[abass]

BlackBerry 10 already is capable of running Android Apps. I'm even able to run the Google play Store.

The only thing that is missing: Google Play Services. If BlackBerry is able to make it possible to install GPS, BlackBerry 10 has a future.

For sure BlackBerry is able to make Android phones. But making money with android phones is a complete different story.

Running the Google Play Store is done by tricking the runtime into thinking that it's tied up with Google Play Services. It's a workaround that BlackBerry would legally never be able to do for the masses. I have the Play Store on my Z30 aswell and it works alright, but that's besides the point. The problem is that we can't get genuine Google Play Services.

People don't seem to understand Google Play Services or how they work. You can fork Android if you'd like, which is what Amazon did and what BlackBerry did with the Android Runtime. But you cannot get access to Google Play Services if you do that. This is why BB10 is missing GPS and why Amazon has their own App Store and Services (Amazon Services). Google does this for obvious reason, and the Amazon scenario is the perfect example of why you should NOT go this route.

Google will never allow BlackBerry to get Google Play Services in their current setup with the forked runtime. It's as simple as that. So saying "BlackBerry would be golden if they could just get GPS!" well it'll NEVER happen, Google simply won't allow it.

So BlackBerry's only option now is to go full Android (obviously they can customize and mod it, just not to the extent of fully forking it.) There are limitations of how much they can modify it. e.g. CyanogenMod, TouchWiz, etc. are all considered mods and not full forks of the OS. A fork is taking the project and going a completely different direction with it. A mod is taking the project and making tweaks to it, while still maintaining it's core with the original project.

But yeah, if BlackBerry wants GPS then they need to go full Android and just mod it... Which is what they are doing. Thinking that anything else can be done is simply foolish because Google legally won't allow it.

That's why they have to go pure Android, as it's the only permissible way to get Google Play Services. BB10 and GPS are mutually exclusive.

This +1

[Soulstream]

That's why they have to go pure Android, as it's the only permissible way to get Google Play Services. BB10 and GPS are mutually exclusive.

PassportSQW100-4/10.3.2.2639

I think he means being able to sideload GPS as other Android custom roms are able to.

[DrBoomBotz]

In 1982 the book In Search of Excellence was published.

43 years later, as suggested in this analysis, the concept of excellence has clearly taken a back seat to building a business on perceptions rather than firm and principled foundations.

2015-1982 != 43

[abass]

I think he means being able to sideload GPS as other Android custom roms are able to.

You can utilize GPS if you are a custom rom but you can't if you're a full fork of Android OS. The problem that BlackBerry is facing is that their Runtime is a fork. To be considered a custom rom, your core must be vanilla Android. BlackBerry will never be able to have an Android runtime that is a "rom" - by definition, a runtime is a fork of the OS. So BlackBerry running BB10 will never be able to have GPS on the device unless they ditch BB10 for Android. Google just would never allow it, and that's what conite was getting at.

[Bla1ze]

Damn! Maybe Chris would have even thrown me a few bucks had I done that! Dang.. I don't know.. The last thing CrackBerry needs is more articles talking about the positives of the Android move. This community is definitely tough, it's hit-or-miss. I'm sure this article upset many, so maybe it's a good thing that CrackBerry isn't directly tied to it :P

But yeah, I was planning on keeping the entire article here, but then it started to get out of hand and wasn't styled all that well. This post started off as a comment reply to someone else here, then I moved it to the forum, then I moved it to a site. Again, wasn't expecting it to be that in-depth at first.



Hah yeah exactly. One tiny, tiny, tiny BB enthusiast family :'( but hey! It's probably a good thing. Just the most passionate stay around so we have a much more passionate group of people than the other major sites.

Appreciate you sharing it here either way Alex, great write up.

[Soulstream]

You can utilize GPS if you are a custom rom but you can't if you're a full fork of Android OS. The problem that BlackBerry is facing is that their Runtime is a fork. To be considered a custom rom, your core must be vanilla Android. BlackBerry will never be able to have an Android runtime that is a "rom" - by definition, a runtime is a fork of the OS. So BlackBerry running BB10 will never be able to have GPS on the device unless they ditch BB10 for Android. Google just would never allow it, and that's what conite was getting at.

I didn't mean oficially, out of the box. I meant users installing it themselves like they can on an Amazon firephone.

[AnimalPak200]

2015-1982 != 43

Seriously... suddenly I felt much older.

Posted via CB10

[GenghisKahn2011]

2015-1982 != 43

Okay 33. My bad! Thanks!


