1. nabil114's Avatar
    That was my understanding.

    How has Marty Mallick stayed afloat!?

    Posted via CB10
    I think Martyn Mallick comes off defensive when he does interviews.
    03-31-14 08:57 PM
  2. RubberChicken76's Avatar
    They could have paid netflix at least for an app.
    How do you know they didn't? Were you in the room when they were with Netflix negotiating? What if Netflix said, "We'll give you an app if you pay us $1 billion up front and then $250 million quarterly for the next 6 years ... plus handle all support calls ... otherwise get lost"?

    I'm all for complaining that they don't have apps you want. But to make it sound like they sat on their *** and did nothing when you weren't personally there to witness what was and what wasn't done. Come on!

    Let me blunt guys ... a lot of these developers know they have BlackBerry by the short and curlies and want to be paid handsomely. They know BlackBerry needs them. Chances are probably pretty good that many of them wanted money that was out of Marty's budget. Logically, in that situation, Marty would have had to ask for more money from someone who could contractually bind the company (cough - his superiors), and his superiors (Thorsten/John) said, "forget it."

    Do you honestly believe BlackBerry hasn't paid handsomly for many of the apps like Angry Birds Star Wars or Skype or Webex? The reason why you don't know how much was paid is because it was buried under very confidential terms. If they leaked that, every developer with a brain would be asking for that much money for their app and we'd never get anything done.

    Think people ...
    03-31-14 09:11 PM
  3. LazyEvul's Avatar
    I think Martyn Mallick comes off defensive when he does interviews.
    Not much else you can do as the man in charge of bringing apps when your platform clearly has no apps. In his defense, however, BlackBerry really doesn't have the money to throw at developers right now. Now, if Chen can make the company profitable off of enterprise, it's possible that they could then afford to attract the big apps. And in an indirect way, that seems to be Chen's plan right now - turn the company around off of its reputation in enterprise, then start chasing the consumer. But that's thinking very far ahead, and a whole lot could happen between now and then.
    Omnitech and LuvULongTime like this.
    03-31-14 09:12 PM
  4. wincyUt's Avatar
    We should all stay positive for Brian Zubert because he is a positive guy (from all indications). The blame game is NOT what he needs right now in his life, what he needs now is his inner strength and positive attitude during this transition period. Brian, I wish you the very best in your future endeavours.
    maddie1128 likes this.
    03-31-14 09:29 PM
  5. Tre Lawrence's Avatar
    How do you know they didn't? Were you in the room when they were with Netflix negotiating? What if Netflix said, "We'll give you an app if you pay us $1 billion up front and then $250 million quarterly for the next 6 years ... plus handle all support calls ... otherwise get lost"?

    I'm all for complaining that they don't have apps you want. But to make it sound like they sat on their *** and did nothing when you weren't personally there to witness what was and what wasn't done. Come on!

    Let me blunt guys ... a lot of these developers know they have BlackBerry by the short and curlies and want to be paid handsomely. They know BlackBerry needs them. Chances are probably pretty good that many of them wanted money that was out of Marty's budget. Logically, in that situation, Marty would have had to ask for more money from someone who could contractually bind the company (cough - his superiors), and his superiors (Thorsten/John) said, "forget it."

    Do you honestly believe BlackBerry hasn't paid handsomly for many of the apps like Angry Birds Star Wars or Skype or Webex? The reason why you don't know how much was paid is because it was buried under very confidential terms. If they leaked that, every developer with a brain would be asking for that much money for their app and we'd never get anything done.

    Think people ...
    This.

    this is why I don't get why he and Alec get the blame for a decision which was clearly not theirs. The argument could be made that the dev money could be used differently in hindsight. I'd even buy the argument that BBRY should have paid unholy sums for those big apps. But, I completely understand TH saying no.

    I have no idea what Netflix asked for, but if I had to guess, it was a pretty high amount. Multiply that by 10, and I can understand why, with the runtime on the horizon, BBRY decided on not writing that check. I know for a fact that one mid-tier development house was asking for six figure for development and 18 months of maintenance.

