[hokie_prof]

So, yesterday I was on the phone with a guy who was trying to convince me to start using a new browser-based and app support program. He assured me that apps were available for Android devices and the iPhone, yada, yada.

I inquired as to whether there was an app for Blackberry and he said no. "We think Blackberry is on it's way out the door."

I guess I'm posted this partly because I was ticked off by the statement, but I was curious as to whether people really think that Blackberry is losing its appeal. I have an Android tablet and I like Apple computers, but at this point in my life I honestly prefer Blackberry to other smartphones. It's reliable, has a magnificent keyboard, and it feels remarkably secure. Add to that the fact that I receive my email to my phone more quickly than I receive it to my computer. I get all of that even though I have one of the least expensive BBs on the market.

Any other thoughts, opinions?

[skfreak]

but at this point in my life I honestly prefer Blackberry to other smartphones. It's reliable, has a magnificent keyboard

I can only agree but I think that App-wise Blackberry is indeed losing relevance.
Google seems to be developing only apps for Android. Seesmic for the Berry was discontinued and a lot of Software is available for Iphone and Android but not for BB. That's sad and I do hope it will change.

[_StephenBB81]

The Problem is that as blackberry users we just take it.

We don't call and ask why we don't have an app, we don't avoid services that ignore us, we just grin and move on.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[dkonigs]

Of course it doesn't help that I'm under a constant barrage of peer-pressure to dump BlackBerry in favor of iPhone/Android. Almost none of my friends are BlackBerry users. Almost everyone I know who actually does have a BlackBerry tends to have it because work gave it to them. Or they've got an old model, bought late in its life, still on contract, and plan to get a new-flash-non-BB phone the moment the contract is up. (Seriously, everyone impression of BB seems based on a Curve 8300 with its stock OS or maybe a Storm 9500 that never worked well.)

Of course I also live in the US, and many of my friends didn't even get smartphones until the point where real competition to the BB started to enter the market.

I personally stick with BB because I've got a little more of an investment in the platform than the term of my contract (unlike all of them), and shutter at the thought of having to use a touchscreen keyboard.

[daveycrocket]

I am looking at replacing a Jeyo add-in application to my outlook which is a windows phone based PC app, I noticed that Jeyo have released an Andriod version so I contacted them, asked about a BlackBerry version, the answer is yes it's being worked on now. So when it does get released I'll be able to sync my new torch slider direct to my outlook email system and download my sms messages and print them off now that's gotta be good

[01itr]

So, yesterday I was on the phone with a guy who was trying to convince me to start using a new browser-based and app support program. He assured me that apps were available for Android devices and the iPhone, yada, yada.

I inquired as to whether there was an app for Blackberry and he said no. "We think Blackberry is on it's way out the door."

I guess I'm posted this partly because I was ticked off by the statement, but I was curious as to whether people really think that Blackberry is losing its appeal. I have an Android tablet and I like Apple computers, but at this point in my life I honestly prefer Blackberry to other smartphones. It's reliable, has a magnificent keyboard, and it feels remarkably secure. Add to that the fact that I receive my email to my phone more quickly than I receive it to my computer. I get all of that even though I have one of the least expensive BBs on the market.

Any other thoughts, opinions?

I wouldn't worry too much about it. With QNX phones coming next year, there should be greater support for the platform and hopefully more interest from developers. RIM is in a stick situation right now where I'm guessing developers are holding off on developing for BBOS since there is a brand new one coming next year. Worse comes to worst, if there is an Android app, you can almost be certain you will be able to use it on your Blackberry via the Android Player, so it wouldn't even matter.