BlackBerry Passport SE driven by 10.3.2.2339 on T-Mobile

[bicyclexpress]

Hey man, thanks for writing this up!

Posted via CB10

[abass]

Appreciate you sharing it here either way Alex, great write up.

Thanks Chris, means a lot to hear that

Hey man, thanks for writing this up!

Posted via CB10

Glad you enjoyed it

I didn't mean oficially, out of the box. I meant users installing it themselves like they can on an Amazon firephone.

Ahh you're talking about the Google Play Store. I was 100% referring to Google Play Services. I guess that's the problem with using shorthand, they are two entirely different things yet have the same shorthand - GPS :P

You can install the Google Play Store yourself but you definitely cannot install Google Play Services unless you're vanilla android or an Android mod. Just miscommunication is all.

[RyanGermann]

While I agree that many app developers rationalize the market the way you suggest in your article, I still assert it doesn't make good business sense.

I look at native BB10 WhatsApp as the model: Facebook isn't investing billions of dollars developing a BB10 native version of WhatsApp: they have (as far as I know) one single dedicated talented developer working on the BB10 version of WhatsApp.

For other vendors to forego potentially 10s of millions of users because they don't want to "bother" having one or two developers (at a cost of perhaps half a million dollars initially, less in an ongoing way) that BlackBerry Ltd. would be more than happy to cover may be the reality, but it's a pretty damn stupid reality.

[keepthetorch]

Interesting reading and nice article. Have a question and some thoughts. Sorry if this has been asked before.

How much money did Samsung (or any other OEM) have to pay Google in order to put Android only on their phones and comply with their OHA?

My thoughts from this and other threads: Google needs and makes money on the data retained from the use of Android and the apps made on that platform. We don't really know all the conversations going on between BB and Google and maybe MSFT and Google. IMHO Google would welcome both BB and MSFT utilizing Android in a way which leaves some autonomy for BB and Windows phone - ie skins which show BB hub and whatever Windows phone tiles etc. There would of course be the main things Google which would have to put on the main screen. That is understandable and should since you are using another OS which isn't yours. Android has been out for several years and has the market share, no doubt. I would not want the early OEM adopters of Android to get slighted in any way but assume most of them have their own software and changes so people know that it is an HTC, Samsung, LG or whatever. Things change over time and maybe Google can get what they want (data behind the scenes) and the Blackberries and Windows Phones can be a part of it but still retain their brands and not look completely like another Android phone.

I think it is very hard for BB with their DNA to go Android, but agree it is something they have to try. Can BB have Android, secure it in such a way, and still give Google the data it can use? Windows Phone has a lot more market share than BB but is in the same predicament.

Again - thanks OP. Just my 2c.

[abass]

While I agree that many app developers rationalize the market the way you suggest in your article, I still assert it doesn't make good business sense.

I look at native BB10 WhatsApp as the model: Facebook isn't investing billions of dollars developing a BB10 native version of WhatsApp: they have (as far as I know) one single dedicated talented developer working on the BB10 version of WhatsApp.

For other vendors to forego potentially 10s of millions of users because they don't want to "bother" having one or two developers (at a cost of perhaps half a million dollars initially, less in an ongoing way) that BlackBerry Ltd. would be more than happy to cover may be the reality, but it's a pretty damn stupid reality.

Whatsapp is actually a pretty tough comparison to make and not the norm. Whatsapp has been around for a WHILE. They were on legacy BBOS, and got onto BB10 strategically to try and take away BBM users (because remember, at this time a few years ago, BBM wasn't yet cross platform, so it was a very strategic move). And you mentioned Facebook, you too have to keep in mind that Whatsapp was an independent company until not too long ago. They already had a native BB10 app way before they were purchased by Facebook. So had Facebook had control before a native BB10 app existed, they may have never built it.

And yes, in this case it's one very talented developer, Derek who has built it. But many of these companies are trying to innovate so quickly as to not get left behind in the market that they would much more prefer someone like Derek innovating on the existing platforms.

I don't think you realize the amount of work that truly consists with supporting another platform.. even if it's one or two full-time developer building it, there's so much more. Keep in mind that these companies like Snapchat really aren't that large.. They are living off investor/VC money and another $200k in payroll is not really just a drop in the bucket. You need to have support that understands the BB10 platform very well to help support people and respond to emails.

