[hurds]

So I was reading a couple threads.

http://forums.crackberry.com/apple-i...rticle-812804/

http://forums.crackberry.com/apple-i...g-apps-812721/


Now its been some time since BB released the playbook. Please correct me if I'm wrong but since then they've released 5-6 BBOS7 devices, and now the Z10 and Q10.

Wow.

So what has the competition done? Sure a bunch of android devices, but how many major OS upgrades? Sure a couple spec bumps on the iphone but when was that ever enough.

It got me thinking. A thought I've had before-----

Whats the duopoly got coming? Surely they've been doing something with all this time, all their money, and the few acquisitions they've made. Right?


But reading those two threads got me thinking. What if they don't have anything? What if they've been resting on their laurels (app-catalogue anyone)?

People often give these two operating systems/companies the benefit of the doubt much like people did for RIM back a few years ago.

But lets be honest. The duopoly have shown absolutely no signs of innovation, progression or even direction. Just read those two articles in the threads above.

BB has done an enormous amount of work/acquistions/thinking/innovation. They haven't even fully launched the first 2 BB10 devices. They got a lot more coming and a lot of room to grow. The competition? Not much. Im hoping they do cause in the end competition is good for me the consumer. But right now I'm more excited about the prospects of a Samsung run platform, or a truly open platform like mozilla or ubuntu.

Does anyone see the duopoly doing anything? Cause I sure don't.

[southlander]

Lol. I am not going to comment. But subscribe. I will.

Posted via BlackBerry 10

[hurds]

Lol. I am not going to comment. But subscribe. I will.

Posted via BlackBerry 10

Boring. Just like the duopoly, ooooooooooh!

[Speedygi]

I think one understated thing about Apple is that it has a far greater portfolio to worry about than Blackberry. It does laptops, tablets, phones, software and music players, all on top of their online properties like iTunes.

Look at Google as well, so many services, products and so forth. Android could very well be simply a small piece of the pie for them.

Now compare those two catalogues with Blackberry's. Phones are all Blackberry has that they are really innovating on nowadays, and even if you added tablets and their various physical accessories, they have all their hands on making the phones as good as they can be. The services and the innovation will of course follow where the money is, as they always will.

Apple and Google (and all its partners, don't you forget) are innovating in their own ways though, and it wouldn't be fair to chalk that up entirely to complacency.

Posted via CB10

[Rello]

OS7 devices came after the PlayBook. Not OS 5&6....i got my 9900 around sept 2011 and he PlayBook came around April of that same year I believe.

I can kinda see what you're saying. I think a lot rides on IOS 7 for Apple as far as public perception.....more people consider the OS stale so a pretty much everyone is going to be watching to see what changes it has and judge Apple from there. The huge thing that hurts the comparison to how RIM fell asleep at the wheel years ago is that IOS and Android have a big lead when considering both features and ecosystem. No matter how exciting some of the new OS's are, I don't see this changing in the next year...this is what will keep IOS and Android ok for the short term even if people feel they are slowing their updates/innovations

IMO, BB has been talking up a lot of the innovations it plans on bringing to market and while I do look forward to what they'll bring to the table, we've heard plenty of "talk" about mobile computing yet have barely been shown what all this power qnx is supposed to have. If they just talk a good game but don't produce, then what's the difference from the perceived lack of innovation from android and IOS? See what I'm saying?

[Warlack]

Most of them are just waiting for new hardware possibilities.

All BlackBerry did was playing catch up and for Thorsten's vision of mobile computing to become reality, he is waiting as well.

Samsung is developing their own OS, Apple is revamping theirs and Microsoft together with all PC manufacturers is waiting for the new low power chips from Intel which will finally be a viable alternative to the Atom.

Dell is developing a PC in USB size, you can plug into a TV. It will be a thin client where all is actually happening in a data centre.

Batteries will have 8 times more capacity, allowing for new Designs with flexible screens....


A lot is happening, however we are at a point where all caught up to each other and therefore it is just personal preference which makes you choose one device over the other.


Next year and the years ahead will be game changing once again... Be patient...

