[Banco]

Pretty fair analysis this:

Can BB10 save BlackBerry? - Telegraph

In the run-up to the launch of the first iPhone, Apple’s share price rose from $93 to a peak of $140. As Research in Motion girds itself for the launch of BB10, it’s risen from $6.22 to $17.54. Few figures could be more indicative of the huge anticipation surrounding BlackBerry’s new Z10 device, or how low RIM’s stock has fallen.

That rise – 281 per cent compared to 50 per cent – already reflects the careful management of BlackBerry’s launch and the enthusiasm of networks for another operating system to challenge iOS and Android, as well as how low BlackBerry has sunk. No wonder Forrester’s Charles Golvin calls the challenge “gargantuan”. It seems hard to imagine RIM taking the place of the iPhone five years from now.

Still, the devices themselves have both been widely leaked and widely praised. RIM has shown off so many features that everything seems to be coming together neatly, from the personalised typing patterns on the screen's keyboard to the combined inbox. Even BlackBerry’s plan to spend millions on making and showing a SuperBowl ad seems to have struck many observers as a reasonable marketing tactic rather than an act of desperation.

But a clear-headed analysis of BlackBerry shows two things: its core user base remains the corporate IT department, which for decades inflicted devices on poor employees yet now increasingly provides people with devices they genuinely want to own. And BlackBerry sustained its user base for as long as it did on the back of young people buying cheap, low-grade devices. Tales from professionals are all too often of poor build quality and multiple replacements.

Both those audiences have changed hugely: even security-conscious accountancy firms such as Deloitte are more than happy to provider employees with Android and iOS devices. Few actively choose BlackBerry when offered. Stopping the haemorrhage means turning around a battleship.

And increasingly, while young people do remain committed to the BBM instant messenger service, cheaper more capable devices are easy to come by, almost all of them running Android.

"RIM has clearly demonstrated that the company retains considerable skill and expertise in hardware and software design; the Z10 is beautiful and BB10 is a giant leap forward from RIM's previous platform,” says Golvin. “But to prove its continued viability and potential for renewal, the company must convince multiple constituents to invest in BB10: its current and former users, application developers, mobile operators, and content providers. The highly competitive smartphone market will only offer them a short window to do this.”

So RIM must rapidly become cool among its affluent core, which so quickly ran for the iPhone and now accepts Samsung enthusiastically too. And it must also quickly make even its premium devices affordable to a fickle younger user base. In that sense, the quality of the phone is at best equally important to the perception of the brand. At worst, BB10 is simply too little too late for BlackBerry thanks to a lethal combination of being consistently decent but not outstanding when it comes to cool factor, hardware, software and app availability.

At launch BB10 may have 70,000 apps or more thanks to the rapid conversion of Android software. But that will make it nearly as good as Android, which is still in many ways chasing iOS. RIM will be fighting it out for third with Microsoft if it’s lucky. “They'll need to prove themselves in the face of a simultaneous onslaught of marketing from Microsoft, not to mention the continued push from Apple plus Google and its Android partners,” says Golvin. “This is a gargantuan challenge for a company of RIM's size." Nokia hasn’t managed it, Microsoft hasn’t managed it, HTC hasn’t managed it – for my money RIM’s got a fighting chance, but it’s a true gambler who bets on BlackBerry’s long-term success.

[CranBerry413]

Good Find Mate.

Always good to see an article that is neither wildly excited nor wildly pessimistic. A good middle of the road view. To be frank, I think that if more articles were this even handed we would be ok.

Cheers!

[Banco]

Yep, it's a pretty big contrast with that hatchet job in the Grauniad, that's for sure. But Matt Warman's a decent tech journalist, and rather more open to new ideas and products than most. HE's worth reading even if you don't agree with him, because there's no obvious agenda with him.

[CranBerry413]

Yep, it's a pretty big contrast with that hatchet job in the Grauniad, that's for sure. But Matt Warman's a decent tech journalist, and rather more open to new ideas and products than most. HE's worth reading even if you don't agree with him, because there's no obvious agenda with him.

I'll have to take a look at his sight and some of his articles. I used to feel that way about another blogger named Brian S. Hall. However, as of late he has become more and more of an Apple Plant. (I use the word "Plant" here in the context of one with an ulterior motive). So I'd love to read an objective technology blog.

[TrespassersW]

I disagree with Banco's view that Matt Warman is a decent tech journalist - he is firmly in the Apple camp. He wrote a piece on tablets in December which should have been subtitled 'which iPad will you buy for Christmas'. In his predictions on prospects for 2013 the best he could say for RIM was that they would probably survive without being taken over - no reasons advanced as to why he thought this and no mention of BB10. If objectivity is what you want this is not the man to deliver it.

[Banco]

I disagree with Banco's view that Matt Warman is a decent tech journalist - he is firmly in the Apple camp. He wrote a piece on tablets in December which should have been subtitled 'which iPad will you buy for Christmas'. In his predictions on prospects for 2013 the best he could say for RIM was that they would probably survive without being taken over - no reasons advanced as to why he thought this and no mention of BB10. If objectivity is what you want this is not the man to deliver it.

Sorry, that's complete rubbish. Firmly in the Apple camp?

Apple iPhone 5: Why this Samsung user isn’t switching from Android - Telegraph

Just because you don't agree with what he writes sometimes is no reason to see bogeymen everywhere.

[TrespassersW]

OK you have a point - I had not read that piece. I shall try to pay more attention in future!

[djrupey]

I read Matt Warman's articles and although I would not say he "is firmly in the Apple camp" I get the impression that he does not always do his Blackberry homework thoroughly, and prefers to be more au fait with Apple and Android, because they are the currently cool products. However in fairness to him I realise that the tech market is fast changing and no journalist can keep up with all the developments.

[Banco]

I don't think that's surprising though. RIM just haven't done anything of note in the last two years. His assessment of the Playbook - great hardware, great OS, lack of native email insane, lack of apps a major problem - was spot on. He was also one of the first to have a crack at the early iterations of BB10 and to say it was promising though naturally buggy.

I don't always agree with what he writes, but I find him worth reading. Mind you, his colleague Shane Richmond really is a complete Apple freak.