[Bla1ze]

And I can't follow every Twitter-account, unfortunately I have a job and additionally I write for a german BlackBerry Community

All the more reason to follow them and complain.

[cb900f2]

Still no update on my dtek50

[tthieman]

All the more reason to follow them and complain.

Contacted them on Twitter. They asked me to DM them. They sent me a link to the official July update page that lists what's fixed. Totally didn't answer my question on why the DTEK 50 hasn't seen update since May. Not very helpful.

[Bla1ze]

Contacted them on Twitter. They asked me to DM them. They sent me a link to the official July update page that lists what's fixed. Totally didn't answer my question on why the DTEK 50 hasn't seen update since May. Not very helpful.

Not surprising. And now you know how hard it is getting a straight answer. No matter who you ask, you'll generally get a different answer.

[tthieman]

Not surprising. And now you know how hard it is getting a straight answer. No matter who you ask, you'll generally get a different answer.

I've been loyal to BlackBerry for years and its getting hard to defend them. I personally don't care if updates are late as long as there is an explanation. Instead you get silence and then all the trolls come out trashing BlackBerry.

[HughJarsse]

I've been loyal to BlackBerry for years and its getting hard to defend them. I personally don't care if updates are late as long as there is an explanation. Instead you get silence and then all the trolls come out trashing BlackBerry.

BB are reaping what they sow...say nothing, pretend that all is OK, refuse to address peoples concerns, is it any surprise that people bash BB???
You shell out good money on their product, and less than a year later is is 'legacy' and ever since you had it, almost every 'monthly update' is late, late late, or, as is now happening, missed altogether!! Yet BB seem to think this is OK, and they do not need to say anything!! If they were HONEST, and gave an explanation, people may cut them some slack, but in the current state of play, they are only annoying more and more people!!

[AWB70]

Makes you wonder what exactly is the terms of contract with TCL. I get out sourcing hardware. BlackBerry can't afford to manufacture and create an os with the numbers of units they manage to sell. Let's not go into why, there are many reasons.
So BlackBerry becomes a software company and has a deal with TCL to make the units in the strength of BlackBerry will provide security updates and fixes for their software as well as any other hardware non phone related which BlackBerry has "secured" which I guess is their stocking trade.
Now if BlackBerry don't manage to do that with devices that carry their logo that supposedly they have an exclusive deal with then surely they must be in breach of contract with TCL. Furthermore, if they can't answer simple questions like when or if my device carrying the BlackBerry logo is ever getting an update it shows a general lack of communication between the whole supply chain and the customer which doesn't bode well for a company who is trying for get their software to be the bare bones of other companies hardware.
Could you imagine having say a car or some hospital equipment that relied on BlackBerry providing software for it?

[conite]

Makes you wonder what exactly is the terms of contract with TCL. I get out sourcing hardware. BlackBerry can't afford to manufacture and create an os with the numbers of units they manage to sell. Let's not go into why, there are many reasons.
So BlackBerry becomes a software company and has a deal with TCL to make the units in the strength of BlackBerry will provide security updates and fixes for their software as well as any other hardware non phone related which BlackBerry has "secured" which I guess is their stocking trade.
Now if BlackBerry don't manage to do that with devices that carry their logo that supposedly they have an exclusive deal with then surely they must be in breach of contract with TCL. Furthermore, if they can't answer simple questions like when or if my device carrying the BlackBerry logo is ever getting an update it shows a general lack of communication between the whole supply chain and the customer which doesn't bode well for a company who is trying for get their software to be the bare bones of other companies hardware.
Could you imagine having say a car or some hospital equipment that relied on BlackBerry providing software for it?

Think of the current state as this:

BlackBerry used to sell car infotainment systems, along with the actual car, directly to customers. How they choose to deal with updating said software is up to them.

Now, BlackBerry simply sells the infotainment system to GM. You buy a car from GM, and expect your updates from GM. BlackBerry's responsibility is only to GM according to whatever specifications GM specified.

