[W Hoa]

According to the survey of 675 app developers by Harbor Research and sponsored by cloud-based enterprise app platform provider Progress, close to one-third of respondents feel "overwhelmed" by the data generated by the Internet of Things.

Close to half of respondents said they are developing IoT apps, and three-quarters believe that IoT will deliver positive results.

Developers cited Android as the best operating system for building apps for IoT devices, followed by Windows, Linux and iOS.

Respondents agreed that security and privacy, protection from malicious attack, and general integration and data management are the top challenges in designing, deploying and engaging customers with IoT apps.

Respondents cited smart homes, wearables, automotive and sports/fitness as the primary markets for IoT app development and revenue generation today.

A shift is predicted in the next three to five years, with app developers expecting healthcare, smart cities and automotive as the top three industries for IoT app development and revenue generation.

It looks like app developers are betting that IoT apps will move from the consumer-focused smart homes and sports and fitness to the enterprise-focused healthcare and smart cities.

App developers feel overwhelmed by IoT data - FierceMobileIT

[Im Mo Green]

On the forefront, it doesn't sound or look good that Chen said he was reducing the number of Devices, but if this means focusing in delivering quality over quantity then I'm all for it.

One all touch, one pkb. Why not?

I have no idea what's happening with the stock, I thought Wall Street wanted BlackBerry out of the hardware business? I would have thought they'd have liked the idea of less BlackBerry devices.

Posted via CB10

The stock is being leaned on because of the new comments John Chen made with regards to the push out of value and growth to shareholders for another 12-18 months, a reset of expectations. The buy back is not going to stop shorts from leaning on this which they have since the earnings call, or longs to initiate a position at this time. I think on the whole Wall street likes the fact the the hardware side is being tapered back or eventually shut down, but that cash flow from device sales was suppose to finance and invest in the transition to more of the software/services side this year and that is not working out as hoped for. Chen's timeline has been pushed back, and the Street is not going to reward that. Thankfully for investors Chen has gotten the financials in a much stronger place than they were 12 months ago, which equals valuable time for him to get this going on the software/services side He has made some changes, and he will continue to do so going forward, and I believe this will pay off for investors over the next 12-24 months.

[BACK-2-BLACK]

App developers feel overwhelmed by IoT data - FierceMobileIT

very true. Nice post.

A "shift' or should I say, "emphasis", because lets face it, healthcare and automotive will be the major concern as the mobile world will now be affecting these environments more directly....and health and safety is paramount in these industries.

BB will be opening eyes for many

[Corbu]

Two more on hardware and what the future might bring...

How a BlackBerry that doesn't make phones would work - Cantech Letter

A widely reported item this week was BlackBerry CEO John Chen’s admission that the Canadian company could get out of the smartphone business entirely.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Chen said that at very least the company will stop trying to compete at the low end of the market.

“It’ll be a high-end phone that you can walk into AT&T and get it, as a professional,” he said. It’s hard to compete with Chinese and Indian manufacturers for the lower end of the market. The low-end phone is not BlackBerry’s sweet spot.”

While it may come as a shock to casual observers, the fact is that Chen has been aggressively moving BlackBerry away from the hardware business since he came to the company, and accelerated after he removed the “interim” status from his title soon after.

The transformation at BlackBerry has been so profound that Cormark analyst Richard Tse estimates that hardware will contribute less than 5% to BlackBerry’s absolute gross margin in fiscal 2016, that’s this year. Late in 2013, the analyst detailed how BlackBerry’s margins would move to a whopping 77% if it had no revenue from hardware whatsoever.

So where will BlackBerry make its money, if not from hardware?

BlackBerry is already a ways down the road in opportunities in the the Mobile device management/Enterprise mobility management space (MDM/EMM). A rumoured Android device, reportedly called the BlackBerry Venice, seems an admission that the company now knows its strength is in securing devices, not necessarily making them anymore.

BlackBerry is also courting the Internet of Things space, where it intends to use its famous encryption to secure the billions of connected devices coming online. And the company is already a major player in the connected car space, where its QNX Software is the platform powering the infotainment systems in Mercedes Benz, Honda, BMW, Toyota, Chrysler, General Motors, Hyundai, vehicles.

