[Mithrandrost]

Article talks about the death of flagship phones: HTC, Sony etc. Does mention Blackberry as being in a niche in the last paragraph.

Android OEM death watch: Sony, HTC, and LG edition | The Verge

[crackbb10]

Nice read

[jbarrack]

It's funny how far from grace HTC has fallen since the M7. That phone was touted as the best android phone you could buy. It was really a ground breaking device with its dual stereo speakers at the time. Now they just pump out one attempted iPhone clone after another. People who buy android phones want something new, different, Ala Samsungs edge panels. If they wanted and iPhone, they'd buy one.

As for LG, maybe if they didn't design the ugliest android skin known to man people would buy their phones. Just an option on that one, but man to me it's an eye sore.

Posted via CB10

[Bobert_123]

It's funny how far from grace HTC has fallen since the M7. That phone was touted as the best android phone you could buy. It was really a ground breaking device with its dual stereo speakers at the time. Now they just pump out one attempted iPhone clone after another. People who buy android phones want something new, different, Ala Samsungs edge panels. If they wanted and iPhone, they'd buy one.

As for LG, maybe if they didn't design the ugliest android skin known to man people would buy their phones. Just an option on that one, but man to me it's an eye sore.

Posted via CB10

Have you seen the HTC 10? Not at all like the iPhone imo. If it had some kind of water proofing it would be perfect.

Sent from my Priv

[bakron1]

Nice read, HTC and Sony both haven't done much as of recently. I remember when Sony marketed the waterproof model, but never took off.

I had a couple of Sony Xperia models and they where a well made quality device, but Samsung has dominated the Android market here in the USA.

As far as HTC is concerned, my niece has one and likes the device. My all time favorite HTC device will be the first Nexus One. I always thought they should let HTC make the next one based on the original design with updated specs.

[cgk]

It's funny how far from grace HTC has fallen since the M7.

It's because the mobile market has very little to do with the phone - it's marketing and carrier relationships and HTC simply doesn't have the budget or clout to compete.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

And yet there are lines outside the local Verizon store already this morning.....

[ubizmo]

Article talks about the death of flagship phones: HTC, Sony etc. Does mention Blackberry as being in a niche in the last paragraph.

Android OEM death watch: Sony, HTC, and LG edition | The Verge

Good article. It's a sign of the maturity of the smartphone market that the flagship race is winding down. The differences between mid-range and flagship Android handsets are small enough that plenty of people are willing to accept a bit less in order to pay a lot less. For the most part, people are not doing things with their phones that they weren't doing two years ago: social media, email, texting, navigation, photos, and some web browsing. These things don't require the latest and greatest hardware, with the possible exception of photos and videos, and a lot of people don't mind mediocre cameras.

I'm in this category myself. My OnePlus One is still chugging along just fine, even though it's two year-old hardware. If I get the itch to get another phone, I'll take a serious look at the OnePlus Three, after having such a good experience with the One. But at the moment there's not much itch in me, so I'm also willing to wait and see what BlackBerry comes up with next. The bottom line for me is, there's no new feature I'm just burning to get. 3 GB of RAM is working just fine. The OPO's camera is nothing special, but I don't care. It's going to be very hard to sell me a flagship.

[EchoTango]

While I understand commoditization is fact of a normal product life cycle, I can't help but feel the market manipulation has had a deleterious effect on many companies and exposed blatant unfair business practices, if not simple naked greed.

I think Apple is/was the worst offender, in part due to their smugness and fake altruistism. Warm and fuzzy seems fine to translate into the richest company on the planet.

I fully expect to see more market consolidation and companies exiting the phone business. I can't see how Blackberry will survive this unless they continue to diversify and enter new markets.