    The Vita thing makes complete sense when you think beyond Vita and look at Sony as a whole.

    Netflix is not on WP8 because Reed liked the curve of Ballmer's smile.
    03-31-14 09:33 PM
  6. milo53's Avatar
    Marty was a name who everyone wanted out just as much as Frank Boulben.

    Even I agree with the community that Marty should be held accountable for his actions. I remember Alec setting the facts straight about what HE was responsible for bringing and what Marty was responsible for. To this day there is a reason why the community endorses Alec and NOT Marty.

    Best of luck to you Brian. Thanks for everything you did.
    I find it strange, Chen gave marty a promotion a while back. Lately some good people seem to be leaving, not good. These guys are a loss, IMO. Although, we are not inside the walls of RIM.

    Neither is Chen, with all his commuting hours in luxury.
    03-31-14 09:55 PM
  7. webber27's Avatar
    Sad news, wish you all the best Brian!

    In terms of BlackBerry, I suppose it would be much worse to hear that he quit. If he was laid off I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that there was a logical reason. As great as Brian was personally, the app situation at BlackBerry is clearly not where it should be. I guess they want to go in an entirely new direction.

    Again, good luck to Brian and thanks for the amazing work, sure you'll land on your feet!

    Posted via CB10
    03-31-14 10:45 PM
  8. Clanked's Avatar
    This.

    this is why I don't get why he and Alec get the blame for a decision which was clearly not theirs. The argument could be made that the dev money could be used differently in hindsight. I'd even buy the argument that BBRY should have paid unholy sums for those big apps. But, I completely understand TH saying no.

    I have no idea what Netflix asked for, but if I had to guess, it was a pretty high amount. Multiply that by 10, and I can understand why, with the runtime on the horizon, BBRY decided on not writing that check. I know for a fact that one mid-tier development house was asking for six figure for development and 18 months of maintenance.

    The Vita thing makes complete sense when you think beyond Vita and look at Sony as a whole.

    Netflix is not on WP8 because Reed liked the curve of Ballmer's smile.
    Im sorry im not going to back down from this. Marty Mallick went on stage and promised like 20-50 apps behind him, used fruit ninja in his PROMO VIDEO!....and mentioned apps BY NAME "WHERE ARE THEY......ON BLACKBERRY 10!" like Rdio and others.

    MARTY MALLICK LIED. He let down the community END OF STORY- DEAL WITH IT!.

    Guys like Brian get canned and that incompetent failure stays!?...WHERE'S THE JUSTICE!.

    If BlackBerry really wants to recover(and we all want to see that!!!) Guys like Mallick have to be accountable for failing, and embarrassing the company with their incompetence.

    There is no defense for Marty, none imho.


    Posted via CB10
    1magine and kevinnugent like this.
    03-31-14 11:25 PM
  9. anon(5818411)'s Avatar
    Wow, this came as a shock
    He was always so helpful over Twitter and really quick answering questions. I do like his optimism tho!

    Looks like there was an in-house cleaning today
    This guy got the boot too
    https://mobile.twitter.com/robbieDubya
    Hope they both get back quickly on their feet!

    Posted via CB10

    Posted via CB10
    Last edited by khehl; 03-31-14 at 11:48 PM.
    03-31-14 11:30 PM
  10. anon(5818411)'s Avatar
    Hey folks, I'm humbled to see my name floating around the forums.

    To answer the original poster, yes, today was my last day at BlackBerry. I was laid off this morning as part of the ongoing reductions that you've been hearing about. Long story short, a couple of teams were merging which created some redundancies.

    I won't get into the gory details, but I did want to let everyone know that I'm doing ok and it's in large part due to the wonderful support I've received throughout the day. Team BlackBerry has been out in full force, and for that, I'm forever thankful. You guys rock and it's this wonderful community that has kept me motivated and driven these past 9 years.

