Bloomberg: BlackBerry Diehards Aren�t Going Down Without a Fight
- -Fans of the phone are rewriting Android code to get Snapchat
-Twenty-three million people worldwide still use BlackBerrys
"Darren Kao has two apps on his Sony Xperia Android phone -- WeChat to stay in touch with his Chinese clients, and the Starbucks wallet, for his morning caffeine fix. For everything else, he’s got his trusty BlackBerry.
Kao is one of a shrinking tribe of diehard BlackBerry fans dedicated to navigating modern life with what most people consider an obsolete appliance. Echoing many BlackBerry devotees, he says iPhones and Androids just can’t match BlackBerry’s voice sound quality, centralized notification hub and physical keyboard. “I’d rather use my old BlackBerry than a brand new phone,” he said.
To outsiders, it’s an increasingly perverse lifestyle choice. After all, BlackBerry Ltd. has committed to updating the BB10 operating system only through the end of the year. It has no stated plans for another BB10 phone and is accelerating a pivot to handsets running Google’s Android. Even President Barack Obama, who famously fought to keep his BlackBerry despite security objections from the Secret Service, told Jimmy Fallon last week he finally ditched his Berry earlier this year (reportedly for a Samsung).
At the end of March, about 23 million people around the world were using BlackBerrys, including the Priv Android phone, according to a company filing. Three times as many people were using the handsets two years earlier, but the continued loyalty is striking all the same. Getting non-BlackBerry applications onto a BB10 phone requires patience and some technical skill. Friends and family often find themselves adding BlackBerry Messenger to their roster of messaging apps to keep in touch with the few remaining BlackBerry users in their life.
Kao, an IT consultant who runs a mobile software startup in Ottawa, keeps the Wi-Fi hotspot of his BlackBerry on at all times to allow WeChat to function on his Android. He refuses to message with his wife and friends through anything other than BlackBerry Messenger. He’s currently using a Classic, an updated version of the legendary BlackBerry Bold. It was released more than two years ago. “Even my girls were brought up playing with BlackBerrys as toys,” he said.
Kim Kardashian has said she buys old BlackBerrys on eBay to ensure a steady supply. Other members of the tribe painstakingly follow online tutorials on work-arounds that will make popular apps like Snapchat and Instagram work on BB10. The results are often glitchy, says Howard Mesharer, a 23-year-old BlackBerry fan from Columbus, Ohio.
When Chen chose to make phones running Android instead of BB10 last year, it opened a rift in the BlackBerry community, according to Chris Parsons, editor in chief of CrackBerry.com, BlackBerry fandom’s central gathering place. “It caused a little bit of chaos because they essentially made people make a choice at that point, are you a BlackBerry user or are you essentially an Android user,” said Parsons, who’s known as Bla1ze online.
One CrackBerry user, known only as Cobalt232, found a way to re-work Android’s source code, stripping out certain elements that stop Android apps from working on BB10. He’s allowed the diehards to download apps from Google’s store that don’t otherwise work on BB10, Parsons said.
Mesharer, who works as a server at a restaurant, used Cobalt’s hack so he could Snapchat with his friends, up until about a month ago, when he finally caved and bought an LG phone running Android.
“Why do you need to do so much just to get an app that anybody can get in five seconds? You have to work for 45 minutes to keep Snapchat,” he said. “No developer wants to develop for BlackBerry. It’s over.”
Mesharer, who used the square-screened BlackBerry Passport before he made the switch, said people sometimes mistook the phone for a Nintendo Gameboy. Ask him which BlackBerrys he’s used over the years and he launches into a litany of names and numbers: “Curve 8520, Curve 8900, Bold 9900, Bold 9700, Curve 8320, Z10, Classic, Q10, Passport.”
Kao does the same. He got his first one in 2003, when he landed his first job out of university at IBM. He recalls being the envy of all his friends. “It used to be a badge of honor to be able to carry BlackBerrys and now it’s almost a shame,” he said. “People look at it like it’s a dinosaur, a museum piece.”
Link to the article: BlackBerry Diehards Aren?t Going Down Without a Fight - Bloomberg
I thought this was an interesting read and it also mentions a few members of CrackBerry.. Cheer up though, there are 23 Million unique BlackBerry addicts out there, just like us :)06-21-16 04:43 PMLike 8 - Prem WatsAppCrackBerry Jester of JestersLast man standing... :-D
(Who's that gonna BBe...?)
