[thejules]

When I purchased my Playbook a little over a year ago, I chose not to do it through various distribution channels, but directly from Blackberry. I specifically asked the sales guy, an employee of (then) RIM, is BB10 coming to Playbook? He answered, "absolutely".

I had a chance to sell my Playbook half a year ago, but I didn't, because the CEO of the company made a public promise that BB10 would be coming to Playbook, and, being a supporter of Blackberry products for nearly a decade, I didn't want to miss out on the user experience and added functionality. I trusted Heins' word, and it wasn't him alone - many Blackberry execs made public promises, even recently(!) that Playbook would get BB10.

I get a lot of use out of the Playbook now. I use it for lecture notes, for watching videos, web-surfing, gaming, powerpoints, pdf's, etc. When my laptop died on me suddenly I connected a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and used my Playbook for work-critical purposes for over two weeks as my primary computing device until my laptop was fixed.

But I and we were promised more. BB10 gives us the ability to run Skype, Whatsapp and the thousands of great new apps being developed for BB10 (and which we were PROMISED AGES AGO). The upgraded Android runtime would have given us access to a whole new universe of apps, while the vastly improved browser over this laggy, fidgety, unstable checkered-screen dinosaur would have carried us for years to come.

To rip the rug out from under Blackberry's most devoted supporters like this is a stupid move. We are an installed base of nearly 2.5 million! To have pushed this update would have solidified us as future customers. Thousands who now use their Playbooks as doorstops would have picked up their Playbooks again and would have been introduced to the new, updated user and performance experience. Why spend MILLIONS on inane superbowl commercials when simply delivering on your PROMISES would have sent hundreds of thousands of your loyal customers back into extolling your virtues to all their friends?!

To show the finger to the thousands of Playbook developers who made the platform USABLE at a time it was completely useless is a complete betrayal. I feel terrible for KalemSoft, Pdf Reader, Book reader, Battery Watch and the many other small developers I've been happy to support; developers that made products I use daily, and that catered product development to the needs of the community here on the CB Forums.

I truly feel I have lost confidence in the ability of this company to deliver on ANY promise it makes. I was planning on upgrading to a Q10, or the A10. I have been recommending to my friends to look at those devices, and have been forwarding them stories about Blackberry's successes in the UK and France. Several android fanboys were just nearly swayed by my efforts. I'm ashamed to say, ashamed(!) for fruit's sake, that one of my friends now owns a Q10 because of MY lobbying.

I will no longer promote BB and intend to abandon the platform and the company. Why bother, when iOS and Android keep their promises, when Firefox and Ubuntu and Tizen mobile platforms are on the horizon? I'm willing to bet THEIR CEOs won't treat truth as an afterthought, won't lie to our face, without any shame. After reading through crackberry forums, I know I am not alone. This company has disappointed many of us for the last time.

I am a nobody, and I realize this. We tens and hundreds of thousands who stood by blackberry through its darkest days, who supported its developers and bought its products on the hope of a turnaround, on the promise of ever better technology, superior hardware and groundbreaking software - we are nobodies, and we realize this. What makes it sad is that we still believe in the potential of the technology. (I can't believe it... Thorsten Heins has turned me into a rambling WebOS fan.)

But Kevin is a somebody. Kevin runs the biggest Blackberry fan site in the world, speaking to hundreds of thousands of Blackberry users and abusers. Kevin has invested half a decade of his life, and a substantial portion of his worth (and future earnings potential) into the fate of Blackberry. (The poor guy was drinking on the post-earnings CB conference call, and I don't blame him.) And Kevin is going to be there at the shareholder meeting July 9th, when Thorsten Heins and his pack of liars have no choice but to sit there and take it.

So, what should Kevin say at the shareholder meeting July 9th?