Tse believes there are particularly appealing opportunities for BlackBerry in the Internet of Things space. This week, a story about hackers remotely disabling a Jeep Cherokee with the driver in it rekindled fears about the security of internet enabled devices. Blackberry thinks its famous security could be repurposed for the IoT market, and Tse thinks the company might soon spend more than a half-billion dollars on acquisitions to jump start it presence there.

At BlackBerry’s second annual Security Summit this week in New York one BlackBerry exec addressed the disconnect between the public perception of BlackBerry’s current business and the reality that it has entered into spaces that are less consumer oriented than smartphones.

“We’re not always mentioned everywhere and for everything that we do,” said BlackBerry’s senior director of enterprise product management, Jeff Holleran. “It would be great if we could have the logos up for the tens of thousands of customers we have everywhere in the world. But one of the things our customers like about us is that we respect their privacy.”

[Corbu]

Why BlackBerry Security Summit Lacked Talk of New Phones

NEWS ANALYSIS: Imagine a day when BlackBerry no longer builds enterprise smartphones. We spoke with several BlackBerry leaders about the possibility.

NEW YORK—At BlackBerry's second annual Security Summit on July 23 here, the focus was on the company's push to build and market enterprise mobile security applications and products that allow businesses to maintain the utmost in security in a threat-filled world.

What was striking was the lack of talk about potential new smartphone innovations, any new device models or anything resembling a discussion about BlackBerry phones.

Even Marty Beard, BlackBerry's chief operating officer, focused only on security software and services and the huge opportunities that exist in the marketplace for the company, which for many years had been seen as the gold standard in enterprise security when it came to mobile devices.

"The size of the opportunity for BlackBerry [in the security space] is why we are so excited," said Beard. "We have a belief that every enterprise is going to have a platform that is going to secure this explosion of devices" in the Internet of things.

"We're entering a world where having to manage the perimeter is becoming increasingly important. That is driving a strategic view that [John Chen] has for us as a company and that we are driving toward."

Not once did he talk about upcoming smartphone innovations or plans that would drive device synergies for the company. That immediately made me wonder whether we are seeing the start of a world in which BlackBerry could exit the profit-thin, ultra-competitive environment of smartphones and focus solely on software for enterprise mobile security.

This idea germinated in March when BlackBerry unveiled its plans at Mobile World Congress for a new BlackBerry Experience Suite that will adapt much of its BlackBerry software to run on Android, iOS and Windows smartphones and tablets as the company looks to broaden its reach into the enterprise even when enterprises are using competing devices. The BlackBerry Experience Suite, expected to be available by the end of 2015, aims to help enterprises and small businesses bring enterprise-class applications to their end users from a trusted partner, such as BlackBerry. It's a strategy that doesn't rely on future BlackBerry enterprise-grade smartphones. Did you think you'd ever be reading those words?

During a question-and-answer session at the Security Summit, I asked Beard whether such a scenario is possible.

"We've got to focus overall as a company that makes money," he said. "That is the prime goal," and the company sees obvious business opportunities when it comes to enterprise mobile security software.

"On the device side, we've been very consistent that it's a very important segment, but that it's a segment we need to make money on," said Beard. "It's not about getting in or out [of the business]. It's about making money. On the hardware side, we need to be targeted. None of that has changed."

Later, I asked the same questions to Jeff Holleran, BlackBerry's vice president of corporate strategy, who seemed adamant that while smartphones didn't have a large part at the event that they do have a key role in the company.

"I continue to see hardware as a valuable part of the end-to-end story," said Holleran. "When you start with silicon, it lets you do useful things. I see a huge value in having hardware as an overall part of our portfolio."

Maybe both Beard and Holleran are right. Maybe I was just fishing for a good story about the possible future of BlackBerry and the idea of BlackBerry dropping smartphones is as crazy as General Motors dropping its Pontiac and Saturn divisions. Oh wait, GM did drop its Pontiac and Saturn divisions.

So I asked Chris Hazelton, an analyst with 451 Research who was also at the event, for his thoughts.

