[Breuklen]

While it may not matter to you - or some others here - the fact is that BB is more than just a smartphone company, and they'll simply be focusing on those other parts moving forward instead of on phones.

The reality is that without hardware control, BB has to rely on software to wow. I don't think it'll happen. Farming out hardware will probably be a disaster. At this point, just throw in the damn towel. It's a lot easier now than later with even less revenue.

[app_Developer]

The reality is that without hardware control, BB has to rely on software to wow. I don't think it'll happen. Farming out hardware will probably be a disaster. At this point, just throw in the damn towel. It's a lot easier now than later with even less revenue.

What exactly do you mean by throw in the towel?

Shareholders have more than 4 billion reasons to not throw in the towel. BB continues to sell Good/BES, QNX automotive, AtHoc. They think they have a future in products such as Radar. That side of their business is growing, and none of it depends on BlackBerry phones.

I do doubt they will get very much revenue from licensing the phone software to 2nd and 3rd tier players. I agree with you there. The question for shareholders, though, is can BlackBerry build a growing and profitable business worth >$8/share without phones. I think they can. That seems to be Watsa/Chen's plan.

[darkehawke]

Dramatic much, he was handed a great company prospective with holes to plug in finance and BB10 and he still came up with the same old crap hardware that couldn't set a match alight let alone the market. So he thought Android on even worse hardware would work loo.



Some CEO, go back my posts, whilst most on Crack were still raving on about this saviour early on I was pointing out the signs he would fail, all these years later he still has not even learnt BB past on how it got to where it was when he took over, Jesus the guy dismissed PB when it was still in support and on the website, and dismissed them owners. Crazy.

By the time Chen inherited Blackberry, BB10 was full on killing the company.

The Playbook was dead and that was thanks to people before him.

There was no chance for Blackberry to release the device you wanted with Chen because BB10 had killed the company too much for them to risk it.

Considering the biggest money maker for Blackberry has been a low end device, not chasing high end was smart.
pricing the devices as if they were high end was incredibly stupid though

[TGR1]

The reality is that without hardware control, BB has to rely on software to wow. I don't think it'll happen. Farming out hardware will probably be a disaster. At this point, just throw in the damn towel. It's a lot easier now than later with even less revenue.

It's a mistake to assume that software will have to "wow". That's doomed to fail. There might be something a little more overtly noticeable to the consumer but overall there will likely be nothing sexy about this recovery plan. I anticipate BBRY is looking at providing solutions that will do yeoman duty in the background, capable of steady, on-going revenue. Stable and trusted by enterprise, less exposed to fickle consumers. That is something both in their DNA and in Chen's and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

[ardakca]

They can always go back to the hardware game. They just need time for recovery I guess. Nokia is rumored to release Android sets. So I don't see it impossible in the future. But it is a big if of course.

[DrBoomBotz]

The "PHONES " were their MAJOR source of income for many years. So when you try to spin otherwise you just sound foolish.

The past several years the phones have been a major financial drain on the company.

Let me see... Which of these statements is spin and sounds foolish?

[crackbrry fan]

Let me see... Which of these statements is spin and sounds foolish?

Yours

Posted via CB10

[darkehawke]

Yours

Posted via CB10

Ahh technically you were half right
The service charge on BIS was their major source of income.
Of course they had to sell phones to get that

Without that, phones have been draining them as they cant sell sufficient volumes

[anon(9353145)]

It's a mistake to assume that software will have to "wow". That's doomed to fail. There might be something a little more overtly noticeable to the consumer but overall there will likely be nothing sexy about this recovery plan. I anticipate BBRY is looking at providing solutions that will do yeoman duty in the background, capable of steady, on-going revenue. Stable and trusted by enterprise, less exposed to fickle consumers. That is something both in their DNA and in Chen's and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I've read something similar into it. Chen wants to be the invisible glue in the background that ties things together securely. Like how QNX can run Carplay, Android auto, etc. As long as it generates revenue. Not a bad strategy imho.

[stlabrat]

They operate very conservatively overall. Which is why unlike Palm, for example, failure in phones did not kill them. They've banked their profits. But then it takes those profits and some long term vision and luck to develop something unique that commands a premium and leads a part of the market.

Early days for BB were quite different from what I have read. They took chances, saw trends coming before the competition, and cleverly manipulated the market, their competitors and at times partners.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

there are many parallel with palm story... carrier used palm same way as BB i guess.
Pre to postmortem: the inside story of the death of Palm and webOS | The Verge

[stlabrat]

oh, stop it... BB just need one pokemon...

[thurask]

I've read something similar into it. Chen wants to be the invisible glue in the background that ties things together securely. Like how QNX can run Carplay, Android auto, etc. As long as it generates revenue. Not a bad strategy imho.