Kevin, you have always been an optimist. I remember last summer, how you pulled the community through to what we all thought would be the BB10 unveiling in the fall. It wasn't pretty, remember? BGR and many others were predicting Blackberry's death and dismemberment. When BB10 was not delivered you kept it together and sold us on Thornsten Heins keeping his word for a January launch. The only thing this company still had was that man's word, you told us, and we just lost it. End of the day, the Playbook is just a gadget for me. This is your job, your life.

Kevin, if you're reading this, IT'S TIME TO TAKE THE GLOVES OFF. Tell them straight to their face that they've alienated their best, most loyal customers. Tell them they're a bunch of liars who covered their *** for a few months to liquidate some old inventory instead of being honest with their customers. (I hate myself for being gullible enough to think this would work, but) Tell them they only way they can regain our trust is by DOING WHAT THEY SAID THEY WOULD! That means a substantial Playbook update - including BB10 in whatever crippled version they can make work, including the Android runtime, including the browser update, etc.

If Microsoft can be hammered by users to bring back the Start button, or bludgeoned by negative feedback to rework its entire Xbox DRM/used games/always online strategy, there is no reason that Blackberry, with $3 Billion in CASH, cannot make this BB10 to Playbook upgrade work.

It is possible, and only YOU can make it happen, Kevin. It's time for OUR community to fight back. Name and shame them into submission. Hold them to their own promises. Help keep me and tens if not hundreds of thousands of others in the Crackberry family. That's what I think you should do on this conference call.

-------------------

P.S. Scanning the forums today, I see there are not a few delusional souls still defending Blackberry for killing the Playbook upgrade, or those who think that some kind of update is still in store. Let me spell it out for you sorry, pathetic fools: 1) you're doormats, 2) unless Kevin waterboards Heins at the shareholder meeting, aside from meaningless security patches, THERE WILL BE NO PB UPDATE EVER AGAIN. No Android runtime update, no opening of the platform for us to tinker with (why should they do ANY of this when they just ripped the bandage off once and for all?!) I was once just like you, thinking that Blackberry cared about its products, about its customers, or that the NEW Blackberry cared, or that at the very least, BB's CEO would not go back on his own RECENT word. Hahaha.

Kevin won't do any of that - why bite the hand that feeds you? Why don't you do it - drive to Waterloo and speak up but make sure you own at least 1 share of bb otherwise you can't.

[Rodojo]

Soooo. What if all the best questions are asked, all the important points made, all the BB USER passion expressed. Will the BB EXECUTIVE TEAM be able to give US a TRUSTWORTHY ANSWER. I love my Z and my PB, but.....

[treaker]

All you whiners complaining about no BB10 need to get some wood, build a bridge and get over it.

Canadian Z10 owner on Telus

[kb5zht]

Then you're probably one of the users that would also be happy with this...

http://www.anjas-hobbylaedchen.de/bi...e-Groessen.jpg

It can connect via wireless and I can open a website...fine, all I need, Juhu!

[kb5zht]

Hah, when you said "You would be happy with This" an image of a jar of vasaline popped into my mind.

This person is actually very lucky.... If it takes so little to satisfy him or her then life will be smooth sailing.

For the rest of you guys strumming the "BlackBerry needs to prove to its customer They can still do It" all I can say is that it's too late. It was the playbook itself that was suppose to be the redemption path after years of falling behind, breaking promises and bending customers over and.... giving them the Storm 1 and 2.

Nah, it's game over. They won't disappear but they are forever a fourth or fifth tier company. The best thing they can do know is eternally slash their prices even for launches and admit they are not selling top line products and market to those with lower expectations who need to work on a budget.

I just can't imagine them being so ignorant they try another "New Product" now and say "This will prove we are REALLY serious this Time."

[lnichols]

Tell him and all his minions to stop making statements that they can't, or have no intention of delivering on. The messaging and execution of the company is a joke. The PlayBook early adopter base were the most loyal of the fans. Those people were made promise after promise about this device that eventually morphed into the promise of BB10, and these are the same people that BlackBerry expects to Sell like Hell!? You can't continually over-promise and under-deliver to your loyal base and expect them to remain loyal. Sure you'll have your rabid fanboys that will stay till the doors close and call anyone who gets fed up and voices dissent against BlackBerry traitors, but these are the minority.

