[kcdist]

As I mentioned on a previous post, it is my (and many, many others) opinion that the majority of negative Blackberry articles found on investing websites, technology websites and even in main stream media, are not the result of objective, fair and balanced reporting. Rather, I believe the authors of many of the blatantly negative articles are indirectly (or directly) compensated by parties that have an interest in the failure of Blackberry.

There's no question that there has been some pretty heavy trolling on Crackberry over the past three weeks....certainly some of it is naturally occuring, but a number of them appear to be well thought out; not blatantly obvious - almost believable - but in the end, very anti-z10.

Furthermore, I've noted that Crackberry appears to be receiving more press coverage than ever before. Kevin has heavy-duty cred, and main-stream-media has been quoting Kevin and the site like never before..

So.....here's my theory - I'm thinking a number of the new trolls....the reasonable ones, posting reasonable, but still generally negative posts and arguments, are likely paid trolls on a mission. Reviewing a number of their posting historys', there are many similarities....most are relatively new, and claim to be long-term Blackberry users or looking to return to the platform, but every single one of their posts is either neutral or negative in nature.

What I believe is that these posters are planted for use in the near future when the Z10 is released in the U.S........These posters will allow many of the long time negative authors to reference Crackberry, and point out to many 'mixed' and 'negative' reviews of end-users, with the end-goal to take some of the wind out of the sails out of what would otherwise be a very positive product introduction. If the authors can point out that even many 'long term Blackberry users on a 'fan-boy' website are disappointed in the product', it will be much easier to write a negative article without being completely transparent.

I think for many organizations, there are tens - if not hundreds - of millions of dollars at risk if the Z10 is successful. For them to spend a few thousand to help counter this potential success is not only possible, it's expected. Although I agree that positive financials will ultimately win the day, I also believe that sponsoring a negative P.R. campaign will effect the purchasing decision of many, and will result in less-positive financials.

This battle is being waged on many fronts, and I think Crackberry is on the front lines. I hope the Mods take an aggressive stance in countering some of these shenanigans.

[Luke Barrie]

you'll get trolls and negative reviews no matter what. go on engadget, and its a constant flame war over apple products and microsoft.

[geoffsdad]

It is plausible, but can we get a show on the History channel? Seriously though, there is something at odds with the noob postings. To me they seem better suited to be posted in the imore or android central forums. The posts are disguised as some kind of personal review. If asked I am sure they would say their intent would be to "inform the public". Their intentions have consequences which are to steer people away from buying a BB10 phone. There is a noticeable difference in these postings and the postings of the "regular" Crackberry Trolls. As you say, it is going to get ugly here at US launch IMHO. It would be nice if these type of threads were immediately moved to the device review section or somewhere more appropriate and out of the way. I for one don't like to log on and see threads with titles like Off with Thors Head or Going back to my android/iphone, here's why. I don't think it makes Crackberry look good to see some of these ignorant titles out in front of the forums page. Just one opinion though.

[geoffsdad]

you'll get trolls and negative reviews no matter what. go on engadget, and its a constant flame war over apple products and microsoft.

True, but is it between regulars or is it somebody creating a new account to post something to spark a flame war,

[kevinnugent]

You're right. It's crazy. Sorry.

[lunaticwithin]

Increased new people is probably due to Crackberry becoming mainstream known.

And it's a sad fact of life more people will stand up and voice complaints than they would stand up and praise.

Admittedly there are some valid reasons people are unhappy, but when something changes this will always happen.

[Willdroid1]

I'm not sure about paid trolls (where do you find a job like this? Are their job postings for these types of positions?) but I have no doubt that a company like Apple with a cash hoard of close to $137 billion can easily motivate or even operate as a hedge fund with the intent of keeping a stock down.

[BBNation]

160 millions shorts will need over 2 BILLION dollars to cover all shorts so paying these guys few thousands, sponser some medias, ads, influencing media outlets is nothing compare to what's at stake. The only thing they can not control is average consumer who will buy, refer to others. Currently it's hard as BB still lacking apps. I know many many people say that they liked BB, hardware, new OS but missing core apps for them as most of them use these apps such as skype, viber, whatsapp, netflix, facetime. The facetime is not big deal as bbm can replace that BB must get these core apps no matter what..even if it cost them millions. May be MS, Apple, Google pushing these guys not to co-operate with BB.

[BB_Bmore]

OP if what you say is true there isn't really much anyone can do. I mean if large corporations are paying folks to create CrackBerry accounts to start a smear campaign then you can police it but they will keep coming. It won't stop. They are getting paid so its a day to day job.