� There's a Crack in the Berry right now... �skinnymike1 likes this.06-21-16 05:22 PMLike 1 - Interesting read, in the end it's going to be about the Blackberry corporate quarterly results and device sales.
If the device revenue doesn't justify the means, well it's doesn't take a genius to figure out what happens next. Now it's a waiting game.06-21-16 05:28 PMLike 0 - You can tell the article was written by a general tech reporter than someone who regularly reports on smartphones. He totally didn't understand what Cobalt does, confusing OS level and app level modification. Hope it doesn't affect him or his work, exposure to national online publications aren't always a good thing.06-21-16 06:08 PMLike 0
- Tic toc.. One day remaining.. However I don't think tomorrow will determine the fate of BB's hardware, regardless of how the results are.. The mid-range devices are in an advanced state and they're getting released anyway.. I think the quarterly results that follow the release of the mid range devices will determine the future of BlackBerry's hardware segment.. The sales result of these devices will be critical.. So the struggle is still ongoing for a longer time than people think..06-21-16 06:30 PMLike 0
- Tic toc.. One day remaining.. However I don't think tomorrow will determine the fate of BB's hardware, regardless of how the results are.. The mid-range devices are in an advanced state and they're getting released anyway.. I think the quarterly results that follow the release of the mid range devices will determine the future of BlackBerry's hardware segment.. The sales result of these devices will be critical.. So the struggle is still ongoing for a longer time than people think..06-21-16 06:50 PMLike 0
- Well, the Priv has been available for a knockout price since a while now.. Do you think that had a positive influence on the sale numbers?06-21-16 07:21 PMLike 0
- Classic wasn't released more than two years ago. Yes, it has 4 and a half year old specs.....but still!
Posted via CB10skinnymike1 and ayngling like this.06-21-16 09:17 PMLike 2 - They only understand how efficient iPhone's specs are with the software..
Last edited by Sairos; 06-21-16 at 10:26 PM.
06-21-16 10:01 PMLike 0 - Who is this "Chris Parsons" guy?
Yes - I forced work to get me a PRIV....skinnymike1 and ayngling like this.06-22-16 06:23 AMLike 2 -
I have a Android phone with lastyears specs - little more powerful than the PRIV. Came from a Z10 and I can clearly see that Android with modern hardware is much faster than BB10 was with three year old hardware. Do miss many features of BB10 - but I don't miss the shortcomings.v0id_walker likes this.06-22-16 07:20 AMLike 1 - Read the article online this morning and it made my day,all those people who are constantly telling me blackberry is dead and buried and how I should move on and get with the times,well tell that to the rest of the millions who still love and use there blackberry and then go kiss my wrinkled saggy old man's butt!!
Posted via CB10Sairos likes this.06-22-16 07:25 AMLike 1 - So what I'm hearing is there's still 23 million others thinking just like me? That's enough to make a decent sized country! It's sad Blackberry hasn't figured out how to make a buck on devices. There's still 23 million reasons to do so. Very Sad!
Posted via CB1006-22-16 08:06 AMLike 7 -
- Those that moved from the Z10 and Q10 to the Passport..... indicated there was much improvement in the performance of BB10. Some forget that BB10 has a lot of extra "BlackBerry" code written into the OS along with the whole Android Runtime. Better hardware equals better performance, even with QNX at the base.
I have a Android phone with lastyears specs - little more powerful than the PRIV. Came from a Z10 and I can clearly see that Android with modern hardware is much faster than BB10 was with three year old hardware. Do miss many features of BB10 - but I don't miss the shortcomings.
Posted via CB1006-22-16 08:33 AMLike 3 -
I know there are PlayBook owners that say the same thing, and that's fine too. For me, new hardware does make a difference and I'm glad I can buy new hardware that meets "my" needs. Would have loved for that new hardware to have been BlackBerry with all the apps that I need... but that didn't happen.06-22-16 08:54 AMLike 0 - What works for you is all that matters, enjoy them!
I know there are PlayBook owners that say the same thing, and that's fine too. For me, new hardware does make a difference and I'm glad I can buy new hardware that meets "my" needs. Would have loved for that new hardware to have been BlackBerry with all the apps that I need... but that didn't happen.
Z10 on 10.3.206-22-16 09:35 AMLike 4 - BlackBerry 10 forever for me and all my family members and relatives including the young!!!
Posted via CB1006-22-16 10:52 AMLike 3 -
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Bloomberg: BlackBerry Diehards Aren�t Going Down Without a Fight
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