' identity / trademark in the design of the vehicle. Exterior, interior, or drive experience. The same thing about BlackBerry and the phones, is that John Chen explains an example he got with the feedback of BlackBerry's customers about the design of phones. And fans or no fans, these guys pay good money. Unless some people think that BIS users pay better money than BES money (which is hard to prove / disprove in any case), or being stuck in a certain manner and these same individuals are behaving as as if they have the entitlement to impose the company to be stuck together with them.

If you are on the same page with me, then you will notice 2 things that makes enterprises move (despite it being ultra slow, for many enterprises)

a) price per software/hardware
b) cost per maintenance.
c) ease of use
d) is the upgrade worth it?

Because this is capitalism. Money talks. Cost talks.
Just like BlackBerry is a service provider in communication technology, its clients are also service providers in goods or services. Therefore the issue of cost effectiveness and cost aggregates becomes a very strong considering factor.

By now, it should have dawned upon you, dear readers that if you have some sort of say in finances in your respective institutions, and being held accountable for it, then you will know that point A and point B becomes very urgent and important.

Is BES5 and below BlackBerry 10 ready? (No.)
Is BES10 BlackBerry legacy devices ready? (No.)
Is BES10 cross platform ready? To a certain extent, (yes.)
Is BES10 a pure MDM solution? To a certain extent, (yes.)
Is BES10 small and medium business BYOD friendly? (No, not yet).
Immediately, you can see the glaring flaw, and remember, John Chen needs to make money. So how can he make more money? Easy. Consolidate everything into one, and make it easy for customers.

Hence BES 12. Go and read up about BES 12, and then come back if you think that it won't make money for BlackBerry. Of course it would, and it would also make money from DEVICES that are not BlackBerry related. No other company has the vertical and horizontal approach that BlackBerry is adopting, with exception of Microsoft and to a certan extent Google. (or Google, and Microsoft to a certain extent) when it comes to what BlackBerry wants to do.

Is BlackBerry concerned about what Office suite you are using? (no)
Is BlackBerry concerned about what OS you're using on your computer? (no)
Is BlackBerry concerned about how communication happens in a company? (with great interest)

and that is where you see why BlackBerry is going into that direction. They see what companies want in their communication, and try to cater to that need.

So, back to the question about upgrading the existing base, in BlackBerry's case more than the factors above mentioned, to some people jumping in from BlackBerry legacy to BlackBerry 10 is like learning a brand new OS, a brand new way. Just like you can drive a Toyota Sedan on a petrol engine with full auto diphtronic semi auto gearbox and a Toyota truck in a diesel engine with full manual transmission with full selection of 2W,4W,FD or RD configuration in manual. Its still Toyota but the way it drives, the way you operate it is fundamentally different. But you still have ignition key, you still have the air conditioner, you still have stereo, you still have a spare tyre, you still have doors, you still have seats. But it is a different experience. You know if you're reading this far, just insert a brand of car or type of car of your choice, but the idea's the same.

So what do you expect BlackBerry or in the case of the sedan and hilux comparison above?

You help consumers to transition.

And in the case of BlackBerry, the feedback came from their prosumers who are in the industry. It is only logical to listen to the customers that pay the best money to you, right?

In the debate of whether the toolbelt should come back or not, it is not for me nor you to decide based on preferences. It is fundamentally up to BlackBerry to decide on whose money to make and whose to lose. For BlackBerry, they can afford to lose the customer of any average Joe who buys a device and that's it, but it'll be a very bitter pill for BlackBerry to swallow if they lose their enterprise customers who simply pay more good money to BlackBerry.

Because lets' face it. Prosumers on BES pays more good money than an average Joe on whatever BlackBerry devices, BIS or not. The more they can maintain the BES customers, the better. So in the case of BlackBerry, if they lose customers who upgraded their BlackBerry devices to iPhones and Android, should they be worried?

No.

But if the same customers migrate from BES to another MDM solution, will BlackBerry be concerned?

All alarms will ring.

Why?