"Even within the next two years, I think there is a chance that BlackBerry would move away from the device business," Hazelton told eWEEK. In fact, 451 Research has tracked BlackBerry's acquisitions over the last year and there's been about $173 million in purchases since July 2014—all of them in software, he said. "The company is definitely spending substantial but limited cash on software. It's very likely that they will not be a device vendor in two years."

Could BlackBerry take the approach of Nokia, which recently confirmed its plans to once again get back into the smartphone device business (which it sold to Microsoft in 2014) by licensing its designs to others instead of building and marketing the devices themselves?

That could happen, Hazelton, said, but the "challenge there is if that distracts from their brand and from their enterprise security software" business. "They could give someone a shot, even on a temporary basis for two years and then they could get it back if it's not working out" by licensing it. "They might see a much larger opportunity, though, as a security software provider. The device business is a pretty low-margin business anyway."

One giant risk of a licensing approach, though, would be if another company didn't put as much emphasis on security with a future device that is branded a BlackBerry, said Hazelton. "There is a history and pride with BlackBerry's security capabilities—and their worst nightmare would be a future 'BlackBerry' device that is not secure."

BlackBerry certainly still has an interest in the high-end smartphone market, said Hazelton, especially when it comes to targeting senior managers inside high-end organizations. "The problem is that the BlackBerry brand in the eyes of consumers is just not what it once was. In enterprises, there is still a lot of value," but most enterprise applications development today involves iOS, he said.

BlackBerry's fall from dominating the enterprise smartphone market has been swift and stunning. In early 2006, before the first iPhones appeared from Apple, half of all smartphones sold were BlackBerry models. By 2009, though, its share of the global smartphone market was down to 20 percent. The company continues to face growing competition from Apple, Samsung, Google and others.

In the first quarter of 2015, BlackBerry's worldwide market share fell to 0.3 percent, compared with 78 percent for Android and 18.3 percent for iOS, according to a recent report from IDC. Windows Phone has a 2.7 percent market share.

BlackBerry certainly isn't tossing in the towel on its smartphones today, but it may only be a matter of time before it starts looking at other options. There are plenty of former typewriter company executives, Western Union telegram office managers and Circuit City electronics store leaders who failed to make needed changes in time, before their firms no longer had a business to be in.

[Bilaal]

Two more on hardware and what the future might bring...

How a BlackBerry that doesn't make phones would work - Cantech Letter

�It�ll be a high-end phone that you can walk into AT&T and get it, as a professional,� he said. It�s hard to compete with Chinese and Indian manufacturers for the lower end of the market. The low-end phone is not BlackBerry�s sweet spot.�

That bit, I like.

Didn't evleaks say the Android powered BlackBerry would be an AT&T variant? Foreshadowing much? Lol.

Posted via CB10

[Bacon Munchers]

Attachment 364093

In all seriousness, BlackBerry should run with this.

The Art of War.


______________

Wow! Big volume yesterday:


Attachment 364223

[zyben]

Our favorite BlackBerry lovin' tennis star, Ms. Sharapova:

[zyben]

Breakfast with BlackBerry:

[zyben]

She loves her white Q10:

[bspence87]

Stop it Zyben!
My girlfriend is wondering why I keep checking my phone.

[zyben]

Hope you're all having a great weekend

[zyben]

Stop it Zyben!
My girlfriend is wondering why I keep checking my phone.

One last photo for you bspence, and I'll get back to my weekend festivities

[BACK-2-BLACK]

i think Marty is following this thread, hence the reaction to zyben's posts....

[BACK-2-BLACK]

.


EDM artist endorsement ?


Inside Diplo's big summer: Las Vegas, 'Lean On' and Justin Bieber

By Mikael Wod c
July 25, 2015


When Diplo travels to Las Vegas for his regular gig at the nightclub XS, he doesn't take a private jet as many of his peers in Vegas' cash-choked club scene do. Instead, the Los Angeles-based DJ and producer usually trudges through TSA with the plebes at Burbank's Bob Hope Airport, not far from the recording studio where he does much of his work.

