[spizm5]

I am slightly confused by many posters on these forums, I read the posts by disgruntled BB10 users about a) no commitment to BB10 system b) why build an android phone c) commitment to BB10 then complain no new handsets, d) why lollipop and not marshmallow, e) complaints about no marketing f) complaints about the ads. g) why buy a Priv, h) only BB10 users are supporters of Blackberry,
Despite users trying to answer these questions, the haters seem to always find something to biatch about, and are never and probably never will be satisfied.
I appreciate that you cannot please all of the people all of the time but It seems to me that whatever Chen does or does not do someone will always complain, he is first and foremost a business man.

So my question is a very simple one is it Chen you Love/hate ?

[Doggerz]

As CEO he's easiest to blame. I don't know who else to blame for the Priv's crappy keyboard for instance. It's not a 9900 keyboard or even close. I don't know who else to blame for the name Priv. He had so much advanced warning it sucked and he went with it anyway. Don't know who else to blame for the crappy or non existent advertising.

To me a good CEO likes his product. Is excited about it. Creates feeling. I like John Legere from T-Mobile. I liked Steve Jobs. Sure they **** people off but at least you can tell they care(d).

I loved BBOS, PlayBook, BB10 and even saw that Android was BlackBerry's only hope for the future. But because of Chen I'll be taking my android business to Sony. This is where in get off the train. If he doesn't give a damn about Priv and couldn't manage to even launch it right and make 3/4 American carriers wait around for months to launch why should I care?

Really they need either a new CEO or they need to hire someone who can relate to loyal customers as a spokesman.

The only thing BlackBerry did was be true to itself. I'll give them that much. "Priv" = Privilege is the same kind of stuck up, arrogant nonsense that lead this company down the road to hell starting with them ignoring iPhone.

Seems like nothing is going to wake this company up. Maybe Chen isn't to blame. Maybe it's whoever hired him. All in all he is just another brick in BlackBerry's wall.

Z30STA100-5 / 10.3.2.2876 / T-Mobile USA

[bh7171]

I am quite pleased with John Chen. Without him BlackBerry would be toast. I don't think people give him enough credit. The Passport is excellent as is the Classic (my daily driver). BlackBerry 10 has done nothing but improved. I understand the Android play but hope 10 is not abandoned. I appreciate his more recent comments about updates.

The White Knight-BlackBerry Passport

[anon(9710735)]

The name Priv is awkward at best. I think Venice sounds so much more attractive. The ads for Priv definitely need some improvement. However, I do appreciate the consistency of the usage of black and white.

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[JulesDB]

I simply don't like Chen too much, a good CEO doesn't change his vision and goals like looking for something he doesn't know...

At least JC shows to be like that, by changing strategies too often he seems not even sure what's best to do.

Posted via CB10

[Emaderton3]

I simply don't like Chen too much, a good CEO doesn't change his vision and goals like looking for something he doesn't know...

At least JC shows to be like that, by changing strategies too often he seems not even sure what's best to do.

Posted via CB10

One could also argue that a good CEO isn't afraid to move in a new direction in an attempt to move a company forward and keep it relevant. However, I definitely can appreciate your point since there has been some confusion regarding many aspects of what BlackBerry is doing.

Posted via CB10

[Bluenoser63]

Chen is another in the line of RIM/BlackBerry management that doesn't understand how to sell phones. They created great hardware/software but don't understand the consumer market or the need for 3rd party developers. If you think that is nothing to complain about when it comes to decisions that BlackBerry makes, please don't go into business, you will fail.

[Ronindan]

Chen was hired to keep BB afloat and bring it back to profitability. He was not hired to keep Crackberry members happy.

[blackberrybrad]

I simply don't like Chen too much, a good CEO doesn't change his vision and goals like looking for something he doesn't know...

At least JC shows to be like that, by changing strategies too often he seems not even sure what's best to do.

Posted via CB10

I'm pretty sure Chen hasn't changed his vision. His vision was to move towards software and services which he is doing.

Posted via CB10

[BerrySoul]

Chen is an *****. BB10 os is an amazing Os experience. Chen has to go.

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[blackberrybrad]

Chen is an *****. BB10 os is an amazing Os experience. Chen has to go.

  

Based upon what? Getting the organization into a state where it is starting to grow? Making sound business decisions? Showing the world that BlackBerry is here to stay? I'm sorry that you love BB10 but as a CEO Chen is a highly skilled individual.

