[Nine54]

Thor made two big mistakes.

The first was in appointing a none American director of marketing. This led to poor marketing in the US.

Well, LightSquared, the company he last came from, is based in the U.S. I think the real issue is that Boulben has a carrier-centric background instead of a consumer-centric one. Maybe the thought was that his experience would help BlackBerry recruit carriers as marketing allies, but that hasn't really panned out. BlackBerry--not the carriers--needs to sell people on its products.

Second. He is way too conservative. He is so concerned with becoming like Palm and running out of cash, that it did not spend enough to ensure that the launch went well.

Stability is important and Thor deserves credit for "righting the ship." But, BlackBerry needs to work its way back to a leadership position, not necessarily in terms of market share, but in terms of innovation. That's not to say that BlackBerry products don't have innovative features, but the company largely is playing catch-up. It needs to develop technologies--not just features--that people take notice, and turn those technologies into market opportunities that its competitors haven't realized (yet). It has an opportunity with the auto space, but stands a real chance of ceding that to Apple if it can't figure out a way to make BB 10 integration more compelling than iOS integration.

[mnc76]

Thor is great at operations. But I don't think he and the current board "Get It" yet. Even after everything that has happened.

They have wasted so much possibility that TAT could have provided in making a flashy UX.

They still have *no idea* about what they are doing in marketing (even though they have been much better in the last 6 months, but this isn't saying much).

They have been pretty good in using leaks to build buzz in the blogosphere though. I have to give them that.

They are still far too conservative, and executing too slowly. I don't think they fully understand how little time they have left to succeed.

A huge mistake was nit buying the company that own the time shift technology. They let Nokia come in and purchase it!!!

The lack of use of TAT expertise is almost mind blowing.

Posted via CB10

[birdman_38]

A huge mistake was not buying the company that own the time shift technology. They let Nokia come in and purchase it

First I've heard of that. Proof please.

Posted via CB10

[IgotsThis]

Well let's think of it this way. Let's say his PB team said they CAN get bb10 to work on it, so he then took their word for it, but then they found it couldn't work and instead of crushing everyone's hopes he kept saying they were "working" on it. I don't blame him for what he did, it's deceitful but IMO necessary.

Z10? Why yes it is.

[bradu1]

I think we were all hoping for a miracle and we didn't get it. The company is not number one. It's not even where they want to be right now. But I think it's better than where we were on the last earnings call. I think it's showing improvement that the media said was impossible at that time.

I don't think Thor lied to us. I think he fully planned on bb10 on playbook. We saw the posts about playbook bb10 showing up in tests. That screen resolutions were showing up for apps. I think in the bend, it just didn't work. And I'm sure Thor is just as upset about this as us. He knew that would be a huge negative for a lot of people out there, but he sucked it up and told us.

Those of us hoping for a miracle, yeah, we're disappointed it didn't happen. Those of us that were planning on a miracle? Well, hopefully you'll take this as a life lesson.

Now let's stop complaining and get to contacting those developers about making apps for us, and let's hit up att and Verizon about being blatantly anti-bb, and get back to enjoying these awesome phones!

Posted via CB10

[zeteo]

Shouldn't the fix the phones they have before introducing new ones? Or were early adapters just test subject until the upgraded BB could be unveiled BB has proven they real done give a rats behind for their customers. See plabook.

[theclipart]

Thor is still my hero. i think many of you are forgetting where he got BlackBerry to today, from a year ago. Q1 results shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. nobody should be selling off their shares from yesterday's fiasco. everyone needs to relax and remember why we all own these devices. to give up now and to give up on Thor is only perpetuating the inane BlackBerry hate.

sorry for all of u upset abt the playbook...i get it. sucks but it's an old tablet. one never knows what will come to be in the future. there are reasons for everything.

if BlackBerry opens a corporate office in nyc, you better believe I'll be offering my help free of charge. I'll do anything to help BlackBerry creatively, and that includes keeping the faith in them, while educating the public by letting them know and understand how it really is the best f*king phone out there.

their marketing is geared towards a stuffy, corporate customer. their commercials...awful. their choice of a global creative director...awful. their ads...awful! no wonder why more people haven't jumped back to the BlackBerry. they need to make it more fun, more out there, more out of the box. they're Canadian fer christsakes...where is their humor.

Anyway enough of my rant. keep believing u guys. u aren't fans for nothing.

Posted via CB10

[BergerKing]

Moved thread to General BlackBerry Discussion.

[BBVegasGirl80]

Blackberry is confused right now if they want to make it a business phone or a people's phone or both.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900

I agree they are confused, but why can't they be both? Samsung came out with that ad a few months back bashing BB, saying there's no need for two devices anymore for work and play. Show in the BB ads the same thing, only better.

Artistically the current BB ads are nice for aesthetic purposes, but not for selling phones. Just be straightforward and show people what the new BB10 phone can do. Done.

Sent from my sexy Z10 in Sin City ;-)

[bobauckland]

Thor got plenty of leeway as CEO. He did next to nothing and still got praised as the best thing since sliced bread, as bringing in the future, as never breaking his word.
In reality the founders of this company set the foundations for BB10, and hardly ever get the credit for most people, instead they;re derided.

Thor announced a delay in BB10, still somehow came away rep intact, with people blaming it on the prev management.

Thor now breaks his word on BB10.
The truth is the whole top level, Thor, the marketing lead, Alec Saunders, that Marty guy, the dev relations team, they've all done absolutely terrible jobs.

