[wayneholbrook]

From BGR:



As we�ve observed before, if BlackBerry is going to mount a comeback it will likely have to do so without a significant presence in the United States. The latest report from Kantar Worldpanel shows that BlackBerry devices accounted for only 0.7% of U.S. smartphone sales during the three-month period that ended in May 2013. This not only marks a year-over-year decline of 3.9 points, but also shows that BlackBerry sales are now roughly on par with the now-defunct Symbian operating system, which accounted for 0.3% of U.S. smartphone sales over the same period. Things weren�t much better for BlackBerry in other countries either, as its smartphone sales share declined to 2.5% in the five largest European markets.

[3hb78ftg]

Things are starting to look Black for Blackberry. The lack of support from the "big 3" in the US really destructive to their sales.

[sonic_reducer]

Symbian brings back memories. PSION could have gone on to rule the world if they had developed the platform properly. Unfortunately they were a bunch of tech geeks and insisted on releasing features that they thought were flash but that people didn't really want. I tried hard to work with them back before they branded Symbian and Potter simply was not a businessman, dragging his heels all the time. I blew him out and went with HP and their Jornada. In some ways Potter was similar to Sir Clive Sinclair when he got lucky with the ZX Spectrum and then blew it all on the QL and that ridiculous trike thingy the C5. Symbian eventually peaked in phones like the Nokia N96 which did lots of things partially and nothing fully.

What geeks have to realise is that it's a fickle public and tech gotta sell, no matter how geeky it is.

BB would do well to look at where Symbian went wrong as a key lesson in avoidance. The company is simply not in the same position as say Microsoft who have just had an epic fail with their Surface RT resulting from the lack of quality apps. MS just waited around thinking their brand was big enough to draw in the developers, just like the old days, and what a mistake that was.

By the way I am absolutely livid at the tax frauds that Apple keep getting away with. When your popular you get away with everything huh? Apple Dodges All Taxes In The UK. Again - Forbes

But they are not so fashionable these days and it didn't happen; but they having a whacking great pile of cash to fall back on and can afford such disasters. BB are not in the same position though, there's no room for moderate business growth here, let alone fails like the recently pulled PB.

[D.Vader]

By the way I am absolutely livid at the tax frauds that Apple keep getting away with. When your popular you get away with everything huh? Apple Dodges All Taxes In The UK. Again - Forbes

If Apple does nothing illegal I would suggest the problem is with the Government which has established said laws that allow Apple to operate that way. Maybe if the Government wasn't such a blood sucking succubus and charged a reasonable tax rate MORE people would pay it.

Apple ONLY does what we each do every April 15th. Make sure they keep as much of the money they have earned as possible.

[blackberrybrad]

That is smartphone sales, correct? Meaning that is the percentage out of the total number sold not the total market share for BlackBerry.

Posted via CB10

[sonic_reducer]

If Apple does nothing illegal ...

Sorry @Darth but what they are doing is totally illegal, it's called transfer pricing. See HM Revenue & Customs: Transfer Pricing: an overview

The reason that the government is not calling foul play is most likely due to the fact that they are all being blackmailed to keep their mouths shut. After all the entire world lives in abject fear of US reprisals for standing up to America or its policies.

I can tell you for a 100% fact that if this tax arrangement were being conducted by a British or European Union entity the UK tax authority (HMRC) would be screaming from the rooftops.

The problem is that now Microsoft and Apple have got illegal secret copies of all their surfing habits, further copies of which were illegally handed over to NSA (which of course stands for Nosey Stupid A****), the tax apparatchiks are terrified about their porn surfing habits being leaked to the media.

Better keep quiet and let those Yanks just walk off with OUR, that is British peoples, money to Ireland by not paying tax in the UK, like the honest hardworking British citizens do. And also manage to avoid paying tax in the US, like hardworking US citizens do. Yes, that sounds about right.

It makes a total laughing stock of the DTAA international tax treaties established around the world. Oh yeah, and what happened to those UBS advisors that helped a few US citizens avoid large tax bills? That's right, their doing time. Just like that black fella did time for tax evasion, what was his name, oh yeah Wesley Snipes. But of course Apple aren't doing anything wrong "coz they say so". A bit like the US government who are doing any wrong "coz they say so".

You know there was a war that started in Europe in 1939 and the Americans did not turn up to support the British until 1943. Now you b*******s have the gall to spy on us, oh yeah and for good measure we won't pay your taxes. What a bunch of arrogant nosey bullies.

[sonic_reducer]

And breaking news - congratulations Facebook and becoming the latest data thieves to be ousted. It would appear that the Facebook app for Android has been illegally and covertly stealing the mobile phone number that it is installed onto and has been covertly sending the hacked phone numbers to secret Facebook servers.

Activist Post: Anti-virus software shows Facebook app stole Android users’ phone numbers without their consent

Thanks to Norton anti-virus for discovering this one. Looks like it's time to stop whining about there not being a native FB app for the Z10 and folks should start looking for an alternative HONEST client app to undertake their activities. And maybe you don't care they stole your phone number, but there's plenty of folks that will be outraged by this, so don't waste our time with your pathetic "I don't care" responses. Yawn yawn.