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[kirson]

Chen has one mission only: increase the stock price of BBRY. He was hired at the direction of Prem Watsa to try and recover some portion of the losses Prem incurred in BBRY stock. As a restructuring executive, Chen is very good at wielding the cost cutting knife. He shed a lot of costs, cutting deep through the fat, into the muscle, and scraping bone. He tried to refine a strategy, and align tactics to pursue the strategy - growing software, services, and licensing revenues. He has held on for dear life to every cent of revenue he can from legacy lines of business (BBOS, BB10, and hardware in general). He will do everything in his power to drive profitability (at best) or momentum (at worst). This will either yield an improved stock price, or at least a potential sale to a strategic player. And that will mark Chen's success. The odds of having a phone hardware division as part of the future Blackberry are not high, but, to be honest, Chen just doesn't care - it is not really even on his radar screen.

[Ronindan]

I simply don't like Chen too much, a good CEO doesn't change his vision and goals like looking for something he doesn't know...

At least JC shows to be like that, by changing strategies too often he seems not even sure what's best to do.

Posted via CB10

And the opposite could be said about Lazardis. Who decided to go head to head against IOS and android with an outdated OS because he does know what to do.

I guess people forget that BB was never a consumer focused company. Their strength, even today is in the enterprise sector. Consumers adopted BB phones because it was the best compared to symbian and Windows phone. And not because RIM made an effort to attract consumers. The BB curves and pearl came out when it was clear that consumers were using BB phones for personal use.

And I think Chen is focusing on the enterprise market again, back to BB strength. I will not be surprised if he stopped offering phones to the consumer market altogether.

[early2bed]

John Chen doesn't need our admiration. Hired-gun CEO's like him are very well compensated to: 1) Come in and slash costs by laying off thousands of employees; 2) Kill product lines; 3) Make lots of enemies doing this and 4) Receive a fair amount of bad publicity for doing so. Also, taking on a failing company is a significant reputation gamble as your name gets associated with a company that could very well go down the toilet despite what you do.

[donnation]

Chen is my buddy. We had some laughs over coffee this morning. He loves CrackBerry.

[GadgetTravel]

John Chen doesn't need our admiration. Hired-gun CEO's like him are very well compensated to: 1) Come in and slash costs by laying off thousands of employees; 2) Kill product lines; 3) Make lots of enemies doing this and 4) Receive a fair amount of bad publicity for doing so. Also, taking on a failing company is a significant reputation gamble as your name gets associated with a company that could very well go down the toilet despite what you do.

I agree. I think BB would be in a lot worse shape without Chen. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. In my opinion it is apparent that BB can't go toe to toe in software with the likes of Google and Apple. I think Chen sees this too and is trying to work around them.

[TGR1]

I agree. I think BB would be in a lot worse shape without Chen. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. In my opinion it is apparent that BB can't go toe to toe in software with the likes of Google and Apple. I think Chen sees this too and is trying to work around them.

Unfortunately, in terms of business software I think MS is also a major obstacle. They are hungry and under Nadella very focused on this. BBRY needs to show that same sort of focused hunger. Not convinced they have been very effective to date.

[Emaderton3]

Unfortunately, in terms of business software I think MS is also a major obstacle. They are hungry and under Nadella very focused on this. BBRY needs to show that same sort of focused hunger. Not convinced they have been very effective to date.

What is the long term focus of MS that overlaps? I usually hang out here so I am not sure how involved they are with specific similar interests.

Posted via CB10

[TGR1]

What is the long term focus of MS that overlaps? I usually hang out here so I am not sure how involved they are with specific similar interests.

Posted via CB10

They are in similar straits as BBRY - struggling with handset hardware, refocusing on software. Big difference IMO is MS has loads of software experience. Much more cross-platform support of their major business apps such as the Office suite, although I think they still have a bit of a cold war going on with Google. Their cloud services for business. That is increasingly important and an area BBRY has very little experience with. They also have the hardware business and seem to be making inroads with their tablets. Again, somewhere for their software to be used.

Outside of the corporate arena, I would say they have a better chance gaining a foothold in the whole "Internet of Things" stuff going on that BBRY claimed to be leaders in with explaining or showing how they are going to be leaders in. IMO they are the dark horse BBRY should not overlook, since they may well target BBRY's areas of interest that Apple and Google do not.

[Ronindan]

What is the long term focus of MS that overlaps? I usually hang out here so I am not sure how involved they are with specific similar interests.

Posted via CB10

I think there is not much of an overlap when comes to MS and BB enterprise. MS wants to dominate the whole workspace, while bb is more focused on providing secure end to end secure communication system/solutions to companies. That is not something MS is focused at all.

[Chuck Finley69]

Chen has one mission only: increase the stock price of BBRY. He was hired at the direction of Prem Watsa to try and recover some portion of the losses Prem incurred in BBRY stock. As a restructuring executive, Chen is very good at wielding the cost cutting knife. He shed a lot of costs, cutting deep through the fat, into the muscle, and scraping bone. He tried to refine a strategy, and align tactics to pursue the strategy - growing software, services, and licensing revenues. He has held on for dear life to every cent of revenue he can from legacy lines of business (BBOS, BB10, and hardware in general). He will do everything in his power to drive profitability (at best) or momentum (at worst). This will either yield an improved stock price, or at least a potential sale to a strategic player. And that will mark Chen's success. The odds of having a phone hardware division as part of the future Blackberry are not high, but, to be honest, Chen just doesn't care - it is not really even on his radar screen.

