Kevin, What are your thoughts on Thor these days?
- When he took over I know you got to speak with him live and really seemed to buy into his whole strategy and where he was going to take the company. I bought in too, as did a lot of other people in here. I think he needs to go and his hiring has been a disaster for the company and he hasn't changed or done anything different than his predecessors. For all his talk of timely release dates and communicating with the public he's turned out to be a big flop.
Are you still high on him or do you feel like a lot of us at Crackberry feel, which is complete disappointment in him. Since there is no affiliation to Blackberry on this site I was curious to your thoughts on him. If you can't say I understand but thought it would be interesting to hear your take on him now that the dust has settled.Last edited by donnation; 09-27-13 at 11:00 AM.
09-27-13 10:21 AMLike 20 - 09-27-13 10:25 AMLike 4
- With all due respect, don't bait CBK in a public forum. PM him if you want, and if it's an engaging subject, he may do a blog post about it.
CBK's candid opinion of Thor can't be suitable for public consumption: positive, he gets the ire of CBNation... negative, he gets the ire of BlackBerry Ltd.
After Thor's gone (which can't be too soon in my opinion) I expect CBK will do a retrospective on his tenure that will be fair and will acknowledge that some of the decisions Thor made don't hold up IN HINDSIGHT (he'll probably call the post "Heins-sight"! HA!) but in my opinion, there were some decisions that were just product management 101 fails: whether they were his decisions, whether they were informed by other execs and he gave the go ahead, or whether he actually contravened decisions of other execs to bring BlackBerry to where it is today, well, we may only ever know if someone writes a tell-all about "the fall of BlackBerry". Maybe that will also be CBK.09-27-13 10:31 AMLike 39 -
-
BBM channels: c00121c99 for some knowledge and c00123fca for some real hip hopGRojasHruska likes this.09-27-13 10:32 AMLike 1 - With all due respect, don't bait CBK in a public forum. PM him if you want, and if it's an engaging subject, he may do a blog post about it.
CBK's candid opinion of Thor can't be suitable for public consumption: positive, he gets the ire of CBNation... negative, he gets the ire of BlackBerry Ltd.
After Thor's gone (which can't be too soon in my opinion) I expect CBK will do a retrospective on his tenure that will be fair and will acknowledge that some of the decisions Thor made don't hold up IN HINDSIGHT (he'll probably call the post "Heins-sight"! HA!) but in my opinion, there were some decisions that were just product management 101 fails: whether they were his decisions, whether they were informed by other execs and he gave the go ahead, or whether he actually contravened decisions of other execs to bring BlackBerry to where it is today, well, we may only ever know if someone writes a tell-all about "the fall of BlackBerry". Maybe that will also be CBK.
So it's OK for CrackBerry to praise Heins and all he might do. But they can't question what he has done or might be doing now, for fear that WHAT??? BlackBerry will stop letting Kevin have a 15 second interview with Heins?
What does CrackBerry get from BlackBerry? Advertising? Free Devices? Insider Info?
I do understand the part about some here don't want to hear anything negative, they would rather be ignorant of what is going on. Chris got pretty beat up over his last honest impression of what is going on with Fairfax and BlackBerry. But being afraid of the truth or letting a few bullies silences the truth..... Maybe CrackBerry isn't the best place on the web for NEWS about BlackBerry anymore.09-27-13 10:43 AMLike 7 - CrackBerry KevinCrackBerry FounderJust landed back in America after a 14 hour flight. Just boarding connection flight now.
Look, beyond just T.H., I have been doing a LOT of detailed thinking about BBRY as a whole. Just focusing my thoughts on T.H. without addressing my thoughts on everything would only be a partial story.
So long story short... as suggested above, I WILL be writing that book.
What do you think would make a good title? BlackBerry: the untold story. BlackBerry: the juice squeezed. Lol
Posted via CB1009-27-13 11:07 AMLike 35 - Bold_until_Hybrid_ComesWaterloo's FinestJust landed back in America after a 14 hour flight. Just boarding connection flight now.
Look, beyond just T.H., I have been doing a LOT of detailed thinking about BBRY as a whole. Just focusing my thoughts on T.H. without addressing my thoughts on everything would only be a partial story.
So long story short... as suggested above, I WILL be writing that book.