At the end of the day, it's MUCH easier to develop and maintain 2 platforms over 4 (windows phone and BB10) it'd be in their best interest for Window phone and BlackBerry to die. As screwed up as it is, that's the truth. Even if it's one or two developers, they could be working on improving the existing product instead and reaching more of the Android/iOS market. It then comes down to well if we are supporting BlackBerry then we need to support Windows Phone because they have a larger marketshare, etc. Etc.

I know it sounds kinda ridiculous, but a company like Facebook 100% makes sense for putting things on all devices, because they already have 1.3b users.. they are quite literally running out of people who have access to internet/smartphones, so making their stuff cross platform makes more sense. It's cheaper for them to support a small platform over building out a larger Internet foundation for emerging markets just to get more people online.. using their service..

But a company like Snapchat, with only 300m users, they have nooooo reason to build a BB10 app. Their primary target market is 13-25 year olds, how many of them have BlackBerry devices? And they'd rather try to reach more of the 1.2b Android market than a measly small portion of a 40m market. Say 20% of people on BlackBerry download snapchat, it's just not worth maintaining an entire app just for that small chunk of people. Whether it takes one developer or not, because it's so much more than that one developer. It's opportunity cost. They'd rather that developer spend the time improving their current app.

And what if BB10 or Windows Phone dies in the meantime? Imagine having $600k+ into an app that just becomes irrelevant all of a sudden because BlackBerry decides to move away from BB10 (like what happened right now). I can tell you that I'm SURE Whatsapp isn't overly pleased that they spent all that time developing a BB10 app when it might be irrelevant soon.. but again they aren't the best example because fb bought them for a ridiculously high price so obviously they made the right moves at the time.


Posted via CB10

[garnok]

if you count BBOS + BB10 BB userbase it can reach 40 million, but if we only count BB10 userbase i think it is less than 10 million.

[RyanGermann]

Whatsapp is actually a pretty tough comparison to make and not the norm. Whatsapp has been around for a WHILE. They were on legacy BBOS, and got onto BB10 strategically to try and take away BBM users (because remember, at this time a few years ago, BBM wasn't yet cross platform, so it was a very strategic move). And you mentioned Facebook, you too have to keep in mind that Whatsapp was an independent company until not too long ago. They already had a native BB10 app way before they were purchased by Facebook. So had Facebook had control before a native BB10 app existed, they may have never built it.

And yes, in this case it's one very talented developer, Derek who has built it. But many of these companies are trying to innovate so quickly as to not get left behind in the market that they would much more prefer someone like Derek innovating on the existing platforms.

I don't think you realize the amount of work that truly consists with supporting another platform.. even if it's one or two full-time developer building it, there's so much more. Keep in mind that these companies like Snapchat really aren't that large.. They are living off investor/VC money and another $200k in payroll is not really just a drop in the bucket. You need to have support that understands the BB10 platform very well to help support people and respond to emails.

At the end of the day, it's MUCH easier to develop and maintain 2 platforms over 4 (windows phone and BB10) it'd be in their best interest for Window phone and BlackBerry to die. As screwed up as it is, that's the truth. Even if it's one or two developers, they could be working on improving the existing product instead and reaching more of the Android/iOS market. It then comes down to well if we are supporting BlackBerry then we need to support Windows Phone because they have a larger marketshare, etc. Etc.

I know it sounds kinda ridiculous, but a company like Facebook 100% makes sense for putting things on all devices, because they already have 1.3b users.. they are quite literally running out of people who have access to internet/smartphones, so making their stuff cross platform makes more sense. It's cheaper for them to support a small platform over building out a larger Internet foundation for emerging markets just to get more people online.. using their service..

But a company like Snapchat, with only 300m users, they have nooooo reason to build a BB10 app. Their primary target market is 13-25 year olds, how many of them have BlackBerry devices? And they'd rather try to reach more of the 1.2b Android market than a measly small portion of a 40m market. Say 20% of people on BlackBerry download snapchat, it's just not worth maintaining an entire app just for that small chunk of people. Whether it takes one developer or not, because it's so much more than that one developer. It's opportunity cost. They'd rather that developer spend the time improving their current app.

And what if BB10 or Windows Phone dies in the meantime? Imagine having $600k+ into an app that just becomes irrelevant all of a sudden because BlackBerry decides to move away from BB10 (like what happened right now). I can tell you that I'm SURE Whatsapp isn't overly pleased that they spent all that time developing a BB10 app when it might be irrelevant soon.. but again they aren't the best example because fb bought them for a ridiculously high price so obviously they made the right moves at the time.