This is very accurate description of the situation. Prem's management company dumped over $1 billion into BlackBerry which kept it out from bankruptcy and Prem also placed Chen as new CEO as part of the deal. Previous management left him a company that nobody wanted to buy and the vultures circled waiting for the company to enter bankruptcy. Chen has been very shrewd with multiple placed acquisitions. He's a better salesman than many give him credit for. That Legere shtick would never play for BlackBerry. T-Mobile USA has large corporate parent and can play the Carnie sideshow barker through Legere. It's just a well orchestrated act like Professional Wrestling.

BlackBerry is simply looking to leapfrog into a leadership role with software. The problem has been known long before BB10 was rolled out. How to replace BIS licensing revenue of about $5 per month per user? With the rollout of BB10, the company literally killed the goose laying the golden eggs. The problem has been no way to monetize the new OS. At peak, BlackBerry has 80 million users generating $400 million per month in software revenue. It was never about the hardware. The hardware was the way to force customers to pay for the software and the carriers did not like that BlackBerry instead of carrier was getting $5 per user per month and BIS limited data usage. Now carriers get the revenue and the higher data usage. Moving to Android is still not about hardware. BlackBerry wants to sell its software cross platform to everybody on any OS. The reality is that low adoption rate of BB10 is obstacle to end goal. If BlackBerry can get 10% smartphone users to use subscription type services, they replace BIS revenue and don't have to mess around with hardware which is not profitable for most carriers. Even Apple knows this.

Let Chen do his job. BlackBerry has always been about software revenue since the 90's, always...

Posted via CB10

[KNEBB]

It's simple, no matter who the individual is, if their solution doesn't work for your investment, it doesn't work for you.
If I spent $400.00+ on a device, apps and it's peripherals and the company moves to abandon the platform, I lose my investment, my time and quite a bit more; if I have to start over again.
So in the case of BB7,BB10 and even Android, there's a lesson to learn about a company who appreciates your investment and the impact of their Managerial Decisions on that investment .
What in John Chen's history makes you believe that he understands the importance of that?

In roughly a1/2 of decade BlackBerry has transitioned through three Operating Systems. And in the case of BlackBerry10 there were notable missteps made. Many of those same issues are still visible: from the lack of advertising; lack of communicating the benefits of BlackBerry to the consumer; to a lack of showing your existing consumer base that BlackBerry is trying to build a device with them in mind.

Good CEO's are the faces of companies' that express a vision in a way that instills confidence throughout .
In my case, I don't see confidence in the aspect of the company that I'm invested in.

Posted via CB10

[spizm5]

When I posted the question I did wonder what the response would be, I am very happy to see well informed people having an intelligent debate, rather then the one line slagging off of each other.
It proves to me that there are many intelligent people that use this forum, that have good well thought out arguments both for and against the topic.
Guess it will be worth sticking around Crackberry for a while, to see how things develop.

[rthonpm]

Chen is another in the line of RIM/BlackBerry management that doesn't understand how to sell phones. They created great hardware/software but don't understand the consumer market or the need for 3rd party developers. If you think that is nothing to complain about when it comes to decisions that BlackBerry makes, please don't go into business, you will fail.

Phones have never been BlackBerry's core business. It's always been BES, with phones as the gateway to that. Handsets are a one time cost, recurring fees like BES or the old carrier BIS fees are what have always made the most money for BlackBerry. Even looking at most decent analysts of the stock, the biggest red flag has always been the declining service fee income. Now that software sales have improved, the stock's performance has moved up.

While to the average consumer phones are the core of this company, that's a market BlackBerry fell into more than one they sought out. Chen has stabilsed expenses and doubled down on what will likely give them the best chance to survive. Look at the companies that they have acquired since he's come on board: AtHoc, Secusmart, and the like all play into that backoffice strategy. It's not sexy, it's not exciting, but it becomes the gears and grease that make companies work.


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[Zedd88]

I don't think people in Crackberry necessarily have to love or hate Chen.

I think some people here in the forum are extremes. Some would defend Blackberry no matter what they do while some would find fault at everything they do. In the year and a half I've been in this forum, I feel though that the vast majority will just call it as they see it. Which means they sometimes have opinion for BlackBerry while also having opinion against Blackberry.

Personally, I think Chen has done a good job as CEO of BlackBerry. I may sometimes not agree with what BlackBerry does but it doesn't necessarily mean that I hate Blackberry or for this topic Chen.