[Speedygi]

At launch, they would be able to have got out of trouble in terms of company survival?

Posted via CB10

[Speedygi]

Assuming Thorsten and the team did a Perfect job with the marketing and everything else...

Posted via CB10

[nquyen]

Sure, why not? Solid build quality and design, somewhat unique selling points, proper marketing, and an established ecosystem? Formula for success.

[howarmat]

They still would have needed better marketing but having a much better ecosystem would certainly helped. We are are almost 8 months later after the release and there is still many many key apps not there.

Like i said they still need better marketing. There still is the way BB is seen here in US and other countries. They have to turn that around still to make more progress.

They still have quite a few functions and features missing from BB10 that was on previous BBs and other phones.

All this combined is what is needed to succeed.

[kuje75]

I don't think it's really about the apps. Android user is not so much of attacking us but iPhone users have been really aggressive in making BlackBerry look really bad. It is more of word of mouth. It is more about the rivalry between BlackBerry and Apple, between american and Canadian.

Posted via CB10

[Speedygi]

My take on this is it is incredibly hard to sell about the quota even Blackberry has set for themselves, because the perception is too flawed that I don't see how people (outside of the avid fanbase) would give the platform a chance.

It would need a really irresistible sell that ties into the ecosystem that people can't live without. BBM cross platform could be that for Blackberry, but even so I don't think it's enough. They certainly need a tie - in that links to the most important core apps of the industry. Like Google's, for example.


I think it's still incredibly hard, and I might even say it's really a doomed endeavor from the start.



Posted via CB10

[CrackedBarry]

I don't think it's really about the apps. Android user is not so much of attacking us but iPhone users have been really aggressive in making BlackBerry look really bad. It is more of word of mouth. It is more about the rivalry between BlackBerry and Apple, between american and Canadian.

Posted via CB10

Whaaa?!? Seriously?!! You think Apple really cares about hurting Blackberry? Seriously? Blackberry sells as many phones in a quarter, as Apple sells in a couple of weekends... Trust me, they're nothing but a blip on Apples radar, they really got more operant competitors to worry about.

As for the apps, it certainly would have helped, though the big question is whether BBRY really wasn't too late. They should have had something out a year ago, or preferably two years ago. The duopoly has only gotten more entrenched in the last year or two.

[MasterOfBinary]

I think it would have helped quite a bit. Not that it would make everything perfect, but I've read about quite a few people who don't want a Z10 because it doesn't have instagram or whatever other app. I would think they would have twice the number of users, maybe even more.

[Troy Tiscareno]

They'd definitely have done better, but BB has MANY problems, and apps alone wouldn't have solved all of them. Yes, I think apps are the single biggest problem, but there are still others that would have put a big hurt on BB:

- Unintuitive OS (unintuitive means that the average person can't pick up the device and instantly know how to use it, because the operation of it isn't immediately obvious. iOS, for example, is often derided as "overly simple", but there's no question that anyone can pick it up and know how to use it with virtually no instruction). This means that customers who go into a cell phone store to give the phone a 1-2 minute try-out are all too often confused, and so they choose something else. Even legacy BB users have resisted BB10, largely for this reason.

- Brand reputation is heavily damaged. To fix this, you must execute every aspect of a new product flawlessly AND have effective advertising that acknowledges the past while showing the great improvements of the present. BB not only had execution failures in multiple areas, they also had lousy advertising and never addressed the reputation of the brand, or even made it clear that BB10 was a completely fresh start. People outside of the BB bubble have NO IDEA that BB10 is any different than BB7 (or 6, or 5).

- Carrier relationships are clearly strained, and carrier support in most markets is poor at best. Beyond the fact that the phones are actually present in the stores, most carriers provide zero in-store support for the brand.

- Serious bugs in the OS upon release. The random reboot issues were absolutely inexcusable, and schedule or not, the devices should not have been shipped until that issue was resolved. It's one thing to lack features, and something else entirely to break basic functionality. The fact that OS updates were delayed, in some cases greatly, only compounded the problem.

- Lack of money. For all the talk of "$3B in the bank", the truth is that BB simply didn't have the money to spend to get enough sales reps into stores to train reps, to buy counterspace, to build static displays, to have working, functioning devices, and to support the brand. One store visit from launch until today is no where near enough; Apple and Samsung have reps in nearly every store at least once a month.

- No tablets. Today, customers expect to be able to purchase media, apps, and services, and use them on both their phone and their tablet. BB doesn't have a tablet option, and worse, essentially told the world that they thought tablets had no future, and thus there wouldn't ever be BB tablets.

