1. mikeo007's Avatar
    Saw this on the verge. Also noticed that it was mentioned on the main page of Crackberry.

    Some of the biggest names behind BlackBerry 10 have departed their ailing employer for the seemingly greener pastures of the startup world. The group of now-departed designers was brought on by BlackBerry after it acquired their previous employer, The Astonishing Tribe (TAT), back in 2010. TAT specialized in interface design and was initially taken on to polish up BlackBerry's tablet-specific operating system. Since then, the departed designers say that they became the "key players" in designing and developing BlackBerry 10.

    In total, at least eight TAT designers � including its founder � have now left BlackBerry, and seven of those � excluding TAT's founder � have now started a new design company called Topp. Fans of UI design may be excited to see a reunion of the group outside of BlackBerry: TAT worked on polishing up software for the very first Android phone and generally produced a lot of wild concepts regarding 3D and touchscreen interfaces. Though the new company only consists of seven departures, Topp says that each of its employees was a "design and technology lead" at TAT � though it is worth noting that TAT had around 140 employees back in 2008, according to a Forbes report at the time.

    For BlackBerry users, it's certainly bad news nonetheless. BlackBerry has been struggling to stay in the running in the modern smartphone race, and a hit to some of its top design talent will be one more bump in the road that it'll have to handle. It's not clear when each of the designers departed though, so the loss of personnel may be old news to BlackBerry. Even so, as the company works to bring its nearly one-year-old OS on par with more mature operating systems like iOS and Android, talented designers aren't a great thing to lose.
    Top BlackBerry 10 developers quit to form a new design company | The Verge

    Apparently a lot of that TAT (The Astonishing Tribe) talent left BlackBerry Sweden to start a new company called TOPP... | CrackBerry.com
    10-09-13 02:57 PM
  2. Shlooky's Avatar
    Their talent was wasted at BB. very little of their effort was brought to BB10. Now perhaps they can consult and develop solutions for companies like BB for a hefty fee
    helio9965 likes this.
    10-09-13 03:06 PM
  3. Thunderbuck's Avatar
    Their talent was wasted at BB. very little of their effort was brought to BB10. Now perhaps they can consult and develop solutions for companies like BB for a hefty fee
    That isn't true at all. Cascades is full of TAT's work.
    szlevi likes this.
    10-09-13 03:07 PM
  4. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    The TAT home page is very telling...

    Attachment 209447
    10-09-13 03:09 PM
  5. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    That isn't true at all. Cascades is full of TAT's work.
    What is Cascades? How do I get it?
    10-09-13 03:10 PM
  6. Homo Erectus's Avatar
    Microsoft need to buy Blackberrys Android Apps emulator (when BlackBerry gets liquidated) and modify it so it works with Windows Phone/Tablet. That will give them 1 million Apps. While also targeting businesses to write native apps. As the the user count increases app develops will then be willing rewrite their apps natively for better performance.
    10-09-13 03:16 PM
  7. Thunderbuck's Avatar
    What is Cascades? How do I get it?
    Cascades is the entire UI framework of BB10. All of the native buttons, controls, containers. The built in behaviors, animations, transitions. That's all TAT's work.
    10-09-13 03:24 PM
  8. Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes's Avatar
    Everyone has or is bailing ship. It's better to make your resume and get a new job before the errors of the company you worked for are fully exposed.
    10-09-13 03:30 PM
  9. needforbbx's Avatar
    Everyone has or is bailing ship. It's better to make your resume and get a new job before the errors of the company you worked for are fully exposed.
    From Simon S "Besides, if BlackBerry Sweden is still over 100 people strong, I wouldn't say 7 departures is going the completely sap them of talent. "

    mothership is still present
    10-09-13 03:46 PM
  10. mithrazor's Avatar
    What is Cascades? How do I get it?
    Yep from the way images load in CB and web browser etc to the animations and UI design decisions. That's all TAT.

    Posted via CB10
    10-09-13 04:12 PM
  11. szlevi's Avatar
    Their talent was wasted at BB. very little of their effort was brought to BB10. Now perhaps they can consult and develop solutions for companies like BB for a hefty fee
    Again, I cannot comprehend what's good on unloading absolutely clueless crap like this on a public forum...

    ...do you even understand what they do? I doubt it otherwise you'd do just how significant their contribution to BB10 is (HINT: everything you see.)
    10-09-13 04:13 PM
  12. BB_Bmore's Avatar
    From Simon S "Besides, if BlackBerry Sweden is still over 100 people strong, I wouldn't say 7 departures is going the completely sap them of talent. "

    mothership is still present
    Well considering the guy who started Tat was one of them, I'm assuming he took his top guys with him. Not good.

    Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
    10-09-13 04:19 PM
  13. Jahcure's Avatar
    Amazing how the verge ran with this story but they never ran stories on TAT demonstrations etc

    Posted via CB10
    10-09-13 04:20 PM
  14. Houshinto's Avatar
    Amazing how the verge ran with this story but they never ran stories on TAT demonstrations etc

    Posted via CB10
    Why would they run a story on teasers? Especially in hindsight now that we know that only a fraction of them ever came into fruition.
    Now a story based on influential TAT members actually leaving and starting up their own company this year is material, not a tease, and is relevant in context of current events.

