What's in it for the end user?

Leaving aside the relative merits of BB phones vs the others, how would the various scenarios being discussed actually affect the BB phone user?

Whether BB goes private, sells off parts, abandons the consumer market or something else, will using the phone change; short term, long term? If someone were to contemplate getting a BB phone in the coming weeks or months, should they wait until the dust settles, jump in and hope for the best or be relatively confident that no matter what happens, at the user end things it will still work as usual?

BlackBerry gives special deals to current customers to upgrade to new models

Posted via CB10

OK, so BB may give an incentive to get newer models but is there anything that BB must continue to do so that these models keep working? In other words, is the hardware dependent on BB being there or would the phones just get older but still keep any existing functionality?

The phones will work. I wouldn't worry about purchasing a new BlackBerry, even with all the rumors floating around. Now if they were going bankrupt, that might be a different story. We might lose access to BBM or BBWorld or some other features. But calls and texts would always go through, haha. Seriously though, I wouldn't worry too much about it :)

Originally Posted by SlcCorrado

The phones will work. I wouldn't worry about purchasing a new BlackBerry, even with all the rumors floating around. Now if they were going bankrupt, that might be a different story. We might lose access to BBM or BBWorld or some other features. But calls and texts would always go through, haha. Seriously though, I wouldn't worry too much about it :)

Bet there are plenty of IT departments that are worried about the future of BlackBerry!

I wouldn't worry about the phone not working 18 months from now... at least not too much. That said, in the position that BB is in - NO ONE CAN SAY FOR CERTAIN. While non-BES connected BB10 devices don't use the BlackBerry Network for anything other than BBM, BBWorld and updates, not sure that we know what turning those servers off would do - would the device be stuck always trying to connect? Could with uninstall these modules to prevent problems in performance and battery life?

But I would be more worry about the lack of current developer support and the fact that at this point it most likely that isn't going to improve. Have to say I couldn't recommend a BlackBerry right now to anyone- don't see the apps that were promised coming and don't really see a future for the company. Yes the Z10 is a nice device, yes it's messaging capabilities (with 10.2 and notifications) is the best I have seen. But that doesn't overcome the lack of a ecosystem or the concerns for the future.

Now once the dust settles and we know what direction is going to be taken... maybe.

Oh, this is going to be a toughie. I'll probably being getting a phone by the end of September and though I like the Q10, I can't shake this this "feeling" that subsequent moves by Blackberry will result in regrets. Wish they would either ... or off the pot.

There is zero thought about the end user right now. It's all about cashing out.