[njblackberry]

They were (and are) caught in the middle.

Enthusiasts who said they loved the 9900 and update it, those that had given up and were waiting for something new, acquired assets (TAT, for example) who were writing code from the ground up, management shakeups and demands and a deadline (30 January) that wasn't going to be missed (again).

And what came out was definitely a 1.0 OS. But the rest of the world didn't necessarily want 1.0. They may have expected more.

[cgk]

N.T market is filled with competitors that were supposed to be "too small too late" ( lol). But BlackBerry is not a new player in the game. They "just" have to stoke the fire; many still believe they hold the best technology or whatever made them glorious 4 years ago ... IMHO. IBM was announced dead, HP was announced dead, Yahoo was announced dead ... they're not. Because they have a trustable history record, something that worth $billions promotion.
Now, about numbers, my feeling is that we're talking about 1Billion + for the (fiscal) 2014 investment effort. Whit a large (major ?) part for communication and promotion (~marketing).

None of those are sub-scale in the industries they are in - can you provide an example of a player *within* the mobile sector (so Apple doesn't count before someone throws that at me) that has ever come back once it has started making quarterly losses?

[STV0726]

A lot has been written, discussed and developed, so I will not dig into details here.
But with so many articles, threads or blog posts still spreading the usual "doom and gloom", I stepped back and tried to put my thoughts together. What are the global and main points I'm funding what could appear as "guts feelings" ?

1. They did it
We tend to analyze every little piece of information we get, as often as on a hourly basis. We echo the single unknown sourced material we can grab here or there. And this results into a magma-tic blob where anything can be picked up as a signal of something happening.
Zoom out, back 2 years ago. For 90% of "the street", RIM was dead. Even the most optimistic bulls gave 30% chances Thor will keep BlackBerry alive, mostly due to some kind of "break apart" strategy.
BlackBerry is still here, in one single piece with a $3.1 Billion spoils of war.
Nothing is perfect, there have been delays, EPS is negative and stock price is down under the $10 mark.
But they're alive and kicking. That's a fact.

2. Devices are good
Yes, good. Not "leapfrogging the competition", not "the best you can find" but they at least compare to any best device in town.
They embed an new OS 100% BlackBerry and loaded with its DNA : reliability and security (privacy) to name few.
The UI is brilliant, 90% polished (that's HUGE for a 1st gen) and despite a learning curve that have to be addressed, those who use it just love it plain.

3. Platform vision is ... visionary
"Do different" is the best analogy (and friendly eye blink) I can find. Short : your mobile device is now your mainframe. As specs will raise in devices and OS 10.2 capabilities integrated (say "wireless HDMI" to point a single one), M2M (machine to machine) and the whole "platform" concepts will be proven true for Jims and Joes and, again, that's simply huge. "Cloud data" V.S "Cloud power" ... oh.my.gosh.

4. Enterprises will love it
At least with current large fleets, struggling to keep BYOD and MDM at a reasonable cost and at least "water resistant" (V.S BB "water proof") I have no doubt BES10 will be in the top 3 BYOD/MDM solution. Just a matter of time.

5. Marketing is brilliant
Yup, you read well. Because marketing is not promotion. Promotion is the - yet mostly important - "final touch" only.
The fundamental marketing point is : the offer. Let's sum up the BlackBerry 10 offer, sorted by customers attempts (witch is what allows to define this offer). I'll name the first four (my perception).

Joes :
- Social differentiator and tools (I'll be back about it below)
- Ease to use / sexiness
- Competitive pricing
- Reliability / Efficiency

Enterprises :
- ROI (in fact, we could stop here)
- Consistency (manage, deploy, upgrade, scale, maintain, repair)
- Trust (MTTF (mean time to failure), Company future (back on this later), certifications, partnerships)
- Users adoption

I believe both are very well served with BlackBerry current offer.