"My family growing up was so cheap that I feel dumb blowing money on something like that," he said recently. Nevertheless, Diplo splurged a few weeks ago, bringing his personal trainer with him on a chartered jet that departed from Van Nuys. "That was an extra 30 minutes to get to the airport, and then we sat on the tarmac for an hour," he recalled. "I was, like, '$10,000 for this? I should've flown
Southwest.'"

The problem, one gathers, wasn't that he couldn't afford it. As much a translator as a creator, Diplo has emerged over the past decade as an important (if polarizing) presence in both hip-hop and electronic dance music, guiding popular taste with his ahead-of-the-curve sound and enterprises including a record label, Mad Decent, and an endorsement deal with BlackBerry.

Now, at 36, he's having a serious pop moment, with two song-of-the-summer candidates near the top of Spotify's Global Top 50 chart: "Lean On," a slinky synth tune from Major Lazer, Diplo's reggae-inspired group with producers Jillionaire and Walshy Fire; and "Where Are � Now," a futuristic ballad by Jack �, his duo with the EDM star Skrillex, featuring Justin Bieber.

"He's, like, the guy right now," said Gary Richards of Hard Events, which next weekend will put Diplo and Skrillex in front of an estimated 65,000 fans at the Hard Summer festival in Pomona. "I booked him before I even heard the Jack � album."

Diplo can feel the heat around him, but he knows it's fleeting. "You only have a certain amount of time as a person making relevant music," he said. "There's a window, and I'm in the middle of it." In other words, it wasn't money he was wasting on that private jet � it was time.

You could get a sense of how much Diplo is packing in one morning last month at his studio, a surprisingly low-key space he shares with Ariel Rechtshaid, a fellow producer known for his work with Vampire Weekend and Charli XCX. Dressed in sweat pants and a designer T-shirt, Diplo had returned the night before from Vegas and was scheduled to record in a few hours with MO, the Danish singer featured on "Lean On." For now, though, the sisters of Haim were busy in one room, while the DJ A-Trak hovered over a laptop in another. Stepping outside, where a shiny black Tesla was parked, Diplo pointed down the quiet suburban street to a karate studio and a gun store.
You only have a certain amount of time as a person making relevant music. There's a window, and I'm in the middle of it. - Diplo, DJ and producer

"That's why I like Burbank," he said with a laugh. "It's just like Florida."

Born Thomas Wesley Pentz, Diplo grew up north of Miami, where his father ran a bait shop. (The stage name, short for "diplodocus," came from his childhood love of dinosaurs.) A neighbor who built computers charged Diplo $400 for a machine equipped with music-editing software, and soon he was making beats and honing DJ skills he'd later use as a college kid in Philadelphia. After finishing school he started traveling the world, exploring underground music scenes in Brazil and Japan and showing off his discoveries on a series of mixtapes.

One of them, a collection of frenetic funk tracks from the slums of Rio de Janeiro, caught the ear of M.I.A., with whom Diplo began collaborating. In 2008 they crashed the mainstream with "Paper Planes," a woozy Clash-sampling jam that reached No. 4 on Billboard's Hot 100 and earned a Grammy nomination for record of the year.

Diplo's habit of polishing styles from far-flung locales led some to accuse him of taking credit for the work of less privileged musicians. But his flair for addictive beats and unusual hooks attracted stars like Usher, for whom he produced "Climax," and Beyonc�, who more or less remade Major Lazer's "Pon de Floor" as "Run the World (Girls)."

The Australian singer Sia remembers receiving Diplo's demo for what became "Elastic Heart," their hit from the "Hunger Games: Catching Fire" soundtrack. "I've never, ever, ever called someone up after they've sent me a track and said, 'Do not give this to anyone else, please!'" she said. "But that day it happened."
See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour >>

Diplo said his newfound cachet hasn't cleared every obstacle from his path. Before "Lean On" became a Major Lazer song, he shopped it to "so many people," including a superstar he declined to name; all passed on recording it, saying the track was too weird. And getting Bieber to sing the relatively edgy "Where Are � Now" required softening of the ground around the troubled teen idol.

The last time he worked with Bieber, on the singer's 2012 album, "Believe," they made "a couple of songs I wasn't that excited about, to be honest. We had some other ideas that were cool, but at the time nobody was ready to push Bieber in that direction." Three years later, with the singer having "hit rock bottom" after a stretch of bad publicity, his camp was open to shaking things up, Diplo said.

