[law2010]

Blackberry's stock is number one on my Google Now widget on my Android smartphone. I have been watching the stock numbers closely since the reveal of the Blackberry Z10 and Q10. The reason I have been watching the stock closely is that I have a soft spot for Blackberry. My first smartphone was a Blackberry Curve 8330 followed by the Blackberry Tour 9630. Ultimately, I would like to use a Blackberry Q10 to get that wonderful keyboard back under my thumbs.

Now, I can honestly say that a very realistic factor keeping me from buying a new Blackberry is watching the stock prices drop repeatedly after building up to about $14.00 per share in anticipation of the reveal of the new Blackberry 10 phones. Right now their stock is shy of $9.00.

I am worried that high quality application development will continue to evade the app store because investors have no confidence that the company will maintain any significant foothold in the mobile phone market, which causes people like myself to fear buying a Q10 due to a belief that the company may not be around to support it in addition to the development community. To make that clear-- because investors don't have faith in the company, I fear developers pay attention to that lack of investor confidence and shy away from developing high quality applications for the Blackberry platform that they believe may not be around very long.

This leads to a large consumer problem. I want Blackberry to succeed overwhelmingly. However, due to my fear that investors running from the company in droves undermines the public and developer confidence in the company's permanency, I will not bite the bullet and fork out $600.00 to buy a Blackberry Q10. Of course, my consumer attitude of fear of buying a phone that I am not sure will receive adequate support creates a further problem that I will not be adding to the company's margin of subscribers, which of course makes them less likely to succeed.

Basically, I feel like buying one of their phones at this point is a massive gamble.

Is there anyone else out there who has held off on buying one of their phones based on the lack of investor confidence and high quality developer confidence in the platform?

[Dave Bourque]

If you are holding off because you think BlackBerry will disappear soon or even in near future you are completely wrong. Read more about their situation not some anti BlackBerry bias.

Sent from my BB10 smartphone.

[njblackberry]

And there are CERTAINLY more than enough people here with rose coloured glasses who think everything is just fine.

Yes, read more about their situation. And not just from this site. There's lots of news, speculation, analysis and conspiracies about.

[SantaBerry]

And there are CERTAINLY more than enough people here with rose coloured glasses who think everything is just fine.

Yes, read more about their situation. And not just from this site. There's lots of news, speculation, analysis and conspiracies about.

And there is equally as many people flying around with black capes like you

[law2010]

If you are holding off because you think BlackBerry will disappear soon or even in near future you are completely wrong. Read more about their situation not some anti BlackBerry bias.

Sent from my BB10 smartphone.

I think you have misunderstood what I wrote. I did not base anything I typed above on reports from others. This is based on my personal daily following of their stock and app store and crackberry articles over the past 12 months (yes, I am referring to when Kevin was still growing his hair until BlackBerry 10 wad released.).

Hopefully that clarifies things for you.

[BigBadWulf]

Seems a self fulfilling prophesy. If enough people hold off buying a BlackBerry till enough people buy and things turn around.........

[law2010]

If you are holding off because you think BlackBerry will disappear soon or even in near future you are completely wrong. Read more about their situation not some anti BlackBerry bias.

Sent from my BB10 smartphone.

Also, did you notice the article that was just posted a minute ago here at Crackberry? It references that the market share of Blackberry sales in the United States has fallen to 1.1%.

BlackBerry

So, I do not think I am far off base in merely asking if there are people like me holding off on buying a new Blackberry because there is some question as to the permanency of the company in the mobile market. And yes, I am aware that they have a 70 million user subscriber base if you count the entire world. However, that is for mainly older legacy Blackberry devices, many of which are in emerging countries that are now just getting deeply integrated into the mobile market.

[law2010]

Seems a self fulfilling prophesy. If enough people hold off buying a BlackBerry till enough people buy and things turn around.........

I completely agree with you, which is why I feel like I am in such a conundrum. Like I said in my post, I really want Blackberry to succeed and I personally would like to have a Q10. I do not toss money away easily, and $600.00 is a lot of money for a phone that I am not certain will work out due to my issues stated above.

I really want to give them my business, though.

[law2010]

And there are CERTAINLY more than enough people here with rose coloured glasses who think everything is just fine.

Yes, read more about their situation. And not just from this site. There's lots of news, speculation, analysis and conspiracies about.