Your customer needs to be the end user, not the CIO's, not the carriers, but the guy that goes in and plunks down his money for your device. Catering to the carriers and CIO's in the US has decimated the name BlackBerry in the US. Constantly pulling the football away from customers with things like the Storm, the thrice delayed introduction of BB10, and now the PlayBook not getting BB10 will turn people against you, and an unsatisfied former customer will do more damage than a satisfied fanboy can correct.

I would also suggest to him that they rebrand the new phones in markets where the name BlackBerry is viewed poorly (i.e. the US) to some new name that in no way ties the phones to BlackBerry. Make a luxury line that in no way has the name BlackBerry tied to it.

[Play_time]

Hi Everyone;

I'll start off by stating that I can be counted among those who are disappointed with BB. I know they are having problems but it might have made much more sense to again delay the upgrade than outright cancel it and peeve off a core of loyal product users.

However it is what it is and we can/will make our future purchase choices as we see fit. In my case I choose to express my disappointment to BB via an email, see below.

"Dear Blackberry;

I am one of many disappointed Playbook customers who last year had decided that upon hearing the many promises about the future PB upgrade to BB10 decided to purchase one even though RIM was a badly struggling Canadian company. I understood the upgrade might have taken some time but was willing to patiently wait for it because I had come to believe in RIM.

When BB recently announced the cancellation of BB10 for the PB I felt it was an outright betrayal of what was a publicly announced verbal commitment between loyal PB customers and BB. In short I found it difficult to believe the RIM/BB executive from the CEO down had outright lied to us, whatever happened to the principles of honesty and integrity within business? To renege on a promise is certainly not honest nor is it the Canadian way.

For my part I won't be purchasing anymore BB products unless I see an honest attempt to resolve what I see as the PB upgrade issue. Furthermore I will also no longer encourage anyone to purchase BB products. Please understand it's not a matter of being vindictive toward BB but rather a simple matter of economics, after all who would want to throw money at a losing company (see shares prices) such as BB?

Did someone say Samsung...............................?"


I'll continue to use my PB and hope it will last for many years to come. I guess part of my frustration is that overall I find the PB to be an excellent product and had hoped for more yet, as might have been provided through the 10 upgrade.

My Regards

[blueberrymerry]

BBRY will cease to exist in its current form by the end of the year. My crystal ball told me

Why? Because of poor BB10 device sales, low consumer demand for any BBRY product, droves of BIS customers leaving for other platforms, death of the PlayBook line, opening up BBM to other platforms, and now development of a new BB7 device. The last is especially stupid when BB10 was supposed to cover everything from cheap Curve-level devices to flagships, but the only reason to bring back BB7 is if BB10 couldn't be scaled down to run on bargain hardware.

A Q5 is too expensive for Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria and some other emerging markets that are big BB7/BIS customers now. The Z10 and Q10 are priced in the stratosphere, so the only solution left is to bring that obsolete BB7 junk to keep BIS customers from jumping ship for one or two more years. It's a sad stopgap measure like using toilet paper to plug a hole in the ship's hull...

[haringjuan]

It is not what he needs to say, it is what he needs to do to blackberry to stop, look, listen, and retain those words that he has to say.

Posted via CB10

[bp3dots]

I want to see Kevin go all out and ask publicly:

1. Define what is to be expected in terms of updates for the PB? Is this going to be security updates alone, or could users expect some aspects of BB10, like the browser and Android runtime to be updated. If so, a hard timeline should be demanded.

2. The Playbook fiasco has left countless users who have supported Blackberry, lied to. What plans does BBRY have to win these users back?

3. What is the logic behind another os7 device? Work has been going on for over 2 years on getting QNX onto devices. Why take a step back now? Wouldn't legacy markets be better served by a budget oriented BB10 device (Q5) rather than legacy, budget devices that are on outdated limited software?