6. "The art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting" (Sun Tzu - The art of war)
Short : when you cannot fight with your enemies on their field, gain positions (at low costs) where they are not (fighting for). From there, you'll get advantages that will strength your overall position and will enable the final attack. Don't go frontal, time is your friend.
This is what anyone could/should observe here. No "Strike back" no "Punitive revenge" no "blow up your a55". Instead, a methodical and surgical pawns placing. A chess game with 2 or 3 strokes ahead. Keep the queen (cash) safe until ...

... "It's time".

7. Turn your opponents users into prescriber and value contributors
This is probably what makes me the most confident. What BlackBerry is doing here is simply ... well I can't find a word strong enough.
Let's look at the competition #1 strength : they lock their users into an so-called "ecosystem". What will BBM (Joes) and Secure Work Space (Enterprises) do ? Just break it. Plain. Basically this means that these "platform locked" devices won't be anymore.
Hint ? Just figure BBM can offer online apps (a la FaceBook) or streaming contents (music, videos, ...). Do the maths now.


Now, there' two points I wrote I'll be developing further, theses are IMHO the main cons :

1. "Social differentiator"
I'll left apart the "tools"; although they can be upgraded there's no real trouble in this area.
The "differentiator" part is more challenging; While "BlackBerry" is still a very well known brand and recent operations have somehow refreshed its perception, there's still a lot to do to make it shine back as modern and trendy. Especially in the U.S.A, where BB is to appl/Samy what cathodic is to LCD. This is IMHO the biggest concern to gain this "hey, I sport a BB, datz kool" pride back.
I for one would like (after the RIM trashing) the whole identity to be re-branded. New color, new logo, new tone: The full monty.

2. "Company future"
IMHO, the biggest barrier to adoption for companies sits here.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist. But I believe competitors and some malicious traders (bears using shorts) do know that perfectly. As long as BlackBerry future is linked to its stock value and the incredible shorting rate, some CIOs will put the foot on the brake. This has to change.
I for one would like BlackBerry to offer a join venture with selected partners. I may not have the same names in my head than those usually heard. I'd like to hear names like CISCO (because of the network) or SAP (for companies) ... and yes, definitely MS too (hint : why no BBM/SWS for windows ? It's not a technical obstacle).

I'm sorry both my English and available time do not allow me to go deeper, in a more academic way for each of these 7 points. Each would probably deserve a full page, including some cons (I'm no blind). But my overall perception sits above.

Have a good weekend folks , and stay cool below.
I do not pretend this is bullet proof, I'm not bullet proof either .
Just some cents as food for thought.

Did I bought shares ? Yes I did.
Am I scared sometimes ? Yes, I am.
Am I optimistic ? See my signature

+1

~STV on Z10STL100-3/10.1.0.2025 TMO US

[Superfly_FR]

None of those are sub-scale in the industries they are in - can you provide an example of a player *within* the mobile sector (so Apple doesn't count before someone throws that at me) that has ever come back once it has started making quarterly losses?

I'm not sure Samsung made a lot of profit at start ... but I must say ... it's 2:23 AM here lol.
I'll check that ... well ... later !
Good nite all H-7 people !

[Gnomesane]

A lot has been written, discussed and developed, so I will not dig into details here.
But with so many articles, threads or blog posts still spreading the usual "doom and gloom", I stepped back and tried to put my thoughts together. What are the global and main points I'm funding what could appear as "guts feelings" ?

You've obviously put some thought into this. Thanks for the post, well thought out.

I agree with many of your points, particularly about changing the nature of the battlefield. I've posted before that I think the cellular battle is over and that Apple and Android rule the roost, much as Windows and Apple rule the desktop market. They simply have too much penetration for anyone to upset that balance in the near future, imo...

BlackBerry still has a place in mobile, but for now they're a niche player and nothing will change that at this point.

However, they are obviously moving more into software to take advantage of economies of scale. They simply can't compete with Microsoft, Samsung, etc when it comes to hardware. Bigger companies can afford to take a loss on hardware (Nokia, S4, low end Android devices) in order to gain market share. BlackBerry can't. So concede the field and move to the server end and manage all devices, like you mentioned. Also, go into a growth area like automotive where they stand a chance at succeeding.

