[anon4226395]

My feeling is that BB10 was an unmitigated disaster for Blackberry. The stock, image and sales have plummeted incessantly since its introduction. I was in NYC and watched its "launch". I rolled my eyes in horror. Was my pessimism ill-founded? Did I miss something? I'm speaking as a significant BBRY holder who loves this company and wants to see it re-emerge. Anyone agree?

[thurask]

Is there anyone who says it isn't?

[BergerKing]

It would be difficult to disagree. We all watched things like the half-baked release OS, the terrible advertising campaigns, the total lack of representation with carriers, and the silence of the people who made it happen.

They made it hard for all the wrong reasons, and so many people wanted them to pull out of the tailspin. We watched devices with last year's specs come out in the face of newer, faster, brighter brighter phones that actually had people that made you want to explore the options.

Then came BYOD, and companies that issued phones stopped backing the BlackBerry. Developers went to greener pastures, and apathy set in. The fruit has withered on the vine, and really, they just stopped farming as the fields stopped producing the crops they were used to.

In the days to come, a different crop will be planted. Will people take the taste test and see if they like it, or will they move to where the more experienced growers already have the products on the table. Only time will tell.

[anon4226395]

It would be difficult to disagree. We all watched things like the half-baked release OS, the terrible advertising campaigns, the total lack of representation with carriers, and the silence of the people who made it happen.

They made it hard for all the wrong reasons, and so many people wanted them to pull out of the tailspin. We watched devices with last year's specs come out in the face of newer, faster, brighter brighter phones that actually had people that made you want to explore the options.

Then came BYOD, and companies that issued phones stopped backing the BlackBerry. Developers went to greener pastures, and apathy set in. The fruit has withered on the vine, and really, they just stopped farming as the fields stopped producing the crops they were used to.

In the days to come, a different crop will be planted. Will people take the taste test and see if they like it, or will they move to where the more experienced growers already have the products on the table. Only time will tell.

I do hope so and might I add, so heartwarming to read/savour your prose

[6stringriffs]

It's a cluster frack of a disaster right now! Each week I run into either a native app or an android app that quits working cause it either has not been updated or was updated but now it wants the Google Play services like an addict needing heroin to function.

[fschmeck]

Needing GPS is not BlackBerry's fault. Unfortunately the public has shown they value convenience over privacy.

In my "pocket CEO" view, BlackBerry did not do anything to convince people that what they offered was better. Perhaps if the Passport and Classic were the launch devices, instead of the Z10, they might have been able to say "we're different". But I suppose without carriers on board no-one would hear the message.

Maybe now that Apple is getting people used to not getting a phone through a carrier, Blackberry could push more for direct sales. But they should probably accept the fact that they are not selling high-end devices and price their phones accordingly.

Now back to solving problems in the middle-east...

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[ptdsb]

I think it's an excellent OS. The company has dived due to some poor decisions and the unavailability of apps.

Posted via CB10

[gruv4u]

The ad campaign was a disaster. Prior to the release, the word had already been spread that BlackBerry was going out of business. BB10 was a last move before they fold.

 Z10 STL 100-3 with vitamin 10.3.2.2639 on AT&T

[gruv4u]

Yes. Prior to the release, the BlackBerry name had already been trashed.

 Z10 STL 100-3 with vitamin 10.3.2.2639 on AT&T

[mad_mdx]

BlackBerry has been losing sales since 2007, ever since the iPhone basically showed the world that a mobile device can be much more powerful and simple to use than a BlackBerry.

[hooligan66]

I think it's an excellent OS. The company has dived due to some poor decisions and the unavailability of apps.

Posted via CB10

Exactly this

Posted via CB10

[to boldly go]

I love BB10, but I also love BB7. I would agree their MARKETING of the BB10 was a total disaster, but not the phone or OS. I was new to both and bought the Bold 9900 first, not even realizing there was BB7 and BB10 to choose from at that time. I had SEEN the Z10 display, but it did not work and ATnT very aggressively discouraged me from considering it so i went android first, hated it, and came back to BB via ebay where the 9900 just looked like the best phone, hands-down, i still knew pretty much nothing about BlackBerry, except that it wasnt android or apple and i wanted to choose something different, possibly with a little privacy and autonomy included.

Perhaps upgrading their OS7 would have been a better idea, but without advertising it would have made no difference. Anything BB is better than anything android, partly due to spyware / malware / forceware and the lack thereof. A BB style android might be ok, but it wont be as good as BB7 or BB10, and i would prefer not to go there from here for myself.