Posted via CB10

[kevinnugent]

I read today that Apple has acquired 8 different companies since October last year. If you think they are resting on their laurels, I think you may be in for a shock.

I also heard a rumour that Apple may make iMessage and FaceTime cross platform with Android. That might put a spanner in the BBM plans that Blackberry have.

[jasonvan9]

Now compare those two catalogues with Blackberry's. Phones are all Blackberry has that they are really innovating on nowadays, and even if you added tablets and their various physical accessories, they have all their hands on making the phones as good as they can be. The services and the innovation will of course follow where the money is, as they always will.

Apple and Google (and all its partners, don't you forget) are innovating in their own ways though, and it wouldn't be fair to chalk that up entirely to complacency.

Posted via CB10

Im sorry sir, but phones are not all that blackberry does, they have been hugely innovative on the backend, hence BES 10.1, etc... just because it isn't represented as a shiny app icon doesn't mean they arnt innovating in other areas.

In an interview with Thor he speaks to this exact point that the average consumer only sees the shiny UI interface they don't know anything about what is going on in the background... thats the nerdy technical stuff nobody but engineers care about ... right?

Networking is how the world stays connected, and BlackBerry are the best mobile device network innovators around, always have been



Posted via CB10

[Speedygi]

Im sorry sir, but phones are not all that blackberry does, they have been hugely innovative on the backend, hence BES 10.1, etc... just because it isn't represented as a shiny app icon doesn't mean they arnt innovating in other areas.

In an interview with Thor he speaks to this exact point that the average consumer only sees the shiny UI interface they don't know anything about what is going on in the background... thats the nerdy technical stuff nobody but engineers care about ... right?

Networking is how the world stays connected, and BlackBerry are the best mobile device network innovators around, always have been



Posted via CB10

Still, I stand by my point, Blackberry has a considerably smaller portfolio than those above-mentioned industry players.

[darkehawke]

Hasn't android had a few major updates since then? I'm pretty sure that they have

Posted via CB10

[darkehawke]

Also the os7 devices were only meant to be short term devices. The fact that they had to release as many as they did is a bad thing

Posted via CB10

[anon(6038817)]

Interesting thoughts.

I think Apple and Google are continuing to innovate and probably have some good things ready to go, and more coming down the pipeline. A lot of it has to do with timing. How much profit can they squeeze out of the products/services already on the market before their customers become disenchanted and start looking at their competitors?

I don't think they're becoming stagnant, but maybe they are slowing down a bit. Google has tried to rein in its portfolio, killing off several of its services this year (most notably Reader). It's trying to make a push in the computer market with Chromebooks, but I don't think they'll gain widespread popularity and will only serve a niche market.

Apple's computer business, like the rest of the computer industry, is slowing down. Apple, Google, and Microsoft are going to have to make some pretty drastic changes in the next few years as more and more people look to smartphones and tablets as their go-to devices.

I think BlackBerry is ahead of the curve in this regard, as they have already undergone (and are continuing to undergo) drastic changes and have refocused their efforts on mobile computing.

[Speedygi]

Hasn't android had a few major updates since then? I'm pretty sure that they have

Posted via CB10

I think most of the new major updates that have had as of the last Google I/O are largely service oriented. Google+, Hangouts, Google Now and Google Play being the few most noticeable ones.

Yes, they have come up with consistent notifications across devices, and I'm sure they have more solely operating system tweaks and improvements but Google has started to focus on their services more (incidentally their core competency) and tie it all back to their very powerful cloud capabilites.

It is an interesting change of focus, especially after a flurry of years that saw major software optimizations and a little bit of service oriented things surfacing from time to time. Now they are full on their services and their online stores, which maybe indicates that they have hit a wall in terms of optimizations. It would be interesting to see if they somehow turn to making interface changes...

You never know with Google.

Posted via CB10

[Speedygi]

Interesting thoughts.

I think Apple and Google are continuing to innovate and probably have some good things ready to go, and more coming down the pipeline. A lot of it has to do with timing. How much profit can they squeeze out of the products/services already on the market before their customers become disenchanted and start looking at their competitors?

