1. chickenman18's Avatar
    I'm curious why BlackBerry didn't go the Android route right from the beginning.
    To try and take on the likes of Apple and Google with all the resources available to them... after BlackBerry had shrunk to what it was....
    David vs Goliath in the extreme sense.

    Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android
    09-29-16 04:35 PM
  2. eshropshire's Avatar
    I think it was two factors...

    1) Despite evidence to the contrary, some developers though Java was the future because many believed hardware advancement would outpace software advancement. Silly notion I know. But I know a LOT of people in the tech industry that honestly believed that.

    B) I suspect BB actually DID recognize it (after some stern pressure from the market). But as they'd proven time and time again, RIM had always had a lackadaisical attitude and work ethic and production efficiency when it came to development. I think BB10 was in production for a lot longer than people realize, but RIM was flush in employees who took their own sweet time and weren't exactly in a hurry to get anything done. Even when it WAS finally announced that RIM was working on a completely new OS, it dragged on FOREVER before their initial (and flawed) release.
    I totally agree. You are pretty spot on. One thing people forget is that BlackBerry's market share peaked in 2012. Was easy to foster a lackadaisical attitude. I think Jim and Mike were also way overconfident, in fact a better term maybe arrogant. They missed many warning signs. In 2007-09 few companies were considering the iPhone as the next corporate phone. For the most part it was a consumer device, but some employees were bringing iPhones into the workplace. After 2009 that all changed, BYOD became big. Why pay for an employee's phone if they are going to buy one anyway. Also, at the CXO level many started having personal iPhones. They pushed the change down, forcing IT departments to start allowing iOS and a little later Android devices into companies. By the time this really started hurting BlackBerry it was too late to respond.

    I honestly think one of BlackBerry's biggest mistakes was not only being late with BB10, but forcing BBOS customers to have to migrate so fast. They should have continued with BBOS in parallel for at least a year. This would have allowed customers better time to think about a move. The problem was BBOS phone revenue died quickly and BB10 revenue never picked up. This is a very simplistic point of view also, after 2010 much of the BBOS growth came in international markets that were dominated by 2G networks. As 3G became affordable, this market quickly evaporated for BlackBerry. BB10 brought nothing to the table for these markets other than the BlackBerry name.
    09-29-16 04:50 PM
  3. togarika's Avatar
    I totally agree. You are pretty spot on. One thing people forget is that BlackBerry's market share peaked in 2012. Was easy to foster a lackadaisical attitude. I think Jim and Mike were also way overconfident, in fact a better term maybe arrogant. They missed many warning signs. In 2007-09 few companies were considering the iPhone as the next corporate phone. For the most part it was a consumer device, but some employees were bringing iPhones into the workplace. After 2009 that all changed, BYOD became big. Why pay for an employee's phone if they are going to buy one anyway. Also, at the CXO level many started having personal iPhones. They pushed the change down, forcing IT departments to start allowing iOS and a little later Android devices into companies. By the time this really started hurting BlackBerry it was too late to respond.

    I honestly think one of BlackBerry's biggest mistakes was not only being late with BB10, but forcing BBOS customers to have to migrate so fast. They should have continued with BBOS in parallel for at least a year. This would have allowed customers better time to think about a move. The problem was BBOS phone revenue died quickly and BB10 revenue never picked up. This is a very simplistic point of view also, after 2010 much of the BBOS growth came in international markets that were dominated by 2G networks. As 3G became affordable, this market quickly evaporated for BlackBerry. BB10 brought nothing to the table for these markets other than the BlackBerry name.
    BlackBerry peaked in 2011

    BB10 whilst waiting.....
    09-30-16 01:21 AM
  4. S1lv1o's Avatar
    iOS doesn't seem to need a change, it will probably follow the boring reliable route of OS X / MacOS (boring is good in a world when exciting means your Windaz computer doesn't work properly). Android desperately needs to change, as it has deep security issues, beginning with its Linux roots. On the other hand instead of buying a new android device every year, I think this should be a problem for the manufacturers and google: No updates? No problem, no mobile purchases from me then...
    09-30-16 10:21 AM
  5. thurask's Avatar
    What impresses me is how the hardware and software work so well together. Overall I'm happy with my Droid Turbo 2, but her older iPhone handles graphics and games much better than a Qualcomm 810 with MM.
    I wish Qualcomm could kidnap Apple's CPU engineers and figure out a processor that can perform yet doesn't set the phone on fire.
    Dunt Dunt Dunt likes this.
    09-30-16 12:17 PM
  6. Ment's Avatar
    I wish Qualcomm could kidnap Apple's CPU engineers and figure out a processor that can perform yet doesn't set the phone on fire.
    Apple buying Pa Semi and later Intrinsity chip design companies for around 400M total was the best bang for the bucks they ever made. They could debut the same chip for the next two years and still be ahead.
    09-30-16 12:34 PM
  7. cbvinh's Avatar
    I think what people are forgetting is that when BlackBerry was at the top of their game, the requirements and hardware available were much different. You could not run a desktop-type OS on a mobile device and there was no need to, as the basic necessity was for communications. By the time the first iOS and Android devices came out, mobile hardware had improved a lot and Apple really educated people through ads on what they should expect... and not expect. BlackBerry certainly couldn't go iOS, as there was no way Apple would license their OS'es anymore, after all the Mac clones that almost ruined them. Android was an option, but it was no where near as secure as what BlackBerry needed for a replacement for their current offerings with BBOS, even how ancient. Anyway, analysis of BlackBerry's situation needs to be looked at with what factors they were dealing with at the time.