"Justin had been away for a while and was in a different place," said Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, who noted that Diplo is playing a "pivotal role" on the singer's next album. Collaborating with Diplo, he went on, gives Bieber a bit of "credibility in a world he's never been in before."

And then there was Madonna, who recruited Diplo for several tracks on her 2015 album, "Rebel Heart."

"We went head to head on music all the time," he said. Those disagreements didn't bother him; he was impressed by how "invested" she is in her work. Yet he felt the rollout of "Rebel Heart" � in which Madonna seemed to be actively trolling critics who said she'd gotten too old for racy theatrics � clashed with the album's "classy" vibe.

"But I'm not about to step in and talk to her about marketing. She's Madonna! And you have to the play the game. You can't sit back and complain about the way the media portrays you."

Diplo's own persona is fixed somewhere between cool-hunting hipster and catcalling bro. (When Este Haim emerged from a room at the studio to find the producer shirtless, she seemed less than surprised.) On Twitter, the father of two young children has invited disgusted eye-rolls with unseemly comments about female stars such as Lorde and Taylor Swift, whose supposed nemesis, Katy Perry, he's said to have dated.

And he's still answering charges of cultural appropriation from people who say he's "not black enough," in his words, to do reggae with Major Lazer or "not white enough" to do country music with the Band Perry. Recalling a recent trip to Jamaica, where he said he heard countless remixes of "Lean On," he insisted, "I'm not just excavating stuff and taking it home to my library. It's a back-and-forth conversation.

"But I do talk a lot of" trash, he allowed, using a stronger word. "I've got to watch that."

That's what he seemed to be doing when he began talking about how, after "Paper Planes," artists only wanted more songs like that from him. "I did a session with Missy Elliott and played her 'Pon de Floor,'" he said, cutting himself off with a wary chuckle. "Never mind � I'm not gonna tell that story."

The show-business politics are an indication that Diplo is pondering a future in which his continued ascent depends on his increasing visibility. Certainly that renown is part of what draws artists to Mad Decent, which scored a No. 1 single in 2013 with Baauer's "Harlem Shake." (On July 31, the label will launch an annual tour featuring many of its acts that's scheduled to stop at L.A.'s Center Studios on Sept. 19 and 20.)

And the high profile can't hurt his ongoing attempt to make a record with Rihanna, one of pop's savviest collaborators and a Diplo holdout. Alluding to the worldwide success of "Lean On," he said: "Maybe we're getting to the point where she can't ignore us anymore."

John Ivey, program director at L.A.'s powerful Top 40 radio station KIIS-FM, said that "to get to that next level, Diplo needs to brand himself a little bit better" � meaning stepping out from behind the high-concept veil of Major Lazer, with its cast of animated characters. Yet that move could affect his reputation in the dance scene, a risk given that his lucrative Las Vegas shows pay for his experimentation in the studio, he said.

For now, at least, Diplo is holding the line, according to Hard's Richards, who admitted he was suspicious of the Bieber song before he heard it. "But when he's working with these pop people, he's bringing them into our world," he said. "It's not like he's changing his style and trying to be something he's not."

Whatever the setting, Diplo said, that style is his currency. "I saw Usher at the gym this morning, and he put me in his car to listen to some music � like, 'Wes, what do you think of this?'" he said. "People respect my opinion now to the point where I have a little leverage. I have to take advantage of that."

[Supa_Fly1]

Holy batman ... I go away for 24hrs and what's this thread turned into Tinder?

One last photo for you bspence, and I'll get back to my weekend festivities

"Well hello!" (Think Sean Connery's voice as a dragon looking at sheep, cannot recall the movie)
'may i join in such festivities, maybe you have a very sauve friend I could entertain?

I'm kidding, well maybe not, no I am, maybe.

@bspence, has not the recent news about Ashley M not kept your eyes glued upon your wife man, are you looking to be steaked?!

Anything back on topic guys ... I was QUITE happily distracted.

[BACK-2-BLACK]

.

