[FalconSeacleaur]

Hello CBF Users!

First, I'd like to properly state that this is indeed my very first post here on CBF; this place appears to be a very nice places where assayers of Blackberry products can congregate and share ideas! Neat-o!

We've become a more acute group as the years pass away, Blackberry once held a quintessential dominance in the early 2000's and has slowly degraded since then. Sadly enough, Blackberry is no more than a laugh to some users. There are numerous reasons why an iconic brand can slowly derail off its most pleasurable and profitable tracks. Businesses rely primarily on stigma; [how a brand is viewed and cast upon competitors] and also general advertising.

Blackberry continues to make very prestigious devices which once held the hearts of many mobile users, yet, as mentioned previously, those days have kicked the can. What could our brand's issue be? -And how could we realistically solve this?

-FalconSeacleaur

[RoseBud68]

We....Its not up to us to solve Blackberry lack of vision.

[FalconSeacleaur]

Correct, we can, at most, create an influential force to push their advertising team to perform better.

[RoseBud68]

Its a Mute point.

[BB Adict]

Correct, we can, at most, create an influential force to push their advertising team to perform better.

Why should we push or influence their advertising team. They get paid the dollars to do it. Why should we get saddled with doing their job?

Posted via CB10

[early2bed]

As the saying goes, you're a day late and a dollar short.

[MikeX74]

Correct, we can, at most, create an influential force to push their advertising team to perform better.

We shouldn't have to.

[Prem WatsApp]

Its a Mute point.

Mute, as in "not saying anything", or moot, as in "irrelevant, obsolete, no need for further consideration"... ?

;-D



 Z-Lider hasn't come, it ain't no Z and it don't score 10! ;-D 

[RoseBud68]

Mute, as in "not saying anything", or moot, as in "irrelevant, obsolete, no need for further consideration"... ?

;-D



 Z-Lider hasn't come, it ain't no Z and it don't score 10! ;-D 

That was their Marketing.

[donnation]

I don't think there is anything the general public can do. Blackberry would have to come up with a reason that would make people consider using them again over what they currently have. With BB10 I don't think there is enough of a reason for people to move away from Android or iOS and with the Priv it's a pkb which I don't think many people out there are asking for (at least not the Priv's).

[kvndoom]

The brand itself is tarnished. I have told a few people about the Priv and their first reply is "I don't want a Blackberry." It's almost instinctive, how quickly they voice that response. Explaining that it's Android eases them back a little bit, but it's clear that the public has a specific image of any Blackberry phone.

[PantherBlitz]

Both - the brand is tarnished, and their attempts at advertising always seemed to be misguided.

[Denise in Los Angeles]

The brand is tarnished, and they are without a killer phone to advertise about at the moment....

[Troy Tiscareno]

It's much, much bigger than either of those two issues.

The launch of the iPhone in 2007 was a massive disruption to the mobile phone business as a whole, and to all existing smartphone companies in particular. Google, which hadn't even launched Android yet, had a meeting the week after the announcement and changed direction to answer the iPhone. BB, which was the market leader, didn't have a response to the iPhone until 2013 - six years later!

During that six years, the market underwent massive changes and massive growth, and BB completely missed it all. By 2009-2010, the "war" for the second major generation of smartphones was over, and iOS and Android were the winners. They were the winners because they worked hard and they worked smart, and they developed a lot of new things that consumers found to be so useful and important that they were willing to switch from what the knew before to these new ecosystems. They also understood the vital importance of getting and keeping the support of third-party software developers and accessory hardware makers, and invested tons of time, money, and effort to make it easy for devs to develop for their platforms.

RIM/BB, by which I'm mostly talking about Mike Lazaridis, was never a big fan of "letting" third-party devs into "his" platform, and never gave them the attention, tools, priority, or respect that devs were looking for, and so when Apple and Google did, those devs (and many others) moved over to those platforms.

BB never embraced the concept of "the cloud" (i.e., Internet-based services), and kept their focus on systems that relied on cables and PCs to save and sync data. They maintained a "smartphone 1.0" ecosystem for years into the "smartphone 2.0" era, and that killed their brand image in the marketplace, with many people being issued BB phones at work that they resented carrying because they were so limited compared to the competition.