Personally I'd like to see them partner with a company like Sony where they can put the new platform on televisions, as I think that's another area that's ripe for growth. If Samsung can make Windows and Android and Tizen phones, and Nokia has taken up the Windows banner then perhaps Sony could make a mark with BB10 licensed phones (and continue to make Android phones).

It's a race for survival at the moment. BlackBerry has to continue to work on the server software and the end user software for BB10 and add functionality as quickly as possible. Hopefully they can manage the next few quarters on mobile while they get their ducks in order. I see the potential, and hope they can make it as I think it's a great platform, and I'm always in favour of having as many choices as possible when it comes to the consumer.

[Superfly_FR]

I think BBRY expected more promotion from US carriers than it got. It got good promotions from Canadian carriers and it is doing well here.
Also, they may think that it is better to wait until they have the 3 or 4 phones and the first couple of OS enhancements out before they start promoting it heavily. After all, look what happened to the PlayBook. If they can get some more key apps and put some fine points on the OS, then with the A10 as a flagship, they can start promoting the product line more. Spend the same amount of money to advertise 4 phones rather than one.

I've been seeing all kinds of commercials for the Z and Q from AT&T and VZW

I'll mix both of your statements.
They did some, not many and certainly not full throttle.
I expect them to go full throttle.

'Nite, again !

[m1a1mg]

Wow. I really believe my English is so poor, many only read the titles ... or the conclusion
The OP is all the oposite of what you describe. BB10 is a platform and the device is only the pivot point. The whole ecosystem is BBM/BES driven ... etc.
And I believe the devices are not selling well because until there's an American hype, the world will still be chilly. That's the way it is in this nerds world.

Sorry if it was not clear or too painful to read, my bad

First, and foremost, I believe your native language is French. Don't apologize for an excellent write up in another language. It was very good, people are just choosing to disagree with parts of it. Given the nature of these boards lately, that's an accomplishment.

Now, for the not so nice part. I understand that you are giving BBRY latitude. And that is fine, for a fan. As an investor, I can't do that. I clearly admit that I am no marketing expert, but I sure can't make any sense of BlackBerry's marketing strategy. As an evil American, I believe the world markets through the USofA. BlackBerry hasn't done an even modestly acceptable job of that.

Too many people still think BBRY is dead or dying. That must change, and soon.

[dan d]

So today I stoped into a local TelusMobility here in Hamilton wife's z10 would go into emergency call only ,the problem to get it out you would have to do a battery pull.they said it was a faulty Sim card no charge to fix That was great but wile she took care of her phone ,I did what I always do look around I asked another telus person there ,So do you have the new Q5 and I got whats that....really .....and also the lack of anyting for the phone also IE cases docks batteries charger.i would like to say also that this isn't a booth but a store in a mall .my point is I love my phone but they need to push the sale's if everyone always hears the good of everything else,but not BB how would pple know .when pple ask if that's the new BB z10 and if I like it I now ask first ,Do you like BB then go on to say how awesome the BB10 Z10 is .left there to go to lowes to look at paint and again got asked by the worker how we like them and she shocked us when she pulled a iphone 4s and bb9900 out of her pockets ,of course I had to ask why both iphone for games FB and BB for all else.

[w0lfgang]

5. Marketing is brilliant
Yup, you read well. Because marketing is not promotion. Promotion is the - yet mostly important - "final touch" only.
The fundamental marketing point is : the offer. [/I]

"Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling the product or service. It is a critical business function for attracting customers."- Raja Vikram, The Five Principles of Marketing
Did YOU read well? Think back to the earnings report. Did the sales disappoint? They did...therefore, the value of the product was NOT communicated. Did it attract customers? Nope. Therefore, to the members of the reality-based community, the marketing is NOT brilliant.
Just because you don't like the way the marketing is going, doesn't mean you get to redefine the word

[w0lfgang]