[dkonigs]

Oh, and when people do create a BlackBerry version of their app, I really don't think they take it very seriously. Here's my wild-guess process flow:

1) Decide it would be useful to have a BlackBerry app, but don't want to spend too much money on it. Update the website to indicate that the app is being worked on.
2) Find some poor intern and/or junior developer (who can't code their way out of a paper bag), assume they can "figure out that BlackBerry stuff", and toss the work in their direction.
3) . . . 6 months pass . . . (and any resulting code looks like a sample from a TheDailyWTF story)
4) Contact a company that actually knows how to do BlackBerry development, albeit with an even further reduced budget, and get them to produce "something" in as little time as possible.
5) The app is released, grossly inferior (feature-wise) to the iPhone/Android versions, and no one likes it.
6) A year or two later, decide its not worth updating, and abandon the app.

By the way, I actually ran this thought (at least steps 1-5) past several folks from companies who do contract development for the BlackBerry platform when I was at DevCon'10. Surprisingly, they all nodded in agreement and sometimes even added additional details.

[sleepngbear]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. With QNX phones coming next year, there should be greater support for the platform and hopefully more interest from developers. RIM is in a stick situation right now where I'm guessing developers are holding off on developing for BBOS since there is a brand new one coming next year. Worse comes to worst, if there is an Android app, you can almost be certain you will be able to use it on your Blackberry via the Android Player, so it wouldn't even matter.

Ya know, I'm as optimistic as anybody about RIM and the BB brand, and I've loved the BB platform as long as I've been using it. But honestly, what is there to indicate that there will be a greater interest in developing apps for QNX handhelds? My concern lies in the fact that there hasn't really been an overabundance of apps for the PlayBook, which originally boasted an easier environment to develop for. Sure, I see new apps every day in AppWorld, but not a whole lot that really stands out and makes me say 'Wow, gotta have that.' (Of course I've never been a huge consumer of apps anyway.) I would love to see QNX explode on the scene and make it a 3- or 4-horse race, assuming WP7.5 tosses something valuable into the foray as well. I just wonder if developers are going to see much of a reason to write for one or two additional platforms. Maybe part of that will depend on how much the PlayBook matures between now and then to whet their appetites.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[easyrun99]

I'm neither a power app user or power data user and would LOVE to be able to migrate back to BB, but my employer doesn't support BES and BIS won't sync my outlook calendar and outlook contacts and barely manages my Microsoft Exchange emails. If, and I know they won't, BB would offer a "consumer" activesync option, I think there is a group of consumers who would indeed come back. The form factor is great and the keyboard is fantastic.

[rollingrock1988]

Unfortunately, the truth is that Blackberry is losing relevance. I love them, we love them but they just can't get things together fast enough. I think they are moving in the right direction but they are still taking missteps to address their problems.

I think they can pull through but every day it's harder for me to believe that they will pull through.

I've got my 9650 that I love and I will continue to use it. My contract is up in december 2012 so I have time to see what is going to happen with them over the next year.

[colonel]

Any other thoughts, opinions?

this is the opinion of one person

there are plenty of BB apps and their price is higher then apple, so one must assume they need the extra margin over volume

apps are more useful on large screen devices where people want to play games and stuff

90% of phones users want better battery life, excellent email, reliable phone calls and no fiddly call answering - step in the BB

I had an iphone 4 and an HTC sensation (better then the iphone BTW) and I played with apps alot the first few weeks but then got pi$$ed that I lost so many calls due to the fiddly call answer, no keyboard, no flashing light for email on the iphone (duh!).

Very pleased with my torch & playbook now

[1812dave]

this is the opinion of one person


90% of phones users want reliable phone calls and no fiddly call answering - step in the BB

I've got a Storm 2. It isn't reliable for phone calls--sometimes it reboots itself. It may go months without doing that, than reboot a few times within a few days. I've reloaded the OS from scratch a number of time to try to mitigate these issues. It's a POS phone, IMO. the only thing I like about it is it's loud and the screen is bright. other than that, I despise it's lack of speed, reliability and features.

[ADFXPro777]

I personally will not listen to the advice of a salesman. For me, their insights are usually irrelevant...lol.

