[ninjakaiden]

BlackBerry 10 may live on in BlackBerry-branded handsets | CrackBerry.com

So anyone have any speculation on who these companies could be?

Yes it could just be corporate BS, but that's the fun of speculation in fan forums.

Posted via CB10

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Dreams and hopes....

Have to wonder just how worried the Guy in charge of device hardware would be right now at BlackBerry..... when the CEO says they are getting out of hardware.

Markets for BB10 would be either high security where apps are not required, or developing markets where again apps aren't required... like Russia, parts of India or China.... But based on pricing I don't think BB10 would fit those markets - as it's not free like all the other OS.

[Invictus0]

or developing markets where again apps aren't required... like Russia, parts of India or China....

Apps are just as prevalent in those markets as any other.

https://www.appannie.com/insights/ma...arket-q2-2014/

I agree though that any licensee would probably market to security focused customers.

[AmritD]

Dreams and hopes....

Have to wonder just how worried the Guy in charge of device hardware would be right now at BlackBerry..... when the CEO says they are getting out of hardware.

Markets for BB10 would be either high security where apps are not required, or developing markets where again apps aren't required... like Russia, parts of India or China.... But based on pricing I don't think BB10 would fit those markets - as it's not free like all the other OS.

Can't speak for other upcoming markets
But India. Apps are required except if you are buying a feature phone
The 1st app anyone in India downloads is WhatsApp. Nobody uses sms anymore.

Z30STA100-2/10.3.2.2876

[Graham Fernando]

Can't speak for other upcoming markets
But India. Apps are required except if you are buying a feature phone
The 1st app anyone in India downloads is WhatsApp. Nobody uses sms anymore.

Z30STA100-2/10.3.2.2876

Obviously....

Posted via My Lovely Z30

[Farzeen25]

Whatsapp is the primary source of communication in india, other than the typical phone calls. Even our movies play a huge role in marketing whatsapp and facebook, LOL.

Posted via CB10

[keliew]

And in China, everyone downloads Wechat. It can do much more than your everyday chat and video...

BlackBerry Passport via CB10

[JeepBB]

So, the consensus is that it's just corporate BS then?

Shucks, I was starting to warm to the idea that there was still a chance...

[ohaiguise]

What on earth makes you think highly security-focused customers won't want to pay?

Suppose the German spy agency wants 1000 Q10s ... and a smaller company finds it profitable to give them just that ... why WOULDN'T BlackBerry want to let them have BB10 on their Q10s?

[Bbnivende]

Germany would probably use SecuSUITE for Government which is cross platform.

Posted via CB10

[JeepBB]

Germany would probably use SecuSUITE for Government which is cross platform.

... and was developed by a German company that BB acquired IIRC

[Troy Tiscareno]

What on earth makes you think highly security-focused customers won't want to pay?

Suppose the German spy agency wants 1000 Q10s ... and a smaller company finds it profitable to give them just that ... why WOULDN'T BlackBerry want to let them have BB10 on their Q10s?

The problem is that Q10s used a SoC and memory module (QualComm S4 Plus) that is no longer made and no longer available (and most of the BB10 phones used those same parts). So no one can just buy the parts and build 1000 phones with them and load BB10.

They *could* - for the moment - buy the Passport parts: QualComm 801 and those associated parts, but unless they were using a 1440x1440 screen, they'd need to do at least some BB10 OS development too. And once you start having to do OS development, things start to get WAY too expensive to be profitable. Plus, there are still Passports for sale by BB, so said company can simply buy some of the remaining stock.

BB10 hasn't been actively developed for 2 years already, and only has driver support for 2 SoCs - one of which is no longer available, and the other is nearly obsolete and no longer in production (but still available for now). To use any other hardware means spending development money, and that cost, spread across so few phones, would make those phones so expensive that no one would buy them.

There's a reason why Chen stated that BB needed to sell 10M BB10 phones per year just to break even on them. Many of the costs that make that number so high are fixed development costs - which means whether you make 1 or 1M phones, you still have to pay the whole cost of development.

The average new free-standing McDonalds restaurant in the US costs about $3M to build. That's a lot of money - but the people who pay for them to be built assume that such a building will last 40-50 years, generating continuous profits, and thus, they'll get plenty of return on that investment. If they thought that they'd only be able to use the store for a year, then that $3M start-up cost could never hope to be paid back, and no new McDonalds would ever be built.

That's more-or-less the same kind of calculation a phone manufacturer has to make. It costs so much money to pay for all of the fixed and near-fixed costs (hardware design, case design, software development, etc.) that the only way it makes sense to be in that business is to be able to sell in volume - to spread those costs across a LOT of devices, so that it's a very small percentage of any one device.