By the time BB10 was finally released, it was so late to the market, and the brand image was so bad, and developer support was so weak (especially given that BB had already essentially capitulated and included an Android Runtime to try to ride Android's ecosystem coattails on their new BB10 platform) that it had little chance of being taken seriously by developers. In fact, even some apps that were officially announced at launch time were never even given a release.

And it had taken so long, with the crazy detour with the Playbook, that BB was limited on cash and sales had fallen so much that they couldn't get the best components - component manufacturers considered BB a low-priority customer and they had to wait in line behind a bunch of Android manufacturers. They also couldn't begin to afford all of the many, many costs of supporting an entire ecosystem on their own, which included things like having to pay for QNX-based drivers for all hardware components (Android drivers are provided for free, due to marketshare), and marketing/advertising.

Thus, BB was missing apps, missing services, missing developers, missing marketshare, missing advertising, missing hardware specs, and carrying a hostile brand image. They basically blew the timing completely, and then bit off a much bigger bite than they were able to chew. Because of Mike's arrogance and being insulated from his failures and from the general marketplace, he chose to pass on a path that could have led to success (adopting Android back in 2008 or 2009) and decided that RIM/BB could compete against giants despite being late to the market, lacking the needed capital, and having all the other issues I mentioned above. He had to have it his way or no way, and that doomed BB's chances to stay in the hardware business.

Everything that's happened since is just a symptom of Mike's decisions.

[Prem WatsApp]

It's much, much bigger than either of those two issues.

The launch of the iPhone in 2007 was a massive disruption to the mobile phone business as a whole, and to all existing smartphone companies in particular. Google, which hadn't even launched Android yet, had a meeting the week after the announcement and changed direction to answer the iPhone. BB, which was the market leader, didn't have a response to the iPhone until 2013 - six years later!

During that six years, the market underwent massive changes and massive growth, and BB completely missed it all. By 2009-2010, the "war" for the second major generation of smartphones was over, and iOS and Android were the winners. They were the winners because they worked hard and they worked smart, and they developed a lot of new things that consumers found to be so useful and important that they were willing to switch from what the knew before to these new ecosystems. They also understood the vital importance of getting and keeping the support of third-party software developers and accessory hardware makers, and invested tons of time, money, and effort to make it easy for devs to develop for their platforms.

RIM/BB, by which I'm mostly talking about Mike Lazaridis, was never a big fan of "letting" third-party devs into "his" platform, and never gave them the attention, tools, priority, or respect that devs were looking for, and so when Apple and Google did, those devs (and many others) moved over to those platforms.

BB never embraced the concept of "the cloud" (i.e., Internet-based services), and kept their focus on systems that relied on cables and PCs to save and sync data. They maintained a "smartphone 1.0" ecosystem for years into the "smartphone 2.0" era, and that killed their brand image in the marketplace, with many people being issued BB phones at work that they resented carrying because they were so limited compared to the competition.

By the time BB10 was finally released, it was so late to the market, and the brand image was so bad, and developer support was so weak (especially given that BB had already essentially capitulated and included an Android Runtime to try to ride Android's ecosystem coattails on their new BB10 platform) that it had little chance of being taken seriously by developers. In fact, even some apps that were officially announced at launch time were never even given a release.

And it had taken so long, with the crazy detour with the Playbook, that BB was limited on cash and sales had fallen so much that they couldn't get the best components - component manufacturers considered BB a low-priority customer and they had to wait in line behind a bunch of Android manufacturers. They also couldn't begin to afford all of the many, many costs of supporting an entire ecosystem on their own, which included things like having to pay for QNX-based drivers for all hardware components (Android drivers are provided for free, due to marketshare), and marketing/advertising.

Thus, BB was missing apps, missing services, missing developers, missing marketshare, missing advertising, missing hardware specs, and carrying a hostile brand image. They basically blew the timing completely, and then bit off a much bigger bite than they were able to chew. Because of Mike's arrogance and being insulated from his failures and from the general marketplace, he chose to pass on a path that could have led to success (adopting Android back in 2008 or 2009) and decided that RIM/BB could compete against giants despite being late to the market, lacking the needed capital, and having all the other issues I mentioned above. He had to have it his way or no way, and that doomed BB's chances to stay in the hardware business.