    Sincerely,
    Brian Zubert
    Glad you are doing alright bud, someone will pick you up

    Posted via CB10
    maddie1128 likes this.
    03-31-14 11:37 PM
  11. sayf777's Avatar
    Lot of armchair CEOs nowadays :/

    Posted via CB10
    04-01-14 01:18 AM
  12. SK122387's Avatar
    I was reading his tweets today.

    It really sucks seeing someone who loves their job and the company get laid off. There's a reason he has thousands of followers.

    He even went to Koodo and got a new phone and plan today... a BlackBerry. I can't think of any way someone could have handled this situation more positively. Do Canadians have the best attitudes or what? It's actually pretty inspiring, to be honest.
    04-01-14 01:45 AM
  13. Omnitech's Avatar
    Whats the most disappointing is most people on here were calling for his head this time last year....even with all the turmoil and turnover that happened at waterloo, that guy is still there......like his portfolio is what?....a half broken ebay port!?.....just terrible.

    I don't know much about Marty Mallick's developer advocacy role, but I had heard somewhere that he was in charge of BlackBerry World.

    If that's true, I'm bitterly angry with him for that reason alone.

    There is SO much wrong with BlackBerry World.

    On the other hand - we don't know how much of these "personal failures" were due to pressure from superiors and management. For example, see below:


    Marty Mallick went on stage and promised like 20-50 apps behind him, used fruit ninja in his PROMO VIDEO!....and mentioned apps BY NAME "WHERE ARE THEY......ON BLACKBERRY 10!" like Rdio and others.

    MARTY MALLICK LIED. He let down the community END OF STORY- DEAL WITH IT!.

    There's a lot we don't know.

    Specifically, we do not know how much pressure came from the top to have a certain number of name-brand apps to be able to tout at these presentations, especially at the BB10 rollout event.

    In fact, I would be surprised if Mallick did NOT get a bunch of pressure from top management to have a substantial list of apps to tout - even if they were not "in the bag" yet. Because everyone knows how crucial that list of apps is to the perception and success of new platform like this.
    Superfly_FR likes this.
    04-01-14 02:37 AM
  14. Omnitech's Avatar
    Although, we are not inside the walls of RIM.

    Neither is Chen, with all his commuting hours in luxury.


    I see this kind of comment a lot and I think it's a cheap shot.

    Outsiders frequently focus on a few superficial things about a company's management individuals because honestly it's one of the few things they actually know about.

    But those things generally have little to nothing to do with the job they are doing at the company, and fixating on them massively distorts the contributions that people make that are invisible to the critics.
    04-01-14 02:40 AM
  15. yessuz's Avatar
    They could have paid netflix at least for an app. Like no joke.....its 2014 and we still dont have a netflix app......thats lunacy, he should have been fired for that alone.

    You pay out for netflix and instagram.....you'd cut in half the app bashing from reviewers.

    Dont get me wrong I know we can sideload both and igrann is great, but still...no netflix in 2014 is a disgrace....an utter disgrace.

    Posted via CB10
    and if they both, ask for 10M USD each?!
    04-01-14 03:58 AM
  16. UnlimitedEra's Avatar
    Hey folks, I'm humbled to see my name floating around the forums.

    To answer the original poster, yes, today was my last day at BlackBerry. I was laid off this morning as part of the ongoing reductions that you've been hearing about. Long story short, a couple of teams were merging which created some redundancies.

    I won't get into the gory details, but I did want to let everyone know that I'm doing ok and it's in large part due to the wonderful support I've received throughout the day. Team BlackBerry has been out in full force, and for that, I'm forever thankful. You guys rock and it's this wonderful community that has kept me motivated and driven these past 9 years.