What do you think would make a good title? BlackBerry: the untold story. BlackBerry: the juice squeezed. Lol
Posted via CB1009-27-13 11:11 AMLike 5 - "Something I'm Not: how Thorsten Heins tried to be something he wasn't (a CEO) and turn BlackBerry into something it's not (an apps-driven consumer product company) and made BlackBerry fans into something they're not (fans of BlackBerry Ltd... well not any more.)"LuisCast likes this.09-27-13 11:41 AMLike 1
-
- Personally I don't know Thor or much about him. Leadership is challenging in a situation like this. I think I recall Thor saying something about it getting worse before it gets better. Yeah it has been painful in many ways. I really don't know if he is screwing up or not. If he is then hopefully he sees it and acknowledges it, learns form it and improves next go round. If he is someone that externalizes his failures and makes up excuses, then yes he needs to go. I haven't see the latter from him, but I don't track Thor at all. I love my blackberry devices and love BB10. Hell I loved BBOS from way back. I want it to succeed. Of course I was rooting for IBM's OS2 a long time ago. The best technology doesn't always win. I would hate to see Thor go, see BlackBerry hire someone else and then do a repeat of this process again. If Thor can learn from his mistakes, overcome, improvise, and adapt, then leave him. If he wants to keep doing things the same and ignore the lessons he should have learned then he needs to go. Please find a marketing niche that works.09-27-13 11:48 AMLike 7
- Why does everyone blame Heins (and/or Lazaridis and Balsillie) - they're just puppets who served - mostly way too long - at the pleasure of the BBRY Board of Directors. The latter are the real culprits for not exercising their responsibility/due diligence. They left BBRY in a state of denial far too long and IMHO, behaheved identically to other moronic BOD's, e.g, Hewlett-Packard... Whereas a stellar Board of Directors such as IBM or Xerox (BTW, no affiliation at all, just admiration) took decisive action when the companies were in danger and they brought in talented, visionary outsiders who were untainted with a failing corporate culture. The BBRY board should resign en masse but they will probably be rewarded handsomely for presiding over an abject failure.09-27-13 11:50 AMLike 5
- They were all probably registered here and read up on how great things were and how many people were lining up for the Zed10.
Yes, the Board deserves part of the blame, but the poor execution is strictly management's responsibility (and I am sure they are all worried about it given their golden parachutes).potatoguy likes this.09-27-13 11:55 AMLike 1 - The legend of the squircle and other gizmos that where shown and given away, cinnamon toast & parallax
Sometimes, late at night, I'll dim the lights and put my browser in reader mode, just to see my Squircle.Don't judge me09-27-13 12:03 PMLike 3 - "CrackBerry rehab: the joys and tears of BlackBerry's biggest addict."
Posted via CB10BBVegasGirl80 and GRojasHruska like this.09-27-13 12:13 PMLike 2 - Just landed back in America after a 14 hour flight. Just boarding connection flight now.
Look, beyond just T.H., I have been doing a LOT of detailed thinking about BBRY as a whole. Just focusing my thoughts on T.H. without addressing my thoughts on everything would only be a partial story.
So long story short... as suggested above, I WILL be writing that book.
What do you think would make a good title? BlackBerry: the untold story. BlackBerry: the juice squeezed. Lol
Posted via CB10
medicdon09-27-13 12:14 PMLike 0 - Just landed back in America after a 14 hour flight. Just boarding connection flight now.
Look, beyond just T.H., I have been doing a LOT of detailed thinking about BBRY as a whole. Just focusing my thoughts on T.H. without addressing my thoughts on everything would only be a partial story.
So long story short... as suggested above, I WILL be writing that book.
What do you think would make a good title? BlackBerry: the untold story. BlackBerry: the juice squeezed. Lol
Posted via CB10
Posted via CB1009-27-13 12:16 PMLike 4 - Its always the people who don't get credit, the first to get fired and don't make decisions.
All the board members are just there to get paid handsomely and screw the company.
We need board members and CEO's ( and all the C's before your name) who can look into the future and say how can we improve our product, how can we be a step ahead of our competitors, this board and CEO's didn't do that.
They just sat back and count there shares. The first person who should have got was the marketing CEO and staff for a lousy job they did.You don't hire a person who switches job's every 3 yrs. that means is just a person who goes to a different company for a raise in pay.
Don't feel sorry for them and TH they already sold most of there shares.Last edited by onvisa; 09-27-13 at 12:36 PM.
web99 likes this.09-27-13 12:24 PMLike 1 - sleepngbearRetired ModeratorWell that's pretty much the whole book right there, isn't it.bungaboy likes this.09-27-13 12:30 PMLike 1
- In retrospect, I think BB was dead before Thor even took over. The legacy OS was tired/dated and developing a new OS from scratch - no matter how good it is/was - just took too long to turn the tide. BB took too long to realize/accept what the consumer wanted in a phone and overestimated companies' loyalty to enterprise BB as well.
That said, Thor is no without blame and could have done many things better.
Things change FAST in the tech world - that's what made Blackberry so quickly and also what brought them down so quickly09-27-13 12:39 PMLike 6 - amazinglygracelessRetired Mod"Falling Behind - The Rise and Fall of BlackBerry" - Kevin MichalukShadowyugi likes this.09-27-13 12:43 PMLike 1
- Forum
- Popular at CrackBerry
- General BlackBerry News, Discussion & Rumors
Kevin, What are your thoughts on Thor these days?
Similar Threads
-
Why is there a SMS Texting Delay on Z10?
By robert brown16 in forum BlackBerry 10 OSReplies: 31Last Post: 10-01-13, 05:39 PM -
Need Help Unlocking network on 9790
By CrazyRazy in forum BlackBerry Bold SeriesReplies: 5Last Post: 10-01-13, 06:58 AM -
Z10 & LG Smart TV & WiFi Sharing (Play on)
By omar ayman in forum BlackBerry Z10Replies: 5Last Post: 09-27-13, 05:28 PM -
BBM Issues on T-Mobile?
By always3rd in forum General Carrier DiscussionReplies: 9Last Post: 09-27-13, 02:04 PM
LINK TO POST COPIED TO CLIPBOARD