So today I stoped into a local TelusMobility here in Hamilton wife's z10 would go into emergency call only ,the problem to get it out you would have to do a battery pull.they said it was a faulty Sim card no charge to fix That was great but wile she took care of her phone ,I did what I always do look around I asked another telus person there ,So do you have the new Q5 and I got whats that....really .....and also the lack of anyting for the phone also IE cases docks batteries charger.i would like to say also that this isn't a booth but a store in a mall .my point is I love my phone but they need to push the sale's if everyone always hears the good of everything else,but not BB how would pple know .when pple ask if that's the new BB z10 and if I like it I now ask first ,Do you like BB then go on to say how awesome the BB10 Z10 is .left there to go to lowes to look at paint and again got asked by the worker how we like them and she shocked us when she pulled a iphone 4s and bb9900 out of her pockets ,of course I had to ask why both iphone for games FB and BB for all else.

Oh, didn't you know? Your experience was due to the marketing being "brilliant." ummmmm...yeah

[Gnomesane]

Too many people still think BBRY is dead or dying. That must change, and soon.

I think you're absolutely right, that's a huge hurdle for BlackBerry at the moment: perception. HOW they overcome that hurdle is the burning question. All things being equal, it's a great OS that shows potential. But if people are worried that the company won't be around in a year, that's a killer for sales.

Somehow, they have to address that perception in their marketing, I think.

[dan d]

lol ,please understand I love my Z10, curve and pearl ,but really .it would be like a used car dealership saying no sorry I haven't herd of a ford focus ,I was kinda disappointed,the service was good as it has been for 10yrs but,when something new come's out you would think they would be the first to know about it.

[sunsetblow]

It may be that you are misunderstanding marketing for promotion/advertisement?

Posted via CB10

Promotion and advertisement are critical pillars of marketing. What's your point?

I think you may be acting as apologist where there is no demand. TH himself said that US launch was flawed.

[Thunderbuck]

I would like to make a point that our esteemed OP missed: the game is just underway, folks. It's not over by any stretch.

There seems to be a common assumption that Android and iOS are not just beyond bothering to compete with, they're now so well-established that there's no point in even bothering to try go up against them.

Disagreeing with this notion may seem like wishful thinking, but I think there's a case. First, the market isn't mature. There are still billions of potential users out there who have yet to buy their first smartphone. Granted, the bulk of these are in developing countries and cost is going to be a factor. Ashas and cheap (ie "non-Google Play") Android are snagging these customers in many cases, but the point is, nobody's got a lock here; even at the low end we're seeing Tizen and Firefox OS. These don't necessarily hurt BB10, since they depend on HTML5, and developers can easily offer the same apps for Tizen, FFOS, and BB10.

BB10's biggest competitor right now is probably Microsoft, but BlackBerry has a compelling advantage in this fight, too, with easy Android portability. Yes, I think this can be leveraged--IS being leveraged (Songza and Waze aren't on WP, are they?). So, there, yes, they can win the developer battle in the long run, if they keep the fight up.

And never underestimate the contrarian. We all know them, some of us ARE them; that user that is reflexively wary of the mainstream option. The Linux admin. The Saab driver. The consumer who has myriad reasons--rational and irrational--to avoid the "establishment" brands. Apple got a lot of mileage out of this notion for a very long time, but they can't exactly claim they're the "different" brand when they're now the dominant one, can they?

Apple and Google (and Microsoft, for that matter) collect TONS of usage information. And I'm not naive enough to think that BB doesn't collect anything, but their model is a distributed one. They have a unified store, but it's actually a partnership, unlike Apple's iTunes. It's BB's PARTNERS that wind up collecting a lot of the purchase data. Android has had a similar "federated" model, but Google is slowly (but VERY surely) taking control of music and other media. I think BlackBerry has an opportunity in this post-Snowden environment to present itself as the pro-privacy, contrarian choice.

