[sparkaction]

I was wondering if there us any technological reason that new BB7 device cannot be designed to be software upgradable to BB10? I am assuming BlackBerry has not intentionally crippled the device, say with less that 2gb of memory, so that there is no hardware limiting factors.

[njblackberry]

The new one that no one has seen and has no published specs on it?

[AnimalPak200]

If the whole point is to cover the lower price points, then they will intentionally 'cripple' the device so as to still make money off of it.

I wonder how the market (stock and consumer) would react to a 'stepping stone' device, which can run both 7.x and later BB10 whenever the user desires to upgrade. Kind of like... buy something from us *now* with what you like (BB OS 7.x), knowing you can upgrade when ready. Of course such a device would have to be priced at, or above, Q10/Z10 prices to maintain margins on the BB10-capable components.

[Jtaylor1986]

100% not going to be

[Vurhan]

I was wondering if there us any technological reason that new BB7 device cannot be designed to be software upgradable to BB10? I am assuming BlackBerry has not intentionally crippled the device, say with less that 2gb of memory, so that there is no hardware limiting factors.

Navigation buttons, trackpad, 2.4" screen and 480x360 resolution; these would render the new BB7 device incompatible with BB10.

[R Field]

Kind of defeats the purpose of releasing a legacy device.

CB10- BlackBerry Z10

[athomas917]

BlackBerry 7.1 has a ton of apps that aren't on BlackBerry 10 and they are all native.

Posted via CB10

[SO_Davis]

Terrible choice for BlackBerry. Very disappointing to see them releasing a new BB7 device. Their supposed to be moving forward, not backwards. This is going to hurt them a lot, and to the idea of upgrading to the BB10 OS from this device, seems dumb, defeats the purpous of having the device than.

Posted via CB10

[AnimalPak200]

Terrible choice for BlackBerry. Very disappointing to see them releasing a new BB7 device. Their supposed to be moving forward, not backwards. This is going to hurt them a lot, and to the idea of upgrading to the BB10 OS from this device, seems dumb, defeats the purpous of having the device than.

Posted via CB10

Why dumb? Lenovo/HP still offer top of the line professional laptops with Windows 7 to make sure they capture those in the market that are not ready for Win 8 but need/want a new laptop with the latest hardware.

Posted via CB10

[anon(4099613)]

I think to get to a proper answer to this question, we have to stop lookin at it as OS7 vs BB10. It's all about how the coding happens underneath the hood. With that said, there isn't any real reason that they couldn't have coded legacy user interface and hardware with QNX. The problem is that people continue to confuse OS with the UI. The UI is nothing more than a "skin" over the OS. Hardware interaction is just a matter of writing the correct drivers.

A good example is how Mac users install Windows on their computers. 2 different OS's, same hardware. That should tell you that it's possible.

BlackBerry went too far in developing a semi-new UI (skin) over a new OS and then playing the Steve Jobs angle, makin us believe that it's better for us - the "change is good" crowd.

They could and should have done a better job with BB10 by using the 9900 as a platform to build from. Just as they have to build drivers for the Q10 screen vs the Z10 screen, they CAN build drivers for a smaller screen, slower processor, trackpad, etc.

FYI, there's a trackpad app in BlackBerry World!! It's limited but it shows that we don't have to lose our trackpad. BlackBerry seriously needs to support that option. I'd still rather see

Posted via CB10

[th3h0ff]

Making it a Q5????

Posted via CB10

[sparkaction]

Thanks for the responses. I just see that there is no reason to offer a new BB7 device unless that consumer is offered more than just a cheap bbm device because an Android device in the future can fulfill this need. If it is a cheap phone with a keyboard users are looking for then just keep making the existing line up and sell them at cost.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Thanks for the responses. I just see that there is no reason to offer a new BB7 device unless that consumer is offered more than just a cheap bbm device because an Android device in the future can fulfill this need. If it is a cheap phone with a keyboard users are looking for then just keep making the existing line up and sell them at cost.

Really don't see this being a new "cheap" BB7 device, think this will be a new "premium" BB7 device for those users on a corporate network that isn't ready to upgrade to BB10 yet but do want a new device. Or for effluent overseas users that like what BIS offers them, but don't have access to a BES environment. (wonder if we will see BES hosting soon).

If it were just about pricing it wouldn't be as large as the leaked images shows and why not just use the "cheap" devices they have.

As for upgradeable... doubt it, even if they built it with dual cores and 2 GB of ram, they are different OS. It would be like running a version of Mac OS7 on a Windows machine....

[AnimalPak200]

Really don't see this being a new "cheap" BB7 device, think this will be a new "premium" BB7 device for those users on a corporate network that isn't ready to upgrade to BB10 yet but do want a new device. Or for effluent overseas users that like what BIS offers them, but don't have access to a BES environment. (wonder if we will see BES hosting soon).

If it were just about pricing it wouldn't be as large as the leaked images shows and why not just use the "cheap" devices they have.

As for upgradeable... doubt it, even if they built it with dual cores and 2 GB of ram, they are different OS. It would be like running a version of Mac OS7 on a Windows machine....

Did you see the leaked pic on Crackberry main? Looks cheaper (less premium) than the Bold. Hope they meant to target the pay-as-you-go sub-carrier customers because that's all they're gonna get. What a piece of junk, and guess what... It's 'newer' than the Z10, Q10 and even Q5! lol

Posted via CB10

[Kris Simundson]

This is meant for the corporations that are due to upgrade from their 9000's and below, that can't afford 9900/Q10/Z10 buyouts. The 9720 will be along the price point of a Curve for the power of a Bold (not to the extent of the 9900)

[playbook_swiper1]

If the whole point is to cover the lower price points, then they will intentionally 'cripple' the device so as to still make money off of it.

