[BBHermes]

A speculative perspective on what may be happening at BlackBerry Corporate Headquarters:

Thorsten Heins developed a strategy of refocusing from the consumer to the enterprise customer and the prosumer. The suspension of the development of the Android runtime, the end of B4B application branding, the focus on the Priv etc. all point to a change of strategy: Flush the prosumer, keep the focus on enterprise, and start focusing on the consumer again. The strategy is not to get all the prosumers to become Priv consumers, but to develop a new client�le altogether, whether or not the prosumers come along or not.

Put another way: The prosumer us being sacrificed on the altar of a new consumer strategy. The consumer has been embraced again; the prosumer has been given the shaft.

So BB10 is not dead; it's now strictly an enterprise/government OS. The Priv is strictly consumer and small business. It is the prosumer and the interests of that client�le which is being sacrificed in the process. That includes a critical mass of us on this forum.

If this analysis is correct, all the spilled digital ink speculating on the ARt and the Android OHA -- "it is [allegedly] illegal to develop the ARt" -- have missed the point. The ARt is only of interest to the prosumers, and that is no longer a target group.

This analysis provides clarity to where many of us stand. I was in this thing as a prosumer, not a consumer or an enterprise customer. The Priv is merely a consumer device; hence it is of no interest.

ThH was at least honest about the strategy -- IIRC. It would be nice if JCh were upfront about this as well, instead of killing us prosumers with a thousand cuts.

Thoughts on and improvements to the above analysis is welcome.

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[southlander]

Interesting because I never really felt BlackBerry defined "prosumer" (for smartphones) in any meaningful way. It basically boiled down to "folks that will always want a BlackBerry", whatever that meant.

[BBHermes]

Interesting because I never really felt BlackBerry defined "prosumer" (for smartphones) in any meaningful way. It basically boiled down to "folks that will always want a BlackBerry", whatever that meant.

Indeed, you have a point. I remember doing some research on it at the time ThH & Co first started throwing that word around... I think it meant more than just wanting a BlackBerry no matter what, there was almost an activist connotation to the word.

And BB10 became the heart of what the word 'prosumer' came to signify, hence all the broken hearts on this forum

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[southlander]

Indeed, you have a point. I remember doing some research on it at the time ThH & Co first started throwing that word around... I think it meant more than just wanting a BlackBerry no matter what, there was almost an activist connotation to the word.

And BB10 became the heart of what the word 'prosumer' came to signify, hence all the broken hearts on this forum

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I think of prosumer as a product niche where the products have enterprise and or premium features at price points that are lower than comparable premium / enterprise products. Perhaps certain very specific features are missing, ones less needed. For example an SMB router that had VPN and Anti-Malware perimeter services back in the day at a 200.00 price point when the other options were 1000.00 + products from cisco or some 79.00 home model with none of those features.

But blackberry was selling products priced as premium or close to it, with worse specs, fewer business features, and poor apps support for businesses.

They called it prosumer because of better security and the physical keyboard. That's not adequate.

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[BBHermes]

It seems that the word is ambiguous... This article seems to capture what I thought BlackBerry meant by the term:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-.../#3594ccd6543f

BlackBerry appears to have tried the 5-step strategy outlined in this article but it didn't work for them. I wonder if marketers still advocate the prosumer approach, or if it was just a passing fad...

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