[cgk]

BB10's biggest competitor right now is probably Microsoft, but BlackBerry has a compelling advantage in this fight, too, with easy Android portability. Yes, I think this can be leveraged--IS being leveraged (Songza and Waze aren't on WP, are they?). So, there, yes, they can win the developer battle in the long run, if they keep the fight up.

Yes and no - it's true that Blackberry and WP are so far out that they are effectively only competing with each other but at the national level, in places like india, BB are being overtaken by local OEMs running android - so the threat isn't simply companies we have heard of using Android, it's companies that people here have never heard of (Micromax etc) as well - and in markets which were BB strongholds.

[Superfly_FR]

"Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling the product or service. It is a critical business function for attracting customers."- Raja Vikram, The Five Principles of Marketing
Did YOU read well? Think back to the earnings report. Did the sales disappoint? They did...therefore, the value of the product was NOT communicated. Did it attract customers? Nope. Therefore, to the members of the reality-based community, the marketing is NOT brilliant.
Just because you don't like the way the marketing is going, doesn't mean you get to redefine the word

I believe, within the R.Vikams principles you'll find the product definition step. My purpose points out that this particular step is brillant. What you fairly report hasn't IMHO simply happened yet. What we have seen yet (especially in U.S.A) is kind of "B plan" to occupy the space, not the "full monty", far from it.
I'm glad I've read the word "lattitude" above, this is exactly what I had in mind.

Posted via CB10

[Thunderbuck]

Yes and no - it's true that Blackberry and WP are so far out that they are effectively only competing with each other but at the national level, in places like india, BB are being overtaken by local OEMs running android - so the threat isn't simply companies we have heard of using Android, it's companies that people here have never heard of (Micromax etc) as well - and in markets which were BB strongholds.

Are you just arguing for the sake of arguing? If you look elsewhere in that post you'll see me acknowledge the growth of Ashas and "off-brand" Android in the developing world. WP isn't even a blip on the radar in those markets.

Give BB some credit. Nokia didn't seriously WANT to adopt WP. They did it because they knew that Symbian was a dead end and Microsoft threw them a rope. At least BB is still following their own plan.

[Superfly_FR]

First, and foremost, I believe your native language is French. Don't apologize for an excellent write up in another language. It was very good, people are just choosing to disagree with parts of it. Given the nature of these boards lately, that's an accomplishment.

Now, for the not so nice part. I understand that you are giving BBRY latitude. And that is fine, for a fan. As an investor, I can't do that. I clearly admit that I am no marketing expert, but I sure can't make any sense of BlackBerry's marketing strategy. As an evil American, I believe the world markets through the USofA. BlackBerry hasn't done an even modestly acceptable job of that.

Too many people still think BBRY is dead or dying. That must change, and soon.

I do agree (and thx for the English part!) , except for the evil part. It's not evil, it's hype leader, with somehow different attempts and usage than in many countries.


When I read the full transcript of Thor's speech, there's something I read that was the trigger of this thread : the reference to the Agile processes. In very short, it explains why I give them such lattitude: "It ain't over until it's over". While they stick to the plan, they adapt it, due to opportunity (new BB7 device?) or obstacle (late US launch).

I don't pretend their marketing is perfect (could it be ? ), but I sign it again: it's modern and brilliant. But if you ever engaged a brilliant (thus innovative) marketing strategy, you know these are the toughest to execute, because you have no model to duplicate, you basically have to adapt it by small touches. That's what I read in T.H's "We've learned a lot"
Recent statement he made (to CBK) are compelling with that. There will be commercial targets, with numbers and dates. Because now, they can, it's (about) time !




Posted via CB10

[serbanescu]

I'm a huge fan of BB10, but I have to contradict you on several points.

3. Platform vision is ... visionary
"Do different" is the best analogy (and friendly eye blink) I can find. Short : your mobile device is now your mainframe. As specs will raise in devices and OS 10.2 capabilities integrated (say "wireless HDMI" to point a single one), M2M (machine to machine) and the whole "platform" concepts will be proven true for Jims and Joes and, again, that's simply huge. "Cloud data" V.S "Cloud power" ... oh.my.gosh.