4. The BBRY Brand is in many parts of the world (particularly the US) associated now with "old hardware", "being out of touch with users", "not cool", "small screen", "DOA", "Never delivers on promises", "Late, Late, Late". What is the plan forward to fix this? Where is the marketing to repair this brand and gain trust of users again?

I found your points on 1, 2, and 4 very reasonable. (Which has been a rarity in this thread)

As for 3, there are a lot of markets where BB sells heavy that even the Q5 will be too expensive for, and where the users rely on BIS only plans, which are not compatible with BB10 . There are also many corporations who are not ready to move on to BB10, but need updated devices.

As for the rest of this thread, my 2 cents:

For a community that prides itself on being a group of professionals, most of these responese have been anything but. Why would Kevin attack Thor. for this? While it stinks that the BB10 update isn't coming to the PB, all the tablets sold still do exactly the same things as they did when they were bought. Anyone who bought one recently based on a future update made a poor decision. The ones who bought them early got their money's worth in a typical electronics life cycle (as far as being on the current SW version).

Outside of the PB issue. Thor. has overseen the launch of the new OS, which continues to grow, and still has devices to launch for more market penetration. The growth is a good sign. BB10 wasn't going to jump from 5% to 20% marketshare in 2 quarters. The results could have been better, but they also could have been a heck of a lot worse.

[sad_old_man]

I believe the shareholders have the right to questions the ceo and the board of directors for the fail promise. However, my worst fear is BB is on the brink of collapse. Z10, Q10 and R5 is the last push by the company to keep the company afloat. The decimated result of Q1 might just prove that. Come next week we'll probably see the stock back to single digit again. The company is probably in no position to give a sh*t about pb update for that matter. Let see if the take over will happen soon.

Oh cat where have I failed you! I will only say this once more on this forum, because if the members are not bright enough to grasp it then I get banned for nothing.

1. The pb has always had bb10, it was the test bed for the handsets. Now to say it doesn't have enough ram to run it is pure bulls hit! Remember we don't need all the phone call software in bb10 so the must...
Ah whatever. Work it out yourselves.

2. Every incoming CEO is given a brief by the board. Thors brief was to make BlackBerry viable to be onwardly sold instead of the virtually bankrupt company that it was. Given that brief he has performed very very well and for that I applaud him. No more BIS, no more bridge in fact all the things that separated bb from other smartphones.

As far as his brief is concerned he has performed admirably and deserves his 20M bonus when he leaves. I'll have you a bet that other companies are already working on their financial proposal for takeover as I type this.


I used to do exactly the same on behalf of a company called Schlumberger so I can spot people like Thor a mile away. It's not really rocket science!


In the meantime have fun with your PlayBook and enjoy life.


I don't dash out and start divorce proceedings everytime I speak to a younger more attractive woman!

Back to my cellar now to await the coming of bb11. Oh **** my crappy Z10 a hardware can't run bb11.

Anybody got Samsung 's number?

Posted via CB10

[bambinoitaliano]

Oh cat where have I failed you! I will only say this once more on this forum, because if the members are not bright enough to grasp it then I get banned for nothing.

1. The pb has always had bb10, it was the test bed for the handsets. Now to say it doesn't have enough ram to run it is pure bulls hit! Remember we don't need all the phone call software in bb10 so the must...
Ah whatever. Work it out yourselves.

2. Every incoming CEO is given a brief by the board. Thors brief was to make BlackBerry viable to be onwardly sold instead of the virtually bankrupt company that it was. Given that brief he has performed very very well and for that I applaud him. No more BIS, no more bridge in fact all the things that separated bb from other smartphones.

As far as his brief is concerned he has performed admirably and deserves his 20M bonus when he leaves. I'll have you a bet that other companies are already working on their financial proposal for takeover as I type this.


I used to do exactly the same on behalf of a company called Schlumberger so I can spot people like Thor a mile away. It's not really rocket science!


