[grahamf]

Blackberry still has government and business contracts and is expanding it's security services and products, while other manufacturers like HTC are caught in a rat race of indistinguishable products with ever increasing components and narrowing profit margins. I can see Blackberry finding ways to distinguish itself from other brands and raise awareness, while others have no choice but to aim for meaningless or intangible things such as having the thinnest/most powerful/shiniest/highest resolution, which only lasts until another brand comes out with something better. Honestly, ask a bunch of random people what the different smartphone brands are and they will only for sure say "Apple iPhone" and most likely Blackberry (even if they think Blackberry is dead"

HTC Trading Below Cash Leaves Smartphone Brand With No Value - Bloomberg Business

[nhanken]

Well the thing is... BlackBerry is not just a hardware company! The only way for survival and growth is to focus more on software because all those Chinese companies like OnePlusOne, Xiaomi et al will take out all the big guys with their high specs yet outrageously cheap prices.

I just hope BlackBerry would still make phones to sell even if I have to order online.

To BB or not to BBBBBB...?

[Gajja]

There is a good chance BB will go on and on, with it's business, government and celebrity slice of the marketplace. Also it's QNX products and patents are a very strong.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Blackberry still has government and business contracts and is expanding it's security services and products, while other manufacturers like HTC are caught in a rat race of indistinguishable products with ever increasing components and narrowing profit margins. I can see Blackberry finding ways to distinguish itself from other brands and raise awareness, while others have no choice but to aim for meaningless or intangible things such as having the thinnest/most powerful/shiniest/highest resolution, which only lasts until another brand comes out with something better. Honestly, ask a bunch of random people what the different smartphone brands are and they will only for sure say "Apple iPhone" and most likely Blackberry (even if they think Blackberry is dead"

HTC Trading Below Cash Leaves Smartphone Brand With No Value - Bloomberg Business

Well if they ever reach a point where sales of HARDWARE and SERVICES stabilize... or start to grow. I will agree with you.

But right now BlackBerry hardware and even their BES Services are still seeing declines each quarter, so it is kinda hard to know where the point is that Chen can't cut anymore and revenues go RED again.

But BlackBerry is already out of the manufacturing business.... they are no longer designing or building smartphones. So if you want to get technical... HTC already outlasted BlackBerry.

I do think it is possible that BlackBerry will survive without hardware.... while HTC can't. But then outside of BBRY investors... who cares.

[crackberry_geek]

The name will survive. The icon will not.

Posted via CB10

[pomidor]

Well the thing is... BlackBerry is not just a hardware company! The only way for survival and growth is to focus more on software because all those Chinese companies like OnePlusOne, Xiaomi et al will take out all the big guys with their high specs yet outrageously cheap prices.

....

Exactly.

[mad_mdx]

Well if they ever reach a point where sales of HARDWARE and SERVICES stabilize... or start to grow. I will agree with you.

But right now BlackBerry hardware and even their BES Services are still seeing declines each quarter, so it is kinda hard to know where the point is that Chen can't cut anymore and revenues go RED again.

But BlackBerry is already out of the manufacturing business.... they are no longer designing or building smartphones. So if you want to get technical... HTC already outlasted BlackBerry.

I do think it is possible that BlackBerry will survive without hardware.... while HTC can't. But then outside of BBRY investors... who cares.

BlackBerry still designs all their phones. They never manufactured them.
If you want to get 'technical'..

[sentimentGX4]

BlackBerry still designs all their phones. They never manufactured them.
If you want to get 'technical'..

But how many phones does BBRY design? Chen has promised one or two upcoming phones at most? And we're not even guaranteed to see these devices. BBRY (as well as other tech companies) have a history of overpromising and cancels/delays devices all the time.

Chen has skillfully drawn out the closure of the hardware division. We're in this murky, ambiguous territory where we don't know if the hardware division actually exists or not. I'm not ready to declare BBRY the victor until we witness the launch of the slider with our eyes and HTC goes out of business.

[grahamf]

But how many phones does BBRY design? Chen has promised one or two upcoming phones at most? And we're not even guaranteed to see these devices. BBRY (as well as other tech companies) have a history of overpromising and cancels/delays devices all the time.

How many iPhones does Apple design? How far advanced do they announce their phones? Churning out new devices monthly isn't really viable. Hell, OnePlus only now launched their second phone.