We need to hear more about this vision, and see it in action. Apple has cloud computing already in place, working very well. BlackBerry has more of a vague story right now (maybe I'm wrong and not getting the latest info).

5. Marketing is brilliant
Yup, you read well. Because marketing is not promotion. Promotion is the - yet mostly important - "final touch" only.
The fundamental marketing point is : the offer. Let's sum up the BlackBerry 10 offer, sorted by customers attempts (witch is what allows to define this offer). I'll name the first four (my perception).

Joes :
- Social differentiator and tools (I'll be back about it below)
- Ease to use / sexiness
- Competitive pricing
- Reliability / Efficiency

Pricing is NOT competitive.
Reliability has suffered due to the reboot issue (hopefully solved)

6.When you cannot fight with your enemies on their field, gain positions (at low costs) where they are not (fighting for).

I don't get this one, seems to me pure wishful thinking. Where are those "low cost" posisions gained? The best BlackBerry has done till now is damage control and an orderly retreat.

7. Turn your opponents users into prescriber and value contributors
This is probably what makes me the most confident. What BlackBerry is doing here is simply ... well I can't find a word strong enough.
Let's look at the competition #1 strength : they lock their users into an so-called "ecosystem". What will BBM (Joes) and Secure Work Space (Enterprises) do ? Just break it. Plain. Basically this means that these "platform locked" devices won't be anymore.
Hint ? Just figure BBM can offer online apps (a la FaceBook) or streaming contents (music, videos, ...). Do the maths now.

I hardly believe Apple would let BlackBerry get away with offering their own apps and content through BBM. It is BlackBerry in need to get accepted on the Apple platform, not the other way around. More wishful thinking here, not doing any good.

2. "Company future"
IMHO, the biggest barrier to adoption for companies sits here.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist. But I believe competitors and some malicious traders (bears using shorts) do know that perfectly. As long as BlackBerry future is linked to its stock value and the incredible shorting rate, some CIOs will put the foot on the brake. This has to change.
I for one would like BlackBerry to offer a join venture with selected partners. I may not have the same names in my head than those usually heard. I'd like to hear names like CISCO (because of the network) or SAP (for companies) ... and yes, definitely MS too (hint : why no BBM/SWS for windows ? It's not a technical obstacle).

You made a good case for a partnership, I fully agree with you. BlackBerry still has enough value, a partnership with Oracle or SAP deserves to be explored.

--------------------

Calorie Monitor Pro for Z10, Q10, Q5 and PlayBook

[Superfly_FR]

We need to hear more about this vision, and see it in action. Apple has cloud computing already in place, working very well. BlackBerry has more of a vague story right now (maybe I'm wrong and not getting the latest info).

Absolutely. Yet it has been defined and its definition seems pretty clear. I believe they wait for the Aristo (that might be late due to specs arrangements: "agile", again ?) to unleash the power .

Pricing is NOT competitive.
Reliability has suffered due to the reboot issue (hopefully solved)

Pricing couldn't be low at launch. Had to compare at least with top range devices (brand positioning). Once again, if we step back, we could consider that without subsidized prices, these first gen and expensive devices did sell pretty well. They've set the range mark, now they can use whatever some will name marketing (sales promotion) to attract more consumers. As you may see right now, subsidized devices are now all around. A Z10 with 2yrs+ contract can be bought now as low as €20 in France (see attached picture), we even have it a €1 with top range contract (I won't use it as a reference price).
Reliability problem is not acceptable and has been a pain. Hopefully it's solved now.

I don't get this one, seems to me pure wishful thinking. Where are those "low cost" posisions gained? The best BlackBerry has done till now is damage control and an orderly retreat.

