[GadgetTravel]

So I’m reading a thread that is basically saying, “poor Microsoft, people used monopoly power against them”. Okay. I really am awake it seems. But how?

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

So I’m reading a thread that is basically saying, “poor Microsoft, people used monopoly power against them”. Okay. I really am awake it seems. But how?

We all have the advantage of looking back in time....

I don't think anyone really understood the developer market back in 2009 - 2012, it seemed very possible that developers would support 3 or 4 platforms, and too be honest I bet they would have. If the numbers had been there.

But you don't start with zero and expect developers to come without users, or users to come without developers. You had a few developers will to speculate on the startup platforms, but the first sign of weakness and even those pulled out.

I don't think it was "monopoly power" just the lesson of the first one to dominate the market is the one that 3rd parties are lilky to support.

If Apple has waited until 2013 or 2014... I doubt they would have succeeded either. If BlackBerry and Microsoft had released their solutions in 2007... we'd probable have three or four platforms today.

[Golfdriver97]

We all have the advantage of looking back in time....

I don't think anyone really understood the developer market back in 2009 - 2012, it seemed very possible that developers would support 3 or 4 platforms, and too be honest I bet they would have. If the numbers had been there.

But you don't start with zero and expect developers to come without users, or users to come without developers. You had a few developers will to speculate on the startup platforms, but the first sign of weakness and even those pulled out.

I don't think it was "monopoly power" just the lesson of the first one to dominate the market is the one that 3rd parties are lilky to support.

If Apple has waited until 2013 or 2014... I doubt they would have succeeded either. If BlackBerry and Microsoft had released their solutions in 2007... we'd probable have three or four platforms today.

I only disagree on the timeframe you mentioned about Apple. I think if they would have delayed until 2010 it would have been a different story.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I only disagree on the timeframe you mentioned about Apple. I think if they would have delayed until 2010 it would have been a different story.

I just said 13, 14 because that's when BlackBerry and Microsoft got around to it...

Thing is if not for Apple, I'm not sure what Google would have done... they were planning a PKB phone at launch and the apps weren't really a big thing for them either - other than their own. They scrambled to get a all touch (or slider) out along with an App Store and 3rd party developers on board at the last minute...

Who knows...

[GadgetTravel]

We all have the advantage of looking back in time....

I don't think anyone really understood the developer market back in 2009 - 2012, it seemed very possible that developers would support 3 or 4 platforms, and too be honest I bet they would have. If the numbers had been there.

But you don't start with zero and expect developers to come without users, or users to come without developers. You had a few developers will to speculate on the startup platforms, but the first sign of weakness and even those pulled out.

I don't think it was "monopoly power" just the lesson of the first one to dominate the market is the one that 3rd parties are lilky to support.

If Apple has waited until 2013 or 2014... I doubt they would have succeeded either. If BlackBerry and Microsoft had released their solutions in 2007... we'd probable have three or four platforms today.

Okay, we don't have an irony emoji. I think to the point of when companies needed to react it's all a relative time consideration. It's time after the iPhone. Google got in under that window and Microsoft and Blackberry didn't. It was really a race to be the second ecosystem after Apple (time wise).

[Digital_Islandboy]

Nokia's MeeGo, Blackberry's BBOS, Samsung's Tizen... None of them could become widespread...

HUH? BlackBerry used to be a top mobile device before iPhone's were first released in 2007, the iPhone 1 came out in 2007. Android rose up around 2011. That claim makes no sense.

BlackBerry fell off because the leadership stopped giving people what the people wanted and took a stance of we know what you want and people found iPhone and Android devices not only giving them what they wanted (larger screens), multi-touch, they were also cheaper than Blackberries. Then when BlackBerry launched the Tablet, people wanted larger ones. Like the bigger iPads, than BlackBerry announced they were killing the tablet which was like daggers to hearts of those who went out and purchased them. Sony Ericsson and Nokia did the same and they lost too.

[Bbnivende]

The Playbook was just the canary in the coal mine.

It was one of my dumber technology purchases ever.

[Digital_Islandboy]

Depends what apps you're talking about apps that make money could have been be pressured to release BlackBerry 10 apps. **For example ** Uber, Lyft, Via, Bridj, Gett, Bla-Bla Car, Curb, etc. those are all companies that make money right away dependent upon their app. If BB10 users had put pressure on these companies to hire a BB10 developer they would do it. But they have to be able to show the numbers to make it worthwhile.

A lot of these website track operating system users on their website via cookies. It will show not only what web browser people are using, (Safari, Opera, Chrome, IE, Mozilla, AOL Browser, etc.) but also operating system they are using. Right now, in RIM/BBRY picking up Android it is going to show even less websites are getting hits from "BlackBerry" and more are getting hits from Android devices thus nailing BlackBerry's coffin shut now.

On the other hand if you're talking about you want a company like Wheel of Fortune, or Casino Online, or Zynga Farm-ville etc. to release apps for BlackBerry 10 that would be something completely different. Those companies don't monetize as easily so they'll never want to jump onto another platform. You have to remember Apple and Microsoft also work with colleges campuses directly and they're going to push courses in coding for their devices alone they're not going to push technologies outside of their basket of offerings if they don't have to.

[Digital_Islandboy]

Actually it wasn't, if you can remember Android had to tweak the operating system to allow itself to run multiple apps at once back around 2011-2012-ish or so. Might have been earlier. I'm trying to remember when Google held the East Coast code-a-thon at the Harvard Square Hotel in Cambridge, Mass as it was one of the items on the agenda was how overcome that issue.