BlackBerry just needs to put out a device that no one can deny is amazing once they use it. The apps also have to be there or people won't buy them. (talking U.S) I haven't held a Z or Q 10 so I don't know what its like other than videos. The device has to survive the smear campaign, and it can, as long as its that good.

Sent from my BlackBerry by Choice using Tapatalk

[Dapper37]

I'm not sure about paid trolls (where do you find a job like this? Are their job postings for these types of positions?) but I have no doubt that a company like Apple with a cash hoard of close to $137 billion can easily motivate or even operate as a hedge fund with the intent of keeping a stock down.

What he said!! Just for starters.

[fedakd]

The hedge funds shorting BBRY have a lot of power...Don't underestimate their ties with major American media. *cough Forbes *cough.

[Wiki Cydia]

I'm not sure about paid trolls (where do you find a job like this? Are their job postings for these types of positions?) but I have no doubt that a company like Apple with a cash hoard of close to $137 billion can easily motivate or even operate as a hedge fund with the intent of keeping a stock down.

For Apple to operate as a hedge fund without anyone knowing, its CEO and CFO would have to make false financial disclosures, and get those false disclosures past their auditors. Auditing firms aren't playing games anymore. . .they all saw what happened to ArthurAndersen.

Oh, and if the falsities were ever disclosed, Tim Cook and Peter Oppenheimer (CEO and CFO) would both go to prison. That seems like a high price to pay keep BBRY down, especially since the the stock price struggles haven't prevented the release of BB10 devices.

[dbmalloy]

Even if this is true.... so what.... if BB has as good a platform as it looks like... in the short term should not matter... the BB expeience should speak for itself......the tech and stock market are built on positive and negative news as a way to control and manipulate the market... Take a trip back to 2006 and see what was said about Apple.....always has been that way.... to me just a distraction BB does not need right now....

[njblackberry]

Tin foil hats for everyone.
Conspiracy theories abound. How many posters are paid by BBRY here?
Why does W Hoa only repost the most glowing reviews.

Conspiracies cut both ways.

[silversun10]

Tin foil hats for everyone.
Conspiracy theories abound. How many posters are paid by BBRY here?
Why does W Hoa only repost the most glowing reviews.

Conspiracies cut both ways.

and why does Wall Street only look after Wall Street?

[njblackberry]

and why does Wall Street only look after Wall Street?

I am an investor. They look after me also...
And they have done very well over the years.

Wrap those Zed10s in Tin Foil folks! The end is near. Not really..

[silversun10]

I am an investor. They look after me also...
And they have done very well over the years.

Wrap those Zed10s in Tin Foil folks! The end is near. Not really..

oh, did you read the book: and where are customers yachts?

[njblackberry]

No need to. I understand how Wall St. works.
I don't Occupy Wall St. I support it.

[Tre Lawrence]

So... we're back to conspiracies?

[njblackberry]

They never left (in the minds of the True Believers)...

[cgk]

Think about this - how come we never saw Fox Mulder use a Z10? or Steve Jobs?

Once you work that one out, everything else is obvious.

[silversun10]

News That Wasn't News: Samsung's Enterprise Move Against BlackBerry - Seeking Alpha


News That Wasn't News: Samsung's Enterprise Move Against BlackBerry
February 19, 2013 | 6 comments | about: BBRY, includes: SSNLF.PK

Disclosure: I am long BBRY. (More...)

We in the UK have recently unhappily discovered that we were sold beef that was, rather, 100% horsemeat. Similarly, readers of Forbes and BGR will realize today that they didn't read breaking news Friday regarding Samsung's (SSNLF.PK) foray into the enterprise business, but rather that they read an old story spruced up by bearish BlackBerry (BBRY) shop Fenton Detwiler and designed to drum scary headlines:

The second bear raid on BlackBerry in a week was predicated on research from Fenton Detwiler and kindly headlined out the door by BGR and BlackBerry favorite, Eric Savitz at Forbes. Here is the excerpt from BGR (for a change, emphasis added):

"Boston-based brokerage firm Detwiler Fenton said in a note on Friday morning that Samsung plans to unveil a new enterprise platform at the Mobile World Congress trade show later this month that will compete with BlackBerry's next-generation BlackBerry 10 operating system. No other details were provided, but the news comes as a huge blow to BlackBerry."

The story here, most incredibly, is that this was not news. Samsung had launched SAFE last year and it has been speculated about in the mainstream press all year long. In fact, Bloomberg didn't even run the story. Do you know why? Probably because it was old news Bloomberg/Businessweek ran last December! The punch line there ended with:

"The bottom line: Samsung aims to pick up enterprise business from RIM and offer better service than Apple and other rivals."

This was a well-documented move from Samsung that will no doubt offer multiple OS management etc. There should be no surprise of the hiring salespeople that Fenton Detwiler flag as Bloomberg/Business Week alluded to this push last December?