I don't think they're becoming stagnant, but maybe they are slowing down a bit. Google has tried to rein in its portfolio, killing off several of its services this year (most notably Reader). It's trying to make a push in the computer market with Chromebooks, but I don't think they'll gain widespread popularity and will only serve a niche market.

Apple's computer business, like the rest of the computer industry, is slowing down. Apple, Google, and Microsoft are going to have to make some pretty drastic changes in the next few years as more and more people look to smartphones and tablets as their go-to devices.

I think BlackBerry is ahead of the curve in this regard, as they have already undergone (and are continuing to undergo) drastic changes and have refocused their efforts on mobile computing.

First of all, Google Reader is just one small service out of many other (shall I say) more important ones. As long as Google keeps pointing everything back to its search engine, all is well. Point is that they still have more than most companies can handle at a single time, and I don't think they have slowed down. Look at Google Glass...a totally new category like that isn't something to ignore or find equivalents to from competing companies. Glass is a strong case that Google isn't slowing down.

Apple, on the other hand, would need to pull up its socks in terms of innovation...but they always have a dangerous tendency to unleash sudden and immense new categories, largely because they never leak stuff or announce anything before things are done. If there is a place where Apple can really show the innovation they have hidden since last year, WWDC is that place.

Posted via CB10

[Double_J75]

Stopped reading after Rello as he summ'd it up perfectly.

Posted via CB10

[ynomrah]

First of all, Google Reader is just one small service out of many other (shall I say) more important ones. As long as Google keeps pointing everything back to its search engine, all is well. Point is that they still have more than most companies can handle at a single time, and I don't think they have slowed down. Look at Google Glass...a totally new category like that isn't something to ignore or find equivalents to from competing companies. Glass is a strong case that Google isn't slowing down.

Apple, on the other hand, would need to pull up its socks in terms of innovation...but they always have a dangerous tendency to unleash sudden and immense new categories, largely because they never leak stuff or announce anything before things are done. If there is a place where Apple can really show the innovation they have hidden since last year, WWDC is that place.

Posted via CB10

Really I'm not sure how op can honestly with a straight face that Google and Apple are on a downfall. I would argue that Facebook, Twitter and even Yahoo are doing more for the industry than blackberry is.

Looking at it from one standpoint, Google alone provides so many services that are constantly updating and improving alone. Improvements to maps, search (with Google now), YouTube, and Google+ Ect. are constantly flowing. Even as of yesterday the update to gmail with tab inboxes is fantastic. Google and Apple show no signs of slowing down whatsoever, and how anyone could come to that conclusion at this point in the game baffles me.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

[anon(6038817)]

Google and Apple show no signs of slowing down whatsoever, and how anyone could come to that conclusion at this point in the game baffles me.

Are you absolutely sure about that? I can understand your arguments about Google - they've had their minor setbacks (Nexus Q, anyone?) but they're bursting with cash and can afford to take risks and make minor blunders. I think they've got good forward momentum, overall, but I wouldn't say a slowdown is impossible.

Apple's stock performance over the past year isn't exactly stellar (down 22.5%), and their computer business is obviously slowing down along with the rest of the computer industry. Still, iOS devices are still extremely popular, and like others have said, they could come out with another game-changer like the iPhone and turn the market on its head, once again.

But I think it's a bit over the top to imply that there is no reason to believe they might be slowing down.

[jasonvan9]

To be fair to everyone here, i guess you could generalize the players here and say nobody is slowing down, others are just speeding up innovation faster than others and each is a master in their core fields

Google = online services
Apple = trending products
BlackBerry = networking

It is only good business practice to try and branch out instead of keeping all your eggs in one basket so to speak


Google is branching out into hardware to help support their core business of services

Apple is unpredictable, the CEO was recently quoted saying they have several more game changers up their sleeve, i dont see them branching out into predefined segments so much as trying to create entirely new ones that hopefully catch on

BlackBerry are refining what they have, replacing obsolete infrastructure and slowly branching out into other fields. QNX is helping pave the way, but developing a robust backend is first priority which great products and integrated services will follow.