Another good example: If you want to mold something in plastic, it typically costs $500,000-1M for a mold, which means you're spending that much money on the very first plastic part you make. Each subsequent part can be made for $.10 each.

So, if you only make 1000 of those plastic parts, your minimum manufacturing cost per unit is $500.10.

If you make 1M of those parts, your minimum manufacturing cost per unit is $0.60 (60 cents).

Do you understand the difference between $500.10 each vs. 60 cents each?

With most manufacturing, the fixed costs require a minimum (fairly large) volume in order to have any chance of turning a profit. Below that minimum number, either you'll lose money by selling below cost or your price will be too high and you won't be able to sell your inventory.

That's exactly what happened with BB and BB10 - and why no other manufacturer is likely to license it. Another manufacturer would have all the same costs that BB had when it was making BB10 phones plus the licensing costs paid to BB on top of that. How is that going to be profitable?

[ninjakaiden]

So it sounds like Thurber is either BS'ing or these companies are talking about using BB10 for other non-smartphone devices then.

Posted via CB10

[HaberNik]

I hate to say it, but I call bs. I am happy to be wrong.

Posted via CB10

[Troy Tiscareno]

Thurber is trying to use "positive spin" to put a good face on a bad situation. Remember - BB still has some BB10 devices remaining in inventory that it hopes to sell off before their value reaches zero...

[Uzi]

Thurber is trying to use "positive spin" to put a good face on a bad situation. Remember - BB still has some BB10 devices remaining in inventory that it hopes to sell off before their value reaches zero...

That's his job lol

[thurask]

So it sounds like Thurber is either BS'ing or these companies are talking about using BB10 for other non-smartphone devices then.

Posted via CB10

It seems the former, and since there seem to be people who actually think there are companies who want BB10, I think it's working.

[Bogdan Tudor Dan]

Another good example: If you want to mold something in plastic, it typically costs $500,000-1M for a mold, which means you're spending that much money on the very first plastic part you make. Each subsequent part can be made for $.10 each.

So, if you only make 1000 of those plastic parts, your minimum manufacturing cost per unit is $500.10.

If you make 1M of those parts, your minimum manufacturing cost per unit is $0.60 (60 cents).

If you want to mold something in plastic, it COULD costs $500,000-1M for a mold, but in the same time it COULD cost $50,000 - $100,000. There are so many variables in developing a mold. For example if you use the same material as you used for previous plastic shapes and if the design has only small differences from the previous designs, the cooling system in the mold (which is one of the most tricky things in developing a mold) can be cheaper. In the same time it depends where do you outsource the design and manufacturing of the mold. Most of the companies are outsourcing it in countries with low economy and good engineers. It also depends how many testing molds you have to make and how do you plan the entire design - manufacturing process of the mold.

Just saying, depending on the situation you could be right or not.

Edit: since BlackBerry is outsourcing device design and manufacturing there will not be extra cost for the molds. BlackBerry devices will have the same design as other device that is not BlackBerry. For example maybe TCL will make an Alcatel device and the same device will be branded as a BlackBerry with the BlackBerry software.


Posted via CB10

[early2bed]

Remember that HP actually open-sourced webOS after they stopped using it and still nobody used it for smartphones.

[AidenSurvival]

Remember that HP actually open-sourced webOS after they stopped using it and still nobody used it for smartphones.

TVs, maybe.

Posted via CB10

[keliew]

Remember that HP actually open-sourced webOS after they stopped using it and still nobody used it for smartphones.

Open source doesn't make it a winner. You still need leadership to drive the project.

BlackBerry Passport via CB10

[Bla1ze]

Thurber is trying to use "positive spin" to put a good face on a bad situation. Remember - BB still has some BB10 devices remaining in inventory that it hopes to sell off before their value reaches zero...

[Troy Tiscareno]

If you want to mold something in plastic, it COULD costs $500,000-1M for a mold, but in the same time it COULD cost $50,000 - $100,000. There are so many variables in developing a mold.

True, but completely beside the point.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

True, but completely beside the point.

Yeah I think plastic molds are not the issue... especially when most of these OEMs are going to use existing designs anyway.

For BB10 it's the matter of the hardware drivers that are the tricky hardware cost.

Well that and who would buy a phone running BB10 at this point?

[ohaiguise]

I can stick most modern Linux distros on just about any laptop or desktop I want and it will do a fantastic job installing compatible drivers Why can't BB 10 have a similarly flexible driver model?