    + Bought QNX, developed PlayBook OS, which was to be BB10
    - PlayBook too expensive, tied to BBOS devices, which limited its market
    + Switched out CEO's for Heins, continued on with BB10 development
    - Miscalculated market demand by a huge margin, changed user interface too much (no matter how innovative), miscalculated carrier support
    + Developed the Z30
    - Didn't market the Z30 because Board went into panic mode
    + New CEO Chen, continued on with Passport and Z3, tried hard to salvage hardware division
    - Scared (and lack of resources) to advertise well, CEO shift to software
    etc...
    09-30-16 08:47 PM
  8. Exoskell256's Avatar
    I'm not sure why they even bothered with PlayBook when they should have been focused on getting BB10 phones out, their bread and butter. Oh wait, it was to compete with iPad. What happened last time they tried to compete directly with Apple? The Storm, and we all remember the reception that phone got... smh at all of the self-inflicted carnage

    On OP's original topic, the bones of both platforms are pretty solid, so they shouldn't need start from scratch like what happened from BBOS to BB10.
    09-30-16 09:12 PM
  9. Troy Tiscareno's Avatar
    Android was an option, but it was no where near as secure as what BlackBerry needed for a replacement for their current offerings with BBOS, even how ancient.
    BB could have adopted Android in 2008/2009 and moved a massive number of consumers over to it, even if they had to keep government and enterprise on BBOS for a couple of years (which is exactly what happened anyway). If they had done that, they'd be 5-6 years ahead of where they are now in securing Android, would probably have 80-100M active BB devices, could have cross-platformed BBM years earlier, and they'd have prevented $9-10 billion in losses, which is about what BB has lost between Playbook and BB10. Read that again: not only did Playbook and BB10 not make BB a single dime, it in fact cost them $9-10 billion - money and assets that they'd still have that is now gone, even if they only broke even every year since 2009.

    There were plenty of people back in that time period - 2008-2009 - who couldn't fathom why BB couldn't see the wisdom of that plan even then; I was one of them, but I certainly wasn't alone, as there were guys in the tech press saying the same thing.

    The real problem is that Mike thought he knew better than anyone else what people "needed", and he really didn't CARE what people WANTED. In his world, carriers should have stayed with 2G and we should all be using WAP browsers on tiny little screens with PKBs today, using phones with no cameras, no GPS, and no apps. Mike had great solutions for 2000's mobile problems, but he never really moved beyond those problems, and by 2007-2008, the world was ready to take the next big steps, and Mike absolutely was not. He desperately tried to convince carriers and customers that his 2G solutions were the way to go - he even managed to talk a carrier from moving to 3G (for a while, anyway) and tried to talk them out of LTE too. Mike just couldn't move forward, and he held the entire BB corporation back.
    JeepBB and StephanieMaks like this.
    09-30-16 09:58 PM
  10. DrBoomBotz's Avatar
    BB could have adopted Android in 2008/2009 and moved a massive number of consumers over to it, even if they had to keep government and enterprise on BBOS for a couple of years (which is exactly what happened anyway). If they had done that, they'd be 5-6 years ahead of where they are now in securing Android, would probably have 80-100M active BB devices, could have cross-platformed BBM years earlier, and they'd have prevented $9-10 billion in losses, which is about what BB has lost between Playbook and BB10. Read that again: not only did Playbook and BB10 not make BB a single dime, it in fact cost them $9-10 billion - money and assets that they'd still have that is now gone, even if they only broke even every year since 2009.

    There were plenty of people back in that time period - 2008-2009 - who couldn't fathom why BB couldn't see the wisdom of that plan even then; I was one of them, but I certainly wasn't alone, as there were guys in the tech press saying the same thing.

    The real problem is that Mike thought he knew better than anyone else what people "needed", and he really didn't CARE what people WANTED. In his world, carriers should have stayed with 2G and we should all be using WAP browsers on tiny little screens with PKBs today, using phones with no cameras, no GPS, and no apps. Mike had great solutions for 2000's mobile problems, but he never really moved beyond those problems, and by 2007-2008, the world was ready to take the next big steps, and Mike absolutely was not. He desperately tried to convince carriers and customers that his 2G solutions were the way to go - he even managed to talk a carrier from moving to 3G (for a while, anyway) and tried to talk them out of LTE too. Mike just couldn't move forward, and he held the entire BB corporation back.
    I imagine that if they had gone to android at that time the temptation to have their own app store would have been nearly irresistible. Also the BBOS Java team transitioning to the new platform would be more plausible for better or worse.
    It would be the big, disfunctional, "Mike and Jim BlackBerry" doing this make or break transition. Also their shareholders would be expecting the stock price to rise.
    09-30-16 10:47 PM
35 12

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