[parthsh444]

As nokia is considering the sales of HERE maps division should BlackBerry try to buy it? Let's face it BlackBerry maps are nowhere near as good as competition

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[DarkOwnage]

Your talking as if BlackBerry is selling millions. They barely got cash for themselves you think they can buy a 2-3 billion dollar division.... And are people buying a BlackBerry because they want their maps or security. Will it change anything if they buy HERE maps
... Most of all when you say competition dude wake up BlackBerry is out of the competition, now it's android vs iOS maybe a bit of windows but that's the completion sadly enough BlackBerry isn't in it. Instead of facing the sad truth that BlackBerry maps are a failure face the truth that BlackBerry is out, it's done in the consumer market. DONE!

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[serbanescu]

They don't have the money for it, at the moment, as far as I know. Maybe getting Nokia to make a native BB10 app would be easier.

[greenberry666]

I'd have thought microsoft would want it.

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[CrackberryQ]

Paying here for a local app, or just licencing their MAP data and integrating it with bbmaps would be great!

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[Fr3lncr]

They don't need to buy it (and waste the money)... they could just license it or update the Android runtime in such a way that it could be installed and run without issue using Snap/Google Play... Or let Amazon negotiate for it for the App Store (as I'm sure Amazaon Kindle Fire users may want it as well) and then just have BB ensure it can run fine on BB10.

And while it may suck for searching for points of interest and things, from a driving directions standpoint, BB Maps is much better than Google Maps where I live (more accurate driving time estimations, better directions, better pronunciation of street names). I don't know how it compares to HERE as, while I have it installed on my OnePlus One, I never use it as I don't like the look of it (personally).

[BBd00d]

Since buying my passport and using the maps app, vs google maps that I used to, I don't notice too much of a difference between the two. BlackBerry maps is actually fine for me. I have downloaded NavFree on the advice of some people on CB, but have yet to try it. Either way, not missing google maps at all, and I don't think it would be necessary to but Nokia's division

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[BBPandy]

I would LOVE to see BlackBerry license Here Maps or have Nokia build a native BB10 app. (the transit & off-line maps are awesome)

I don't think it would be a good idea for BlackBerry to buy a 2.1B division that is currently loosing a lot of $$$ They don't have the funds to support it, while they try to turn it around. They are still in the middle of their own turn around.

It's too bad they are doing so badly because everyone is using the pre-installed vastly inferior iOS Maps & in some ways inferior Google Maps.



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[anon(3066922)]

A definite no. They should focus efforts on getting Google play store on BB10. The cost per user would not make for a good business decision.

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[DenverRalphy]

Even if BBRY had the money to buy HERE maps, I don't think it would be a very smart move. BBRY only just finished cutting their own areas that generated a loss. Taking a risk and buying a division who last year had an operating loss of 1.2 Billion Euros would be counterproductive.

[Prem WatsApp]

Even if BBRY had the money to buy HERE maps, I don't think it would be a very smart move. BBRY only just finished cutting their own areas that generated a loss. Taking a risk and buying a division who last year had an operating loss of 1.2 Billion Euros would be counterproductive.

Sounds like something Microsoft might want to "invest" in... ;-)

�   Passposted while waiting for the Z-lider....   �

[Thunderbuck]

I hope they're at least looking at it. It would be a nice complement to the QNX automotive business. And it could be licensed elsewhere.

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[Thunderbuck]

A definite no. They should focus efforts on getting Google play store on BB10. The cost per user would not make for a good business decision.

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They. Can't. Do. That.

Google has made it abundantly clear that only their approved Android gets GPlay. They even intimidated Samsung away from Tizen on phones by threatening to boot them from the OHA.

No way on earth they'll approve GPlay on BB10, short of BlackBerry buying Google.

Posted from CB10 on my classy Passport--TBUCK64

[LuvULongTime]

Even if BBRY had the money to buy HERE maps, I don't think it would be a very smart move. BBRY only just finished cutting their own areas that generated a loss. Taking a risk and buying a division who last year had an operating loss of 1.2 Billion Euros would be counterproductive.

Someone floated the idea of a rock star type consortium buying it. This would make sense to me. BlackBerry, Microsoft, amazon, and anyone else not in the oha could really use the mapping data to counter their lack of Google maps. And as thunderbuck stated above, there would be some synergy for BlackBerry and qnx car.

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[CherokeeMarty]

There is a HERE maps app on Android, and I installed it on my Passport, but it does not work on my phone. I used it on my previous HTC 8X, and it is a superior maps app. The real solution is getting the Android HERE app working on BB10 phones.

[Anthony_2u]

Blackberry map is very good to me it works and don't give any trouble I love it.

