[DSS900]

Not saying Chen isn't serious. He is and my hat goes off to him for what he's accomplished already in the last couple of quarters. Yes, he's addressed the need to get back the roots that gave BlackBerry it's edge in their earlier days. But it's time to step up the development and deployment of apps for the business user. not to say they don't have any apps suited for the business community whether through BlackBerry World, or android. They're just not outstanding in this area. Personally, I use Quicksale pro from intellixense.com on my iPad daily which is exclusive to apple. Practically speaking, BlackBerry 's calender serves me very well, but I'm also quite comfortable with apples as well.

Sure, enterprise targets the corporate customer but the followup support needs to also include the regular trades and sales people with apps they love if they expect to recover a mass following.

I love my z10 and z30 but should I expect to also be an apple customer?

Posted via CB10

[zocster]

Moved to the area where you can discuss a bit more freely, the general discussion. I believe he is doing quite a great job at it, to be honest, with the launch of the passport and partnership with developers on the launch day.

[DSS900]

Thank you.

I don't disagree that Chen has done an amazing job so far and he's done the weeding and pruning where it was most important to start turning things around with a clarity in focus. However, that's where I'm lost. What's the end game? Is it to be a well rounded all inclusive communications company focused on the business and government needs? If so, IMHO, I guess that means there's a lot of room to grow to catch up to the other players in both hardware and applications. Yes, the os 10 and bb10 phones are a great initial step in this phase. At this point though, maybe due to lack of sales numbers, the app developers haven't really stepped it up enough. So, I my mind, what more does Chen have to do so BlackBerry isn't seen as a third or forth choice in the business world?

Posted via CB10

[MmmHmm]

He should hire a team of developers whose sole job is to crank out quality business focussed native apps for BlackBerry World. If independent developers don't make native apps, BlackBerry can't just sit around and complain about it. Do it yourself. If any of the apps turn out to be big hits, then make cross platform versions for iOS and Android.

[adrenaline_x]

But who is going to pay for the development of these apps?

Posted via CB10

[laserx]

But who is going to pay for the development of these apps?

Posted via CB10

Same way developers get paid now, sell the apps on BBW and let BB get money back for what they spent to develop them.

[hoonigan99]

I totally agree, BlackBerry needs to return to its roots in more aspect: You don't need an app for that!

One of the traits I have always enjoyed about BlackBerry is right out of the box they give you most of the tools people expect (such as a built in flashlight, a full featured scientific calculator that also does conversions and tips, etc) and for the items BlackBerry doesn't feature directly on the phone there used to always be good native apps.

There certainly is a void in this respect now, BB10 has many features so you don't need third party apps, but some, especially for professionals or sales purposes are distinctly lacking. Now it's time to look at all the best sales, crm, and productivity apps and start developing BlackBerry native applications to do these jobs. If you can make one of the best apps to serve these niches, even if you have to charge for it, they could be ahead, because it can be a very daunting task going through Playstore/Appstore to find which, of thousands of crm apps, is the one for you. And you don't simply try them all because your dealing with very sensitive and crucial business data.

BB for Life

[Troy Tiscareno]

Same way developers get paid now, sell the apps on BBW and let BB get money back for what they spent to develop them.

Think about how long it's taken BB to get cross-platform BBM out, and a year later, there are still serious problems with it. Think about the pace of BB10 development - it took well over a year before 10.2.1 was released, which most people here say "that's the minimum functionality BB10 should have launched with."

BB has its hands full with the few apps they already make - there is simply no extra development time with the current staff for big additional projects.

Look at business apps like Salesforce - there's a whole huge company that works to build that product, it's their only focus, and they spend hundreds of millions or more a year to make it. And that's one app. BB doesn't have hundreds of millions to make apps like that, nor is it their expertise. And there's no way they could recoup even a small fraction of the development costs with BB10's tiny installed base - if they could, there would be other developers already stepping in to make those apps. BB faces the same market realities as everyone else.

That's why they're relying on Android apps - third party companies are already making them, and it costs BB relatively little (mostly, their work on the Android runtime) to support them.

Even with BB's focus on the enterprise, you have to remember that something like 2/3 of BB's customers are in emerging markets who aren't going to be spending a bunch of money per year on a Salesforce subscription. If you look at the raw numbers of BB10 users in enterprises, it's a pretty small number of users, and even if you could guarantee a crazy high adoption rate of, say, 50% of those users, that's still going to force BB to either price themselves out of the market or lose money.