[KNEBB]

I've noticed and so have others, how the Mobile Device Industry parallels the Automotive Industry in so many ways of: Financing Strategies; to make products more affordable to the consumer, New Model Life Cycles, categorizing Industry Standard and Optional Equipment, etc.
And like the Automotive Industry, when a new player is attempting to enter the market, they often times focus on a lesser initial profit margin and more on growing a customer based by offering more value at a lesser price. This subsequently changes the Pricing and Profit Strategies of the industry as a whole. In order to retain customers many are forced to reevaluate their Objectives and Business Strategies. We have experienced this with BlackBerry, and more changes will be coming.
It's similar to when VW, Honda and Datsun (Nissan), first entered into the World Auto Market , offering more value at a traditional non premium price. This forced Automobile Manufacturers to evolve or close shop.
The introduction of the Moto-X, OnePlus, Alcatel and others, have infused the Mobile Market with relatively inexpensive full featured phones without the Flagship Price. And we are now witnessing a similar effect .

A BlackBerry Fan

[deadcowboy]

It's funny how far from grace HTC has fallen since the M7. That phone was touted as the best android phone you could buy. It was really a ground breaking device with its dual stereo speakers at the time. Now they just pump out one attempted iPhone clone after another. People who buy android phones want something new, different, Ala Samsungs edge panels. If they wanted and iPhone, they'd buy one.

As for LG, maybe if they didn't design the ugliest android skin known to man people would buy their phones. Just an option on that one, but man to me it's an eye sore.

Posted via CB10

The most recent HTC flagship was basically the best Android handset on the market. Awesome screen, clever speaker design, all the highest specs, killer build quality. It's really their best phone, imo, but that wasn't enough I guess.

Posted via CB10

[bakron1]

The most recent HTC flagship was basically the best Android handset on the market. Awesome screen, clever speaker design, all the highest specs, killer build quality. It's really their best phone, imo, but that wasn't enough I guess.

Posted via CB10

I agree with you a 100% on HTC's latest devices, I am afraid that Samsung has a cult following at least here in the USA. I think this latest issue with the Note 7 and exploding batteries is going to hurt their image. I already know several folks who have bought the iPhone 7 plus because of it.

[Troy Tiscareno]

The most recent HTC flagship was basically the best Android handset on the market. Awesome screen, clever speaker design, all the highest specs, killer build quality. It's really their best phone, imo, but that wasn't enough I guess.

You're neglecting a couple of problems: the very large size vs/ screen size, and most importantly, the mediocre camera (which is an improvement over the LOUSY cameras of past models, but not nearly good enough to compete with iPhone/Galaxy S/LG G-series). Plus, HTC has, like BB, some of the worst advertising I've ever seen, and making the same mistake for years in a row (bad cameras) has heavily damaged the HTC brand image - which as BB lovers should understand, is a difficult and very expensive thing to fix.

[THBW]

I agree with you a 100% on HTC's latest devices, I am afraid that Samsung has a cult following at least here in the USA. I think this latest issue with the Note 7 and exploding batteries is going to hurt their image. I already know several folks who have bought the iPhone 7 plus because of it.

Hmm, i've seen no interest in the iPhone7. Too expensive for the average teenager or student. They are all going with mid range Androids or year old Samsungs.

I think the good news is that BlackBerry has its niche and it's hardware is properly priced. Ironically, they are better positioned to survive than HTC or Sony.

Posted via CB10

[llamax]

Htc10 actually scored well on DXOMark. Initial launch camera software was terrible but now fixed and supposedly, now the camera is top tier.

[Prem WatsApp]

Hmm, i've seen no interest in the iPhone7. Too expensive for the average teenager or student. They are all going with mid range Androids or year old Samsungs.

I think the good news is that BlackBerry has its niche and it's hardware is properly priced. Ironically, they are better positioned to survive than HTC or Sony.

Posted via CB10

^
... which unfortunately are not going to see OS updates very far into the future... :-(

If Google enforced longer update requirements and / or got off the yearly OS update cycle, ... maybe a rolling release on two hardware (spec) tiers...?




�   "BB10 dead?" - "Let's dance the Danse MacaBBRY! ... or is it..?" ;-D   �

[Cashgap]

Hmm, i've seen no interest in the iPhone7.

Another in a string of failures.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Hmm, i've seen no interest in the iPhone7. Too expensive for the average teenager or student. They are all going with mid range Androids or year old Samsungs.

