[Drew808]

I came across an article by Flurry.com measuring the downloads during Christmas week for IOS and Android but what struck my attention was that they stated that 17.4 million IOS and Android devices were activated on Christmas Day alone and 328 million apps downloaded. RIM missed a crucial holiday season and some of those sales could have been a Z10 or X10. I know contracts expire all year round but that's 50 million more people that didn't have a new BlackBerry device to choose from. The article also shows app downloads by country.

Flurry estimated that a record-breaking 17.4 million iOS and Android devices were activated on Christmas Day, along with an equally record-breaking 328 million application downloads. Studying the data from December 25 – December 31, additional records were set, now for the highest number of device activations and app downloads of any week in history. Over the holiday week, Flurry estimates that over 50 million iOS and Android devices were activated, and 1.76 billion applications were downloaded.

Holiday 2012 Delivers Historical Worldwide App Downloads

[Masahiro]

RIM missed a crucial holiday season and some of those sales could have been a Z10 or X10. I know contracts expire all year round but that's 50 million more people that didn't have a new BlackBerry device to choose from.

Wow. You're right. I can't believe no one noticed this before. It's too late to change that now though, isn't it?

[LazyEvul]

Except that if they released the phones early enough to make the Christmas season, they would have less apps available to download in the first place - not to mention a potentially incomplete OS, which would scare both customers and devs away. RIM is not going to risk releasing an unpolished product with BlackBerry 10, and I am certain they made the correct decision in delaying it. Sure, they missed this year's Christmas sales, but they can make up for it next Christmas.

[howarmat]

that more devices in those 7 days than RIM sold in 2012

[anon(3310921)]

Agreed it was a missed opportunity but who know what things will look like next Christmas. . . consumers will still be there. . .

[sexybabe88]

not ready for 2012 is a valid reason but not a valid excuse. considering the difference is about 2 months, why didn't they take steps over these 2 years to ensure that this wouldn't happen?

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[jakie55]

not ready for 2012 is a valid reason but not a valid excuse. considering the difference is about 2 months, why didn't they take steps over these 2 years to ensure that this wouldn't happen?

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

Given the historical perspective that the two co-ceos talked about BBX, and did some half ****d product launches, BlackBerry could not be seen as the same old same old. Another poor product launch with bad OS would be the death knell. AS it is....time will tell. The 2 to 4 month delay is not the sticking point. It is the 2 years previous that has damaged BlackBerry.

[Skeevecr]

not ready for 2012 is a valid reason but not a valid excuse. considering the difference is about 2 months, why didn't they take steps over these 2 years to ensure that this wouldn't happen?

They know they only have one chance to get their launch right, so while it was not ideal to miss the xmas period, launching bb10 before it was ready would have been a death sentence for the company and so they took the lesser of two evils.

[timmy t]

Of course they missed an opportunity but as long as they get the launch right and have an appealing handset with a sound ecosystem, they will eventually recover.
The same argument you are making could have been said about the back-to-school timeframe.

Keep in mind that RIM had to have a decent, functioning, OS in order to get it approved by the various carriers and regulatory agencies and there is a lead time for that. Whether or not they could have given the phones to the carriers two months earlier (August instead of October) and had them accepted is debatable. Even if they were accepted, they may not have been as appealing and they may not have gotten the same levels of support with less finished phones. They have to negotiate various prices for the phones and services and if the phone didn't show a high level of promise or was too buggy, they would have had even less negotiating power than they do now.

[ibpluto]

I think history will show, the delay to launch was the correct decision