Because making phones and selling them expecting customers to upgrade every 1-2 years is absolutely absurb. Even the supposedly almost infallible Apple has felt the heat for trying to maintain such an unreasonable approach to business. If you don't get what I mean, go and google ASYMCO, because he devotes a lot of his attention to the mobile world in terms of finances, and he will give you a great picture of what is going at Apple, quarter by quarter, year by year.

Because devices sell, but they are one time. Services sell, and you reap the money every month as long as the customer is happy. Just like your telco.

Be my guest and try to identify which one is the lower hanging fruit? To go and entrench your base, or try to woo new customers?

That's right. It all comes to "make money". Fast, easy, quick returns, quick investment, long term, short term. Whatever John Chen can do, he will.

So all the talks about enterprise, why isn't BlackBerry chasing the small and medium sized entreprenuers? its simple:

its a gamble game. BYOD or no BYOD, small and medium enterprises cannot be expected to apply big enterprises's perspective in maintaining communication patterns nor to exercise them. It is just not cost efficient at all. But is BlackBerry equipped for these companies? Not yet, at least not until BES 12. But has BlackBerry the know hows to enable them to service these customers? Yes.

Because they did not do BIS for nothing. It was and always was a way to make money and also gauge how people wanted / needed such a system of delivery of data connectivity.

But why all that seemingly headless move?

Because it wasn't headless. It was to make money. Money makes BlackBerry go around the world.

And you think you have grandiose plans that would work in 1 single swipe?

That is very long..... however the answer should be 42 ;)

Originally Posted by badiyee

You help consumers to transition.

And in the case of BlackBerry, the feedback came from their prosumers who are in the industry. It is only logical to listen to the customers that pay the best money to you, right?

In the debate of whether the toolbelt should come back or not, it is not for me nor you to decide based on preferences. It is fundamentally up to BlackBerry to decide on whose money to make and whose to lose. For BlackBerry, they can afford to lose the customer of any average Joe who buys a device and that's it, but it'll be a very bitter pill for BlackBerry to swallow if they lose their enterprise customers who simply pay more good money to BlackBerry.

Because lets' face it. Prosumers on BES pays more good money than an average Joe on whatever BlackBerry devices, BIS or not. The more they can maintain the BES customers, the better.

But if the same customers migrate from BES to another MDM solution, will BlackBerry be concerned?

All alarms will ring.

Why?

Because making phones and selling them expecting customers to upgrade every 1-2 years is absolutely absurb. Even the supposedly almost infallible Apple has felt the heat for trying to maintain such an unreasonable approach to business. If you don't get what I mean, go and google ASYMCO, because he devotes a lot of his attention to the mobile world in terms of finances, and he will give you a great picture of what is going at Apple, quarter by quarter, year by year.

Because devices sell, but they are one time. Services sell, and you reap the money every month as long as the customer is happy. Just like your telco.

Be my guest and try to identify which one is the lower hanging fruit? To go and entrench your base, or try to woo new customers?

That's right. It all comes to "make money". Fast, easy, quick returns, quick investment, long term, short term. Whatever John Chen can do, he will.

So all the talks about enterprise, why isn't BlackBerry chasing the small and medium sized entreprenuers? its simple:

its a gamble game. BYOD or no BYOD, small and medium enterprises cannot be expected to apply big enterprises's perspective in maintaining communication patterns nor to exercise them. It is just not cost efficient at all. But is BlackBerry equipped for these companies? Not yet, at least not until BES 12. But has BlackBerry the know hows to enable them to service these customers? Yes.

Because they did not do BIS for nothing. It was and always was a way to make money and also gauge how people wanted / needed such a system of delivery of data connectivity.

But why all that seemingly headless move?

Because it wasn't headless. It was to make money. Money makes BlackBerry go around the world.

And you think you have grandiose plans that would work in 1 single swipe?

So 60 million monthly income fees from BIS need to be transferable to the BB10 OS, simple.

If its a dollar for each subscription profit worst case scenario is 720 million dollars a year PROFIT...BIS counts as much as BES does...all profit is profit...aint no one need a degree and CEO position to work that out.

What is it with Blackberry and numbers, I can't keep up...

BES5

6,7,8,9 ??

BES10

11??

BES12

Originally Posted by mr_zed10

What is it with Blackberry and numbers, I can't keep up...