I think the good news is that BlackBerry has its niche and it's hardware is properly priced. Ironically, they are better positioned to survive than HTC or Sony.

Posted via CB10

Markets are different..... from what I've seen, the only problem is the underestimation of the demand for the iPhone 7 (Plus especially).

My wife ordered one on launch day with Verizon, it was finally delivered on Tuesday. So we went back to the store on Wednesday to returned her old iPhone 6 for the $750 trade in that they offered at launch. But the sales guys was saying how the iPhone plus is the most popular version, and is still almost 30 Days on backorder.... and at least half the people he waits on is still ordering them. They are running a special on the PIXEL phones... but he said the iPhone was still his biggest seller by far.

But yeah I know a few teenagers or young adults out on their own... and some of them have $70 BLU phones from Amazon because they broke the flagship phone their parents bought them.

[cgk]

I see the LG G5 has turned out to be another bust for LG.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I see the LG G5 has turned out to be another bust for LG.

I really don't know many LG owners... most are Apple, then a few Samsung, one Droid and a couple ZTE or BLU. I think the only phones that are flagship that make any real sales... are ones that the carrier's are 100% behind and are willing to in some way subsidise their cost. While I see Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile offering deals on iPhones and Samsungs.... haven't noticed them doing the same on LG, HTC or Moto phones. Now Google and Verizon have a "deal" going on for the Pixel right now... just don't know of anyone that has really considered it.

[cgk]

I really don't know many LG owners... most are Apple, then a few Samsung, one Droid and a couple ZTE or BLU. I think the only phones that are flagship that make any real sales... are ones that the carrier's are 100% behind and are willing to in some way subsidise their cost. While I see Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile offering deals on iPhones and Samsungs.... haven't noticed them doing the same on LG, HTC or Moto phones. Now Google and Verizon have a "deal" going on for the Pixel right now... just don't know of anyone that has really considered it.

Part of the problem for LG is they now have a rep for terrible quality control - I have a dead LG G4 here myself...

[blackberrybrad]

Markets are different..... from what I've seen, the only problem is the underestimation of the demand for the iPhone 7 (Plus especially).

My wife ordered one on launch day with Verizon, it was finally delivered on Tuesday. So we went back to the store on Wednesday to returned her old iPhone 6 for the $750 trade in that they offered at launch. But the sales guys was saying how the iPhone plus is the most popular version, and is still almost 30 Days on backorder.... and at least half the people he waits on is still ordering them. They are running a special on the PIXEL phones... but he said the iPhone was still his biggest seller by far.

But yeah I know a few teenagers or young adults out on their own... and some of them have $70 BLU phones from Amazon because they broke the flagship phone their parents bought them.

From what I understand the iPhone 7 has lower demand, the 7 plus may have higher demand. Overall the trend in iPhone sale numbers are on a downward slope. The iPhone 6 sales were disappointing in Apple terms last year.

Posted via CB10

[Prem WatsApp]

From what I understand the iPhone 7 has lower demand, the 7 plus may have higher demand. Overall the trend in iPhone sale numbers are on a downward slope. The iPhone 6 sales were disappointing in Apple terms last year.

Posted via CB10

I wonder if that would improve if they restricted iOS updates to two years or less...

•   10.3.3 - that's the go for me... ;-D   •

[Idontgetiphones]

I feel like marketing is everything. I have tried 2 different iPhones newest being the 6 plus and i just felt like it was trying to copy the performance of a 2 year old android device but they sell because marketing convinces people is the device to have. Honestly my favorite phone i ever had is the passport followed by windows phone which i think i excellent but their marketing and bb marketing just hasnt found their groove. I bought into it myself and got a s7 edge great phone just not for me. I want me passport back. Lets be honest there really arent bad phones any longer but i think if people were honest with themselves and picked a phone on what based on their needs instead of chases the next big thing i feel like there wpuld be a lot of different devices in pockets....maybe a lot more Blackberrys too

[Rustybronco]

I'll argue that. The Z30 was the best device BB ever made. Fast code, amoled screen, stereo speakers, wireless charging on the STA100-3, abiliity to run Android apps (some), power button on the top etc.