[justdan]

So, now BlackBerry going to go private and focus on business customers, does it mean my Q10 will be the last BlackBerry phone I can buy from a shop and use its services unless I am business owner or get BlackBerry from my company in the future?

I will miss you BlackBerry and sorry to see you go.

Posted via CB10

[knownastron]

As of right now there has been no announcements regarding whether BlackBerry will be discontinuing their hardware offerings.

The latest news is they're still working on future models at the moment. What will happen when the buyout goes through? Who knows. It honestly is up in the air right now.

Posted via CB10

[Troy Tiscareno]

My prediction: The Z30 is the last BlackBerry phone that will ever be released.

[SK122387]

I don't think BlackBerry is done with phones forever.

I DO think that they could only sell future devices to corporations, and that if we consumers want to buy them, we might only be able to order them directly through BlackBerry.

BlackBerry has a very loyal fan base, and they have to know that there are still millions of people that WANT their devices. Why would they take that all away? Other than the fact that yes, technically Fairfax could totally do away with the hardware to save money.

BlackBerry knows that there are still people in business that depend on the qwerty keyboard. Maybe they'll release a device once a year, but hopefully won't overproduce them like they've now done with the PlayBook, Z10, and Q10.

[bekkay]

My prediction: The Z30 is the last BlackBerry phone that will ever be released.

If so, I hope it will also get firesold and I pick one up

[bekkay]

I don't think BlackBerry is done with phones forever.

I DO think that they could only sell future devices to corporations, and that if we consumers want to buy them, we might only be able to order them directly through BlackBerry.

BlackBerry has a very loyal fan base, and they have to know that there are still millions of people that WANT their devices. Why would they take that all away? Other than the fact that yes, technically Fairfax could totally do away with the hardware to save money.

BlackBerry knows that there are still people in business that depend on the qwerty keyboard. Maybe they'll release a device once a year, but hopefully won't overproduce them like they've now done with the PlayBook, Z10, and Q10.

The loyal fan base has been mostly apathetic to the new BB10.

Also, not overproducing (i.e. producing in small numbers) will not work as the primary problem - the lack of developer support - will remain.

[CrackedBarry]

So, now BlackBerry going to go private and focus on business customers, does it mean my Q10 will be the last BlackBerry phone I can buy from a shop
Posted via CB10

It's quite possible, and its really too early to tell.

But yeah, withdrawing BBRYs from carrier stores makes a lot of sense. In the future BBRY would only sell/deal with corporations. (And maaaaybe their website)

A lot of corporate vendors use this model.

But it's really too early to tell.

This might be the situation regardless of the buyout, however. The Z10/Q10 has already been withdrawn by a lot of US carrier stores.

[stackberry369]

It's quite possible, and its really too early to tell.

But yeah, withdrawing BBRYs from carrier stores makes a lot of sense. In the future BBRY would only sell/deal with corporations. (And maaaaybe their website)

A lot of corporate vendors use this model.

But it's really too early to tell.

This might be the situation regardless of the buyout, however. The Z10/Q10 has already been withdrawn by a lot of US carrier stores.

and the carriers are a part of the problem when they steer customers to apple or android.

[Dave Bourque]

My prediction: The Z30 is the last BlackBerry phone that will ever be released.

My prediction. You are wrong.

Posted via CB10

[anon(1852343)]

I think you are jumping the gun! The offer that was accepted is conditional upon financing and most likely other conditions as well. Think for just a minute, with all the bad publicity surrounding BlackBerry, what financial institution is going to finance billions of dollars for fairfax to complete the purchase. Unless of course this institution has been hiding under a rock! Hopefully another buyer will step up to the plate and offer more and has $5billion lying around in cash! Dont get me wrong as I would love to stop the bleeding and wish I had that kind of money just to know that I can purchase a new BlackBerry when my Q10 contract is done.being realistic, I am going to have to bite the bullet and get a Win8 smartphone in the near future as it doesn't look very promising especially when something illegal is going on behind the scenes (obvious rumour) and could tie up the sale for years in litigation. Again, hope I am wrong, just sayin



Q10 10.2.0.1725 thanks BL Team

[Dave Bourque]

@rebroker ... BlackBerry will continue to make phones... they just aren't going to market to the sheeple.

Posted via CB10

[CrackedBarry]

My prediction: The Z30 is the last BlackBerry phone that will ever be released.

With the 40% layoffs, it'll be hard for BBRY to develop their own phones.

Just look at the situation now, BEFORE the cuts... The Z30 clearly took too long to develop. If it had been out eight months ago, it would have been a different story, but now? It's a midrange phone with a CPU and screen from a year and a half ago. A modest bump from the Z10. Spec wise it's actually almost identical to Lumia 920, which came out 11 months ago.
(And we don't really know when it'll come to North America, it could easily be December before it shows up.)

