[craigs]

After watch and reading posts on here this past year I took a moment to reflect on my past experience with BB products and how the user base has changed.
I remember when RIM only had the pager that had the tiny keyboard for writing short emails. And the people that owned one usually were successful business people because they were damn expensive. To own one was also a bit of status symbol similar to wearing a rolex or driving an expensive car. RIM was the Cadillac of communication devices. They knew they needed to keep up with the times so they created the phone with the same email capabilities, BBM and a mild web browser.

I am 43 and have owned 7 BB phones and now the PB. I joined CB in 2008 but read the forums for quite a while before that when ever I needed answers to a problem I was having.
When I got the first BB people on CB were mature and respectful and very help, when the iPhone came out we were not threatened because it was geared towards a totally different consumer group. BB owners were business people and used the BB as a Business tool, the iPhone was set to be an extension of their iPod consumer base and for people who wanted to have their media on their phone.

Now some consumers from both groups wanted a little of what the other had. BB people wanted to have some of the media options and iPhone people wanted BBM and the security.

I remember when the occasional person would come here to CB and boast how great the iPhone was (similar to the little drunk guy picking a fight with the big muscular boxer at a bar) and the membership here would give a confident smile and pat the iPhone person on the head and explain that each phone was great at what duties it performed and that each had its own place on the market. There was no flaming or anger or very little in comparison to today. If you think about vehicles as a comparison nobody would say a construction worker who drives a larger pickup is a fool to drive such a ugly gas guzzler because we know he needs the size and power to do his job, but if the same construction worker showed up driving an expensive sports car or a tiny Smart car he would be laughed at and his boss would probably tell him to get a vehicle so that he could do his job and duties properly. Same goes for somebody who lives and works in the downtown of a busy city. If they drove a large truck people would think he had money to burn and it was not a suitable choice. The person would be better off with a smaller vehicle, good on gas and easy to park in the busy streets. Or better yet take public transport.

I believe the RIM team that spoke at the press conference the other day said it correctly when they said they tried to get involved in too many directions with their devices and that they should have created partnership with established companies who could provide some of the none business related function on the BB and PB such as music and video store.
When RIM came out with the PB I believe they had they right idea with its strength and portability but they tried too hard to make it like the other tablets and offers everything.
They should have gone to their roots and created and amazing unbeatable business tablet full of useful tools that possibly could have replaced most of the laptop and netbooks on the market. Not try and match the iPad and climb that mountain in the media and gaming market
Now don't get me wrong I love the games and media I have on my PB but I would rather have a power house business tablet that performs smooth, can be completely mobile and offer a bit of entertainment.

Sorry for the long post but after so much negativity on the forums I just want people to remember that there is a market for each tablet and I hope RIM does to what they suggested at the press conference. Focus on what they know and partner with others that have the experience in other areas. You can be amazing at a few tasks but not everything when you dilute your resources.

[sleepngbear]

Can't think of anything to add to this, other than the part about Mr. Heins admitting that the company tried to go in too many directions to satisfy everybody, with which I couldn't agree more. Kind of akin to taking out a swarm of fleas with a shotgun. Unfortunately, at the time they were reacting to the fallout of their own earlier complacency and needed to do something, and perhaps the brain trust felt that was what they needed to do to maintain market dominance ... not recognizing that they had already lost that market dominance.

Even when RIM's focus was the enterprise and the consumer market was more of an aside, I still found a BB to be the most useful device to me. So I'll be very interested to see what kinds of changes they will be making, how they plan to act on them, and how that's going to impact whatever plans they have for BB10.

[Pearl9100]

One thing that I want to point out. I don't think that many people saw a BB as a status symbol akin to something like a rolex or a sports car (let's just use porsche as a reference point for argument sake). To me a BB was a productivity tool and I think a lot of people saw that too. I think it would be fallacious to compare a $200-500 phone to a 10k-50k watch or a 100k+ sports car. I have been fortunate enough to own all of these things, and the level of detail and craftsmanship on rollies and pcars trump BB. Plus, the last time I checked, I have never seen companies handing out rollies or porsches to their employees in order to increase productivity.

[craigs]

One thing that I want to point out. I don't think that many people saw a BB as a status symbol akin to something like a rolex or a sports car (let's just use porsche as a reference point for argument sake). To me a BB was a productivity tool and I think a lot of people saw that too. I think it would be fallacious to compare a $200-500 phone to a 10k-50k watch or a 100k+ sports car. I have been fortunate enough to own all of these things, and the level of detail and craftsmanship on rollies and pcars trump BB. Plus, the last time I checked, I have never seen companies handing out rollies or porsches to their employees in order to increase productivity.

I think you missed my point. I was not comparing the BB to a rolex or sports car. My point was at the time most of the general public was using basic cell phones that cost maybe a 100 dollars and and at that time only higher income earners could afford the BB because it cost around 700 - 1000 dollars at that time. Remember this is almost 20 years ago and before couriers subsidized that cost of phones. So I am compare the BB to other phones at the time. And yes of course most owners used it as a business tool which I think I did mention in my post but most certainly some owned them as a status symbol. Obviously not most but there were some wannabes LOL