    Sincerely,
    Brian Zubert
    You sir have been spying on the forums since 2009 lol!
    Good to see that blackberry actually cares and reads people's opinions!
    Would love to see you post more about your adventures at blackberry

    Z10STL100-2/10.3.0.140 | BB10STORE on Aptoide
    LostOnThePianoRoll likes this.
    04-01-14 04:26 AM
  17. Superfly_FR's Avatar
    Dear Brian,
    I call you by your first name, because that's the name we use on TW.
    But I believe I should now use your full name, Mister Zubert, as you're now flesh and blod V.S TWavatar and we don't know personnaly (well, we met once, but I was one in dozens).
    I wish you the very best for the future and given your skills, I must say I'm not worried much.
    Thanks for all the work you've acomplished with passion and dedication, #TeamBlackBerry won't forget.

    (edit/P.S)
    I'm sure we'll all be glad to ear from forged vanilla, anywhere in the MoNa.
    04-01-14 07:45 AM
  18. kevets's Avatar
    In case he checks the thread again.

    From where you sit, do you think BlackBerry will succeed and still be around in another 5 years?
    04-01-14 08:45 AM
  19. TGR1's Avatar
    and if they both, ask for 10M USD each?!
    I doubt it was upfront payment that was an issue. It was likely that it was far too little ROI for maintaining the app and just too much bother. There just isn't the BB10 user base out there for the big guys to care. People should consider that Mallick has a really thankless job. Personally, I think BBRY had a better shot with small developers who could have made unique apps, had BBRY been more judicious in how it ran that program. I think they wasted the goodwill of some very dedicated fan developers.
    04-01-14 09:08 AM
  20. Clanked's Avatar
    There just isn't the BB10 user base out there for the big guys to care. People should consider that Mallick has a really thankless job.
    **ROLLSEYES**

    Netflix is on PS Vita....

    Posted via CB10
    04-01-14 09:48 AM
  21. TGR1's Avatar
    **ROLLSEYES**

    Netflix is on PS Vita....

    Posted via CB10
    As others have said, don't know the deals. Also, doesn't Sony still have their entertainment arm, a.k.a. content? These deals are two-way streets. What it comes down to is that BlackBerry apparently can't offer what these guys would be interested in.
    04-01-14 09:54 AM
  22. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    I doubt it was upfront payment that was an issue. It was likely that it was far too little ROI for maintaining the app and just too much bother. There just isn't the BB10 user base out there for the big guys to care. People should consider that Mallick has a really thankless job. Personally, I think BBRY had a better shot with small developers who could have made unique apps, had BBRY been more judicious in how it ran that program. I think they wasted the goodwill of some very dedicated fan developers.
    If you look at the TOP apps, very few of them are from small developers. People want the big apps that either BlackBerry developed (FaceBook, Twitter...) or they want the ones from a recognized developers Instagram, Netflix, WhatsApps, DISNEY. I put Disney, because I've spent more money on Disney Apps for my granddaughter in one month than I've spent on BB5, BB6, PlayBook OS and BB10 combined. And I have to say the quality of these APPS are pretty impressive! Sure I have several free and paid apps from small developers... but these aren't make-or-break apps, they are available in many flavors on any platform.

    We should have seen TH and Mallick camped out on Instagram's doorstep begging for an app.... it was that important back then.
    04-01-14 09:55 AM
  23. Tre Lawrence's Avatar
    **ROLLSEYES**

    Netflix is on PS Vita....

    Posted via CB10
    Again, Netflix is on SONY PS Vita. Sony arranged to have it on all there electronics. DVD players, TVs, set top boxes, tablets, consoles.
    RubberChicken76 and mf1982 like this.
    04-01-14 10:06 AM
  24. Tre Lawrence's Avatar
    As others have said, don't know the deals. Also, doesn't Sony still have their entertainment arm, a.k.a. content? These deals are two-way streets. What it comes down to is that BlackBerry apparently can't offer what these guys would be interested in.
    Exactly.
    04-01-14 10:07 AM
  25. birdman_38's Avatar
    **ROLLSEYES**

    Netflix is on PS Vita....
    And Wii U.
    04-01-14 10:10 AM
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