So clearly BBRY was stretched thin as it was, in regards to HW development. It doesn't exactly bode well for the prospect of future Blackberry handsets.

However: Some of the manufacturers that already assemble and manufacture cellphones (including Blackberries) are branching out into device design... Instead of HP or HTC giving a finished design to Foxconn or Asustec to manufacture, they are coming up with the entire design themselves, and then slap on the HTC logo on it.

I wouldn't be surprised if this would be how Blackberry might bring a future phone on the market. It's much cheaper, and BBRYs limited engineering resources wouldn't be a problem this way.

Would a Blackberry designed and manufactured by Foxconn or Asustec, as opposed to only manufactured by Foxconn or Asustec still be "a real" Blackberry? That's for you to decide, I wouldn't mind, but Im sure some would...

[jpvj]

So, now BlackBerry going to go private and focus on business customers, does it mean my Q10 will be the last BlackBerry phone I can buy from a shop and use its services unless I am business owner or get BlackBerry from my company in the future?

I will miss you BlackBerry and sorry to see you go.

Posted via CB10

As long as BlackBerry are going to manufacture phones, you will be able to buy them. "Not focusing on consumers" does not mean "we won't sell to consumers".

For some it might come as a chock, but BlackBerry has OS 10.3 or 11.0 (or whatever the next gen OS is called under development) as well as future phones being designed. It is my believe, that they want to license BB10 if possible, but also knows that in order to do so, they must have a very stable (=10.2) feature rich offering and possible unique offering.

I assume some vendors would like to get their hands om something other than Android, but there could be many reasons con/pro this approach.

BBM going cross platform is BlackBerrys first step at opening up and reaching out to a wider audience.

I would not be surprised to see the Universal Device Service component from BES 10 become a "module" to be licensed to other MDM vendors, who just have to build the management interface and web service integration.

Could OS 10 be burried (like the PlayBook) and leave all BB owners stuck? It's possible. It's an equation where you have to look at losses from the hardware business vs. income from services business.

They have spent so much money building the new hardware platform, new OS and new ecosystem, that it really takes balls to shut it down already. They could go down this road if they find other partners wanting to license BB OS 10 and manufactore their own hardware. BlackBerry would just be a services company and not compete directly with the handset makers.

[CrackedBarry]

For some it might come as a chock, but BlackBerry has OS 10.3 or 11.0 (or whatever the next gen OS is called under development) as well as future phones being designed. It is my believe, that they want to license BB10 if possible, but also knows that in order to do so, they must have a very stable (=10.2) feature rich offering and possible unique offering.
.

But as I pointed out, if you look at the Z10/Z30, Blackberrys hardware engineering resources are stretched pretty thin as it is.
(That's the only explanation I can see for the very late launch of the two devices. The age of the components show that they've been in development for a long time)

And this is before the job cuts, which doesn't bode well for their future capabilities, even if engineering isn't affected as hard as other divisions.


And I really think you can give up on the licensing pipe dream. There clearly isn't any interest, considering that BBRY has been trying to look for "strategic options" including licensing for over a year now.

You do have a point about other manufacturers might want an alternative to Android, but the lack of interest in licensing BB10 speaks for itself. There are other, less risky, better and cheaper alternatives to BB10.

[badiyee]

My prediction: The Z30 is the last BlackBerry phone that will ever be released.

didnt you predict that the z30 wouldn't even live to see the day ever? that was some time ago.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

[Asdic Ping]

I can't see that there will be an immediate shift away from the consumer because there are still markets around the world where BlackBerry are still strong. For example in Indonesia they have around 37% market share. Even in the UK they have around 9.3% not big but not small either. What percentage of these sales are BB10 I don't know, but based on this I would hope that they will continue to supply handsets to the consumer.

[BroncoVAL]

Always lamenting about U.S.A poor results but as long as you compete against a U.S. centric brand like Apple how much does this have an impact on a new start for Blackberry?
If you are a leader you have to be there but for a company coming from that far...
Blackberry is very strong in Indonesia, well represented in Africa, still a brand of interest in U.K and in many other countries a good pricing with efficient marketing would easily give Blackberry a place on the podium.
I don't see all that emergency to shut the hardware down and give the customers' market up!
For me the pricing was wrong, Blackberry was way too expensive they should have been very aggressive and focus on spreading as much as possible BB10 devices.
They did all the opposite: overpricing decent devices running on a young promising but sour OS, confusing consumers with carrying on BB7 instead of boldly steering towards BB10 in Indonesia with cheap entry level handsets...
Still i can see a future for BB10 on consumers market, it would only take time and patiently rebuild your name on ONE OS -BB10- with a maximum of 4 devices: 2 cheap 150-200$ (a Q5 and a slider), 2 medium/high 350-599$ (Q and Z with minimum 4" screen).