BES5

6,7,8,9 ??

BES10

11??

BES12

The numbers game with BlackBerry has always been a mystery
OS, device and Enterprise software numbers

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by eldricho

The numbers game with BlackBerry has always been a mystery
OS, device and Enterprise software numbers

Posted via CB10

Mystery indeed.... has anyone seen the accountancy numbers for the last 4 years....

I totally agree with you, OP. The transition has to be very smooth and efficient, while at the least keeping the revenue stream steady or at best increasing revenue. John Chen is very right to do his very best to "lock down" all BlackBerry's current customers while gently trying to transit them to BB10.

Originally Posted by Orange UK

So 60 million monthly income fees from BIS need to be transferable to the BB10 OS, simple.

If its a dollar for each subscription profit worst case scenario is 720 million dollars a year PROFIT...BIS counts as much as BES does...all profit is profit...aint no one need a degree and CEO position to work that out.

The 60million, if I got it right, was a mix of those in BES and BIS. Another information is that BES accounts to around 27% of the total amount of subscribers. Assuming that both numbers are correct, then it made sense that BlackBerry wants to retain the BES customers first as they are the higher paying customers.

In the conference call both subscriber base is shrinking with BES shrinking much slower than what they expected, (still stemming the flow) and they are looking into ways to make money.

Supposedly, I believe, as John Chen has pointed out that he wants to do one thing at a time, in this case looking into taking care of the needs of the enterprise prosumers, he is concentrating everything into fixing and upgrading the base on. Existing users. I can see how John Chen sees the opportunity to make the most out of the existing base, as BES 12 would be horizontal and vertical, as opposed to both BlES 10 and 5(and prior to that)

If he upgrades the enterprise user base, he stands to earn BES subscriptions on top of any BlackBerry models sold. Even if only BES is sold, he can still make money from the recurring subscribers. All he needs to do is to focus on the software side, and whether the customers are using BlackBerry devices or not, BlackBerry will receive payments.

However, unlike the average Joe non enterprise customers, the returns on BIS is abysmal. Let us not downplay the money from BIS, it is still money made. However, BIS isn't something that your normal average non enterprise customers are willing to pay,no matter how vocal some of these groups are.

Give and take that John Chen can only devote his time and resources to tackle 1 thing at a time, it is no brained which one of the target consumers that he would prefer to chase. Let us not forget that the original BlackBerry 10 devices on the form of the z10, q10, z30 and q5 were very much targeted at the customer base (not necessarily enterprise side if things, seeing that the original plan by BlackBerry 's earlier management is to force every user for an upgrade on the physical devices). Give and take that people believe that the BlackBerry 10 devices launch is a failure (I strongly disagree, seeing that they made it out of the gate and there will be more devices and software updates to come) it is only reasonable that BlackBerry will not attempt to walk down the same path twice, especially that the reason in the first place why they even considered to build BlackBerry 10 was because they were losing the enterprise customers, while another path has appeared with opportunities, even if it wasn't intended by design to be like that.

Posted via CB on BB10

I'll read the rest of your post tomorrow OP! Lol

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by kevinduncan1983

I'll read the rest of your post tomorrow OP! Lol

Posted via CB10

I should probably try to read it....

Originally Posted by badiyee

The 60million, if I got it right, was a mix of those in BES and BIS. Another information is that BES accounts to around 27% of the total amount of subscribers. Assuming that both numbers are correct, then it made sense that BlackBerry wants to retain the BES customers first as they are the higher paying customers.

In the conference call both subscriber base is shrinking with BES shrinking much slower than what they expected, (still stemming the flow) and they are looking into ways to make money.

Supposedly, I believe, as John Chen has pointed out that he wants to do one thing at a time, in this case looking into taking care of the needs of the enterprise prosumers, he is concentrating everything into fixing and upgrading the base on. Existing users. I can see how John Chen sees the opportunity to make the most out of the existing base, as BES 12 would be horizontal and vertical, as opposed to both BlES 10 and 5(and prior to that)

If he upgrades the enterprise user base, he stands to earn BES subscriptions on top of any BlackBerry models sold. Even if only BES is sold, he can still make money from the recurring subscribers. All he needs to do is to focus on the software side, and whether the customers are using BlackBerry devices or not, BlackBerry will receive payments.

