[anon(9169048)]

Former BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins accused of attempting to run yet another company into the ground | MobileSyrup.com

[Drenegade]

Off with his head....

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[Troy Tiscareno]

The problem is that Powermat uses its own wireless charging standard, whereas just about every phone manufacturer that supports wireless charging uses the Qi wireless charging standard. To use Powermat, you need to have a Powermat phone case.

Proprietary standards will always fail when there is an equivalent standard that is more open or costs less to license.

Powermat has charging stations in airports and a few other places, but I've never seen one in use, because no one has phones that work with them.

[z10Jobe]

I agree with what you are saying about proprietary systems, but how do you explain the great success of Apple, whom appears to go against this principle.

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[Prem WatsApp]

I agree with what you are saying about proprietary systems, but how do you explain the great success of Apple, whom appears to go against this principle.

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They must be in league with the dark side or something... ;-P

Seriously, you are right, something about Apple is strange, they have created a fetish of a brand like no other... iFetish!

Apple was able to create buzz and gain critical mass, as they pretty much started the touchscreen craze.

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

[anon(9169048)]

More info (and less snarky):

Wireless-charging tech just got another hurdle thrown in its way - CNET

[Tre Lawrence]

I agree with what you are saying about proprietary systems, but how do you explain the great success of Apple, whom appears to go against this principle.

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To a degree, it does defy the norm, but it helps to be early and have momentum with regards to creating standards.

[early2bed]

Being in the smartphone game early and having momentum wasn't enough for Palm or BlackBerry so you obviously need something else. Come to think of it, you can also say the same thing about the Sony with personal music players and Microsoft with tablets.

A proprietary standard can work if it benefits the consumer enough to overcome the downside of being proprietary. The iOS App Store, for example, is a closed market, however, the way it facilitates app development, micro-payments, account management, installation, security and platform feature enhancements makes it worthwhile for many people to buy in to.

There are rumors that Apple is going to get rid of the headphone jack at some point. Whether they can pull this off depends on how rich the experience with headphones is using their proprietary connection. The headphone jack is pretty old technology, after all, that goes back to the 1960's or something. One can reasonably ask "If Apple doesn't do it will we ever get anything better?" Who else is going to do it that has the market power to make it work?

[ljfong]

Sounds like another multi million dollar payday on the wing for Thorsten if he gets canned again? This guy is good...

[Tre Lawrence]

Being in the smartphone game early and having momentum wasn't enough for Palm or BlackBerry so you obviously need something else. Come to think of it, you can also say the same thing about the Sony with personal music players and Microsoft with tablets.

A proprietary standard can work if it benefits the consumer enough to overcome the downside of being proprietary. The iOS App Store, for example, is a closed market, however, the way it facilitates app development, micro-payments, account management, installation, security and platform feature enhancements makes it worthwhile for many people to buy in to.

There are rumors that Apple is going to get rid of the headphone jack at some point. Whether they can pull this off depends on how rich the experience with headphones is using their proprietary connection. The headphone jack is pretty old technology, after all, that goes back to the 1960's or something. One can reasonably ask "If Apple doesn't do it will we ever get anything better?" Who else is going to do it that has the market power to make it work?

Definitely. Take the lightning charger for instance. Pricing aside, it's a smart concept.

I do think momentum is a huge part of it... arguably, Apple was able to ride out the success of the iPod to incorporate its own charging system.

[andy957]

I like how the title says "run yet another company into the ground".

[Troy Tiscareno]

Apple was successful because they had a visionary leader with a very, very strong will and who really understood what upscale consumers would be attracted to: elegant industrial design, simplicity achieving things that were considered complex, and full integration with other Apple products. Of course, even Steve Jobs made mistakes - more than most people remember - but he also had lots of huge successes. Jobs also knew when to say "no" and not launch a product that was too far from Apple's core competencies or were beyond their financial ability to be successful. Finally, Apple invests in a lot of research, and that enables them to be near or at the forefront when deploying new technologies. All of those things combine to give Apple high-quality products with lots of user "lock-in."

Let's not forget that Apple also has top-flight marketing and a budget to put that marketing in front of all the right eyes.

BB kind of fell backwards into the smartphone business, but never really put together a proper management infrastructure (the dual CEO thing was insane, and Mike had Founder's Dilemma) and squandered their resources, so by the time they actually were ready to compete, the war was nearly over and they completely lacked the resources, brand image, and consumer focus to have any chance at success with their own platform. Those years Mike and Jim squandered, along with the cash, decided the outcome long before BB10 even launched - hell, before they even purchased QNX. In a market where competition is immense and timing is so critical, you can't sit out 6 years and then jump back in and succeed.