The raw materials with BB10 are immense, the OS is so much fun to use, yet they've failed miserably in bringing in decent apps, in encouraging proper big name devs, in listening to their customers, in marketing the product, and in making promises they can keep.

Unless there's a true drastic overhaul, I see no reason for customers to trust BlackBerry again, BB10 is very much sold on it's potential, so was the PlayBook, if you don't follow through on delivering promises, eventually people stop believing.

[kevinnugent]

What was the first delay? Oh, the special chip that hadn't been invented yet. That was a good one!

[zten]

Some people forget it's just a phone.. it's not about who makes it or what they said. You pay for a glass slab that does a stuff for you. There are different types of glass slabs and other manufacturers. But who cares about the manufacturer if you are that focused on every detail said by someone and everything they will do I think you have more problems than you know.

It's just a phone, you paid for a slab of glass nothing more.

Posted via CB10

[theclipart]

no way. i think of BlackBerry as more than just a phone. i think of it as a revolution...and i support it a billion percent. i support their employees that work so hard to bring this OS back. but more important than that, i support BlackBerry to umpteenth degree to help break the monopoly that apple has on the world.

Posted via CB10

[kevinnugent]

no way. i think of BlackBerry as more than just a phone. i think of it as a revolution...and i support it a billion percent. i support their employees that work so hard to bring this OS back. but more important than that, i support BlackBerry to umpteenth degree to help break the monopoly that apple has on the world.

Posted via CB10

You can rest then. Samsung and Android are doing your job for you.

[birdman_38]

but more important than that, i support BlackBerry to umpteenth degree to help break the monopoly that apple has on the world.

It's actually a duopoly. Apple & Google.

Posted via CB10

[billy88n]

First I've heard of that. Proof please.

Posted via CB10

You must not follow tech that close. A simple google search will give you the proof you need.


Sent from my BlackBerry 9810 using Tapatalk

[monil11]

First I've heard of that. Proof please.

Posted via CB10

There you go : Nokia announces it's buying Scalado, the company behind the cool BlackBerry 10 "time warp" camera functionality | CrackBerry.com

[birdman_38]

There you go : Nokia announces it's buying Scalado, the company behind the cool BlackBerry 10 "time warp" camera functionality | CrackBerry.com

Thanks.

Posted via CB10

[anon6040766]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, however only some are privileged to know the facts. I'm on the fence here. I think there is vast room for improvement around how some things have been handled from a CEO perspective. That said, my gripe isn't necessarily with him. A better support team should have seen this coming. And yes, it's just one earnings call, but there is no reason to believe things will turn around. My point is just because we may be experts with our BlackBerry's doesn't mean we're experts with understanding market dynamics, etc. BlackBerry needs the right people working there to turns thing around. That could mean chopping the head off or replacing the body that's working for the head. Nonetheless, Thor is still responsible and should be held accountable, but at the same time should be given a bit more time. My reasoning is because it's the BlackBerry customers that are complaining and retention alone won't allow BlackBerry to thrive. They need retention plus conversions. So far it seems a poor job is being done at both.

Posted with my Q10, the best damn phone on the planet

[Gekko]

i thought this was funny -

"I have to agree (unfortunately) to the Thorsten Heins aspect. From day one I had my doubts concerning that persona. In a marketing driven business he is the person you should avoid hiring at any circumstances. Today's outcome has proven it. Thorsten Heins has managed to turn a company with a almost perfect product and top notch services into garbage just by being himself. To cite a few months old quote from my brother: "Heins is the kind of guy you instantly want to strangle when you see him. He is the last pick on a neighborhood sunday football match. He is the guy you do not invite to your birthday under any circumstances. Neither do you go to his birthday. Not even if he invites you to Casa Bonita (a South Park reference)." A Tech company CEO should never be an engineer, but a rabble-charming personality." - Ben Hofstede - 28 Jun, 06:32 PM

[theclipart]

It's actually a duopoly. Apple & Google.

Posted via CB10

i didnt include google/android, since we can at least sideload their apps.

Posted via CB10

[birdman_38]

i didnt include google/android, since we can at least sideload their apps.

Posted via CB10

You feel Android is not a competitor to BlackBerry?

Posted via CB10

[dlrogers81]

Not sure if I would say "time to go Thor!" I'm thinking these latest results will be a big wake up call for the BB team. I have a feeling we may start seeing a lot more marketing, updates, and even possibly some big name apps. This is their first big release with something completely brand new, so I'm sure it's a learning experience and hopefully a solution, (whatever it may be) is in works. I really do want to see BlackBerry succeed. I'm not going to start judging just by this first quarter. I would say by 3rd quarter, we should all have a pretty good idea on how an outcome may be. Everyone is quick to judge to "sudden death."

[Bla1ze]

Yes, after 5 months into product launches kick out the head guy. That makes sense. Remember, Thorsten picked this company up and kept it going before they had products to even launch. In his time, he's done quite well to keep things afloat as far as I can tell and he's only NOW just beginning, he has plenty more work to do before things can change for the better and anyone thinking anything was going to change in a 5 month span of product launches is just off their rocker.

[Sporatic]

no way. i think of BlackBerry as more than just a phone. i think of it as a revolution...and i support it a billion percent. i support their employees that work so hard to bring this OS back. but more important than that, i support BlackBerry to umpteenth degree to help break the monopoly that apple has on the world.

Posted via CB10

Its great that you are supporting them, but tell me, how are they supporting you? They are the ones that have the responsibility to the consumer, not the other way around.