I wonder how the market (stock and consumer) would react to a 'stepping stone' device, which can run both 7.x and later BB10 whenever the user desires to upgrade. Kind of like... buy something from us *now* with what you like (BB OS 7.x), knowing you can upgrade when ready. Of course such a device would have to be priced at, or above, Q10/Z10 prices to maintain margins on the BB10-capable components.

Oh, you mean like Playbook OS will be upgradeable to BB10? HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!

[james_1980]

I can see a market for those on mainland europe.

With BB7 and prior, roaming into other countries was cheap, because everything was routed via BIS.

With BB10, users now have to pay roaming rates on all their browsing (except BBM). This isn't such an issue in the US, where people rarely travel across international boundaries, but if you live in Belgium and your work patch includes France, Holland and Germany, then this would come at a substantial cost.

[cgk]

I can see a market for those on mainland europe.

With BB7 and prior, roaming into other countries was cheap, because everything was routed via BIS.

With BB10, users now have to pay roaming rates on all their browsing (except BBM). This isn't such an issue in the US, where people rarely travel across international boundaries, but if you live in Belgium and your work patch includes France, Holland and Germany, then this would come at a substantial cost.

Not much of a market - internal roaming charges in the EU are being eliminated in less than a year.

[DINGSTER1]

Posted via CB10

[Skeevecr]

This is meant for the corporations that are due to upgrade from their 9000's and below, that can't afford 9900/Q10/Z10 buyouts. The 9720 will be along the price point of a Curve for the power of a Bold (not to the extent of the 9900)

While some corporates will like this device, the main aim for it is to provide a nice upgrade at the 9320 end of the market because they cannot hit that with bb10 yet.

[CHIP72]

Why dumb? Lenovo/HP still offer top of the line professional laptops with Windows 7 to make sure they capture those in the market that are not ready for Win 8 but need/want a new laptop with the latest hardware.

Posted via CB10

Yeah, but the difference between the two examples is that Microsoft has massive market share in the desktop/laptop OS market, so focusing resources on older versions of the operating system arguably does make sense. Blackberry is not in that position with BB7 OS.

The other issue with releasing the Bold 9720 is how exactly is it going to be an upgrade, either in functionality or in reduced price, relative to already-released versions of the Bold OS7 devices? If the 9720 isn't bringing something new to the table that can't be achieved with existing models in the same series, why release the device? You can achieve the same thing using existing devices (primarily through reducing the cost of those existing devices).

[CHIP72]

This is meant for the corporations that are due to upgrade from their 9000's and below, that can't afford 9900/Q10/Z10 buyouts. The 9720 will be along the price point of a Curve for the power of a Bold (not to the extent of the 9900)

The Bold 9900/9930 has been out for just about 2 years (I think it came out in August 2011). Why not just reduce the cost of the Bold 9900/9930? I find it hard to believe that Blackberry wouldn't have achieved manufacturing efficiencies or not been able to take advantage of component cost reductions with a 2 year old device.

[notfanboy]

Here's how Heins positioned it:

While eventually all products will move to BlackBerry 10, our existing BlackBerry 7 customer base remains an important market to us. Many emerging markets continue to purchase BlackBerry 7 smartphones based on its effective cost point and features such as BBM.

Enterprise customers continue to leverage the security and cost-effectiveness of the platform with products such as the Bold 9900, which continues to be the most productivity focused and secure smartphone in the world today.

Our customer base is just starting its transition from the BlackBerry 7 operating system to BlackBerry 10, but we still intend to launch one additional product this year to support the BlackBerry 7 segment as well.

He mentions both the emerging markets and enterprise customers segment. It's not clear which one this new device is actually for.

[Skeevecr]

The Bold 9900/9930 has been out for just about 2 years (I think it came out in August 2011). Why not just reduce the cost of the Bold 9900/9930? I find it hard to believe that Blackberry wouldn't have achieved manufacturing efficiencies or not been able to take advantage of component cost reductions with a 2 year old device.

Things like the casing and to a lesser extent the display simply are not well suited to just dropping the price on that device no matter how many times people trot out that idea on here. If you look at the leaked specs, this new device is basically a 9790 in a cheaper casing, so even if costs had reduced on the 9900, this one would still be cheaper.

[CHIP72]

Things like the casing and to a lesser extent the display simply are not well suited to just dropping the price on that device no matter how many times people trot out that idea on here. If you look at the leaked specs, this new device is basically a 9790 in a cheaper casing, so even if costs had reduced on the 9900, this one would still be cheaper.

There's some real irony if the Bold 9900/9930 casing and display make it difficult to reduce its price. BB7 OS was meant as stop-gap while Blackberry was developing BB10, and in order to position their flagship BB7 device in the best possible light and attract some sales, they had to make it look like a truly premium device (which IMO the Bold 9900/9930 definitely is a sharp, premium-looking device). Now that summer 2011 need is IMO hurting Blackberry in summer 2013 because they have to introduce a new product (and as a result, deal with somewhat reduced supply chain and manufacturing efficiencies) to provide a lower-cost option for that still-expensive-to-manufacture summer 2011 device.

I still believe Blackberry should have been able to achieve some efficiency of scale (not to mention probably having some excess stock of Bold 9900's) in two years' time, but if they weren't able to (at least to a desirable level), then they weren't able to.