[sorinv]

I don't use the android runtime. I am one of the few who wants bb10 without any android runtime. No Google contamination.
I'd rather pay a known price for a service than use a service from a corporation which claims is a charity and gives me freebies. Freebies are always more expensive and you can never anticipate all future costs and consequences. You'll always pay much more later, when it is too late.

Yes, unfortunately Chen and the board sold out to Google. That does not mean that they have the customer's interest in mind.

And yes, BlackBerry is not doing well. Not even with android. That does not mean that I should give up on my principle of not allowing others to use my data without negotiating the terms with me personally first.

[emanuel0ss0]

I don't use the android runtime. I am one of the few who wants bb10 without any android runtime. No Google contamination.
I'd rather pay a known price for a service than use a service from a corporation which claims is a charity and gives me freebies. Freebies are always more expensive and you can never anticipate all future costs and consequences. You'll always pay much more later, when it is too late.

Yes, unfortunately Chen and the board sold out to Google. That does not mean that they have the customer's interest in mind.

And yes, BlackBerry is not doing well. Not even with android. That does not mean that I should give up on my principle of not allowing others to use my data without negotiating the terms with me personally first.

How can you say that BlackBerry "sold out" to Google? They needed try something new. BB10 wasn't selling like they hoped. They are trying something new instead of releasing phones that don't sell the volume they want or bring in the profit that they want.

Would you rather them keep releasing bb10 phones and have the hardware division cut off completely or would you rather they try something new in the hopes that both OS's can be supported? I'd prefer if BlackBerry was that diversified.

[sorinv]

No. They sold out by stopping to develop apps for bb10. Instead Chen develops apps for android.

His mandate was to kill bb10 for whatever reason. I can think of a few.

He has developed no new software product.
He had 3B dollars in the bank in 2013 and has spent 2B buying software companies, killing bb10, and developing NO new software product while becoming a Google slave sending all its users to Google playstore to register.

[conite]

His mandate was to kill bb10 for whatever reason. I can think of a few.

His mandate was to save the company AFTER the board already declared that BB10 was dead.

Through acquisition and internal development, he has built an excellent (arguably the best) multi-platform EMM offering in BES/Good/Watchdox.

[sorinv]

His mandate was to save the company AFTER the board already declared that BB10 was dead.

Sure. That is another way of putting it.

Through acquisition and internal development, he has built an excellent (arguably the best) multi-platform EMM offering in BES/Good/Watchdox.

Again, that is the "glass half full" version of agreeing with what I wrote.
He assembled a platform and a portfolio of software products by spending 2B of the 3B in cash without building any NEW software product (BES predates him) and without exceeding 40% of the total revenues which keep dropping from quarter to quarter by almost a similar percentage.

The only software "product" he developed internally were the blackberry android apps, if you could call those products...

So, my "glass half empty" view is that he has failed miserably and has moved the goal post both in time and in revenue numbers several times in the last 2.5 years.

Any respectable board would have fired him a long time ago for setting his own goals and changing them every time he failed to meet them.

[conite]

Any respectable board would have fired him a long time ago for setting his own goals and changing them every time he failed to meet them.

The current BES/Good/Watchdox multi-platform product is unrecognizable from the BES product that existed when Chen came on board. Of course acquisitions were an important part of that, but there has been major internal development under Chen.

I believe the board and Prem are very pleased with how Chen has performed, as I am. The proof is in the pudding, as BlackBerry is heading towards profitability by the end of the current fiscal year.

As a side note, look at today's news story about Chen:

http://www.crackberry.com/john-chen-...plans-and-more

[sorinv]

I would not call that news. That's Chen explaining himself, just like he changed his goals to suit his interests.

[emanuel0ss0]

I would not call that news. That's Chen explaining himself, just like he changed his goals to suit his interests.

Since you seem to know all of the answers, how would you have fixed BlackBerry's problem?

[anon(6038817)]

I would not call that news. That's Chen explaining himself, just like he changed his goals to suit his interests.

Chen has to answer to the board of directors. It's not a dictatorship.

 Newfangled | C003C2D50 

[Bluenoser63]

How can you say that BlackBerry "sold out" to Google? They needed try something new. BB10 wasn't selling like they hoped. They are trying something new instead of releasing phones that don't sell the volume they want or bring in the profit that they want.

Would you rather them keep releasing bb10 phones and have the hardware division cut off completely or would you rather they try something new in the hopes that both OS's can be supported? I'd prefer if BlackBerry was that diversified.

And the Priv is selling less than BB10 devices. Good plan Mr. Chen.

[Bluenoser63]

His mandate was to save the company AFTER the board already declared that BB10 was dead.

Through acquisition and internal development, he has built an excellent (arguably the best) multi-platform EMM offering in BES/Good/Watchdox.

No. He bought it as they didn't have the vision or skills to do it in house. All they have done is integrate what they bought. BB has not been able very successful in developing anything and all good things have been bought. Shows that the board and management don't have a clue. They haven't in a long time.

[Bluenoser63]

The current BES/Good/Watchdox multi-platform product is unrecognizable from the BES product that existed when Chen came on board. Of course acquisitions were an important part of that, but there has been major internal development under Chen.