I agree with you about the rose colored glasses. I guess it is like someone telling me to buy a Palm device with WebOS in 2010. WebOS was discontinued in 2011 despite many fans wearing rose colored glasses talking about how they were just going through a rough patch, but would recover.

[Emaderton3]

Also, did you notice the article that was just posted a minute ago here at Crackberry? It references that the market share of Blackberry sales in the United States has fallen to 1.1%.

BlackBerry

So, I do not think I am far off base in merely asking if there are people like me holding off on buying a new Blackberry because there is some question as to the permanency of the company in the mobile market. And yes, I am aware that they have a 70 million user subscriber base if you count the entire world. However, that is for mainly older legacy Blackberry devices, many of which are in emerging countries that are now just getting deeply integrated into the mobile market.

Did you notice the other article posted on CB this week discussing an analyst claiming the stock will slowly rebound and double by the end of next year? There are a few positive stories.

And I have been saying this forever. They don't have to overtake Samsung or Apple to be a successful company. But I realize they need to be solid and not lose ground. I wish they were a private firm lol.

Posted via CB10

[ubizmo]

Even if BlackBerry tanks, which is certainly possible, your Q10 will still work. If you think you'll like it, get it, and don't worry about what phone you'll get next.


Posted via CB10

[law2010]

Did you notice the other article posted on CB this week discussing an analyst claiming the stock will slowly rebound and double by the end of next year? There are a few positive stories.

And I have been saying this forever. They don't have to overtake Samsung or Apple to be a successful company. But I realize they need to be solid and not lose ground. I wish they were a private firm lol.

Posted via CB10

Yes, I did read the article. However, there were expectations of a rebound as the Blackberry 10 phones hit most of the large markets, but the shares have continued to decline and have not rebounded. The only way they are going to rebound is if there is investor confidence in the company. I think one of the major contributors to confidence in the company is sales figures and market saturation.

I agree with you that Blackberry does not need to overtake Samsung or Apple to be successful. I think it would be good for them if they could capture 15% of the market. I like healthy competition because I think it breeds greater creativity that ultimately benefits consumers.

[logistical]

I was an avid Android user. S3, S4, Note2, and Note8. Loved, loved, loved Android. But I always felt when trying to do work on an Android device, everything seemed a little disjointed.
Took a gamble on a Z10. After 2 months, I couldn't be more pleased. I still use my Note8, occasionally, but not often. If you want to accomplish a lot of different activities all day on a mobile device, the Z10 wins easily.
As more and more people start using smartphones for more tasks hopefully they will discover what I did.
I believe in business it is more important to be the best than the biggest. I hope BlackBerry will be available for some time so the word can spread about a truly remarkable OS.
As far as a reply to the original post, I believe consumers will have to try other OS first before discovering what I believe to be the best. It's hard to appreciate how good BB10 is unless you have lived and worked on the others.

Posted via CB10

[Emaderton3]

Yes, I did read the article. However, there were expectations of a rebound as the Blackberry 10 phones hit most of the large markets, but the shares have continued to decline and have not rebounded. The only way they are going to rebound is if there is investor confidence in the company. I think one of the major contributors to confidence in the company is sales figures and market saturation.

I agree with you that Blackberry does not need to overtake Samsung or Apple to be successful. I think it would be good for them if they could capture 15% of the market. I like healthy competition because I think it breeds greater creativity that ultimately benefits consumers.

I agree. 10 to 20% would be awesome. It would be nice to see more users out there.

Posted via CB10

[law2010]

I was an avid Android user. S3, S4, Note2, and Note8. Loved, loved, loved Android. But I always felt when trying to do work on an Android device, everything seemed a little disjointed.
Took a gamble on a Z10. After 2 months, I couldn't be more pleased. I still use my Note8, occasionally, but not often. If you want to accomplish a lot of different activities all day on a mobile device, the Z10 wins easily.
As more and more people start using smartphones for more tasks hopefully they will discover what I did.
I believe in business it is more important to be the best than the biggest. I hope BlackBerry will be available for some time so the word can spread about a truly remarkable OS.
As far as a reply to the original post, I believe consumers will have to try other OS first before discovering what I believe to be the best. It's hard to appreciate how good BB10 is unless you have lived and worked on the others.

Posted via CB10

Okay, you are one of "those" people-- I don't mean that in a negative way. How on earth do you end up with so many different "new" phones? Are you spending a couple thousand a year on buying new phones off contract?