The advantage of building something that makes integration easy and seamless is a no brainer... take googles online services for example, they build lots of different individual services and than do their best to integrate them second, building bridges between services... you can see how there is with no doubt going to be an expansion limit eventually when integration will become exponentially more difficult.

BlackBerry hit this with their JAVA system, scrapped it for something with limitless expansion capabilities, and are now just building and finalizing the standards they will use going forward. Once that is created they will be innovating at a very very rapid pace with limitless potential.

Posted via CB10

[travaz]

None of these companies live in a vacum and all are aware of how the market works and that innovation is required to keep market share. BB is still the company that needs to show innovation and do so quickly. Ios and Google can sit on their laurels for a bit longer. Also as it has been pointed out Google has many streams of income and is not as dependent on mobile as is BB and apple to a lesser degree.

[FunGuyLover]

Anybody who thinks BlackBerry is all talk, no action when it comes to the new devices either has their head up their dunghole or hasn't used the new generation of BlackBerry offerings... probably some combination of both.

Posted via CB10

[bekkay]

Hasn't android had a few major updates since then? I'm pretty sure that they have

Posted via CB10

Not only the major updates, but Android actually unified tablet and phone UIs into one.

Since 2011, Android went from GB to HC to ICS to JB.

And each of these was a major update that brought some drastic changes and new features:

Here is a link: Android Version History: A Visual Timeline | Visual.ly (not most up-tp-date. there were many more features added in 4.2.

Also, there were considerable additions to the Android ecosystem.

[hurds]

I read today that Apple has acquired 8 different companies since October last year. If you think they are resting on their laurels, I think you may be in for a shock.

I also heard a rumour that Apple may make iMessage and FaceTime cross platform with Android. That might put a spanner in the BBM plans that Blackberry have.

Well what have they done with all that? First I'm hearing about iMessage/facetime going crossplatform. That would be cool and a good thing. I just don't know if apples network (do they have one? I know they have at least one data center) is up to the demand. Hopefully they can do it. Got any links to that? Or is it more of the continued talk about apple making a low end device but zero evidence.

[notfanboy]

Amazing! It's hard to imagine the extremely myopic view that would put BB's innovation ahead of the duopoly.

So what's the duopoly doing? Apple is a little harder to read because they're so secretive. Why don't see what Google is up to, shall we?

BB has car infotainment systems - Google has self-driving cars. (There is no technological innovation in an infotainment system, but to get self driving cars you need machine vision, artificial intelligence, big databases, robotics, etc.)

Google is creating a new wearable computing market in Google Glass. It is a preview of the future BB has a patent for glasses that is really just a screen privacy filter.

Google Now has award winning voice recognition intelligence that they want to develop eventually into the Star Trek computer. In BB10 you ask about the weather and it will ask you "do you want to search the internet for weather?"

Google built a massively parallel brain that can look at pictures and identify them. The BB10 camera has trouble figuring out where people's faces are.

The last big BB announcement it was taking BBM to different platforms. Google already had everything cross-platform for years.

Google also has it's own social network, the Google Fiber ISP, it's own cloud file system, cloud-based applications for editing Office documents, cross-platform video chat. They can also predict disease outbreaks, election results, have programs that assist in natural disaster situations, I could keep going on and on here.

[tgzgeorge]

Im sorry sir, but phones are not all that blackberry does, they have been hugely innovative on the backend, hence BES 10.1, etc... just because it isn't represented as a shiny app icon doesn't mean they arnt innovating in other areas.

In an interview with Thor he speaks to this exact point that the average consumer only sees the shiny UI interface they don't know anything about what is going on in the background... thats the nerdy technical stuff nobody but engineers care about ... right?

Networking is how the world stays connected, and BlackBerry are the best mobile device network innovators around, always have been



Posted via CB10

yeah the back end that you mentioned is not that innovative, other companies are doing something similar. in fact they're not even considered a leader in that market, a little company called airwatch, that's generating a lot of revenue/profit.

bes 10.1 is for managing these devices, nothing to do with networking.

[djdragon]

I hope the Google and Apple have mobile quantum computing on their radar.

Posted via CB10