Posted via CB10

[freedomx20a]

Of course. Blackberry and its fans are a big family. BB will let us buy it one way or another. I will renew my contract from rogers and get latest iphone and sell it BNIB. Then go to bb website and order the new Q. :P Thats gonna be my plan forever.

[freedomx20a]

and the carriers are a part of the problem when they steer customers to apple or android.

exactly! when I renewed for another 3 years the Q10 just got released and so did the S4! The person on the phone is like "are you sure you want the blackberry??? the S4 just came out and everyone is getting that device." I had to say yes i'm sure like 3x before she let me go with the Q. Gwad it was annoying

[Dave Bourque]

exactly! when I renewed for another 3 years the Q10 just got released and so did the S4! The person on the phone is like "are you sure you want the blackberry??? the S4 just came out and everyone is getting that device." I had to say yes i'm sure like 3x before she let me go with the Q. Gwad it was annoying

This why people are aggressive in these forums... we are tired of the lies and deception.

Posted via CB10

[freedomx20a]

This why people are aggressive in these forums... we are tired of the lies and deception.

Posted via CB10

I'm not lying. And I'm sure the lady was not lying either about most ppl are getting the S4. I don't get your comment.

Posted via Q10 using CB10

[Dave Bourque]

No I believe you. I'm saying in regards to BlackBerry 10 people bash it far too much and know far too little about it.

Posted via CB10

[robhenry24]

I don't think BlackBerry is done with phones forever.

I DO think that they could only sell future devices to corporations, and that if we consumers want to buy them, we might only be able to order them directly through BlackBerry.

BlackBerry has a very loyal fan base, and they have to know that there are still millions of people that WANT their devices. Why would they take that all away? Other than the fact that yes, technically Fairfax could totally do away with the hardware to save money.

BlackBerry knows that there are still people in business that depend on the qwerty keyboard. Maybe they'll release a device once a year, but hopefully won't overproduce them like they've now done with the PlayBook, Z10, and Q10.

I agree with Sean, as long as we get support for our devices form BlackBerry I am okay; There are a lot of BB devices out there, I was looking on eBay the other evening and was shocked at the number of Z10's and Q10's for sale.

And the BB devices with the 7 OS are saleing for half the price they were a year ago. About 2 years ago I bought a nice used/ like new white Torch 9810 and paid $200,00, now the same phone is saleing for $99.00.

This if off topic, but I wonder how QNX (which BlackBerry owns) will fit into this acquisition.

I was reading the other day that BB's condition was putting the squeeze on QNX, they had frozen hiring at QNX and QNX is growing, they are doing well..! A small co, that is bringing in a lot of money.

There is some interesting work going on there with regard to the BlayBook and the OS 10 / phones. That project is called QT. I know, some ask how do I know, I am an an avid reader, sorry that I don't have that link on hand; Try doing a search on QNX.

[Troy Tiscareno]

didnt you predict that the z30 wouldn't even live to see the day ever? that was some time ago.

No. Even months ago, it was clear that the Z30 was already in the production queue, and components have to be purchased many months in advance (typical production time for a new phone is 12-18 months from initial design to having product boxed for sale), so it was a given that the Z30 would be released.

But while we've all heard about the Z30 for almost a year (and it's still not out in most of the world yet), you'll notice that you've heard almost nothing about any future BB10 phones. That's no accident: there aren't any in the pipeline, because there are way too many still in the warehouse. I'm sure there are DESIGNS for some future phones, but no components are being purchased/contracted for, which typically happens 9-12 months before a phone's release.

Right now, BB has plenty of phones in inventory to sell to enterprises for the next 1-2 years, at the likely rate they'll be able to sell them, so, no, I don't expect to see anymore BB10 phones, and I can virtually guarantee that you'll never see another BB-originated BB10 phone (I acknowledge that it's possible, if unlikely, that BB buys an "off the shelf" design from an OEM and puts BB10 on it at some point in the future).

[Troy Tiscareno]

Blackberry is very strong in Indonesia, well represented in Africa, still a brand of interest in U.K and in many other countries a good pricing with efficient marketing would easily give Blackberry a place on the podium.

The problem with that is that all of that "strength" is with BBOS, and NOT with BB10, and BBOS is a deprecated platform. No matter how many BBOS phones are sold, it's not going to help BB10 adoption.

But even worse than that: the (eventual, late) rollout of BBM for Android is going to kill off BBOS sales in those countries pretty quickly. Many uses ALREADY carry an Android phone for apps, and keep a BBOS phone for BBM, but once they can install BBM on their Android phone, the BBOS phones will be put in a drawer and forgotten. The service revenue from BIS, which is already falling quickly, is going to fall of a cliff. Much like Symbian, BBOS is a "burning platform."

That would be okay if BBOS users were migrating to BB10, but they're mostly migrating to Android instead, because there are apps and services on Android, but hardly any on BB10.