BlackBerry's future : a "Strategic Alternative Scenario"

To be honest, giving it a lot of thought these days, a scenario I would love to see in the future would be the following:

I walk in a mobile phone store
the clerk comes over
I have a look on all the phones available (apart from apple since the scenario is not workable - keep reading and you will understand why)
I check and see the phones and decide on one (eg a samsung or HTC or Sony etc)

With my new phone in hand, the clerk asks me:

"And what OS would you like on your new phone sir?"

me: "BB10 please"

clerk: "Certainly, a good choice btw. I will load this up for you and you are good to go in 10 minutes sir"

me: "thank you very much"

I pay, I walk out of the store a happy camper!

What do you think of such a possibility? Share your thoughts please.

Would never happen. The hardware manufacturers have agreements with software manufacturers for this exact reason. They don't want to just make hardware that might have a competitor's software on it. Its part of the deal. Building would crumble, oceans would dry up, and hell would be unleashed on earth... etc...

Lol, I get your point, I am just posing this question as a "sci-fi" scenario. Independently of how the market works now, would you like it if this could potentially be a choice upon purchase?

hmmm... It seems like the software is much more important to me than the hardware... so I would say yes. As long as I could have BB10 even if it was in a Samsung or HTC or Nokia... I would take that over not having a BB OS. That's for sure...

me too, that is what got me down this path of thought... ;)

Cell phones are not open platforms. There is no way to run an OS like BB10 on say an iPhone. You would have to 100% re write it to work with the iPhone hardware.

Originally Posted by greggebhardt

Cell phones are not open platforms. There is no way to run an OS like BB10 on say an iPhone. You would have to 100% re write it to work with the iPhone hardware.

I think that's why he stated right away that Apple is omitted from this scenario ;)

Posted via CB10

thank you for your comments guys. I understand the limitation of mobile phones and "not open" platforms on its basic premise (in no way I claim to be a tech guy but I *think* I grasp the general aspects).

The point though is that if I am not mistaken, with hardware such as the Samsung phones for instance and with some mods in software, this scenario could be, theoretically always, plausible with some of the models the hardware companies would launch, or such product could be designed and pushed in the market if such scenario became an active business model ever (that I do doubt, at least for the near future as well).

My initial post and idea of this thread is to initiate a discussion from the consumer side of perspective, on how us as consumers would evaluate this possibility be offered to us. I can think of a thousand reasons why corporate planning in various areas would be negative to such perspective for business reasons to begin with, let alone technical.

nonetheless, I also find what consumers think or dream of to have in the distant future as an interesting and meaningful exercise.

Thank you for taking the time to comment and read this!

It's a nice idea but I don't know if it would change much for BlackBerry. Most average consumers don't seem to even know much about the OS they use. They buy an iPhone because it's an iPhone, they buy a samsung because it's a Samsung they saw on TV. I know most of the iPhone users I know wouldn't even know their iPhone runs something called IOS right now.

Posted via CB10

I think you'll find more people would like to load another OS on their BlackBerry... :D


For this to be a Strategic Alternative to work, BlackBerry would have to CHARGE each user to activate their new installation. Just don't see enough value in the BB10 platform to make it worth $200+ per activation.

Now if time went by and the BB10 Platform had all the apps and was a little more feature rich.... I might do it then. But it will NEVER happen, hardware is LOCK to prevent this from happening - if you found a way around it, they would LOCK it a different way. It wouldn't be a sustainable business model.

Originally Posted by ray689

It's a nice idea but I don't know if it would change much for BlackBerry. Most average consumers don't seem to even know much about the OS they use. They buy an iPhone because it's an iPhone, they buy a samsung because it's a Samsung they saw on TV. I know most of the iPhone users I know wouldn't even know their iPhone runs something called IOS right now.

