[walt63]

I always love the timing of these stories. BlackBerry announced its security conference a while back. Apple had plenty of time to come up with a competitive story to push BlackBerry announcements to the back of the news bus. You can bet Apple PR (which clearly is excellent and probably very well paid) had something to do with the timing/placement of this story. You can bet Ford didn't make this decision today but someone decided today was the day to either leak or announce it.

By the way, BlackBerry plays this game as well. Do you think the story about the German government buying more BlackBerry devices just simply appeared right before the security summit and BlackBerry announcing the purchase of that German company? Don't be naive if you think it was a coincidence.

Posted via CB10

Ha ha. So true. I've been around PR teams for two of NA automotive companies. Timing is everything. It's called disruptive marketing/pr. When one company is gaining media momentum, counter with a story that boosts your product/brand perception, yet devalue theirs.

Posted via CB10

[greenpoise]

Ford cant even get their cars together! Fell sharply in reliability in 2012..

[treaker]

Who cares, it's Ford.

Posted via CB10

[Patrick Pierobon]

I work at the dealership level at a Ford Dealership and I think this is a bad move. Most of our communication to our "Dealer Sales Reps" and "Dealer Finance Reps" are via text and email. Most of their responses are done via email and they, "God Bless Them" are always on the go! Blackberry's, in my eyes would be the best suit of phone for these individuals. I actually have noticed some of them holding corporate iphones lately and every time we email them, they always call us back and say when I get a chance to get to my laptop I'll send over the information needed.

Well I hope they go back to blackberry. I know if I was the corporate analysis assigned to the job I would highly wait and see for the new passport. The main reason is these individuals are constantly reading highly sensitive documentation. Customer names and information as well as dealership documentation. I for one would not want any of our customers information to be in the wrong hands.

After reading this article and knowing they are going to be using QNX as the new interface for our vehicles, i think going into two different directions is just wrong.

[DaSchwantz]

Ha ha. So true. I've been around PR teams for two of NA automotive companies. Timing is everything. It's called disruptive marketing/pr. When one company is gaining media momentum, counter with a story that boosts your product/brand perception, yet devalue theirs.

Posted via CB10

Yep. This was set up. The real story is that Ford currently has 2/3 of their employees on FLIP PHONES!!! Shows how forward they are on IT and how critical EMM/MDM is to the company. If you're thinking of ever buying a Ford, don't. Your personal info isn't safe, and if that's true I question their entire QA system. If you own Ford stock or your etf, mutual, or pension fund does, sell. The company obviously makes horrible decisions and is tech backwards. Why do you think it took them so long to realize the value of QNX compared to the other car makers?. Lol

Posted via CB10

[xBURK]

Who cares, it's Ford.

Posted via CB10

Edit: Opps, responded to wrong post first time.



"BB POWERED" C001C1D66

[DaSchwantz]

I work at the dealership level at a Ford Dealership and I think this is a bad move. Most of our communication to our "Dealer Sales Reps" and "Dealer Finance Reps" are via text and email. Most of their responses are done via email and they, "God Bless Them" are always on the go! Blackberry's, in my eyes would be the best suit of phone for these individuals. I actually have noticed some of them holding corporate iphones lately and every time we email them, they always call us back and say when I get a chance to get to my laptop I'll send over the information needed.

Well I hope they go back to blackberry. I know if I was the corporate analysis assigned to the job I would highly wait and see for the new passport. The main reason is these individuals are constantly reading highly sensitive documentation. Customer names and information as well as dealership documentation. I for one would not want any of our customers information to be in the wrong hands.

After reading this article and knowing they are going to be using QNX as the new interface for our vehicles, i think going into two different directions is just wrong.

Please keep hammering home your opinion internally. These are top level corporate and Wall Street decisions that have no connection to main street or operational realities.

Posted via CB10

[xBURK]

I work at the dealership level at a Ford Dealership and I think this is a bad move. Most of our communication to our "Dealer Sales Reps" and "Dealer Finance Reps" are via text and email. Most of their responses are done via email and they, "God Bless Them" are always on the go! Blackberry's, in my eyes would be the best suit of phone for these individuals. I actually have noticed some of them holding corporate iphones lately and every time we email them, they always call us back and say when I get a chance to get to my laptop I'll send over the information needed.

Well I hope they go back to blackberry. I know if I was the corporate analysis assigned to the job I would highly wait and see for the new passport. The main reason is these individuals are constantly reading highly sensitive documentation. Customer names and information as well as dealership documentation. I for one would not want any of our customers information to be in the wrong hands.

After reading this article and knowing they are going to be using QNX as the new interface for our vehicles, i think going into two different directions is just wrong.

Thanks for the insight. It's always better to get it from the source. I was wondering something though? Have they not tried BB10? I find it hard to believe that they would ever make this move if they did?


"BB POWERED" C001C1D66

[beantownwindsorite]

Crazigee, that was really funny because it's true, but haven't you heard of an idiom?

Posted via CB10

[beantownwindsorite]

And take it easy. There are no grammar police on this site.

Posted via CB10

[gokulesh]

Agreed. It's makes Apple a major player in the enterprise sector. But, BES still owns this arena...for now. They are the hunted.

