The Other Side of The BB10/PlayBook Coin
Yesterday's news about BB10 and the PB is obviously disappointing and upsetting to many, and understandably so. But, the other side of the coin is that for some of us, not much has or will change for a while. My three PBs did not die or cease working today, our PBs at work continue to plug along, my wife's and daughter's PBs did not stop playing music, stop browsing, stop receiving emails, stop creating documents..etc. The world did not stop rotating, birds didn't stop flying and thank goodness Falling Skies didn't go off the air. Life goes on. Many owners, including myself, bought a PB for what it had and did, not on speculation, rumors or promises of what it might get or do later. Never buy anything on that premise.
I bought my first PB 4 months after it was released, after research and using it in stores, paying $599 for it. I had previously owned a GalaxyTab, had 2 iPads in the house, tried many other tablets and the PB still proved to be the better tablet for my needs and preferences. I have never regretted it. After a few months use and it being tried out at work, my company adopted the PB, eventually acquiring nine of them, replacing our ToughBooks. I have been happy and satisfied with the PB, as has my family and co-workers. Mine and my company's PB adoption came after owning and using other tablets, the PB proving to serve our needs and requirements better than the other tablets, Bridge, data staying on our phones, security, size and UI being large factors, not to mention that we and most of the industry we interact with, already used BB phones. That has not changed. BB10 was nothing more than rumor at that time, therefore our needs were not based on BB10 then, no more than they are now. The announcement changes nothing for us at this time as the PB continues to serve us well as is and will until support for it stops. At that time we move to another platform or a new BB10 tablet if available, whichever works best for us.
While I have seen complaints of bugs and problems on some PBs since release, we have not experienced the majority of them, and those we did notice, namely browser lag and checkerboarding, have pretty much been cleared up within the last two updates. I now have three PBs, use them all for specific purposes and still do not have issues with browser lag, checkerboarding, crashes, email issues, poor battery life, etc.. The same applies to our PBs at work. That being said, some anomalies we did have on a couple of PBs at work were traced by IT to bad or interrupted downloads of apps, interrupted/bad updates and possible sideloading. FWIW, the problem free PBs at work and my PBs were never sideloaded, no OTA updates, no wipes and have all had clean, smooth updates. They also have periodic hard resets performed.
Acknowledging that the PB has had problems for some owners, is not the perfect tablet and been lacking in areas for some, reading the other platform forums has consistently proven to show that applies to all tablets, depending on the perspective of the posting owner.
I, nor my company-workers, nor many other PB owners are PB fanboys, but we are PB fans. We do not have the time, patience nor productive freedom to be tied to a device that does not work well for us, fill our needs and enhance our efficiency. The PB does that for us, therefore we are fans. When any of those factors are lost, found wanting or another device proves to do it better, we will move on. At this point it hasn't happened. That determination is based on OUR opinion, not the opinion of others. What applies to us may not work for others, but that makes OUR opinion no less valid than anyone else's where OUR requirements are concerned. Therefore, those that disagree with me and those of like mind, are free to do so but keep in mind that your disagreement or opinion does not make you right nor us wrong. Period.
The whole point of this diatribe and pontificating is that while many of us were optimistic and looking forward to BB10 on the PB and disappointed by the news it isn't coming, we did not buy our PBs for BB10, nor do we need it to continue enjoying our PBs as is. I posted several times over the course of this BB10 roller coaster ride that if it comes, great, icing on the cake, if not, the PB still works for me and I'm happy with it. I'm not selling my PBs, nor is my company, nor many other satisfied owners. BB may or may not have good reasons for this, but nevertheless, I'm not getting rid of good devices nor refusing to buy future BB devices that may work well for me, out of spite or some misguided sense of revenge. If that was the response I took for every perceived slite I felt from a device manufacturer I wouldn't have a device left to buy. I've had good service and use with BB products and will continue to use them as long as they serve my needs, otherwise I'll move along. I'm a fan of any product that works for me.
I sincerely apologize to those that have taken the time out of your life to actually read this, but I needed to get it off my chest and it's done.