[Troy Tiscareno]

Depends what apps you're talking about apps that make money could have been be pressured to release BlackBerry 10 apps.

BB did everything they could have done to try to pressure, or beg, or even pay to create apps for BB10, but developers don't want more than 2, or a max of 3 OSs, and BB10 never got out of 4th place behind WinPhone.

BB10's biggest sales year was the launch year, 2013, and BB10 phones only sold about 6M units. Apple would sell 10M iPhones over a weekend, and Google was activating nearly 1M devices a day (at that time, it's over 2M/day today). Developers rightly saw that BB10 was insignificant volume-wise, and that in the long run, NOT supporting a 4th-place OS would mean that it would fail and that their customers would simply end up on one of the OSs they already supported - and that's exactly what happened.

If you were an app CEO, you'd do a cost/benefit analysis before you committed to supporting another platform, and if the numbers weren't there, you wouldn't support that platform either. That's exactly what happened at tens or hundreds of thousands of companies - and most of them stayed away because the costs were too high.

If you removed all of the "spam apps", such as the 75,000+ apps made by S4BB alone that were mostly just data stolen from Wikipedia, BB World would have looked pretty empty. That's not because a handful of developers stayed away, it's because MOST of them did.

[kvndoom]

Depends what apps you're talking about apps that make money could have been be pressured to release BlackBerry 10 apps. **For example ** Uber, Lyft, Via, Bridj, Gett, Bla-Bla Car, Curb, etc. those are all companies that make money right away dependent upon their app. If BB10 users had put pressure on these companies to hire a BB10 developer they would do it. But they have to be able to show the numbers to make it worthwhile.

A lot of these website track operating system users on their website via cookies. It will show not only what web browser people are using, (Safari, Opera, Chrome, IE, Mozilla, AOL Browser, etc.) but also operating system they are using. Right now, in RIM/BBRY picking up Android it is going to show even less websites are getting hits from "BlackBerry" and more are getting hits from Android devices thus nailing BlackBerry's coffin shut now.

On the other hand if you're talking about you want a company like Wheel of Fortune, or Casino Online, or Zynga Farm-ville etc. to release apps for BlackBerry 10 that would be something completely different. Those companies don't monetize as easily so they'll never want to jump onto another platform. You have to remember Apple and Microsoft also work with colleges campuses directly and they're going to push courses in coding for their devices alone they're not going to push technologies outside of their basket of offerings if they don't have to.

Where were you in 2013 and 2014? BB10 owners DID plead and beg those companies to make apps! BlackBerry itself offered money, AND offered to develop the apps themselves. (if that ain't a sign of desperation, I don't know what is). And some of them DID have BB10 apps at first.

But they saw the numbers and decided it wasn't worth it. This has been gone over so many dozens of times, but it keeps being brought up as if it were some novel idea that no one ever considered.

[Emaderton3]

Where were you in 2013 and 2014? BB10 owners DID plead and beg those companies to make apps! BlackBerry itself offered money, AND offered to develop the apps themselves. (if that ain't a sign of desperation, I don't know what is). And some of them DID have BB10 apps at first.

But they saw the numbers and decided it wasn't worth it. This has been gone over so many dozens of times, but it keeps being brought up as if it were some novel idea that no one ever considered.

I recall all of the developer conferences and financial incentives that BlackBerry offered. Unfortunately, it just didn't matter.

[Old_Mil]

Sailfish still lives.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

BB did everything they could have done to try to pressure, or beg, or even pay to create apps for BB10, but developers don't want more than 2, or a max of 3 OSs, and BB10 never got out of 4th place behind WinPhone.

.

Heck BB10 never got from behind BBOS.... even now probable more BBOS phones being used.

[bakron1]

In this day and age Android and IOS are now the dominant platforms and even Microsoft with all their resources couldn’t make Windows Mobile a force to be reckoned with.

Blackberry was like any other company who was trying to stay solvent while still trying to keep their customer base.

They took the software road and focused on security and software for the automotive sector and looking at the past couple of years, they are still here, making money and looking forward to the future.

As much as the Blackberry purist would love to see OS10 still be a variable OS, I personally think the company made the correct decision.

I enjoy seeing a building in Waterloo with the Blackberry sign on the front of it and people being employed, then an empty one. Just my two cents worth.

[LuxuryTouringZone]

iOS, Android, BlackBerry 10, Windows 10 Mobile, Tizen and Sailfish. While there's only two that are alive and well, you still have some options to toy around with.

[TGR1]

I don't believe jobs came up with idea as much as it was presented to him in various forms and he glued it together. His previous mistake with Lisa and macintosh lack of app support cost him dearly, and he had 15 years to think about what went wrong there.
Apples early days are reminiscent of rims. Great product, lots of hype....but after the intial buzz ...what else can you do?

Postced via CB10

Revolutionize desktop publishing? Lay the foundation for Microsoft to dominate the workplace and home office? Apple 1.0 did a lot

As for mobile, how many recall the apps for Windows Mobile and RIM phones? Recall how expensive and a pain they were to install? All the big OEMs were working on app stores but nada.

Man, y’all are just way too young.

Btw, Jobs was not a fan of apps at first. He had to be convinced by his staff.

[Digital_Islandboy]

How exactly "did Android and iPhone allow only two to dominate?" When BlackBerry had more mobile devices than Android and Iphone before 2009?