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[anon(3066922)]

They. Can't. Do. That.

Google has made it abundantly clear that only their approved Android gets GPlay. They even intimidated Samsung away from Tizen on phones by threatening to boot them from the OHA.

No way on earth they'll approve GPlay on BB10, short of BlackBerry buying Google.

Posted from CB10 on my classy Passport--TBUCK64

You mentioned the key point. "only their approved Android gets GPlay". Are you implying that Blackberry won't ever consider going through this process? Silly moderator. A lot can happen in the next few years, couple year, 6 months. Also Samsung is using Tizen on low cost handsets overseas as well as their tv's. Google is not intimidating Samsung. The dynamic of android adoption is changing, not just google / samsung.

[Tre Lawrence]

You mentioned the key point. "only their approved Android gets GPlay". Are you implying that Blackberry won't ever consider going through this process? Silly moderator. A lot can happen in the next few years, couple year, 6 months. Also Samsung is using Tizen on low cost handsets overseas as well as their tv's. Google is not intimidating Samsung. The dynamic of android adoption is changing, not just google / samsung.

I don't think he implied BBRY isn't considering it. But since OHA membership most likely means by to BB10 + runtime, it may not happen anytime soon. And a year is a long, long time in technology.

And yes, Samsung does need Google way more than Google needs it.

IMHO, of course.

[anon(3066922)]

I don't think he implied BBRY isn't considering it. But since OHA membership most likely means by to BB10 + runtime, it may not happen anytime soon. And a year is a long, long time in technology.

And yes, Samsung does need Google way more than Google needs it.

IMHO, of course.

Maybe there is something I don't know. Is it even possible that Samsung can get thrown out of a consortium? HTC runs multi OS's amongst various devices. I don't think Google is mad at them. You can't fault a company for wanting to diversify.

Perhaps there is something I don't know. Google back fills android with spam, I would think that Google is trying to hold onto Samsung while they fix this issue before samsung jumps to QNX/Tizen for connected devices / IOT

Sounds like a bunch of silliness.

[Troy Tiscareno]

OHA membership would mean one of the two things:

- BB10 continues but with the Android Runtime removed (because the AR violates OHA rules)
- BB10 is dropped for Android (because OHA requires Android to be the base OS on any handset that contains Android code).

By OHA rules, BB cannot use BB10, QNX, or any other OS as the base OS on a handset that contains Android code, so the hypervisor is irrelevant - there is simply no way for BB10 with an Android runtime or even Android running in a virtual machine to comply with OHA rules, because they are specifically written to prevent just that.

[Tre Lawrence]

OHA membership would mean one of the two things:

- BB10 continues but with the Android Runtime removed (because the AR violates OHA rules)
- BB10 is dropped for Android (because OHA requires Android to be the base OS on any handset that contains Android code).

By OHA rules, BB cannot use BB10, QNX, or any other OS as the base OS on a handset that contains Android code, so the hypervisor is irrelevant - there is simply no way for BB10 with an Android runtime or even Android running in a virtual machine to comply with OHA rules, because they are specifically written to prevent just that.

This.

The runtime is a bit of millstone. Samsung, HTC etc all use other OSes. You won't see them use an alternate version of Android.

Samsung ain't going anywhere else for its main OS anytime soon.

[Deckard79]

Disagree with posters who think BlackBerry's Maps stacks up against HERE. As someone using my phone as a navigation device every day, I find HERE vastly superior. It's a close call between HERE and Google Maps.

BlackBerry Maps app has a pretty poor success rate in simply finding an address. It's slow to load visual map data, can crash, doesn't allow a choice between walking/driving (let alone cycling), displays a lack of visual information on surrounding landmarks... I could go on and on.

That said, I completely agree that HERE will be valued much higher than anything BlackBerry could contemplate affording.

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[anon(3066922)]

Google has made it abundantly clear that only their approved Android gets GPlay

Can you please send me your source? I would be interested in reading a little more on this.

[Powdah]

I use the Android app - Aponia GPS which use Navteq / Here mapping for its maps. Find it mostly better than BB Maps. Far superior to other offline nav software.

[Deckard79]

Can you please send me your source? I would be interested in reading a little more on this.

It's all over the internet. Play services are there predominantly as a tool allowing Google to control the direction they want Android to take (it had up until recently become a fragmented, directionless mess).

Hence why the first unlocked (thanks xsacha) BB10 Android runtime ran almost every Google Play app for a little while. But BlackBerry's Android runtime development unfortunately directly coincided with Google's work on their Play Services (meaning these days far, far fewer apps from Play Store actually work).

I can see why Google did it, frankly.

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