"Going frontal" would have been a strategy where target #1 is Joe and compare devices to others (ex: comparative advertising). What they do (and why it is difficult to appreciate) is that they moderately attacked opponents on this front (while keeping the pressure on "social anything") and invested areas that are not clearly identified as opponents differentiators. Instead, they capitalized on BB DNA and novelties. The key is here. As brilliant as apple's "think different" (thus my analogy for a "Do different" baseline). Security, privacy, cross-system (QNX) M2M, device centric ... all these pieces coming one after the other paints the full image of their offer ("BB10 mobile computing platform"), where the device is a pivot point. The promise is "the Internet of things", the device is part of it, but you might consider it as consumables. And this device is alone capable to deliver the full experience, while others will only have a "taste of it".

I hardly believe Apple would let BlackBerry get away with offering their own apps and content through BBM. It is BlackBerry in need to get accepted on the Apple platform, not the other way around. More wishful thinking here, not doing any good.

The die is cast. Secure Workspace, is the trojan horse. Then we'll learn (as hinted already by CB) BBM will go enterprise ... oh, well, I don't really know how this is going to happen ... but IMHO, it will. Right now (counting in week(s)).

It's all about timing here. Oh, I mean tempo. And I like this slow but groovayyy (babe) tempo !

P.S: a large part of my thoughts are not backed with tangible facts. But I'm not trying to sugarcoat anything. Just trying to do some (positive) "reverse engineering" about this marketing (as a whole) plan. So, just about "me" feelings

[cgk]

You presume that bbry has the whip hand in MDM/secure work spaces they don't - they are trailing the market leaders - even if they secured a third of the market, it is still a very small market compared to the business they are in.

[Superfly_FR]

You presume that bbry has the whip hand in MDM/secure work spaces they don't - they are trailing the market leaders - even if they secured a third of the market, it is still a very small market compared to the business they are in.

They, by nature, have it for BB devices. What I suggest is that it will help to stronger that position (sell more BB10 devices) and will gain attractiveness with BYOD (iOs, Android devices in secure workspace). "In the top 3" were my words. But I believe they can go higher.
Once again, this is clearly a positive statement, and requires sharp and agile execution. I think thay can do.

[ColdFistOfTruth]

They, by nature, have it for BB devices.

They have that because they HAD to have BES in place for BBs to work. Now they don't. (My Zee 10 works just fine without BES). Wireless email has turned into a commoditized capability that is robust, reliable, and well managed (in the case of Exchange ActiveSync), it's not needed anymore. Maybe wanted but not needed. Needs are much easier to justify than wants.

-CFOT

[Thunderbuck]

They have that because they HAD to have BES in place for BBs to work. Now they don't. (My Zee 10 works just fine without BES). Wireless email has turned into a commoditized capability that is robust, reliable, and well managed (in the case of Exchange ActiveSync), it's not needed anymore. Maybe wanted but not needed. Needs are much easier to justify than wants.

-CFOT

Depends on what business you're in. Some businesses need the additional security that BES10 provides. The ability to maintain a work partition secure from the rest of the phone is very useful.

From the awesome virtual keyboard of my Z10

[sosumi11]

"Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling the product or service. It is a critical business function for attracting customers."- Raja Vikram, The Five Principles of Marketing
Did YOU read well? Think back to the earnings report. Did the sales disappoint? They did...therefore, the value of the product was NOT communicated. Did it attract customers? Nope. Therefore, to the members of the reality-based community, the marketing is NOT brilliant.

The problem is NOT marketing no matter how you define it.

The problem is the product itself. It's simply not desirable. BlackBerry's reputation for pushing obsolete tech is the problem and no amount of great advertising can help it without producing a WOW! product. They are the poster boy for Fad Tech.

Advertising messages are one sided conversations (manufacturer telling the public why you should buy their product). These are, of course, biased. The public will only take the advertising copy at face value and the ad, at best, will only put the product as an option.

The facts stand out that BlackBerry simply cannot compete with the powerful ecosystems that the computer big boys (Apple, Microsoft and Google) provide. After all, they are still just a handset maker.

The BlackBerry Executive Team still doesn't understand it. Which is a shame, because outside of Apple, they are the only other vertical integrated company out there. Unfortunately, they can't write software to get them outside of the brown paper bag they fell into..