Where is the Beef in this news story? Maybe Fenton Detwiler should have linked back in its research note to the Bloomberg story and BGR and Forbes shouldn't re-package horsemeat and pass it on as Beef?? Maybe even footnoting Bloomberg would be the courteous thing to do?

Is this 'New' Threat Credible? Is BlackBerry is SAFE from Samsung's SAFE?

Anything that Samsung does needs to be taking seriously due to the behemoth of the organization, but it is not an organization known for software development. Here is a technical point of view on the SAFE that I picked up on at Crackberry.com that offers a different POV (my technical knowledge has reached its limits here and this user explains this so clearly):

"Unless they buy an MDM solution all they are offering is an API set other MDM's could incorporate (similar to Apple's API for iOS). I've yet to see one of the major MDM solutions adopt S.A.F.E. as frankly there's not much interest using Android as a corporate standard. Yes you have some places that are going to allow Android via a solution like Good Technology but it's really not the same and the user experience takes a hit.

Frankly BlackBerry has been in the MDM space for over 10+ years. They understand enterprise needs and have made nice solutions to provide functionality and management of their devices. Not sure I'd jump fully into what Samsung is selling as for now it's basically vapour ware.

According to Forrester Research senior vice president and analyst Ted Schadler:

"The big thing that's going to be a problem that I think we'll start to really see in 2013, and it's related to [mobile device management] and control, is usability. So when you put in a [mobile device management] solution that forces your employees to use a clunky, slow mailbox, or log in every time, or have a poor user experience, they'll just ignore it," he says.

Samsung's SAFE represents clunky, bandaged type offering that Forrester is alluding too. People should also consider that Android is open source OS built on numerous stacks, fragmented, and basically unsafe. (Hence Samsung effort to re-baptise it with "SAFE"…Android is anything BUT Safe)

Conclusion: If you sold on that news you sold on old news surrounding 'vaporware' (Software that never really materializes) and if it does, there is no assurance of its success given the huge (Android-rooted) obstacles.

Why is this important to you?

The scantiness of the news story here shows you that the short sellers are throwing the kitchen sink at BBRY, and if this is the best they have, this is a sign of desperation.

This is becoming increasingly visible in daily trading patterns:

-A news story is put out to short 'Friendly' news outlets [BGR, AllthingsD, and certainly Forbes]

-The media outlets cover the story, shape into a scary headline, and get it syndicated (spread through other news outlets)

-Vicious intra-day selling begins initiated by the short sellers in the form of a coordinated bear raid,

-The selling confirms the veracity of the Ghastly 'Headline' story at BGR, Forbes etc.

-Panic ensues

-Smaller investors once again lose money

Will the authorities stop this? Nope, it's just too difficult to prove. What authorities may do is ask to see that short sellers had borrowed the stock prior to the sale, or at minimum gotten a locate on the stock. This is a step they may well have missed.

But The Market Will Stop Them

The problem with this strategy is that it is increasingly obvious to the market and reeks of desperation. Yet these analysts persist because they have to answer to their clients, and those clients were told to sell short BBRY a long time back and are losing a lot of money. Clients expect the analyst to now do their best to get them out of this losing trade at a reasonable price….

But. …tactical trading hedge funds have taken notice and have started chasing the shorts back up - please see Thursday's $2+ move in the shares (Counting pre-open sub $13 price) not driven by ANY news.

How do you trade this?

Quite simply every bear raid is an opportunity to chase the reversal; in Wall Street parlance, "Sell the rips and buy the dips." As this continues the market should naturally grow weary of the 'Headline' noise emanating from known news outlets quoting Bearish analyst. The headlines will lose their effect just as those outlets lose credibility, and the arbitraging of rips and dips should end.
This article was sent to 16,430 people who get email alerts on BBRY.

[greggebhardt]

I think you "theory" is really reaching! You do not need to pay people to troll, as they are naturally attracted to the smell of dead meat.

[Blackberry_Boy]

Perhaps there is no conspiracy, but there does seem to be a hate on by certain media outlets for the company. Read this from about a year ago:

Is There Asymmetrical Coverage Of Research In Motion In The Media? - Seeking Alpha

[unbreakablej]

Funnily, some apple fans on apple forums I cruised happens to think everyone is out to get Iphones too.

Tbh, I won't put it past Samsung to be behind the smear campaigns. It seems to be their style of doing things (which is why I refuse to buy their phones) . Totally uncouth in my opinion.

I must agree with those above - you are bound to get haters everywhere. As far as conspiracy theories go through, I think it is more likely that they discouraged app developers from providing the major apps rather than pay trolls.

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