[early2bed]

To be fair, it doesn't sound like he stepped into a very good situation with the founder and former CEO being forced to step down and then sitting on the board. Plenty of CEO candidates wouldn't stand for that. TH must be a glutton for punishment. It's no surprise that the founder wants the company back. Don't they always?

I'd have to fault the shareholders for going along with this kind of situation. If they had some good technology then they could have considered a sale but they decided to go forward anyway looking to a big payday if the technology caught on. But it didn't. TH probably has a golden parachute clause and the lawsuit is simply a negotiating tactic to lower the amount.

[Prem WatsApp]

Former BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins accused of attempting to run yet another company into the ground | MobileSyrup.com

"Oops... I did it again... ?"

8-o

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

[Soulstream]

I agree with what you are saying about proprietary systems, but how do you explain the great success of Apple, whom appears to go against this principle.

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The problem is that Apple is really 1 in a million case. There are a lot of things Apple can get away with, that no other company can.

[Benjamin Black]

Dude....a lot of this discussion is based around something one guy said off hand which is completely false. Qi is just as proprietary as powermat. It just has more traction in the wireless charging space already. the att classic, passport and priv all have wireless charging receivers built into the back of the phone and wireless charge on powermat or Qi but are optimized for powermat. This is because ATT has aligned itself with powermat for wireless charging whereas Verizon has aligned itself with Qi. Personally I like powermat better, it has some nice magnetic auto align and the pads makes awesome noise whenever you set the phone down on them to let you know they are charging. Also just to further drive home how neither of these companies is more open than the other they are simpleply put competitors offering two different standards: Duracell has a gigantic investment in powermat and energizer has a gigantic investment in Qi. This is exactly like the battle between Blu ray and HD DVDs. Blu ray didn't win because it was open.

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[Ecm]

[WARN]This is a forum, not a classroom. Skip the comments about others' grammar and stay on topic. [/WARN]

[Troy Tiscareno]

Qi is just as proprietary as powermat. It just has more traction in the wireless charging space already.

It's absolutely true that Qi is just as proprietary... but much like VHS in the VHS vs. Beta wars, the Qi standard is cheaper to license and to implement, which is why Qi has a lot more traction in the market. Qi's victory is a foregone conclusion at this point, despite the deals that Powermat was able to put together. Consumers hate when simple things like this have incompatible competing standards, so eventually one wins and the other loses, and the one that wins is the one that gets the most support. That is Qi, for better or worse.

[Randal Yandal]

Why are you linking to that Mobilesyrup site....it. Sucks. hard!

BlackBerry Z30 (10.3.2)

[anon(9169048)]

Why are you linking to that Mobilesyrup site....it. Sucks. hard!

BlackBerry Z30 (10.3.2)

I also linked to CNET. I posted the MobileSyrup link first because that was the first one I came across. If you equally hate CNET there are plenty of other sites handling the same news, Google it.

[Randal Yandal]

I also linked to CNET. I posted the MobileSyrup link first because that was the first one I came across. If you equally hate CNET there are plenty of other sites handling the same news, Google it.

I just dont want anyone generating hits for that turd of a site. Pure hipster trash.

BlackBerry Z30 (10.3.2)

[early2bed]

How about that non-proprietary USB and its variants? I think if I added up the total time I have spent in my life flipping over a USB plug to see which way it goes in, trying to find out if there is enough power to run what I'm trying to plug in, unplugging to see if it's causing a crash, and trying to get it to go in all the way because of some clearance issue, I would probably get a couple days of extra life on this earth. If that's what open standards gets us then you can have it.

Oh, I forgot the mysterious USB slot in the back of the whatever TV, game console, or electronic box or at the airport that you have no idea what it's capable of. LOL.

[thurask]

How about that non-proprietary USB and its variants? I think if I added up the total time I have spent in my life flipping over a USB plug to see which way it goes in, trying to find out if there is enough power to run what I'm trying to plug in, unplugging to see if it's causing a crash, and trying to get it to go in all the way because of some clearance issue, I would probably get a couple days of extra life on this earth. If that's what open standards gets us then you can have it.

Oh, I forgot the mysterious USB slot in the back of the whatever TV, game console, or electronic box or at the airport that you have no idea what it's capable of. LOL.

It's either that or wondering where to stick the FireWire cable...

Although, while they should have launched with it in the 90s, USB Type C should fix most of those issues.

[skibnik]

I'm not defending Thorston regarding his time at Blackberry, but when he was appointed CEO the old guard was still very much in charge at RIM with their outdated thinking. You have to give him credit for launching BB10 and implementing the android runtime (10.2.1) the Passport etc. Chen came in basically with a coup that purged all the old guard and gave him a clean slate to do what needed to be done. Thorston did not have that luxury.

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[nevertoofar]

Thorsten was a visionary but the world is blind...

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