If money were never an issue, I would just buy new phones every six months and would not be in this pickle. Alas, $1,200 per month in daycare fees for the baby, the mortgage, the car payments, and $200,000 in law school loans means that money will be an issue for the next ten years.

So, how do you end up with so many new phones in such a short timespan?

[maranr]

Why do people get so paranoid? It's a phone not your life savings. It's not like you have to invest in the company. Dudes, this investment in the phone lasts about 3 years max. If you really want out most plans have a buy out. I love the phone now and am happy with the apps. In a a few years I will buy a new one if BlackBerry survive or not.

Posted via CB10

[app_Developer]

I guess it is like someone telling me to buy a Palm device with WebOS in 2010.

I paid $500+ for a Palm Pre!

I really did like WebOS. The Palm now occupies a place of honor in my electronics graveyard.

[Emaderton3]

Okay, you are one of "those" people-- I don't mean that in a negative way. How on earth do you end up with so many different "new" phones? Are you spending a couple thousand a year on buying new phones off contract?

If money were never an issue, I would just buy new phones every six months and would not be in this pickle. Alas, $1,200 per month in daycare fees for the baby, the mortgage, the car payments, and $200,000 in law school loans means that money will be an issue for the next ten years.

So, how do you end up with so many new phones in such a short timespan?

Lol. I am with you. I hang on to one phone for years. I have only had 4 or 5 phones in 15 years or so.

Posted via CB10

[angieberry10]

If BlackBerry tanks and i cant get updates I will buy another phone, but it seems to me it will take time for that to happen just as it will take time to see if BlackBerry makes it. Buy the phone. Enjoy the phone. Simplistic point of view?...sure but so what

Z10

[logistical]

UH, between, ebay, craigslist, amazon,celltraderonline, Crackberry, and others I buy, sell, trade, etc. Ain't rocket science tiger.

Posted via CB10

[Nathan Bael]

If money were never an issue, I would just buy new phones every six months and would not be in this pickle. Alas, $1,200 per month in daycare fees for the baby, the mortgage, the car payments,

Maybe misread but $1200 a month in daycare?

[RubberChicken76]

All I know is this:

Personally, I felt enough existed that I liked in my Z10 and that believe BlackBerry would be around long enough for its lifespan that I chose to buy it.

I don't know what the future holds (I predict a sale or a down-size to niche strategy vs. bankruptcy or rocketing back to number one) and I won't invest my money unless it happens to get really low and I have some mad money to take a chance on some crazy rumour driving it up

[angieberry10]

Maybe misread but $1200 a month in daycare?

I doubt it's misread.

Z10

[zander2652]

Blackberry's stock is number one on my Google Now widget on my Android smartphone. I have been watching the stock numbers closely since the reveal of the Blackberry Z10 and Q10. The reason I have been watching the stock closely is that I have a soft spot for Blackberry. My first smartphone was a Blackberry Curve 8330 followed by the Blackberry Tour 9630. Ultimately, I would like to use a Blackberry Q10 to get that wonderful keyboard back under my thumbs.

Now, I can honestly say that a very realistic factor keeping me from buying a new Blackberry is watching the stock prices drop repeatedly after building up to about $14.00 per share in anticipation of the reveal of the new Blackberry 10 phones. Right now their stock is shy of $9.00.
....

if you really want to buy a Q10 and the one thing stopping you is your fear of blackberry going away in the near future, i would say imho that you should go ahead and buy your Q10. Bbry is not going away anytime soon.

Just like you, i followed this company back when they were struggling on releasing bb10 and many predicted that bbry was not going to make it then. They have survived those times and i would say worst case scenario is the company's stock price remains in the high single digits but nothing worse than that. They sold 2.7m bb10 devices last quarter and that's mostly Z10. With q10 and q5 now also released, they will easily sell more bb10 devices. So in summary, i advise you to have no fear on buying your q10 because blackberry as a company is not going to die anytime soon. I hope that helps

[CherokeeMarty]

Don't forget that in the pre-Steve Jobs days Apple was in MUCH worse shape that BBRY. They developed a product line, got a vision for the company, and acquired some discipline (sound familiar?) which brought them to their current state. It didn't happen overnight. I see BBRY in much the same situation. Apple is stagnating, and its customers are leaving in droves, which does not spell success. BB is currently working its way through a complete make over, with a far simpler product line that should help it in all markets, not just the US. A recipe for a positive future. And still with 60 million users.