[ljfong]

As long as BlackBerry does not run out of cash, it will outlast those companies easily. Since BlackBerry has been very fiscal conservative since its founding, this is a highly probable scenario. Chen will continue to cut, cut, cut and cut until nothing else is left to cut leaving the company much much smaller and if that turns out to be the sweet spot with good amount of cash left where the company can honestly say its profitability has returned and it no longer has money losing department(s), then mission accomplished. The company will go on or get sold and Chen moves on to his next challenge.

[gvs1341]

Sure will, BlackBerry has already 'outlasted' Nokia (and Motorola in a sense)... :-)



[ALToronto]

BlackBerry still designs all their phones. They never manufactured them.
If you want to get 'technical'..

BlackBerry absolutely manufactured its own phones. At least up to 2008 it assembled them in Waterloo. How do I know? I hired a former BlackBerry employee who used to assemble handsets.

Posted via CB10 from my awesome Passport

[menshawy]

Gotta love this kind of positive threads that still looks on the filled half of the cup.

[mad_mdx]

BlackBerry absolutely manufactured its own phones. At least up to 2008 it assembled them in Waterloo. How do I know? I hired a former BlackBerry employee who used to assemble handsets.

Posted via CB10 from my awesome Passport

The first BlackBerry I got was from 09 so I can't deny that, but unless the device says Made in Canada on it, it's obviously not manufactured here. Though their service department is here and they have people who fix the phones here.

[Troy Tiscareno]

BlackBerry absolutely manufactured its own phones. At least up to 2008 it assembled them in Waterloo. How do I know? I hired a former BlackBerry employee who used to assemble handsets.

Yes, BB had a small assembly factory in Waterloo (until 2013) that assembled prototypes and high-single-digit percentages of their production phones. But the vast majority of BB phones (since the 7000 series) were manufactured by manufacturing partners, mostly Jabil Circuit (HQ'd in Florida, but with manufacturing in Mexico and Asia). BB has never made a significant percentage of their phones themselves.

Obviously, this has been the norm for North American companies since at least the 80's, so it shouldn't be a shock to anyone.

[missing_K-W]

Why wouldn't BlackBerry succeed where the others are collapsing?

Most Android OEM's such as HTC have nothing to offer except hardware. They are one trick ponies

BlackBerry is an end to end solutions provider with a very diverse portfolio of offerings ever increasing.

BlackBerry is now focusing on high margin offerings which is great and quite prudent moving ahead.

Let's face it. BlackBerry is setting themselves up to be much more profitable than they were at much higher revenue.

HTC tried the latest and greatest 810 and couldn't get it optimized. If all you do is hardware make sure you do it very well, or don't do it at all.

Sent via Passport!

[missing_K-W]

Well if they ever reach a point where sales of HARDWARE and SERVICES stabilize... or start to grow. I will agree with you.

But right now BlackBerry hardware and even their BES Services are still seeing declines each quarter, so it is kinda hard to know where the point is that Chen can't cut anymore and revenues go RED again.

But BlackBerry is already out of the manufacturing business.... they are no longer designing or building smartphones. So if you want to get technical... HTC already outlasted BlackBerry.

I do think it is possible that BlackBerry will survive without hardware.... while HTC can't. But then outside of BBRY investors... who cares.

This post seems to contradict what John Chen himself said, taken from the Fox News interview.

"Hardware continues to be a valuable part of BlackBerry�s end-to-end platform. That said, there is an incredible opportunity for BlackBerry to capture a greater share of enterprise revenues and service those customers who depend on the enterprise-grade mobility solutions that we provide. We have shifted some resources internally to focus on security and software. And, we will continue to be the choice for individuals who want to get the most out of their smartphones to keep their information protected and maximize their productivity, communication and collaboration."

What you will notice is that he said," we have shifted some resoureces"

This is some resources. Not all resources. Anyone who thinks hardware is going anywhere is sadly mistaken.

There is also this quote by Chen,

"We are focusing on what we do best, and that is security, privacy and enterprise mobility management. One challenge when I took this role was bridging the approach to both the enterprise and consumer markets. We recognize that there are consumers who are dedicated to BlackBerry and have always appreciated the productivity and security that our devices provide. For these users, and those enterprise customers who require the stringent security of our end-to-end offering, we are taking steps to make our handset business profitable."

Hardware is a key to BB's future. Anyone who thinks that BlackBerry isn't setting themselves up to capitalize and profit on hardware is also sadly mistaken.