I believe the board and Prem are very pleased with how Chen has performed, as I am. The proof is in the pudding, as BlackBerry is heading towards profitability by the end of the current fiscal year.

As a side note, look at today's news story about Chen:

John Chen discusses why he came to BlackBerry, his future plans and more | CrackBerry.com

What he said is that he hopes to be profitable by the end of the fiscal year. No proof that they will be.

[conite]

What he said is that he hopes to be profitable by the end of the fiscal year. No proof that they will be.

Of course. But he would have to be within ear shot to make this kind of statement:

"I would like to be profitable, definitely by the end of the year. But I'm hoping it's going to be a little sooner."

[conite]

No. He bought it as they didn't have the vision or skills to do it in house. All they have done is integrate what they bought. BB has not been able very successful in developing anything and all good things have been bought. Shows that the board and management don't have a clue. They haven't in a long time.

They went from BES 10 to true full multi-platform BES12 before the acquisition of Good.

[kvndoom]

Since you seem to know all of the answers, how would you have fixed BlackBerry's problem?

By making more BB10 phones and spending the last 3 billion on marketing! We all know that would have saved the company! 🤔

[emanuel0ss0]

By making more BB10 phones and spending the last 3 billion on marketing! We all know that would have saved the company! ��

Who would they market BB10 phones too? Most consumers want apps that BB10 doesn't have and the businesses that would have bought phones already went to Android and iOS. It would be wasted money.

[sorinv]

Chen has to answer to the board of directors. It's not a dictatorship.

 Newfangled | C003C2D50 

Yes. I have always written that the board is to blame for Chen's mistakes and continuous decrease in revenue and cellphone sales quarter upon quarter for 2.5 years now.

[sorinv]

They went from BES 10 to true full multi-platform BES12 before the acquisition of Good.

That's an enhancement of an existing product, not a new product.

[bhoqeem]

At least spend 1,5 billions on developing BlackBerry World (instead of firing the developers) and the rest of 1,5 billions on super crazy marketing and advertising.

It's a proven fact how lack they are in those two things. That'd surely turns things around. Especially considering the fact that the merchandise itself--the BB10 smartphones, is truly good. Heck, even re-issuing the 9900/9930 and 9810 with an update and better version of BBOS would do wonder.

But no, they already have android in mind since the beginning. Continuing BB10 from the Thorsten era has merely been a smokescreen and filling in the blank until they're ready with the priv.

Posted via CB10

[conite]

At least spend 1,5 billions on developing BlackBerry World (instead of firing the developers) and the rest of 1,5 billions on super crazy marketing and advertising.

The marketing debate is over. It wouldn't have made any difference.

Look at Microsoft. They have spent more money than many countries even have, and they have dropped to 0.7% market share. It also appears they have thrown in the towel, as they have made huge layoffs today in their device division.

It's not an OS war, it's an ecosystem war. And it was long over before BB10 or Windows Mobile.

[anon(6038817)]

The marketing debate is over. It wouldn't have made any difference.

Look at Microsoft. They have spent more money than many countries even have, and they have dropped to 0.7% market share. It also appears they have thrown in the towel, as they have made huge layoffs today in their device division.

It's not an OS war, it's an ecosystem war. And it was long over before BB10 or Windows Mobile.

This. BlackBerry needed to make crucial changes years before they launched BB10 in order to even have a chance of competing, but they fell asleep at the wheel.

 Newfangled | C003C2D50 

[Bluenoser63]

They went from BES 10 to true full multi-platform BES12 before the acquisition of Good.

You know that they bought that too. If you actually used it, you would know that BES10 was made up of an updated BES5 for BB devices and a purchased product that did the iOS and Android devices. They had no clue on how to do it themselves. It was cludgy and had two interfaces for administration. And if you look at BES12 before the Good purchase, it was way behind the competition as they didn't have any vision for development. I was one of the Beta testers for BES10 so I saw the process first hand.

[Bluenoser63]

Of course. But he would have to be within ear shot to make this kind of statement:

"I would like to be profitable, definitely by the end of the year. But I'm hoping it's going to be a little sooner."

And how is this statement any different each quarter when he took over. He has been saying that from the start.

[conite]

And how is this statement any different each quarter when he took over. He has been saying that from the start.

He never put a 6 to 9 month time frame on it before.

We'll see soon enough.
Hope he's right.

[bbafdad]

I appreciate everyone who took the time to respond giving advice and opinions regarding the direction BlackBerry is going and as a new Passport Silver Edition owner , what you would do. I must say I am still torn. I absolutely love my Passport SE but because of my personal business and being on the go all the time, I need constant and reliable social media platforms and even though BlackBerry has scent options in this regard, it still is coming up short on a few levels.

As for my iPhone 6s, I absolutely can't stand it and didn't realize how much I couldn't stand it until I bought my Passport SE BUT in the social media realm, it beats out BlackBerry unfortunately currently. So I find myself justifying sticking with iOS just because of apps which I hate as a reason - but I've got to have reliable communication with clients and able to facilitate groups which Facebook does well.

I find myself leaning more towards returning my Passport SE and picking up a Rome since everything I've heard about the Rome sounds amazing!

Any additional comments would be greatly appreciated!!!