However, unlike the average Joe non enterprise customers, the returns on BIS is abysmal. Let us not downplay the money from BIS, it is still money made. However, BIS isn't something that your normal average non enterprise customers are willing to pay,no matter how vocal some of these groups are.

Give and take that John Chen can only devote his time and resources to tackle 1 thing at a time, it is no brained which one of the target consumers that he would prefer to chase. Let us not forget that the original BlackBerry 10 devices on the form of the z10, q10, z30 and q5 were very much targeted at the customer base (not necessarily enterprise side if things, seeing that the original plan by BlackBerry 's earlier management is to force every user for an upgrade on the physical devices). Give and take that people believe that the BlackBerry 10 devices launch is a failure (I strongly disagree, seeing that they made it out of the gate and there will be more devices and software updates to come) it is only reasonable that BlackBerry will not attempt to walk down the same path twice, especially that the reason in the first place why they even considered to build BlackBerry 10 was because they were losing the enterprise customers, while another path has appeared with opportunities, even if it wasn't intended by design to be like that.

Posted via CB on BB10

Still an absolute mistake BB does not market itself as the most secure internet experience in the mobile industry, then them BIS monthly revenues shoot up...its easier to future plan on known monthly subscriptions lengths than constantly chasing 27% upwards when your main revenue product is BIS and that main product is keeping the company afloat over BES, then, now and in the future...it will take 5+ years for BES to come near BIS and BB don't have 2 years never mind 5. There are 7 billion potential customers to sell BIS secure mobile internetting to in a growing markets, there is not even a third of 60 million subscriptions on BES handset users.

BIS is not the problem with BB, the many cheap nasty mid 2000 slightly upgraded models were...hardware related not software, and BB swapped that for new buggy software with better hardware and BIS removal to boot, its confused itself on every count how to move forward successfully. Hardware, software and BIS are its CORE business which made it the giant it became prosumer and consumer alike...it needs to return to all 3 longterm. Good products(hardware), good services(software) and tiered security subscriptions on this cross platform commonly known as BES12 (??) and its CORE subscription leader - BIS. Add great marketing on the market leading internet security element... PROFITS.

Originally Posted by Orange UK

Still an absolute mistake BB does not market itself as the most secure internet experience in the mobile industry, then them BIS monthly revenues shoot up...its easier to future plan on known monthly subscriptions lengths than constantly chasing 27% upwards when your main revenue product is BIS and that main product is keeping the company afloat over BES, then, now and in the future...it will take 5+ years for BES to come near BIS and BB don't have 2 years never mind 5. There are 7 billion potential customers to sell BIS secure mobile internetting to in a growing markets, there is not even a third of 60 million subscriptions on BES handset users.

BIS is not the problem with BB, the many cheap nasty mid 2000 slightly upgraded models were...hardware related not software, and BB swapped that for new buggy software with better hardware and BIS removal to boot, its confused itself on every count how to move forward successfully. Hardware, software and BIS are its CORE business which made it the giant it became prosumer and consumer alike...it needs to return to all 3 longterm. Good products(hardware), good services(software) and tiered security subscriptions on this cross platform commonly known as BES12 (??) and its CORE subscription leader - BIS. Add great marketing on the market leading internet security element... PROFITS.

I think the better question to your question is that can BlackBerry afford to market BIS as the most secure internet experience in the mobile industry?


Funny thing is that John Chen did mention (if my memory serves me right) in the very recent earnings call about security and BIS, John Chen noted that there is a growing global trend of "protecting identity". He also distanced the security and protecting identity, and instead focused on the idea of providing more layers of security within the communication aspects that the client uses (therefore introducing eBBM for BES).