Posted via CB10

Whatever figure can be reasonably arrived at, the money isn't the inhibitor. BB would supply the costs, the support, everything needed to port it to BB10. There are reasons why, or apps like native SnapChat or Instagram WOULD be on BB10. Trying to come up with an rational explanation for something irrational as whatever motivates these software companies to deny BB from providing all the necessary resources is.... Well, implausible says it kindly.

Here's a plausible reason:

(CEO of app vendor): "God, I hate BlackBerry: over my dead body will there ever be a version of our app on BlackBerry."

That is more plausible than any assertion that "it costs too much to port apps to Bb10" because there are mountains of evidence that it doesn't cost a lot, unless you want to totally ignore the fact that iGrann exists, that SnapChat clients exist and SnapChat (for 'security reasons') spends more money blocking third party apps than it would cost them to LET Micsrosoft and BlackBerry (who both know more about security in their pinky toe than SnapChat has in their whole stupid body) develop top-quality native apps. snapChat is a less attractive acquisition target for Google or Apple if there are BB and Windows apps to 'deal with' post acquisition... So it's not costs, it's strategy: mysterious, capricious strategy.

[Bbnivende]

Ryan, the party is over at the "Final stage...Acceptance " thread.

Posted via CB10

[abass]

Whatever figure can be reasonably arrived at, the money isn't the inhibitor. BB would supply the costs, the support, everything needed to port it to BB10. There are reasons why, or apps like native SnapChat or Instagram WOULD be on BB10. Trying to come up with an rational explanation for something irrational as whatever motivates these software companies to deny BB from providing all the necessary resources is.... Well, implausible says it kindly.

Here's a plausible reason:

(CEO of app vendor): "God, I hate BlackBerry: over my dead body will there ever be a version of our app on BlackBerry."

That is more plausible than any assertion that "it costs too much to port apps to Bb10" because there are mountains of evidence that it doesn't cost a lot, unless you want to totally ignore the fact that iGrann exists, that SnapChat clients exist and SnapChat (for 'security reasons') spends more money blocking third party apps than it would cost them to LET Micsrosoft and BlackBerry (who both know more about security in their pinky toe than SnapChat has in their whole stupid body) develop top-quality native apps. snapChat is a less attractive acquisition target for Google or Apple if there are BB and Windows apps to 'deal with' post acquisition... So it's not costs, it's strategy: mysterious, capricious strategy.

You know the fun bit of it all? Any app developer/company can decide to not port their app to a specific OS for whatever reason they want. You're right, it doesn't even have to be about money. Business isn't fair. H3ll, SnapChat is probably doing this purposely just to try and kill off BB10 and Windows Phone because then those users will end up moving to iOS or Android and then BOOM, they get to reach those users with the same two apps that they already had. And it's kinda creative on their part. Do I think it's right? Not in the slightest, it's terribly messed up, but they can do whatever the heck they want. That's what's good about living in a market economy, businesses get to make their own decisions (for the most part).

I get it, they can do it for whatever reason they want. They could not want to port over their app to BlackBerry because they don't like the blackberry fruit, it totally doesn't matter.. But regardless, what's the use in being mad at them and getting all riled up over it? It's not going to change their mind. They are going to do whatever they want to do. It has kinda turned into this ridiculous battle though where a large part of the CrackBerry community blames BlackBerry for it all "Why aren't you throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at these devs??!! This is ridiculous! You don't care about BB10!! You're going to Android because you don't want to spend money on devs!" - It's ridiculous. And I'm siding with you on this point man. I'm siding with the standpoint that just throwing money at devs ISN'T going to fix the problem, because some of these companies are so deep routed in hate for non Android/iOS devices that they won't port the app over no matter what. Yet people STILL get mad at BlackBerry for this! And that's the kicker.

So yes, whatever the reason, whether it's monetary, strategic, or nothing at all, it really doesn't matter. The main point is that these big Apps aren't coming to BB10, and it sucks, but that's why they are moving to Android. And they will STILL hit some developers who only develop for iOS and refuse to dev for Android, but obviously all of the major apps are going to be on those two platforms (atleast eventually) so we should be good. I just find it kinda crazy how many people refuse to accept this fact, and that's what my article was primarily about. Honestly, just accepting it for what it is. BlackBerry was backed into a corner and this is now their only option, they really didn't have much of a choice. They gave BB10 a legitimate shot. It doesn't always work.

[BCITMike]

EDIT: Just turned this into a complete article on BerryFlow because it turned out to be a bit more than I was expecting to write. Here's the link:

Android On BlackBerry Is Good Business

Your "tl;dr" did not summarize the point of the article and was long itself. It should be a quick summary of what you said above.