Honestly, Blackberry will not lose relevance. I work in finance, and while I don't deal with technology firms, an associate that does showed me data that RIM will grow to 18 to 19 percent of the market share in the next 3-5 years. Believe it or not, they are actually neck-to-neck with Apple in this aspect. Android will still expand, but start to slow down a bit on growth. On the other hand, the real major growth will come from Microsoft.

So yes, I would not worry much about RIM ;-)

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[mickrg123]

Need look no farther then PlayBook it has been 3 + months and cant get almost any of apps I had on BB phone (no longer have) I have asked dev's how long before coming to PB and they say maybe never. i have iphone and now Android and i feel Android is the best. Only reason I stay with PB is now Android apps are no available and OS they copied from HP has promose. Rim has let the market pass them by. How about no email bluetooth or spell check on this thing STILL!!!!!!!

[murnende]

How about no email bluetooth or spell check on this thing STILL!!!!!!!

????? What am I missing here?

[chiefbroski]

They are losing relevancy, but the RIMpire is striking back.

It'll take a while. RIM will lose market share until the OS7 devices are released where it will stabilize, then with QNX they will get some back....some. It's getting pretty competitive, but if RIM can capitalize on Android apps while getting good specs and a nice ecosystem in addition to their security and email. They will be fine. Short term pain, long term gain.

[rollingrock1988]

We just have to wait and see. They aren't showing **** so all we have is speculation.

[dalton4L]

So, yesterday I was on the phone with a guy who was trying to convince me to start using a new browser-based and app support program. He assured me that apps were available for Android devices and the iPhone, yada, yada.

I inquired as to whether there was an app for Blackberry and he said no. "We think Blackberry is on it's way out the door."

I guess I'm posted this partly because I was ticked off by the statement, but I was curious as to whether people really think that Blackberry is losing its appeal. I have an Android tablet and I like Apple computers, but at this point in my life I honestly prefer Blackberry to other smartphones. It's reliable, has a magnificent keyboard, and it feels remarkably secure. Add to that the fact that I receive my email to my phone more quickly than I receive it to my computer. I get all of that even though I have one of the least expensive BBs on the market.

Any other thoughts, opinions?

Yes, BlackBerry is losing relevance, and no, I don't think RIM will make a comeback.

Recent surveys show that only 4-6% of people looking to purchase a smartphone are interested in making that purchase a BlackBerry. That mixed with the fact that RIM are lazy and don't seem to have any decent direction make me think that they are on their deathbed. If they can last long enough to get QNX phones to the market it will be irrelevant by then and even if it is pretty well hyped, there's absolutely no chance that it will be enough to be considered a comeback for RIM.

Back in 2007, before the iPhone and Android, RIM was basically the only smartphone and was vastly popular. Then, in 2007 when the iPhone came out, it changed smartphones as we knew them and took a massive chunk of RIM's foothold. A little later came Android, and that took even more from RIM. I find it hard to believe RIM could pull off doing to iPhone and Android what they did to BlackBerrys; as I said before, RIM are too lazy and not innovative enough to warrant such hype and desire for their product.

I know my answer won't be popular at all, but it's my opinion, and I hope I'm wrong. To anyone skeptical of where I came up with the numbers and backing for why I think RIM are lazy and un-innovative, search the forums first please.

[ADGrant]

I'm neither a power app user or power data user and would LOVE to be able to migrate back to BB, but my employer doesn't support BES and BIS won't sync my outlook calendar and outlook contacts and barely manages my Microsoft Exchange emails. If, and I know they won't, BB would offer a "consumer" activesync option, I think there is a group of consumers who would indeed come back. The form factor is great and the keyboard is fantastic.

Lack of EAS is definitely a big disadvantage for employees of companies that won't pay for BES and for people with personal email services that support EAS (e.g. Gmail).

The app problem is less of an issue for me but I don't see many consumer app developers supporting a platform which will probably almost disappear from the consumer space in a couple of years.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[dkonigs]

Need look no farther then PlayBook it has been 3 + months and cant get almost any of apps I had on BB phone (no longer have) I have asked dev's how long before coming to PB and they say maybe never.