[AWB70]

My point exactly Conite, that's what I'm getting at. What exactly is the arrangement with TCL? Surely TCL haven't entered into an agreement whereas BlackBerry have left it open whether or not they will only support certain devices for a certain timescale or even worse an open up to them style policy. That's just a ridiculous way of going about things in large corps. In sure that wouldn't have been left as a grey area. If there was such an arrangement in place I think it only fair that the customer was made aware of that prior to purchasing equipment off them.
Sure software will always kill hardware. Windows wouldn't support your hardware indefinitely because at some point your hardware won't run new software but this is the next but latest software for a device they put out and we're only talking Security patches here no one's talking nougat and the device is what two years old.
Ultimately BlackBerry is at the end of the supply chain, TCL can't release anything until BlackBerry has gave them something to release. So who holds ultimate responsibility for the patches? And now we're in a situation where neither TCL or BlackBerry can provide information on it!
It's the same old negating responsibility we seen with providers not putting out updates until they were tested.
I thought we'd moved on from that, in the case of people who in the case of dteks which were sold from BlackBerry own site there are only two companies to blame in this debacle and in my eyes that lands squarely in the lap of BlackBerry.

[AWB70]

It's not a BlackBerry bash but realistically here there is no one else to blame is there?

[conite]

It's not a BlackBerry bash but realistically here there is no one else to blame is there?

BlackBerry Mobile only has one device - the KEYᵒⁿᵉ. They pay BlackBerry to use its software, and presumably have a pretty solid contractual arrangement with BlackBerry to hit specific development and update targets - as in duration and timeliness. BlackBerry is only responsible to BlackBerry Mobile (TCL).

BlackBerry is personally responsible to the end customers for the DTEKs and Priv.

[anon(10123624)]

Don't expect too much from whatever you want to call them TCL, BlackberryMobile, Blackberry etc. Six month's from now they could be reincarnated to another new and "better" Blackberry. If they can screw over their own 300 plus employees with deceit do you think they care about the consumer? As long as they can fool people to keep buying the Blackberry brand the money rolls in to Chen , and shareholders,TCL etc.

More info and facts here: https://nelligan.ca/class-actions/blackberry/

[conite]

Don't expect too much from whatever you want to call them TCL, BlackberryMobile, Blackberry etc. Six month's from now they could be reincarnated to another new and "better" Blackberry.

Don't forget to include all three licencees in your conspiracy theory: PT BB Merah Putih and Optiemus Infracom feel lonely.

[AWB70]

BlackBerry Mobile only has one device - the KEYᵒⁿᵉ. They pay BlackBerry to use its software, and presumably have a pretty solid contractual arrangement with BlackBerry to hit specific development and update targets - as in duration and timeliness. BlackBerry is only responsible to BlackBerry Mobile (TCL).

BlackBerry is personally responsible to the end customers for the DTEKs and Priv.

So we've established that BlackBerry are ultimately responsible for all these devices which I guess is why we're so long into a post of bad press for them rather than trolling. I'm not particularly worried about the update but it does seem a bit unfair that certain devices have been left out in the cold, basically the message coming across here is BlackBerry are the world leaders in Security but not for your device, you need to buy the latest one if you want that. But that's not gong happen is it, because you got your fingers burnt on this device. What's there to encourage you to get another? We have to be a bit more pragmatic about this.

Without going all armchair CEO although, ironically, I am a managing director. If it were me the meeting with my heads of department and directors would go along the lines of... where are we at with security updates with our devices. We have some out for certain devices but not all. At that point I would probably hit the roof and be telling people to phone their wife's and husbands because no one is going home for a while until sleeves were rolled up and I had all my devices updated. How could I possibly hold my head up in the security industry and tell security minded people not to be buying anything that isn't secured by BlackBerry if I can't even get a poxy Security update on my own branded hardware. This is just not happening.
Damage limitation would be I want an email to every owner of a device along the lines of "BlackBerry apologises for the delay in the security update release, we have experienced some technical difficulties but customers should rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to get this at the soonest possible date. In the meantime rest assured that at this point there are no vulnerabilities to your device and if there was we would provide a fix immediately. We thank you for your continued support and patience etc etc.
I think most would just think ok, we'll wait. What did we get, some knob at BlackBerry saying "errr don't know" How difficult would that be, I could probably do that myself with a team of one.
As the other post says Chen is only interested in money and share holders, that being the case if your business is fundamentally about security and you can't get that bit right then you're not doing either justice. You can cut back staff and sell off non profitable parts as much as you want to make that bottom line look better
But if you don't have a product you can sell eventually you'll just get to the point where you have nothing.

[conite]

What's there to encourage you to get another? We have to be a bit more pragmatic about this.

