Originally Posted by
Thunderbuck When you introduce a new platform, there's a "chicken-and-egg" conundrum; devs won't write for a platform without users and users won't buy a platform without apps.
Apple found a relatively low-risk way to accomplish this: their App Store was built for the iPod Touch and had the opportunity to get established before the iPhone was first introduced.
RIM, unfortunately, had to start from scratch. What they needed to do was release a quality, usable device with an adequate app store at an affordable price. They could have even gotten away with two out of three of those points. Instead, they released a beautiful piece of hardware that was only somewhat usable with almost no apps and they charged iPad prices.
Had they managed the launch better, more PBs would have sold, and the platform would have attracted devs much quicker... as it turned out, they had to throw bucket-loads of money at it.
In a funny way, though, when they announced the OS 2.0 delay and the write-down last fall, I took it as a sign that they were committed to the device and the platform; the easy way out would have been to release 2.0 in whatever state it was in then and announce the PB would be discontinued...