Here's my tl;dr
App development costs money to develop, QA and support. Many of these companies business model involves acquiring huge user base, often at a significant loss, to get a massive payout once popular enough. Because of BB10's low adoption rate, there's little justification for these companies to spend their precious operating dollars to after the BB10 market.

There's more to add, but that sums it up.

You'd probably need to show at least one example of one of these start ups going into heavy debt until bought out (whatsapp?) for major payday. I have other nits, but won't go into them as they're minor.





Posted via CB10

[abass]

Your "tl;dr" did not summarize the point of the article and was long itself. It should be a quick summary of what you said above.

Here's my tl;dr
App development costs money to develop, QA and support. Many of these companies business model involves acquiring huge user base, often at a significant loss, to get a massive payout once popular enough. Because of BB10's low adoption rate, there's little justification for these companies to spend their precious operating dollars to after the BB10 market.

There's more to add, but that sums it up.

You'd probably need to show at least one example of one of these start ups going into heavy debt until bought out (whatsapp?) for major payday. I have other nits, but won't go into them as they're minor.
Posted via CB10

Yeah, you're right. The tl;dr didn't really summarize the article. You mind if I utilize what you said? (if you don't want me to then that's totally fine. I've just been typing essays in replies and such all day that I'm totally drained right now. This post got much more attention than I was expecting.)

And for sure, Whatsapp is the perfect example. I guess I just take it for granted that everyone who I was focusing this article toward (dedicated BlackBerry users) already knew the background of whatsapp, or atleast could imagine what's going on with companies right now like Snapchat, Instagram, etc. Because it's pretty obvious they aren't making any money from the actual app. They are just funded by VC's and have ridiculous valuations and continue to make no money until they finally get bought out or go public.

[RyanGermann]

You know the fun bit of it all? Any app developer/company can decide to not port their app to a specific OS for whatever reason they want. You're right, it doesn't even have to be about money. Business isn't fair. H3ll, SnapChat is probably doing this purposely just to try and kill off BB10 and Windows Phone because then those users will end up moving to iOS or Android and then BOOM, they get to reach those users with the same two apps that they already had. And it's kinda creative on their part. Do I think it's right? Not in the slightest, it's terribly messed up, but they can do whatever the heck they want. That's what's good about living in a market economy, businesses get to make their own decisions (for the most part).

I get it, they can do it for whatever reason they want. They could not want to port over their app to BlackBerry because they don't like the blackberry fruit, it totally doesn't matter.. But regardless, what's the use in being mad at them and getting all riled up over it? It's not going to change their mind. They are going to do whatever they want to do. It has kinda turned into this ridiculous battle though where a large part of the CrackBerry community blames BlackBerry for it all "Why aren't you throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at these devs??!! This is ridiculous! You don't care about BB10!! You're going to Android because you don't want to spend money on devs!" - It's ridiculous. And I'm siding with you on this point man. I'm siding with the standpoint that just throwing money at devs ISN'T going to fix the problem, because some of these companies are so deep routed in hate for non Android/iOS devices that they won't port the app over no matter what. Yet people STILL get mad at BlackBerry for this! And that's the kicker.

So yes, whatever the reason, whether it's monetary, strategic, or nothing at all, it really doesn't matter. The main point is that these big Apps aren't coming to BB10, and it sucks, but that's why they are moving to Android. And they will STILL hit some developers who only develop for iOS and refuse to dev for Android, but obviously all of the major apps are going to be on those two platforms (atleast eventually) so we should be good. I just find it kinda crazy how many people refuse to accept this fact, and that's what my article was primarily about. Honestly, just accepting it for what it is. BlackBerry was backed into a corner and this is now their only option, they really didn't have much of a choice. They gave BB10 a legitimate shot. It doesn't always work.

Your point is that big name apps aren't on BB10 so BB has to go Android to get apps onto BB handsets. That's true in a "water is wet" kind of way. You are attempting to simplify the "why this is the case" largely to cost. I don't think it can be simplified to the degree you have attempted.

You called attention to what I'm sure you think is very insightful analysis of "the" problem, and you are getting a response. The article is kind of reductive if you've been hanging around CrackBerry forums for more than, say, 8 months, but keep at it and you'll get better as you write more and find your own voice.

[BCITMike]

Yeah, you're right. The tl;dr didn't really summarize the article. You mind if I utilize what you said? (if you don't want me to then that's totally fine. I've just been typing essays in replies and such all day that I'm totally drained right now. This post got much more attention than I was expecting.)