As I've said countless times, BlackBerry has nothing left to sell directly to consumers, so they won't be diverting any additional resources to the DTEKs during busy times or while being presented with additional technical challenges. Updates will come but will probably be subject to more variability.

Any future devices with the BlackBerry brand will be purchased from TCL (BlackBerry Mobile), PT BB Merah Putih, or Optiemus Infracom. Your faith needs to be with them and/or the deal they managed to craft with BlackBerry as far as updates are concerned. For TCL's part, they have guaranteed 24 months of security updates.

[AWB70]

I know mate. Hopefully that will be the case. BlackBerry have had a rocky road when it comes to reliability and in my eyes you can't have Security without reliability, they're roses of a different colour but still roses. I guess I'm trying to say that it wouldn't have took a great deal to avoid this controversy, in fact it was totally avoidable and BlackBerry seemed to have dropped the ball once again with something that quite easily could have been a great selling point and faith restorer.
I don't agree however that BlackBerry have nothing to sell. If any hardware runs on BlackBerry software then they have software to sell and if you have a bad experience with something that previously had BlackBerry software on that will stick in your mind.
When the latest Security vulnerabilities which affected the NHS in the UK were hitting hard it also came to light that certain multi million pound scanning equipment had became obsolete because it ran on Windows XP software and it was going to cost too much to get new open source software coded to get this equipment functioning again. Essentially perfectly good hardware was destroyed by software so I believe that what software runs in the background has a big impact on whether or not people will buy hardware if it's pre-installed and the end user is relying on the software company to keep that equipment functioning and secure. Unfortunately BlackBerry has a reputation in the industry of deserting it's software far too early.

[conite]

I know mate. Hopefully that will be the case. BlackBerry have had a rocky road when it comes to reliability and in my eyes you can't have Security without reliability, they're roses of a different colour but still roses. I guess I'm trying to say that it wouldn't have took a great deal to avoid this controversy, in fact it was totally avoidable and BlackBerry seemed to have dropped the ball once again with something that quite easily could have been a great selling point and faith restorer.
I don't agree however that BlackBerry have nothing to sell. If any hardware runs on BlackBerry software then they have software to sell and if you have a bad experience with something that previously had BlackBerry software on that will stick in your mind.
When the latest Security vulnerabilities which affected the NHS in the UK were hitting hard it also came to light that certain multi million pound scanning equipment had became obsolete because it ran on Windows XP software and it was going to cost too much to get new open source software coded to get this equipment functioning again. Essentially perfectly good hardware was destroyed by software so I believe that what software runs in the background has a big impact on whether or not people will buy hardware if it's pre-installed and the end user is relying on the software company to keep that equipment functioning and secure. Unfortunately BlackBerry has a reputation in the industry of deserting it's software far too early.

Even if TCL and the other two licencees thought it would adversely affect their own sales, they would have funded the overtime themselves for BlackBerry to address the BlackBerry devices. Clearly they do not.

[AWB70]

So really speaking if you want a phone with some longevity and aren't overly worried about monthly security updates then buying a TCL/BB partnered device probably isn't for you.
That's the point I find a lot of people have been making lately. If you ask around the monthly update bit was probably the main selling point. As has already been pointed out. You can get higher end devices with your updates from Google or apple probably not as often and pretty much get two os's on your device before they eol it for cheaper and they have a support network and the possibility of buying spares if your phone gets damaged.
What's not to like I like mine, for now anyway. Just wish every time I bought a BlackBerry I didn't have to have that pending feeling of doom over what they are going to do next.
I've had them for years now and every time they seem to come out with the next big thing it seems to gradually fade, rumours starts that they are going to do something that you would think is unthinkable, they surely wouldn't do that and then it happens.
The monthly security update thing just feels like it's becoming spookily par for the course.
We have to remember here that although us anoraks look into what Chen is doing, share prices and other company buy outs etc that most people will have went to BlackBerry website and all they saw was "most secure BlackBerry phone" and "monthly updates, quicker than any other manufacturer"
Try explaining this trade deal with TCL to them. Good luck with that haha

[tthieman]

Telus has updated the Web page and shows DTEK 50 as released but I haven't seen yet. Maybe overnight. Plus the Priv is scheduled for July 17.