- No cloud or significant cross-platform services. Of course, this has never been BB's strong suit, but nevertheless, customers expect a strong cloud platform, with desktop PC access. BB Link is a woefully inadequate substitute.

- I'll mention advertising once again. The ads were completely out of touch with the users. It was as if BB was advertising to Crackberry readers (i.e., knowledgeable fanboys) rather than to the general public who needed to be WON back over to BB and also shown exactly what was new. The advertising has been a failure of epic proportions.

The truth is, in order to really succeed, BB would have needed to have solved ALL of these problems, or at least have made significant progress on them, but for most of these issues, they either made little or no effort, or colossally inept mistakes, which only re-confirmed for most users the reputation BB had previously earned: out of touch and far behind.

[Speedygi]

Whaaa?!? Seriously?!! You think Apple really cares about hurting Blackberry? Seriously? Blackberry sells as many phones in a quarter, as Apple sells in a couple of weekends... Trust me, they're nothing but a blip on Apples radar, they really got more operant competitors to worry about.

As for the apps, it certainly would have helped, though the big question is whether BBRY really wasn't too late. They should have had something out a year ago, or preferably two years ago. The duopoly has only gotten more entrenched in the last year or two.

I truly agree with this because there isn't even a good lead time for the perception to be transformed into a favorable one, let alone come out with a good product...

Posted via CB10

[amazinglygraceless]

Apps might have helped but you still have the issue that people insist upon minimizing and that is you also need devices that are compelling to general consumers, or as I like to call them...people outside of CrackBerry.

[Engire]

between american and Canadian.

Posted via CB10

Seriously? I must be reading another CrackBerry because all I see on here is American bashing by Canadians

Posted via CB10

[bbfanboi007]

Apps schmapps.

Who says BlackBerry won't succeed? It's a marathon, not a sprint.

[Speedygi]

Good points, Troy. I think it's interesting to see a point you said about human resources and money. I feel with the areas you mentioned, Blackberry just doesn't have the economic ability to pull off the desired amount of effort in all those fields to succeed. They just can't do it. I can see Google doing it but it would be incredibly daunting for Blackberry to even deal the poor cards they were given in the best possible way..

Posted via CB10

[Tre Lawrence]

Yes!

Great hardware, compelling software. I might be oversimplifying, but I do believe a better ecosystem is the biggest missing piece

[CHIP72]

No - they launched way too late, and BB10 didn't have a must-have feature that was distinctly superior or more attractive than iOS or Android.

[heymaggie]

BlackBerry hardware is nothing special. At best it may come close to matching the competition. The only standout feature of Blackberry smartphones is the hardware keyboard. Once you remove that then there's really no reason to buy a Blackberry.

[bbfanboi007]

BlackBerry hardware is nothing special. At best it may come close to matching the competition. The only standout feature of Blackberry smartphones is the hardware keyboard. Once you remove that then there's really no reason to buy a Blackberry.

I strongly disagree. The z10 feels so nice in the hand, and the radios alone put it in a class by itself.

[Tre Lawrence]

BlackBerry hardware is nothing special. At best it may come close to matching the competition. The only standout feature of Blackberry smartphones is the hardware keyboard. Once you remove that then there's really no reason to buy a Blackberry.

i wouldn't disagree with the overall point; I think with regards to hardware, there is reasonable parity across platforms, give or take a feature or two.

I believe if you remove the apps/ecosystem, Android and iOS would struggle.

[h20work]

Apps schmapps.

Who says BlackBerry won't succeed? It's a marathon, not a sprint.

Get back to us in a year

[BlackBerry Guy]

It would definitely help, but it wouldn't solve their brand image and advertising problems. Having a decent app catalog would at least take away a major barrier and from strictly a device perspective put them on par with the competition. They still need to convince people to buy their phones though...

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

[h20work]

Apps might have helped but you still have the issue that people insist upon minimizing and that is you also need devices that are compelling to general consumers, or as I like to call them...people outside of CrackBerry.

And then you have people like me who have only owned BlackBerry devices for the last 10+ years. My new Z rebooted within the first hour

Make it stable, make it reliable, and bring the apps. In that order.

[BlackBerry Guy]

Apps schmapps.

Who says BlackBerry won't succeed? It's a marathon, not a sprint.

Except this marathon started in 2007 and they're running out of steam and nowhere near the finish line.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

[h20work]

Except this marathon started in 2007 and they're running out of steam and nowhere near the finish line.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

No point arguing with a "dead" person.

For those keeping score at home, the apologist fanboys are being banned at an alarming rate.

[birdman_38]

Apps are just one component. They need to bring their "A" Game to every facet of the organization.