Everything that's happened since is just a symptom of Mike's decisions.

... suffering from Lazariditis... ?

=8-o

BBad infection, that can really require a miracle, � la Lazarus... ;-D

�   There's a Crack in the Berry right now...   �

[anon(9721108)]

Blackberry had the absolute worst and lame TV commercials, and that couldnt have helped.

As I said on my other thread, I would love to see some radical innovation from them, because I cannot imagine anything else will get them back in the game, but many doubt they can do this with their current budget......

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[khlover520]

Better late than never! BlackBerry can still rebound, but not with their OS. Android is the way to go for them, no other option is available for them hardware wise.

Posted via CB10

[sorinv]

... suffering from Lazariditis... ?

=8-o

BBad infection, that can really require a miracle, � la Lazarus... ;-D

�   There's a Crack in the Berry right now...   �

Looks like it. There were some good points in there but they get lost in the vitriol.

[sorinv]

Better late than never! BlackBerry can still rebound, but not with their OS. Android is the way to go for them, no other option is available for them hardware wise.

Posted via CB10

No. Nobody can be revived in the smartphone business. Not even Google or Apple. It's saturated and stale.
Some new gadget will have to be invented. It won't be by BlackBerry, Apple, Google or Microsoft. It will be by a new company that doesn't exist now.

[z10Jobe]

No. Nobody can revive in the smartphone business. Not even Google or Apple. It's saturated and stale.
Some new gadget will have to be invented. It won't be by BlackBerry, Apple, Google or Microsoft. It will be by a new company that doesn't exist now.

Yep. All the phones look the same and do similar things. BlackBerry keyboard phones look different but the market wants apps and rectangular glass which mutes ( not moots) innovation.

Posted via CB10

[SunshineStateFlyer]

We cannot solve it at all. BlackBerry needs to solve it, but I doubt they will. Unfortunately, the brand has suffered serious reputation damage during the last years and people just don't trust this brand anymore.

I agree though, BlackBerry lacks a vision. BB10 is almost dead, even though it was a good OS. No new devices are coming, no marketing, no good news. BlackBerry is almost inexistent and people have moved on.

Posted via CB10

[Denise in Los Angeles]

Correct, we can, at most, create an influential force to push their advertising team to perform better.

No, you cannot do anything of the sort.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Oh, if BlackBerry were going to start taking advice from a fan site..... that time would have been long, long ago.

WE can buy BlackBerry phones, or not buy phones. WE can try to influence others to buy BlackBerries, or not.

But sadly I don't think the company is in a position (financially, talent, or motivation) anymore to fix their "BRAND" problem. I look at what MS is pouring into Windows Phone, and I think the smartphone platform wars are over for everyone but Google an Apple.

[BKbehave]

I simply refuse to believe in the little 'too little, too late' mind set...well, for this situation. Who is defining the time line? Hindsight is 20/20 and it so very easy to 'scroll' through the historic events and 'go' there, there is where they went right....or 'heaven forbids'..there is something they got right. Either way...it's a no win situation. Every company have and will make mistakes. Sometimes over and over. I don't see BlackBerry 'willing' the masses to do what they want. Apple, didn't innovate...that replicated and made 'you feel good about it'. That is what they do. Nothing right or wrong about it, or good or bad about it. I don't think BlackBerry is that emotional. It's a mobile device...not a soul....but i digress. If BlackBerry desired, they would need to convince the masses, that they are here and a great alternative to the 'think different' thinking all the same crowd. BB10 is fine for me, I use it every single day..can I be the only one in the world out of the billions and billions and billions of people inhabiting this planet? It is depressing to think people are so weak to think that neither can penetrate the Android and IOS duopoly.....sad that people have no vision of a future when something else, anything, doesn't have to be BlackBerry, can not break through. If you can't then the marketers have done their jobs (and quite well actually).

[BeautyEh]

This.

Posted via CB10