And BlackBerry isn't resting on being the most preferred solution with Apple in their rearview mirror. The battle hasn't even started yet and BBRY is already in the war fighting, which is good. If they could get past the popularity contest, they'll could distance themselves with BES12.



Posted via CB10

Read this article and you will see why it may not be a big deal.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2355...?app=1&uprof=4

Posted via CB10

[acovey]

That's OK I dropped Ford for Subaru years ago.

[Bsbudd]

In regards to BES and IBM...

Last November IBM acquired Fiberlink, obtaining its MaaS360 cloud-based Mobile Device Management service and integrating into its product portfolio.

Bill Tworek, IBM's executive IT architect for CIO Office, noted that his group began "on-boarding devices on MaaS360 five days after the close of acquisition�15,000 on the first day and over 30,000 in the first week," adding that "it took us less than 3 days to integrate MaaS360 into the IBM architecture and by moving from an on-premises model to a cloud model we'll save US $500,000."

Given that the majority of mobile device at IBM had been BlackBerry phones, that suggests a rapid migration from BES, an "on-premises" MDM that is not inexpensive to license and operate. That also underscores why BlackBerry's stock took such a hit when IBM and Apple announced their partnership.

This was from an IBM White Paper issued in March 2014

The IBM/Apple deal is bigger than it appears on the surface.

This. Most of the people on here are very dismissive about the deal and think this is just smoke or a marketing move by Apple. Sure, iPhones are not as secure etc etc. at the moment. Blackberry is in the communications business for 15 years and for the first 7 years almost didn't have any competition. Apple on the other hand introduced it's first phone 7 years ago and since the market has exploded. Everybody sells phones these days and Mobile Device Management service trying to get their foot in the corporate market.

There is no denying that IBM, Apple, Microsoft and Google have some of the smartest people working for them otherwise they wouldn't be where they are today. Apple and IBM have the budgets to get into the enterprise market and can recover if they make mistakes. I truly believe this deal is a lot bigger than people might think and they did this not because of Blackberry but because of Google's dominance and Microsoft getting a bit more recognition.

[lovedaazn]

It's okay...

Once something happens that will regret iphones and could me running back...always happens.

Iphones may be okay for the average dumba$$ consumer. But it is certainly not an enterprise device.

[lynxs_claw]

Huh? I don't understand your super long run-on sentence.

Posted using my Z10 via CB10

How challenged are you .. what are you an English major????

[jr4941]

Hahaha flip phones!

OK, that's really dumb decision on Ford's part. It may well be an issue with education on what's available. It always surprises me when they hire an 'analyst' to deploy these things.

Good on the Financial Post for knowing that QNX is part of BlackBerry!

Posted via CB10

[jr4941]

Read this article and you will see why it may not be a big deal.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2355...?app=1&uprof=4

Posted via CB10

Every loss is a big deal. You would want a press release saying that Ford has deployed BES10 and gotten rid of those flips phones!

Posted via CB10

[Oglon3r]

They probably don't even know about BB OS10. I mean you will be surprised how many still don't even know about OS10.

[tickerguy]

In regards to BES and IBM...

Last November IBM acquired Fiberlink, obtaining its MaaS360 cloud-based Mobile Device Management service and integrating into its product portfolio.

Bill Tworek, IBM's executive IT architect for CIO Office, noted that his group began "on-boarding devices on MaaS360 five days after the close of acquisition�15,000 on the first day and over 30,000 in the first week," adding that "it took us less than 3 days to integrate MaaS360 into the IBM architecture and by moving from an on-premises model to a cloud model we'll save US $500,000."

No they won't.

They think they will, but they won't.

There are already many firms that were sold this line of nonsense that have found out that the so-called savings are in fact costs -- not only did the savings not materialize but the cloud solution costs more.

If you think about it that has to be true -- nobody works for free and the more fingers in the pie the more you spend.

Cloud doesn't save money except in one specific circumstance -- where you need unpredictable burst capability that is vastly beyond your normal load profile. THEN it makes sense.

More and more firms will figure out they were sold a bill of goods when the alleged "savings" fail to appear -- and they will.

It has already started.

[Adif_70]

So not only are their vehicles made like crap their phones will be too. Fantastic on Ford. Good luck with that.

Posted via CB10

[Adif_70]

Oh. And that was only my opinion.

Posted via CB10

[donwuan]

Wow blackberry community. You have changed.

[agarwal.apar]

Looks like companies don't want to use a device from a company who's future look bleak. Moreover, it's kind of peer pressure which might have led Ford to move to iPhone's after recent partnership b/w IBM/Apple

[early2bed]

Wow blackberry community. You have changed.

Not really. It's the same tired response to any company that switches from Blackberry to iPhone. Trash the company and its products in any way possible. They are clearly going down the tubes. But they still use QNX to air condition their offices. Their management sucks. Their products suck. I'm going to sell my truck tomorrow. Let's hope they get hacked.

Why? Because they switched phones? It's dull and predictable. The same thing is going to be said about every single company that does the same thing. If Chipotle switches tomorrow we will get four pages about how much their burritos suck and how QNX is used to make the tortillas and how someone can now hack into their iPhones and get their recipe for guacamole.

[donwuan]

I drive dodge so f-em I guess.