Nice White Q10 in the commercial...

kiwi.ki (wireless key)
July 2015

[BACK-2-BLACK]

OT:


Frustration And Anger As Apple's Reputation Tumbles

7/25/2015 @ 7:01PM

It has been hard to enjoy Apple�s recent releases over the last few months. Updates for iOS appear to be arriving monthly to introduce more bugs than are fixed, OSX is focusing more on eye candy and cloud integration rather than a stable working environment, and Apple�s online services are more focused on making money than providing better user experiences. The shine is coming off Apple

Apple seems to be rushing forward with new ideas that can be bolted on to its core products, while ignoring many of the issues around the same products. Update this software, sign up to this new service, commit to sharing data in the cloud, here�s seamless connectivity between your devices, and so on. In this rush to move users forwards, there�s a cavalier attitude to preserving information and data safety. Once you take a step forward with Apple you can�t go back again.

When I had confidence that Apple had tested everything and would take care of my data, that wasn�t an issue. It�s an issue now.

The classic phrase of �I�ll wait to update� is becoming more prevalent around Apple in my social circles, but Cupertino is forcing the issue. It�s creating a sense of unease that could in time, lead to a backlash. Let�s highlight three other issues which impact on the perception of Apple.

Cupertino�s reaction to the (real or perceived) issue of #bendgate last September is one example of poor communication over product issues. Both the El Capitan and Yosemite releases OSX have had numerous issues of poor performance and small errors that, while inconsequential on their own, are starting to add up in the minds of many Apple followers. The ongoing issues in iOS 8 around Wi-Fi looked to have been addressed in iOS 8.3, but the recent release of iOS 8.4 has shown that the �Wifried� issue of slow or dropped internet connections is alive and well, ten months after it debuted on the platform.

Apple may have released a fix for the sync issues around Apple Music and iTunes Match, but the issues stemming from Apple Music and the iCloud Music Library remain unaddressed. Meanwhile, the issues in the service�s sync logic continue to wreak havoc on user�s libraries

I think Apple Music has become the most visible issue of Apple�s tardiness because of the emotional investment that people have with their music collections. Poor Wi-Fi can be argued away, issues with the OS can be rationalised as �one of those things�, but when you take someone�s media collection curated over years and smash it into recognisable but broken pieces, there�s a problem.

Jim Dalrymple has been following Apple for many years, and was impressed with the promise of Apple Music. But his experience has been typical of many, and his thoughts after two weeks should make painful reading for Tim Cook:

�As if all of that wasn�t enough, Apple Music gave me one more kick in the head. Over the weekend, I turned off Apple Music and it took large chunks of my purchased music with it. Sadly, many of the songs were added from CDs years ago that I no longer have access to. Looking at my old iTunes Match library, before Apple Music, I�m missing about 4,700 songs. At this point, I just don�t care anymore, I just want Apple Music off my devices.

I trusted my data to Apple and they failed. I also failed by not backing up my library before installing Apple Music. I will not make either of those mistakes again.

Even when there is no interaction with an iTunes library, on a clean iOS device only talking to Apple�s music servers, Apple Music fails. In my recent review of the iPod Touch, I spent a lot of time exploring Apple Music. Within just three downloads I discovered an issue. Saving an album and an EP from a single artist for offline listening (in this case Nina Nesbitt) I discovered her recent EP was short one track that would not download. The reason? The track was already downloaded, but for the album, so it would not download again. There are countless examples where a track can be found over multiple albums, and that�s an artistic choice. Why should Apple overrule this and say nope, you don�t need this twice, and it doesn�t matter if it kills the flow of the second collection?

I cannot believe that in all of Apple�s testing this scenario did not come up. If it did, it was ignored or given a ridiculously low priority. If it was never seen I don�t think much of the testing process. Either way it�s a poor reflection on the company.

Apple is not alone in facing these issues. It�s not a simple matter to write a piece of software, let alone the operating system, for a mobile device. Every developer from the bedroom coder right up to those in multi-national corporations deal with bugs and issues. There are always workarounds in the code, there will always be a list of issues to address in the next update, and there will always be a complicated and obscure way to create an error.

