[Iggy City]

If that's true, what a horrible business decision. BlackBerry's money would be better spent by literally placing the dollars in the trash can outside Waterloo HQ.

[Davidoff65]

It is just a rumor. If it turns out to be true though, more power to them. They can't be accused of not satisfying everyone if they exit the handset division.

[crucial bbq]

Didn't Chen say, or suggest, that it was too expensive to have drivers made for BB10 for the new hardware?

Does this rumour suggest the whole expensive-drivers thing was a mislead, or maybe BlackBerry has changed their minds about investing in drivers?

I don't remember anymore but he did say that the good thing about Android is that other people write this stuff so it's stupid to do it in house.

Does not matter anymore, with the Priv Chen now has all the necessary drivers on hand for a BB10 version if he wants to go that route.

The future of both Android on BlackBerry and BB10 are up in the air at this point. However at Mobile/Code Chen did say that one year from now the future of BB10 will depend on technology (hypervisor?) and the consumer.

QNX can have the drivers in no time flat if need be and QNX, not BlackBerry /Chen, has stated that through hypervisor BB10 could run Android fast enough that any lag would be negligible.

Chen also said that both BB10 and Android are going to both exist over the next year in the least. After that who knows what will happen however based on what Chen has said, and more importantly what he has not been saying, a BB10 Priv is plausible.

Posted via CB10

[crucial bbq]

It is just a rumor. If it turns out to be true though, more power to them. They can't be accused of not satisfying everyone if they exit the handset division.

True enough. Then again an Android BlackBerry had been rumored for a long time with many of us calling BS. Now look what happened.

Posted via CB10

[ToniCipriani]

I guess it's true.

[z3user]

10+
.. BB11 confirmed!!!

BlackBerry Priv� a mobile PRIVilege for your PRIVacy

[crucial bbq]

Must be some MS magic. On my Mac the same page underneath "Country*" it says:

"I am in interested in purchasing 10+ devices on behalf of my organization".

Nice try, though.

[anon(3983727)]

10+
.. BB11 confirmed!!!

BlackBerry Priv� a mobile PRIVilege for your PRIVacy

LOL ... quantity.

[BB-JAM215]

Didn't Chen say, or suggest, that it was too expensive to have drivers made for BB10 for the new hardware?

Does this rumour suggest the whole expensive-drivers thing was a mislead, or maybe BlackBerry has changed their minds about investing in drivers?

This rumour suggests that it is just a rumour. Chen did say it was too expensive to develop BB10 drivers for new hardware.

He made it as clear as he could in his Code Mobile interview that he will support BB10 for probably a year or two as he works on getting the same kind of security certifications for Android that now exist for BB10.

He also evaded a question about whether there would be any new BB10 devices.

Around 12 minutes into the interview:
Dan Seifert: "And then you don't have to have two operating systems?"
John Chen: "Exactly"

[Lobwedgephil]

Yeah its not happening. This is last chance for BB hardware, it this is a hit, you will see more BB Android phones, if not, they will slowly exit the hardware market.

[anon3700711]

There won't be a BB10 version. End of discussion. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[paulwallace1234]

We'll see, if there is a BB10 version that guarantees a 10.3.3 SDK; 10.3.3 fixes have been mentioned by a few but not really much about an SDK, it would be nice but We'll see.

Posted via CB10 v....not telling

[johnny_bravo72]

Didn't Chen say, or suggest, that it was too expensive to have drivers made for BB10 for the new hardware?

Does this rumour suggest the whole expensive-drivers thing was a mislead, or maybe BlackBerry has changed their minds about investing in drivers?

A nice workaround for that is to have the "immortal" Snapdragon S4 under its hood. They probably still have boatloads of it lying around.

*A3-A20

[1Criz]

I not holding my breath. Probably not. This would bring them guaranteed sales by BB10 fans in line with Passport sales (300-500k), but half of them will buy Android Priv if no other option provided. So there is slight upshot, probably not worth anything for BlackBerry. From the other side, Venice was originally targeted as a BB10, so maybe most OS work is already done.

Posted via CB10

[ToniCipriani]

This rumour suggests that it is just a rumour.

But there's also rumour suggesting that rumour suggesting the rumour being a rumour is... a rumour.

We need to go deeper.

[leglace1]

It is not stupid at all. They already spent a lot of $$ on R&D. Why wouldn't they want to maximize their chances to get a return on their investment.?

Posted via CB10

[brookie229]

A nice workaround for that is to have the "immortal" Snapdragon S4 under its hood. They probably still have boatloads of it lying around.

*A3-A20

.......OR maybe the 801 a la Passport.