I for one do not doubt that there are people who want BIS (I do, in fact), but the problem is that do Telcos want that? What little I know from insider information that used to be correct (in where I live that is), is that Telcos don't want to pay BIS usage to BlackBerry because they are not getting the cut, and they (Telcos) can somehow stitch together a BIS like plan, but, minus the security, and DEFINITELY minus the "protecting identity". To illustrate this example, a certain telco in my country is now giving unlimited twitter and facebook surfing, and also surfing via OPERA mini (that means if you open your mails via opera mini its still counted in that bracket of data instead of against your usage meter quota), and the package itself is cheaper than BIS. I cannot reveal more (not NDA, but i can be sued for potentially revealing misleading info, after all this is by word of mouth) but I can deduce that BlackBerry had no part in catering such services. For the record, FaceBook and Twitter had offered such services on a very cheap price, and there are OTHER 3rd party services willing to buy all that data.

Hence, the telco earns more ARPU, and they can even offer the same to BlackBerry legacy OS users the same package on top of their BIS.

So, which one will the telco pursue? Its a no brainer they will do whatever it takes to generate more ARPU, and BlackBerry's BIS is not in their ARPU, unless BlackBerry can redesign their BIS service that grants these telcos a BETTER ARPU than their own botchy stitched-up versions.


On the other hand, BES is a fuller, richer in content and package compared to BIS, and so is BlackBerry 10 richer and fuller than BlackBerry legacy OS. To each his own, but I really will challenge your notion that you claim that BIS > BES, and BBOS legacy > BB10 OS.

Originally Posted by badiyee

I think the better question to your question is that can BlackBerry afford to market BIS as the most secure internet experience in the mobile industry?


Funny thing is that John Chen did mention (if my memory serves me right) in the very recent earnings call about security and BIS, John Chen noted that there is a growing global trend of "protecting identity". He also distanced the security and protecting identity, and instead focused on the idea of providing more layers of security within the communication aspects that the client uses (therefore introducing eBBM for BES).

I for one do not doubt that there are people who want BIS (I do, in fact), but the problem is that do Telcos want that? What little I know from insider information that used to be correct (in where I live that is), is that Telcos don't want to pay BIS usage to BlackBerry because they are not getting the cut, and they (Telcos) can somehow stitch together a BIS like plan, but, minus the security, and DEFINITELY minus the "protecting identity". To illustrate this example, a certain telco in my country is now giving unlimited twitter and facebook surfing, and also surfing via OPERA mini (that means if you open your mails via opera mini its still counted in that bracket of data instead of against your usage meter quota), and the package itself is cheaper than BIS. I cannot reveal more (not NDA, but i can be sued for potentially revealing misleading info, after all this is by word of mouth) but I can deduce that BlackBerry had no part in catering such services. For the record, FaceBook and Twitter had offered such services on a very cheap price, and there are OTHER 3rd party services willing to buy all that data.

Hence, the telco earns more ARPU, and they can even offer the same to BlackBerry legacy OS users the same package on top of their BIS.

So, which one will the telco pursue? Its a no brainer they will do whatever it takes to generate more ARPU, and BlackBerry's BIS is not in their ARPU, unless BlackBerry can redesign their BIS service that grants these telcos a BETTER ARPU than their own botchy stitched-up versions.


On the other hand, BES is a fuller, richer in content and package compared to BIS, and so is BlackBerry 10 richer and fuller than BlackBerry legacy OS. To each his own, but I really will challenge your notion that you claim that BIS > BES, and BBOS legacy > BB10 OS.

Simply BB restructures BIS to share revenue rather than OS7 where its all Blackberry or BB10 where its all the telcos... find a middle ground... a connection to BIS server still has to be cost the data flowing over the network to a BB server, if BB offered that cost covered the telco would bite BB hand off even before we start talking about a % cut for the Telco.

I'm 450 miles from London BB server, the data transmission between me and BB server costs the telco money alone even if the rest of the data leg is covered by BB....why telcos cap BIS traffic speeds and with compression BIS runs slow compared to normal mobile internet.

The more I research bbry and the situation they are in, the more I doubt they survive without selling. I am guessing the majority of bb7 users and sales generated from 7 is from emerging markets where profit is slim.
Their burning of cash is going to make marketing virtually nonexistent. As the op said, they need cash now.
Without marketing, people will continue to not have a clue that BlackBerry has a new or and any benefits.
I still don't think the bes numbers add up. They are dropping bes customers at alarming rates. Mdm competitors are growing and improving at rapid rates. My company (fortune 100) recently switched to air watch and only allows ios and android (I found a workaround to stick with my z). The vast majority of enterprise customers I call on have either migrated to ios/android or are beginning the implementation.
And the plan to upgrade the existing user base will be difficult. Emerging markets bought for compressed data. If they were able to accomplish running bb10 on the noc from day one, sales would be higher.