In the meantime have fun with your PlayBook and enjoy life.


I don't dash out and start divorce proceedings everytime I speak to a younger more attractive woman!

Back to my cellar now to await the coming of bb11. Oh **** my crappy Z10 a hardware can't run bb11.

Anybody got Samsung 's number?

Posted via CB10

So you are saying Thor is leaving this little nugget for the next ceo as the savior of BB? Well played!!

[Bdot-1]

All you whiners complaining about no BB10 need to get some wood, build a bridge and get over it.

Canadian Z10 owner on Telus

Put your money where your mouth is and buy mine then if it's such a great tablet as it sits. I purchased for $349 +taxes and will sell to you for $140 barely used. Thats cheaper then blackberry is selling on their website.

Good deal right? You should be jumping all over it. Unless you have a Z10 that is and the feature you would buy it for (being that bridge) no longer works

Posted via CB10

[bp3dots]

Put your money where your mouth is and buy mine then if it's such a great tablet as it sits. I purchased for $349 +taxes and will sell to you for $140 barely used. Thats cheaper then blackberry is selling on their website.

Good deal right? You should be jumping all over it. Unless you have a Z10 that is and the feature you would buy it for (being that bridge) no longer works

Posted via CB10

Just curious, why did you buy a tablet that doesn't suit your needs without an OS update that it didn't have when you bought it?

[nosmartphoneyet]

You da man. My thoughts exactly. I'm in love with my Z10 but, why would people invest in BlackBerry?? The next Q will be the be all end all because - there is nothing left to hide behind. All data will be in and if not a positive announcement........ that will be it.

Posted via CB10

[njblackberry]

Exactly - and this is what happens when people fall in love with a company (and its products and stock). They stop thinking.

[shief24]

Just curious, why did you buy a tablet that doesn't suit your needs without an OS update that it didn't have when you bought it?

Just guessing, probably because the company that made the tablet has explicitly stated that the OS update that would make it suitable would be arriving soon.

[sad_old_man]

So you are saying Thor is leaving this little nugget for the next ceo as the savior of BB? Well played!!

No not at all. What I'm saying is he has done what he was employed to do. Turn BlackBerry into a viable company that will reap at least some financial benefit for the shareholders when floated on the exchange. No company would take on BIS or bridge, it's not in their financial interest to do so. Too complicated and employees don't have the skill sets to support it. Too long a learning curve to be of interest. The bb10 phones now operate just like all the other smartphones out there only BlackBerry 10 phones do it badly. Some other company will buy BlackBerry name and with very little tweaking bring the handsets in line with their own current handsets completely and very quickly. Get the drift?

Posted via CB10

[donmateo]

They should release a new tablet and offer PB owners a significant trade in credit for their PB.

Also, they need to do more and BETTER MARKETING.

[sad_old_man]

They should release a new tablet and offer PB owners a significant trade in credit for their PB.

Also, they need to do more and BETTER MARKETING.

Also not financially viable. Have you ever know a commercial company do that?

[Barracuda7772]

They should release a new tablet and offer PB owners a significant trade in credit for their PB.

Also, they need to do more and BETTER MARKETING.

they should but its more them to say a new tablet is coming and that pb owners wull get a significant discount but they will scrap it last min.

[sad_old_man]

they should but its more them to say a new tablet is coming and that pb owners wull get a significant discount but they will scrap it last min.

Clever fish!!!!!

[bp3dots]

Just guessing, probably because the company that made the tablet has explicitly stated that the OS update that would make it suitable would be arriving soon.

If he bought it when it was $350, that promise was a long way away.

[undone]

Kevin should have one question and one question only.

'Why should I believe in you (BlackBerry)?'

[sad_old_man]

If he bought it when it was $350, that promise was a long way away.

Doesn't make it right to back out of a promise however long ago it was made! I'm not upset and I did pay full price for my pb on the day they were released but the morality of it remains.