But the bugs cropping up in Apple�s recent releases of hardware, software, and services, are all close to the surface. It does not take long for even the average user to discover these issues. And that should not be happening.

Be it The Emperor�s New Clothes, the reveal of the Wizard Of Oz, or the realisation that Mel Brooks� films are only funny when Gene Wilder stars, the mystery and shamen-like power that seemed to put Apple above these issues is slipping. That won�t stop the juggernaut of sales in the near future, and neither will it alter Apple�s long-term plans to stabilise existing markets and expand into new markets. But it should be a concern.

For many, Apple was considered to be above and beyond the normal errors that weakened technology companies such as BlackBerry, Nokia, Palm, and countless others. It�s hard to argue that is still true with the evidence available today.

Apple needs better testing, it needs better communication with its user base when issues arise, and perhaps it needs time to breath and get of the regular product cycle that forces projects to be ready for a presentation, rather than be ready when they are ready.

[bungaboy]

Good riddance!!! "Pakistan requires fingerprints as a condition of cellphone service"!!!


Pakistan to shut off BlackBerry email over surveillance jitters

Remember the days when governments were threatening to cut off BlackBerry's secure email because they couldn't spy on your messages? They're back. Pakistan's Telecommunication Authority has ordered local carriers to shut off BlackBerry Enterprise Service from November 30th due to "security reasons." While the agency isn't specific about what those concerns are, BES typically encrypts messages in such a way that an outside party can't (usually) intercept them in mid-flight. Most likely, Pakistan is worried that gangs and terrorists will use BlackBerry phones to chat in secret.

The move isn't totally surprising for the country, which has gone so far as to require fingerprints as a condition of cellphone service. However, there are questions about both potential abuse and effectiveness. As observers at Privacy International have warned, Pakistan's intelligence outfits aren't known for being scrupulous -- they've spied on journalists, judges, politicians and others daring to challenge the status quo. If BlackBerry were to find a way to offer access to email, it could jeopardize the privacy of many innocent people. Moreover, the BlackBerry shutdown will only do so much when other secure messaging options (such as Apple's iMessage) aren't facing similar threats. There's a chance that the move will prove ineffective as BlackBerry users either switch communication methods or use entirely different devices.

[Shanerredflag]

Sorry if already posted:
http://qnxauto.blogspot.ca/2015/07/i...-talk.html?m=1


Classically Posted.

[Bacon Munchers]

Remember the days when governments were threatening to cut off BlackBerry's secure email because they couldn't spy on your messages? They're back...

Free advertising. This is great.

Drop 4000 skinny subscribers in Pakistan, and gain a ton more worldwide.

[zyben]

Nice review of the Passport:

Blackberry Passport Review � Size Can Be Deceiving, Sales Cannot

Blackberry Passport Review - Size Can Be Deceiving, Sales Cannot | Technology X

[world traveler and former ceo]

On the forefront, it doesn't sound or look good that Chen said he was reducing the number of Devices, but if this means focusing in delivering quality over quantity then I'm all for it.

One all touch, one pkb. Why not?

I have no idea what's happening with the stock, I thought Wall Street wanted BlackBerry out of the hardware business? I would have thought they'd have liked the idea of less BlackBerry devices.

Posted via CB10

Likely they are reacting to his comments that the turnaround is taking longer than expected... now 12-18 months... In any event, they were late to react on devices.. they should of focused only on one high end quality device which garnered great reviews, than waste resources, and weaken the Brand, by rolling out devices like LEAP, poor man's CLASSIC, etc

... now they are coming around to this strategic reality..as stock gets hammered

... hopefully the Slider "Venice" is that unique, captivating, distinctive device and the partnership with Samsung will show great results. It is critical that this device is a WiNNER!

Wish they would just focus on one high end stunning "professional" device per year and start to regain that reputation on the device side... While they continue to build on the security and software services side portfolio.

... this could be their formula to get the BlackBerry Brand back....and revenues and profits up...

... no more mid tier or low end devices, please!!!




Posted via CB10

[zyben]

The New Legacy of BlackBerry

The New Legacy of BlackBerry -

[kfh227]

The email specifications do not allow message retraction. What Google is doing is stupid.

Posted via CB10