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by Orange UK

Simply BB restructures BIS to share revenue rather than OS7 where its all Blackberry or BB10 where its all the telcos... find a middle ground... a connection to BIS server still has to be cost the data flowing over the network to a BB server, if BB offered that cost covered the telco would bite BB hand off even before we start talking about a % cut for the Telco.

I'm 450 miles from London BB server, the data transmission between me and BB server costs the telco money alone even if the rest of the data leg is covered by BB....why telcos cap BIS traffic speeds and with compression BIS runs slow compared to normal mobile internet.

Unfortunately, I believe in a lot of alliances, (at least with Telenor alliance), they have stitched up a better plan with a better ARPU for their customers, and they don't care whether it has the features of identity protection or not. All they care for is money. Heck, even the 3rd party services that they draw in their stitched-up offer pays the telcos, instead of the telcos paying them. Its a net profit.

Please explain how will you even "find" a middle ground between BlackBerry and the telcos, when the telcos can generate a better ARPU, without BIS? mechanics would be good. Only if you can prove it.

Originally Posted by frielfanatic

The more I research bbry and the situation they are in, the more I doubt they survive without selling. I am guessing the majority of bb7 users and sales generated from 7 is from emerging markets where profit is slim.
Their burning of cash is going to make marketing virtually nonexistent. As the op said, they need cash now.
Without marketing, people will continue to not have a clue that BlackBerry has a new or and any benefits.
I still don't think the bes numbers add up. They are dropping bes customers at alarming rates. Mdm competitors are growing and improving at rapid rates. My company (fortune 100) recently switched to air watch and only allows ios and android (I found a workaround to stick with my z). The vast majority of enterprise customers I call on have either migrated to ios/android or are beginning the implementation.
And the plan to upgrade the existing user base will be difficult. Emerging markets bought for compressed data. If they were able to accomplish running bb10 on the noc from day one, sales would be higher.

Posted via CB10

They have released that BES is dropping slower than BIS. Not at alarming rates.
secondly, marketting is not the answer. Or at least, its a tried and proven, but proven to be ineffective for BlackBerry for the past 2-3 quarters. They are exploring other options. Thirdly, in the new BlackBerry strategy, what matters most is BES, not selling handsets. Even if you are on iOS or Android, if you're using BES on top of them, that's what BlackBerry cares, and that is what BlackBerry wants to achieve. To have their customers getting as much BES on top of their existing and non BlackBerry devices. Because the returns from there is much higher, and its good money.

Good post badiyee. People need to understand the enterprise world and what factors into their decision-making for their business mobile communications.

I agree that BB10 was not really a failure based on the constructs of building a whole new OS from the ground up. They needed to integrate the QNX and TAT acquisitions to create the modern OS we see today with security baked in. It is quite a feat actually in the time it took to create it and now it is just a matter of refining the OS and making the software services along with infrastructure to support it. Also, the other feat is the improved development framework that will make it faster and easier for developers in creating apps. Also it was pretty neat how they could help developers from other platforms (esp. Android) to package their native apps for BlackBerry. One oversight of the critics for the Android player capability was a strategy to get more developers to be exposed to BB10. When you start seeing more BB10 in the enterprise, you think developers for the enterprise would ignore? Probably not.

For the cost conscious enterprise, i'd like to see the BES12 uptake testing out how it handles their existing deployment of older BB devices while piloting the use of Z3 and Q5 devices while leaving management with options of using Q10, Q20, Z10, Z30 options. Also, would like to see companies using competing MDM solutions like Good, MobileIron, etc. to pilot BES12 with their existing iOS, Android, Windows phones. This would be a good place to get BlackBerry making some more money.

Until then, Chen needs to make sure his teams execute and deliver on-time (ahead of schedule if possible). At the same time, change that internal culture and keep attracting (or keeping) the good employees at BlackBerry.

Posted via CB10