Posted via CB10

I get your point totally. This is why I am looking at this from the perspective of changing the options available to clients and it is totaly theoretical of course. It is reverse logic. If people were offered the customization option, perception would change. As is, the market functions mostly in the perception that X phone is an XOS. It is dealt with as a bundle. In that perception, hardware companies produce OS based hardware only and have direct positioning from the get go. I think that opening up this possibility would be something potentially positive for them. Think about a laptop with both Windows and Linux OS... get the rough example of pc's and elevate it to a model studied and applied on a business model and not mere user choice of after market application.

Androids get rooted for example (ok by tech enthusiasts)... this becoming a service to the average consumer with 2 or more OSs to choose from, in theory could be beneficial to the consumer and to some parts of the chain (albeit I know how the market works so the interests poked would react badly, but omit that from the general thinking). The question is, as a consumer would people appreciate the extra choice?

Originally Posted by scalemaster34

I think you'll find more people would like to load another OS on their BlackBerry... :D


For this to be a Strategic Alternative to work, BlackBerry would have to CHARGE each user to activate their new installation. Just don't see enough value in the BB10 platform to make it worth $200+ per activation.

Now if time went by and the BB10 Platform had all the apps and was a little more feature rich.... I might do it then. But it will NEVER happen, hardware is LOCK to prevent this from happening - if you found a way around it, they would LOCK it a different way. It wouldn't be a sustainable business model.

Given the above In my post I would agree with you that current market setup and business models are prohibiting this possibility from even considering it. As a model I see it highly sustainable for hardware manufacturers and also for small palyers in the OS part of the chain. BB would not actually have to charge to do this... they would monetize on usage of their OS and ecosystem (supposing that it reached a point of expansion that would allow a competitive structure). At a first step, I see it as a possible way of expanding user base, having hardware companies make money and carriers left able to get a small premium for the software update or something like that.

I would take it even further, my dream phone would be one where I could have dual OS capabilities if I would so want. (again it is a "daydreaming" scenario.

These thoughts, are not aiming in challenging the current market function or present themselves as realistic applicable scenarios at the current moment; nonetheless they also are not impossible in a "can be achieved technologically" basis.

I am just wondering if mobiles could follow somehow the way the personal computer worked out... yes there are dominant brands and OS that will not allow sharing at all, but on the other side there are more "liberal" hardware-soft combo capable choices.

I as a consumer would love to have this possibility. I also think that it would be revolutionary and allow for minor players or new startups in the OS market share perspective, to get out there and for users to be able to experience them, leading to appreciation of possibilities and more creative use of mobile "computing"(?) in the future?

Dreaming is where possibilities arise from at the end of the day, no? ;)

Well seeing how TH talking about licensing BB10 to other OEMs I'm not even sure if it would work because of the QNX core system but I like the idea. BB10 on Samsung sounds Awesome.



Posted via CB10

This scenario is implausible, but not impossible. Software can be made to run on any hardware, it's just a decision for the software maker to make it compatible. How successful would BBRY IF the smartphone world operated similar to the PC world where you can install the OS of your choice as long as it's not owned by Apple?

Here's the big issue, and to be honest, it's always the big issue. MONEY! Let's say you go into the phone shop and the sales clerk asks you for your choice of OS. He offers BBRY, for let's say $100. He offers WP for let's say $50. Then he gets to Android....... FREE!!!

The smartphone world isn't like the PC world where the dominant software and hardware platforms are for a paid OS. The smartphone ecosystem (again not from Apple) with the widest selection of software and hardware available is the FREE one.

I suspect if the this such a scenario did exist where you could just buy smartphone hardware and stick whatever OS on it you want, it would play out similarly as it does now. I mean, unless you have a compelling reason to, who's going to pay MONEY for an OS that nobody develops for? People don't buy Windows PCs because they like Windows...... they buy Windows PCs because the software they like all run on Windows. Try finding the Ubuntu version of Arkham...... you're just SOL.

People are now talking about Samsung or even Sony as possible buyers of BB and possible use of BB10 OS in their phones... that would be a good thing to see if you ask me, considering the current news and developments, at least from how they are presented in the press in relation to the accelerated sell for November issue that has been going on these days...