[thurask]

There won't be a BB10 version. End of discussion. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

Given everything else you've said, this means there will be 100% a BB10 Priv.

Posted via CB10

[Michael_Stewart]

Didn't Chen say, or suggest, that it was too expensive to have drivers made for BB10 for the new hardware?

Does this rumour suggest the whole expensive-drivers thing was a mislead, or maybe BlackBerry has changed their minds about investing in drivers?

[BB-JAM215]

Given everything else you've said, this means there will be 100% a BB10 Priv.

It's not what CatlinFD says that matters. Listen to what John Chen says in the Code Mobile interview. His goal is to get the same kind of security certifications for Android hardware as he has now with BB10 hardware. He will then no longer need to push outdated app challenged BB10 hardware to his government and enterprise customers. No more BB10, just Android.

[ToniCipriani]

https://i.imgflip.com/sjgcf.jpg

Oh sure, they were trying to put out the fire burning the money. Now they potentially get some money to cover the burnt money, they should throw it back into the fire?

[Uzi]

It's not what CatlinFD says that matters. Listen to what John Chen says in the Code Mobile interview. His goal is to get the same kind of security certifications for Android hardware as he has now with BB10 hardware. He will then no longer need to push outdated app challenged BB10 hardware to his government and enterprise customers. No more BB10, just Android.

You missed the joke by thurask.. catlinFD always said things the other way around. ..

[crucial bbq]

I not holding my breath. Probably not. This would bring them guaranteed sales by BB10 fans in line with Passport sales (300-500k), but half of them will buy Android Priv if no other option provided. So there is slight upshot, probably not worth anything for BlackBerry. From the other side, Venice was originally targeted as a BB10, so maybe most OS work is already done.

Posted via CB10

BlackBerry shipped nearly 19 million phones in 2013. Granted, many of those were BBOS but my next point will still stand: 2013 now puts many (most) of those sales into the upgrade category. Some may have already upgraded to another BB10 device and some may have already moved on to another OS, but that still leaves some who have yet to upgrade/move on. Some may go to the Priv but others will not. I am certain BlackBerry thought of all this and they must realize that by not offering a BB10 Priv, or a Passport 2, or an updated Classic in the least, is surely going to hurt sales.

BlackBerry really only needs that one BB10 phone. Not only to help with sales figures but to also lessen the blow and ease us diehards into the idea of fully accepting an Android BlackBerry. I mean, at some point in time the Priv is going to become seen as normal and after that BB10 fans will be more open to the idea/platform/OS. Without that phone BlackBerry is going to lose current customers for every new customer signed on. Which number will be higher remains to be seen but if BlackBerry is gambling on the "Android crowd" to pick up the slack they surely do got some cojones of steel.

It is not stupid at all. They already spent a lot of $$ on R&D. Why wouldn't they want to maximize their chances to get a return on their investment.?

Posted via CB10

I know, right. How long has "BB10" been in development? Six years if you go back to the PlayBook (and then add at least one year)? That is one huge investment to just toss aside.

[Michael_Stewart]

Oh sure, they were trying to put out the fire burning the money. Now they potentially get some money to cover the burnt money, they should throw it back into the fire?

It's that QE4 money that Obama's going to print up so he can buy the $1500 Priv, so it doesn't count

[crucial bbq]

It's not what CatlinFD says that matters. Listen to what John Chen says in the Code Mobile interview. His goal is to get the same kind of security certifications for Android hardware as he has now with BB10 hardware. He will then no longer need to push outdated app challenged BB10 hardware to his government and enterprise customers. No more BB10, just Android.

The problem with this post is that government and enterprise only need government and enterprise grade apps; not Instagram and SnapChat or YouTube.

The crazy thing is that it will cost Chen more money to get to a point where they can even go for those certs and then to pay for the cert testing itself than to build those BB10 drivers.... It would require something deeper than apps, layers, skins, launchers, and so on, which once again would likely mean that ultimately a BB10 Priv would be cheaper in the long.

Look, Chen is only going Android because that is where ~85% of the world's consumers are at. Period. But Chen just cannot come out and say that, so we get BS like lack of apps and cost to build drivers (betting the fact that nearly everyone would just accept that line as being valid. Looks like most do). And so on.

Bottom line is that BlackBerry could not bring the people to BlackBerry so they are going to try with bringing BlackBerry to the people through Android.

And, doesn't matter. Within two years the OS is going to be a hybrid BB10/Android in the same way that BlackPhone is a hybrid of PrivatOS/Android... ....except that PrivatOS is a fork of Android to begin with. Whatever the case PrivatOS certainly does not meet any Google compatibility standard, but hey, they got GPS and AfW, too. Expect the same from "Powered by Android" BlackBerry.