There's actually a good reason for this, and it is RIM's fault. When you ask a dev to create a PlayBook version of their BlackBerry app, you're essentially asking them to completely rewrite the entire app from scratch in a completely different language/environment.

In an effort to entice a fictitiously-useful number of Flash developers, RIM decided to push Adobe Air as the primary SDK for the PlayBook. They did this at the expense of a Native SDK (coming soon, we've been told), a BlackBerry Java "Player" (coming later this year, we've been told), or any other sort of Java SDK (never seriously announced).

As such, there is not yet any real way to port existing BlackBerry phone apps to the PlayBook. Instead of supporting this up-front, like RIM should have, they left it as a bad afterthought.

[rollingrock1988]

Yes, BlackBerry is losing relevance, and no, I don't think RIM will make a comeback.

Recent surveys show that only 4-6% of people looking to purchase a smartphone are interested in making that purchase a BlackBerry. That mixed with the fact that RIM are lazy and don't seem to have any decent direction make me think that they are on their deathbed. If they can last long enough to get QNX phones to the market it will be irrelevant by then and even if it is pretty well hyped, there's absolutely no chance that it will be enough to be considered a comeback for RIM.

Back in 2007, before the iPhone and Android, RIM was basically the only smartphone and was vastly popular. Then, in 2007 when the iPhone came out, it changed smartphones as we knew them and took a massive chunk of RIM's foothold. A little later came Android, and that took even more from RIM. I find it hard to believe RIM could pull off doing to iPhone and Android what they did to BlackBerrys; as I said before, RIM are too lazy and not innovative enough to warrant such hype and desire for their product.

I know my answer won't be popular at all, but it's my opinion, and I hope I'm wrong. To anyone skeptical of where I came up with the numbers and backing for why I think RIM are lazy and un-innovative, search the forums first please.

I think you have valid points. They certainly are dragging their feet. Also- your statistics hold up.

Your opinion may not be popular but it is realistic.

[ADGrant]

There's actually a good reason for this, and it is RIM's fault. When you ask a dev to create a PlayBook version of their BlackBerry app, you're essentially asking them to completely rewrite the entire app from scratch in a completely different language/environment.

In an effort to entice a fictitiously-useful number of Flash developers, RIM decided to push Adobe Air as the primary SDK for the PlayBook. They did this at the expense of a Native SDK (coming soon, we've been told), a BlackBerry Java "Player" (coming later this year, we've been told), or any other sort of Java SDK (never seriously announced).

As such, there is not yet any real way to port existing BlackBerry phone apps to the PlayBook. Instead of supporting this up-front, like RIM should have, they left it as a bad afterthought.

Palm did the same thing with WebOS. Didn't work so well for them either.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Reed McLay]

I think you have valid points. They certainly are dragging their feet. Also- your statistics hold up.

Your opinion may not be popular but it is realistic.

However, it is American centric.

Research in Motion mapped out a Global strategy with new devices intended to keep pace with the expanding American Smartphone segment.

Nobody can argue with the Global success, but they do acknowledge falling behind in the "arms race" segment. Retooling with top spec components delayed the new generation... but look what's coming now.

[rollingrock1988]

However, it is American centric.

Research in Motion mapped out a Global strategy with new devices intended to keep pace with the expanding American Smartphone segment.

Nobody can argue with the Global success, but they do acknowledge falling behind in the "arms race" segment. Retooling with top spec components delayed the new generation... but look what's coming now.

People seem to believe that America is the most important market.

[Reed McLay]

Global Smartphones Market to Reach 1641.82 Million Units by 2017, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Global Smartphones Market to Reach 1641.82 Million Units by 2017 ...

As stated by the new market research report, Europe and Asia-Pacific accounts for a major share of the global smartphones market. ...

The population of USA is a little over 0.3 Billion, about 5% of the Global population. Important, yes. Most important... ???.