Or that mobile payments thing up here:

https://enstream.com/2014/06/12/blac...ment-services/

https://enstream.com/2015/08/10/how-...o-almis-ledas/

[JasW]

They can always go back to the hardware game. They just need time for recovery I guess. Nokia is rumored to release Android sets. So I don't see it impossible in the future. But it is a big if of course.

It's over, Johnny. IT'S OVER.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

It's over, Johnny. IT'S OVER.

It's actually kind of the same thing.... NOKIA isn't releasing any new phones, they have simple licensed the "BRAND" out to some vendors that want to milk it for whatever it's still worth. That's all Chen is doing too.

Both have the misfortune of the BRAND also being the company name - so they do have to be a little careful in how this is done.

[ardakca]

Nokia's N1 tablet was pretty nice actually. The Z Launcher is a joy to use. If it had keyboard support the priv or pkb android would have been the ultimate device .

[crackbrry fan]

Ahh technically you were half right
The service charge on BIS was their major source of income.
Of course they had to sell phones to get that

Without that, phones have been draining them as they cant sell sufficient volumes

The new handsets didn't have BIS ,(BlackBerry 10), the plan was to replace that revenue stream with BlackBerry World, music / video store. Tap to pay,Mobile pay, etc. How much effort was put in by Chen with respect to that?? Selling devices was just one revenue stream. Chen shot himself in the foot with the cost cutting, harming the very platform. Where do you think Apple obtains a large portion of their revenue from outside of the constant upgrade cycles and advertising ??

Posted via CB10

[early2bed]

I've read something similar into it. Chen wants to be the invisible glue in the background that ties things together securely. Like how QNX can run Carplay, Android auto, etc. As long as it generates revenue. Not a bad strategy imho.

QNX is used as a touch-enabled display for CarPlay and Android Auto. It's like saying the Vizio wants to be the display for all of the video screens in your house.

[DenverRalphy]

The new handsets didn't have BIS ,(BlackBerry 10), the plan was to replace that revenue stream with BlackBerry World, music / video store. Tap to pay,Mobile pay, etc. How much effort was put in by Chen with respect to that??

Are you for a moment trying to propose that those were actually profitable revenue streams, or even had a potential? C'mon. The revenue for each of those products was less than the cost, and thus costing BBRY money. How much effort would you expect from Chen? BB's music and pay options were miserable failures (and to be fair, mobile pay options were next to non-existent with only a token effort with zero substance), it's not like there were a line of people qeued up to take advantage of the opportunity.


Really?

[crackbrry fan]

Are you for a moment trying to propose that those were actually profitable revenue streams, or even had a potential? C'mon. The revenue for each of those products was less than the cost, and thus costing BBRY money. How much effort would you expect from Chen? It's not like there were a line of people qeued up to take advantage of the opportunity.


Really?

How much do you exactly think they charged per BIS client? What do you think putting Amazon store and some third rate Music Store was a solution/ effort ?

Please!!

Posted via CB10

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

The new handsets didn't have BIS ,(BlackBerry 10), the plan was to replace that revenue stream with BlackBerry World, music / video store. Tap to pay,Mobile pay, etc. How much effort was put in by Chen with respect to that?? Selling devices was just one revenue stream. Chen shot himself in the foot with the cost cutting, harming the very platform. Where do you think Apple obtains a large portion of their revenue from outside of the constant upgrade cycles and advertising ??

Posted via CB10

So how did you want him to keep the lights on? Look at the losses he inherited the two quarters before he showed up. Cutting was REQUIRED, some of it did probably put an end to BB10 even back in 2013... but BB10 died in the SPRING of 2013, not in the Fall.

[crackbrry fan]

So how did you want him to keep the lights on? Look at the losses he inherited the two quarters before he showed up. Cutting was REQUIRED, some of it did probably put an end to BB10 even back in 2013... but BB10 died in the SPRING of 2013, not in the Fall.

He was not cutting he was closing down the hardware side. It's all over now, the arguments are moot. BlackBerry is now history.

Posted via CB10

[TgeekB]

He was not cutting he was closing down the hardware side. It's all over now, the arguments are moot. BlackBerry is now history.

Posted via CB10

...as a hardware company.

[crackbrry fan]

...as a hardware company.

Perhaps. I do wish them luck with that.

Posted via CB10

[Bbnivende]

As a consumer and not a shareholder , I do not really care about BlackBerry's Enterprise software ambitions.

[Troy Tiscareno]

As a consumer and not a shareholder , I do not really care about BlackBerry's Enterprise software ambitions.

And BB is just fine with that. They were never good at dealing with consumers anyway, and they know it, and are now going back to their enterprise roots, where, hopefully, they'll be a better fit.