Sent via Passport!

[JAS0NB0URNE]

This post seems to contradict what John Chen himself said, taken from the Fox News interview.

"Hardware continues to be a valuable part of BlackBerry�s end-to-end platform. That said, there is an incredible opportunity for BlackBerry to capture a greater share of enterprise revenues and service those customers who depend on the enterprise-grade mobility solutions that we provide. We have shifted some resources internally to focus on security and software. And, we will continue to be the choice for individuals who want to get the most out of their smartphones to keep their information protected and maximize their productivity, communication and collaboration."

What you will notice is that he said," we have shifted some resoureces"

This is some resources. Not all resources. Anyone who thinks hardware is going anywhere is sadly mistaken.

Sent via Passport!

In fairness, he did recently say there would come a point if the sales aren't there to get out of the hardware business.

Posted with my  Classic

[missing_K-W]

In fairness, he did recently say there would come a point if the sales aren't there to get out of the hardware business.

Posted with my  Classic

Chen keeps saying he is working on apps and that a wave of marketing would come. I don't see BlackBerry existing hardware at all.

Sent via Passport!

[JAS0NB0URNE]

Chen keeps saying he is working on apps and that a wave of marketing would come. I don't see BlackBerry existing hardware at all.

Sent via Passport!

Just pointing out that he has said if hardware continues to not be profitable, eventually they'll have to stop.

Posted with my  Classic

[missing_K-W]

Just pointing out that he has said if hardware continues to not be profitable, eventually they'll have to stop.

Posted with my  Classic

I understand your point.

Not implying yourself on this however. Many on the forums confuse John Chen's focus on security and software as a means of getting out of hardware. If anything this software focus benefits hardware as a more rich offering will be allowed.

What makes hardware? Well it's the software that runs on it.

Renewed focus on software and apps(which is software), and a targeted awareness being developed to move this end to end solution (marketing) will add much value to hardware.



Sent via Passport!

[skstrials]

HTC should die already.

They had their time, and need to go.

Posted via CB10

[bakron1]

In today's highly competitive market you have to be diversified or you will find your self on the outside looking in.

As far as Blackberry surviving, I think they will still be around to support the companies and government agencies that need high level security on their smartphone devices.

As far as the typical corporate sector goes, they have already shifted to Android and/or IOS devices which offer security good enough to satisfy their needs.

Blackberry has already said they are developing software to support Android and IOS devices in the corporate sector, so this will generate much needed revenue into the future.

The downside to all of this is that they may only release one or two devices a year and I honestly believe OS10 is on the downside and they will forced into a marketing secured Android device.

Wether you choose to accept it or not, Android and IOS have already established themselves as the dominant platforms that 97% of the worlds market already use.

To me, I would rather be sporting a Blackberry device running Android with Blackberry security then watching them disappear all together, just me two cents.

[kvndoom]

HTC should die already.

They had their time, and need to go.

Posted via CB10

Way too many people say the same thing about BlackBerry these days.

Posted from BlackBerry Classic, T-Mobile, no camera, 10.3.2.2205

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I understand your point.

Not implying yourself on this however. Many on the forums confuse John Chen's focus on security and software as a means of getting out of hardware. If anything this software focus benefits hardware as a more rich offering will be allowed.

What makes hardware? Well it's the software that runs on it.

Renewed focus on software and apps(which is software), and a targeted awareness being developed to move this end to end solution (marketing) will add much value to hardware.



Sent via Passport!

Many on this forum confuse what a CEO says.... with the realities of what he eventually does. It's not just BlackBerry's CEO that you can't take for their word because six months later they go a different route I'm not sure why so many take what John Chen says as if it has already happened and no other possibility even exists.

Chen tells people what he thinks is best at that moment FOR THE COMPANY, that he tell them... Much like Thor knew telling PlayBook owners the truth before the launch would hurt sales. Chen knows that he can't tell customers what is "really" going on, because it would hurt short term sales.

And I see NO SIGNS there is any "renewed focus" on BB10 software or apps... EVERYTHING points to a very big drop in BB10 development.

But yes BlackBerry still very much needs HARDWARE revenues.... Chen is doing everything he can to make money off it. If that means having someone else design and build the hardware as well as handle material purchasing and inventory control... he'll do it.

And too if that means cutting BB10 development (I've been on a version of 10.3 for over a year now) or even replacing it... If that is what it takes to make hardware profitable, then that is what he will do.