And for sure, Whatsapp is the perfect example. I guess I just take it for granted that everyone who I was focusing this article toward (dedicated BlackBerry users) already knew the background of whatsapp, or atleast could imagine what's going on with companies right now like Snapchat, Instagram, etc. Because it's pretty obvious they aren't making any money from the actual app. They are just funded by VC's and have ridiculous valuations and continue to make no money until they finally get bought out or go public.

No problem if you want to use my tl;dr.

[abass]

Your point is that big name apps aren't on BB10 so BB has to go Android to get apps onto BB handsets. That's true in a "water is wet" kind of way. You are attempting to simplify the "why this is the case" largely to cost. I don't ink tit can be simplified to the degree you have attempted.

You called attention to what I'm sure you think is very insightful analysis of "the" problem, and you are getting a response. The article is kind of reductive if you've been hanging around CrackBerry forums for more than, say, 8 months, but keep at it and you'll get better as you write more and find your own voice.

The largest focus of the article was on the standpoint that many people don't realize, and that's large app developers really don't care about "cash". What's really important in this day and age is userbase. Companies will go losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year, yet be valued at $20 billion because they have 400 million users. I wanted to focus on just another aspect in that BlackBerry couldn't pay the amount of money these companies would want even if they could. You think a company that is losing $150m a year is going to be swayed to develop another commitment on a new OS for $10k? $100k? $1m? Because they won't. I get it, you brought up the standpoint that some app devs might be screwing over BlackBerry just to screw over blackberry. With no rhyme or reason, and I agree with you. I wasn't focusing on that bit with this article, so what I have discussed with you here is separate from that. The focus of this piece was simply to introduce another aspect that many don't consider, and that's that some of these app developers don't want money, incentives, they don't give a crap. It's just about the userbase at the end of the day and it's a wild rush to get the most users in the shortest amount of time. That's a very major reason as to why so many of these devs avoided porting their apps over to BlackBerry and Windows Phone even if BlackBerry was there willing to throw money and resources at them. They just didn't want to be bothered, it wasn't on their road map because it doesn't make sense from a user-base growth standpoint. Not worth their resources, time, or focus.

Regardless, thanks for reading the article, the discussion, and the advice. Cheers!

No problem if you want to use my tl;dr.

Thanks bud

[BCITMike]

Your point is that big name apps aren't on BB10 so BB has to go Android to get apps onto BB handsets. That's true in a "water is wet" kind of way. You are attempting to simplify the "why this is the case" largely to cost. I don't ink tit can be simplified to the degree you have attempted.

You called attention to what I'm sure you think is very insightful analysis of "the" problem, and you are getting a response. The article is kind of reductive if you've been hanging around CrackBerry forums for more than, say, 8 months, but keep at it and you'll get better as you write more and find your own voice.

"Ink tit" is going into the "future band names" folder.

Thanks

[Thunderbuck]

If they make Android hardware, might as well kill it off anyway. It's just another Android hardware device, there are lots of those. Nothing special here.

I disagree. There is at least one area where BlackBerry has an opportunity to build a better Android phone than any other competitor: the text-entry experience.

Obviously, there won't be that many physical-keyboard die-hards out there (though BB WILL pick them up, at least), but even their virtual keyboard is better than anything else on Android right now, assuming they translate it from BB10 properly. That would absolutely win a lot of people back.

[Thunderbuck]

Your "tl;dr" did not summarize the point of the article and was long itself. It should be a quick summary of what you said above.

Here's my tl;dr
App development costs money to develop, QA and support. Many of these companies business model involves acquiring huge user base, often at a significant loss, to get a massive payout once popular enough. Because of BB10's low adoption rate, there's little justification for these companies to spend their precious operating dollars to after the BB10 market.

There's more to add, but that sums it up.

You'd probably need to show at least one example of one of these start ups going into heavy debt until bought out (whatsapp?) for major payday. I have other nits, but won't go into them as they're minor.





Posted via CB10

Really, the whole thing was a massive chicken/egg thing. How do you attract users without apps? And how do you attract developers without users?

The way the plan was SUPPOSED to go was that the PlayBook and the Colt would have QNX, but would also run legacy BBOS apps to ease the transition for the existing BlackBerry userbase back in 2011. Then they would have taken a couple of years to actually build out BB10 and bring the developer community along. Had they succeeded in this, they might have had 20 million BB10 users by the end of 2013 and we'd be having a VERY different conversation right now.