[conite]

So really speaking if you want a phone with some longevity and aren't overly worried about monthly security updates then buying a TCL/BB partnered device probably isn't for you.
That's the point I find a lot of people have been making lately. If you ask around the monthly update bit was probably the main selling point. As has already been pointed out. You can get higher end devices with your updates from Google or apple probably not as often and pretty much get two os's on your device before they eol it for cheaper and they have a support network and the possibility of buying spares if your phone gets damaged.
What's not to like I like mine, for now anyway. Just wish every time I bought a BlackBerry I didn't have to have that pending feeling of doom over what they are going to do next.
I've had them for years now and every time they seem to come out with the next big thing it seems to gradually fade, rumours starts that they are going to do something that you would think is unthinkable, they surely wouldn't do that and then it happens.
The monthly security update thing just feels like it's becoming spookily par for the course.
We have to remember here that although us anoraks look into what Chen is doing, share prices and other company buy outs etc that most people will have went to BlackBerry website and all they saw was "most secure BlackBerry phone" and "monthly updates, quicker than any other manufacturer"
Try explaining this trade deal with TCL to them. Good luck with that haha

We don't know anything about TCL apart from their promise for 2 years of security updates. BlackBerry's track record is completely irrelevant.

[crackberry_geek]

Sometimes I wonder if you're an actual human being or some sort of AI that John Chen as employed on these forums for amusement.

Name me a single Android device who's marketing campaign was built on Updating the Security of Your Device - Long After You Purchase It who hasn't been receiving timely monthly updates?

Lol... exactly!!!

[crackberry_geek]

I've been loyal to BlackBerry for years and its getting hard to defend them. I personally don't care if updates are late as long as there is an explanation. Instead you get silence and then all the trolls come out trashing BlackBerry.

And now we're getting lies.

[crackberry_geek]

Think of the current state as this:

BlackBerry used to sell car infotainment systems, along with the actual car, directly to customers. How they choose to deal with updating said software is up to them.

Now, BlackBerry simply sells the infotainment system to GM. You buy a car from GM, and expect your updates from GM. BlackBerry's responsibility is only to GM according to whatever specifications GM specified.

More planted gibberish?

[crackberry_geek]

So we've established that BlackBerry are ultimately responsible for all these devices which I guess is why we're so long into a post of bad press for them rather than trolling. I'm not particularly worried about the update but it does seem a bit unfair that certain devices have been left out in the cold, basically the message coming across here is BlackBerry are the world leaders in Security but not for your device, you need to buy the latest one if you want that. But that's not gong happen is it, because you got your fingers burnt on this device. What's there to encourage you to get another? We have to be a bit more pragmatic about this.

Without going all armchair CEO although, ironically, I am a managing director. If it were me the meeting with my heads of department and directors would go along the lines of... where are we at with security updates with our devices. We have some out for certain devices but not all. At that point I would probably hit the roof and be telling people to phone their wife's and husbands because no one is going home for a while until sleeves were rolled up and I had all my devices updated. How could I possibly hold my head up in the security industry and tell security minded people not to be buying anything that isn't secured by BlackBerry if I can't even get a poxy Security update on my own branded hardware. This is just not happening.
Damage limitation would be I want an email to every owner of a device along the lines of "BlackBerry apologises for the delay in the security update release, we have experienced some technical difficulties but customers should rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to get this at the soonest possible date. In the meantime rest assured that at this point there are no vulnerabilities to your device and if there was we would provide a fix immediately. We thank you for your continued support and patience etc etc.
I think most would just think ok, we'll wait. What did we get, some knob at BlackBerry saying "errr don't know" How difficult would that be, I could probably do that myself with a team of one.
As the other post says Chen is only interested in money and share holders, that being the case if your business is fundamentally about security and you can't get that bit right then you're not doing either justice. You can cut back staff and sell off non profitable parts as much as you want to make that bottom line look better
But if you don't have a product you can sell eventually you'll just get to the point where you have nothing.

That would happen if they had a competent CEO.

[crackberry_geek]

As I've said countless times, BlackBerry has nothing left to sell directly to consumers, so they won't be diverting any additional resources to the DTEKs during busy times or while being presented with additional technical challenges. Updates will come but will probably be subject to more variability.

Any future devices with the BlackBerry brand will be purchased from TCL (BlackBerry Mobile), PT BB Merah Putih, or Optiemus Infracom. Your faith needs to be with them and/or the deal they managed to craft with BlackBerry as far as updates are concerned. For TCL's part, they have guaranteed 24 months of security updates.

Countless times... gibberish.

It's a bleeding BlackBerry... no gibberish will change that.