If i had got the Z10 first, I probably still would have bought the Bold.

[Jakob Greve]

What the hell are you talking about

[The_Passporter]

Does anyone agree we are beating a dead horse? Lol

Posted via CB10

[Blacklatino]

.....and yet, after the Storm, and the Z10, the new iPhone Killer is the Priv. We get the enthusiastic/hyped members for new devices, plus a 100 more threads related to the Priv. While the consumers BlackBerry actually need to reach in order to make a good run at the current and former CEO(s) magical number of 10 million for a profit.......no commercial by Android and we all know BlackBerry will take a back seat on the marketing as it should. No comparison to Androids' marketing budget.

[Dr J39]

"At this point, what difference does it make?" Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[bb10adopter111]

A commercial disaster, by definition. From a technical and user interface standpoint, it was best of breed.

That's the problem with engineers making strategic decisions. They often focus on the technical solution.

Apple changed the game by bringing the iPod music purchase/rental model to mobile phones. The platform (phone and OS) were much less important than the content (apps) for sale on it.

Google copied Apple's business model before BlackBerry did. If BlackBerry had taken Apple seriously as a threat, and pushed out a revised, developer-friendly OS model in 2008-9, maybe even PARTNERING with Google, who was desperate for an alternative to iOS when they introduced Android, and while Apple was still exclusive to AT&T, they might be co-dominant today. But once Android became the alternative to iOS, it was already too late.

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[mas_quemex]

My feeling is that BB10 was an unmitigated disaster for Blackberry. The stock, image and sales have plummeted incessantly since its introduction. I was in NYC and watched its "launch". I rolled my eyes in horror. Was my pessimism ill-founded? Did I miss something? I'm speaking as a significant BBRY holder who loves this company and wants to see it re-emerge. Anyone agree?

Twitter, Uber, Groupon, LinkedIn, Tesla, Salesforce, Sony, Sharp, Android,... - all are loss making business models yet.

2010 - BlackBerry profit peak
2012 - Apple profit peak

Android never made profit.


 Curve 8520 ~> skipped OS6 ~> skipped OS7 ~>  Z3 (STJ100-1 / 10.3.2.2639)

[hooligan66]

I think os6 & os7 were so bad that people got such a bad taste in their mouths they swore not to get another blackberry,let alone even try os10.this is what I've heard from people myself.

Posted via CB10

[fschmeck]

I actually thought OS 7 was pretty good. I started on BBOS 5, which was terrible. Or maybe the 8330 I used it on was terrible. Either way, at a time when others could browse the Web, it was a little like being in the stone age.

BB7 was a huge step up, but browsing was still a far cry from IOS devices. And that, I think, is what killed their image. Slow, archaic features with a battery that needed to be regularly pulled. It's too bad, because those people have no idea what they are missing now.

Posted via CB10

[mas_quemex]

I actually thought OS 7 was pretty good. I started on BBOS 5, which was terrible. Or maybe the 8330 I used it on was terrible. Either way, at a time when others could browse the Web, it was a little like being in the stone age.

BB7 was a huge step up, but browsing was still a far cry from IOS devices. And that, I think, is what killed their image. Slow, archaic features with a battery that needed to be regularly pulled. It's too bad, because those people have no idea what they are missing now.

Posted via CB10

Fact : BlackBerry was more profitable in the Noughts than Apple in the Eighties.

Opinion : BB5 was so awesome on my Curve 8520 that I never upgraded to BB6 & BB7. Now BB10 is awesomer on my Z3 !

 Curve 8520 ~> skipped OS6 ~> skipped OS7 ~>  Z3 (STJ100-1 / 10.3.2.2639)

[southlander]

Of course it's been very bad from a viewpoint of sales and profitability. You have to ignore basic math and accounting to not agree. Yeah you could call it a disaster.

I just don't think BlackBerry understands how to sell to consumers. They are competing against companies that have been expert at it for decades.

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[fschmeck]

I guess I never appreciated how awesome BBOS 5 or 6 were. BBOS 7 I thought was really solid, and if the Web browsing experience was better I probably would have stuck with it. Fortunately in Canada there was a lot of hype around BB10, and some good retail support for a time, so going to the Z10 was an easy move.

Heck, there was even good retail support for the Playbook. Sadly, those days are gone now.

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