Enterprise apps aren't written by one guy working at nights and weekends for a month - for most apps that size, there are tons of regulations and legal requirements which require audits and reviews and development meetings and on and on, and it can take hundreds of people working for several years to get a sizable app ready for the public. Again, this is why there are whole, large companies devoted to doing this for a single (or a handful of) app(s). It's just not that easy.

Let's not even get into the fact that most companies who have online services don't have open APIs, so people can't just write their own clients for them. That's a whole different issue.

[Dmessenger]

Now its high time BlackBerry users should get quality business apps. The entire theme is get it DONE so apps matters..

Posted from my Black Beast Q10

[MmmHmm]

Think about how long it's taken BB to get cross-platform BBM out, and a year later, there are still serious problems with it. Think about the pace of BB10 development - it took well over a year before 10.2.1 was released, which most people here say "that's the minimum functionality BB10 should have launched with."

BB has its hands full with the few apps they already make - there is simply no extra development time with the current staff for big additional projects.

Look at business apps like Salesforce - there's a whole huge company that works to build that product, it's their only focus, and they spend hundreds of millions or more a year to make it. And that's one app. BB doesn't have hundreds of millions to make apps like that, nor is it their expertise. And there's no way they could recoup even a small fraction of the development costs with BB10's tiny installed base - if they could, there would be other developers already stepping in to make those apps. BB faces the same market realities as everyone else.

That's why they're relying on Android apps - third party companies are already making them, and it costs BB relatively little (mostly, their work on the Android runtime) to support them.

Even with BB's focus on the enterprise, you have to remember that something like 2/3 of BB's customers are in emerging markets who aren't going to be spending a bunch of money per year on a Salesforce subscription. If you look at the raw numbers of BB10 users in enterprises, it's a pretty small number of users, and even if you could guarantee a crazy high adoption rate of, say, 50% of those users, that's still going to force BB to either price themselves out of the market or lose money.

Enterprise apps aren't written by one guy working at nights and weekends for a month - for most apps that size, there are tons of regulations and legal requirements which require audits and reviews and development meetings and on and on, and it can take hundreds of people working for several years to get a sizable app ready for the public. Again, this is why there are whole, large companies devoted to doing this for a single (or a handful of) app(s). It's just not that easy.

Let's not even get into the fact that most companies who have online services don't have open APIs, so people can't just write their own clients for them. That's a whole different issue.

Some apps are very complicated and expensive to make. Many are not. Focus on the low hanging fruit first. Also, lots of big name apps started out with a small startup team of entrepreneurs. The big business end of things often happens later when it gets popular.

In any event, the rationale that Blackberry just doesn't have enough resources and money to accomplish things like develop apps is too often repeated around here. If BlackBerry wants to be successful in selling smartphones, it has to make investments. If it doesn't have enough resources and money to develop a few business apps, then it needs to stop making its own OS and hardware. If it is really in such dire straights that hiring a team of app developers is out of reach, then it has no business competing in a multibillion dollar industry. If that's the case then it is way, way out of its league in the smartphone industry. I tend to think it is not in such bad shape, but I guess it could be.

[Troy Tiscareno]

If BlackBerry wants to be successful in selling smartphones, it has to make investments. If it doesn't have enough resources and money to develop a few business apps, then it needs to stop making its own OS and hardware. If it is really in such dire straights that hiring a team of app developers is out of reach, then it has no business competing in a multibillion dollar industry. If that's the case then it is way, way out of its league in the smartphone industry. I tend to think it is not in such bad shape, but I guess it could be.

The company over the last 18 months lost money and investments worth around $6B, plus borrowed $1.25B (that's called debt), and has a current market value of about $6-8B. Think about those numbers for a second. Also consider that over the last 2 years or so, BB has cut over 60% of its staff. Finally, it has lost money for the last, I think, 10 or 12 quarters (I could be wrong, but it's quite a few). If BB was a hospital patient, it would still be listed as being "in critical condition", though no longer in the "grave" condition it was in a year ago, it's far from healthy. And you'll find that while investors are quick to give small new startups some money and time to get new things developed, they're much less likely to give that kind of leeway to a much, much larger company (that has much bigger expenses), especially one that has been on a 4-year down-slope in the market. So those aren't directly comparable.

BB might, at best, be able to afford one, or perhaps even two new teams to develop an app apiece that would be useful to the enterprise, but you're still looking at 2-3 years likely leadtime before they have a marketable product. Will the market wait that long for a native BB app? Will BB have enough handset marketshare by then to justify the expense? Those are things both BB (and BB stockholders) and outside investors will consider.