    It's a no-brainer.
    10-09-13 04:25 PM
  15. Jahcure's Avatar
    Why would they run a story on teasers? Especially in hindsight now that we know that only a fraction of them ever came into fruition.
    Now a story based on influential TAT members actually leaving and starting up their own company this year is material, not a tease, and is relevant in context of current events.

    It's a no-brainer.
    Engadget did, so they thought it was a decent story.


    Posted via CB10
    10-09-13 04:32 PM
  16. OzarkaTexile's Avatar
    Amazing how the verge ran with this story but they never ran stories on TAT demonstrations etc

    Posted via CB10
    I know, right? The Verge hasn't had a positive story about BlackBerry for years.
    10-09-13 04:47 PM
  17. trsbbs's Avatar
    More talent gone at a time they needed it the most.

    I guess Thor didn't understand TAT thus he and Mike L. did not make full use of it. Snuffing out creativity. Sad....what a waste!

    Posted via CB10 on my Verizon Z10. 10.2.0.1725
    10-09-13 04:59 PM
  18. Thunderbuck's Avatar
    More talent gone at a time they needed it the most.

    I guess Thor didn't understand TAT thus he and Mike L. did not make full use of it. Snuffing out creativity. Sad....what a waste!

    Posted via CB10 on my Verizon Z10. 10.2.0.1725
    That may not be a fair characterization. As I and others have noted already, Cascades makes extensive use of TAT's UI design. As far as I'm concerned, they got great value, too, because the visual appeal of BB10 comes from their work.

    With the basic OS done, and the UI basically fixed in place for a couple of years, there really wouldn't be a ton of high-level design work. It doesn't inevitably have to reflect badly on BB that these guys left to form a startup. It happens elsewhere.
    10-09-13 05:55 PM
  19. needforbbx's Avatar
    Well considering the guy who started Tat was one of them, I'm assuming he took his top guys with him. Not good.

    Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
    The founder who left BB, left a while back. People who are into start-ups (entrepreneurs) are not going to stay on. He's started GetSalesDone - by Dexplora and has long moved on.
    grover5 likes this.
    10-09-13 07:31 PM
  20. sinsin07's Avatar
    I know, right? The Verge hasn't had a positive story about BlackBerry for years.
    Well wouldn't Blackberry first need to have a positive story. No question mark.
    BlackBerry Guy likes this.
    10-09-13 07:36 PM
  21. Houshinto's Avatar
    Well wouldn't Blackberry first need to have a positive story. No question mark.
    They did and still do. But negative context and, in a lot of cases, opinionated bias blunts any positivity in the articles written. Then you have negative news usually released on the same day which, due to the nature of news, got precedence.

    Even during the launch of BB10, tech sites were scrambling articles to cover the event and devices. We thought it would be for positive press and fair reviews of a pretty good device. Instead it's clear they had a mandate to slag and dump the phone and it's platform as much and as fast as possible. But that's in the past.
    10-10-13 03:37 PM
  22. cjcampbell's Avatar
    I guess people fail to realize that there was a fallout between the original TAT members and BB long ago. They didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things and a lot of the original members had left. The only story here is that they now have a new company but it is an easy segue to an easy anti BB article.
    10-10-13 04:54 PM
  23. Thunderbuck's Avatar
    I guess people fail to realize that there was a fallout between the original TAT members and BB long ago. They didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things and a lot of the original members had left. The only story here is that they now have a new company but it is an easy segue to an easy anti BB article.
    Again, that's not an unusual thing to happen when a startup gets bought by a bigger company. We haven't heard anything to indicate what friction might have come up, but by all means, let's speculate a bit...

    A frequent knock on BB has been that TAT showed all kinds of cool, zoomy demos, but little of it was ever actually delivered. Maybe TAT couldn't actually make their concepts usable in the real world, and BB management lost patience, hmmm?
    pmccartney and cjcampbell like this.
    10-10-13 05:26 PM
  24. Bluenoser63's Avatar
    What is Cascades? How do I get it?
    You get it with a lot of native apps you use.
    10-10-13 05:29 PM
  25. Bluenoser63's Avatar
    Everyone has or is bailing ship. It's better to make your resume and get a new job before the errors of the company you worked for are fully exposed.
    I wish you would bail from CB.
    playbookster and SirJes like this.
    10-10-13 05:30 PM
62 123

Similar Threads

  1. Instagram on 10.2.0.1767
    By angel21612 in forum BlackBerry Q10
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 11-09-13, 02:21 PM
  2. Canadian pension fund CEO: BlackBerry sale �the most bizarre sales process I�ve seen�
    By Homo Erectus in forum General BlackBerry News, Discussion & Rumors
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: 10-14-13, 12:25 PM
  3. Blackberry HUB going crazy and multiple other problems...
    By Marko M1 in forum BlackBerry Z10
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 10-11-13, 02:15 PM
  4. [article] CrackBerry withdrawal: BlackBerry's collapse leaves users struggling to switch
    By cgk in forum General BlackBerry News, Discussion & Rumors
    Replies: 24
    Last Post: 10-10-13, 08:44 PM
LINK TO POST COPIED TO CLIPBOARD