Originally Posted by
Troy Tiscareno American carriers have ALWAYS, with EVERY platform, done carrier testing before releasing new firmware/OSs for their phones.
When Apple was about to launch the iPhone, they went to Verizon first, because they were the biggest carrier in the US. They nearly had a deal, but Apple was insisting on Apple-controlled OS updates, and Verizon didn't want to agree to that, so the deal fell apart. Thus, Apple went to their second choice: AT&T. At the time, even though they were the second-biggest carrier, AT&T was losing ground quickly, so they agreed to let Apple do direct OS updates. Once Apple had that agreement with AT&T and set that precedent, and then proved that the iPhone, even at the crazy-high price that it was initially offered at ($600 up-front ON CONTRACT, which is roughly equal to $1050 off-contract), would sell, Apple was able to secure the same right with other carriers. Even then, with AT&T growing at a huge pace with the iPhone after two years of sales, it took Verizon a long time to agree to Apple's demand for direct control of updates, but finally the pressure was too much and they gave in.
No other smartphone company has ever had that kind of leverage with the carriers, and hence no other smartphone company has the contractual ability do to direct updates to phones purchased through the carriers. Yes, Google Nexus phones purchased directly from Google (i.e., unlocked GSM phones) can be updated directly, but they are an obvious exception - the vast majority of people in the US buy their phones locked, on-contract, from their carrier. Another issue is that the US has 2 CDMA carriers, and unlike GSM phones available in most of the world, CDMA phones can't be provisioned on the network by simply inserting an active SIM. Until LTE phones were released, they didn't even HAVE a removable SIM, and so CDMA phones are locked to the carrier and the carrier, because they can, will only activate phones originally sold by that carrier. You can't just go buy some random phone and use it on Verizon or Sprint - they won't let you, even if that phone is technically compatible.
So, BB is no different from Samsung, LG, Motorola, HTC, Lenovo, Nokia, or any other Android or Windows Phone maker: they have to wait for the carrier to test and approve their updates before those updated will be released. WHY is this? Because, in the US, the primary support mechanism for smartphones is the CARRIER, not the smartphone company (with the exception of Apple, who has Apple Stores, one of the reasons AT&T agreed to let Apple have update control in the first place). A bad OS/firmware update can wreak havoc on potentially millions of phones all at once, inundating the carrier with support requests, and often forcing the carriers to exchange phones for customers, at a big financial loss to the carrier. In most of the world, the manufacturer is the primary support source, and phones are often purchased independently of carrier service (with GSM in most places, this is easy to do). That makes the US somewhat unique, with it's mix of GSM and CDMA carriers.
So, waiting for updates to be tested and approved is normal, and Apple shouldn't be compared to any other vendor because Apple was granted a contractual exception to the rule that no one else was in a position to demand and has support infrastructure that no other vendor has.
The other part, as several people have pointed out, is that testing updates takes time, money, and resources for the carriers, and so that testing is prioritized. It doesn't take a genius to look at BB's marketshare percentage to know that testing BB updates is a lower priority than testing updates for Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola, or Nokia devices. Will BB eventually get their turn on the testing schedule? Most likely, yes, but they are a lower priority because the installed base is so small relative to other phones.
For the people who have said that BB should "issue an ultimatum" or "stop dealing with the carriers", you are clueless to how the cell phone business works, at least in the US. BB needs the carriers FAR, FAR more than the carriers need BB. The carriers could EASILY choose not to activate BB phones on their networks AT ALL, and while GSM customers could find ways around that, CDMA customers (Verizon and Sprint) would have no way to use a BB if they wanted to stay with their carrier. Plus, something like 97% of all smartphone sales in the US are made by carriers, so without the carriers, BB is all the way dead in the US. BB is in absolutely no position to be issuing ultimatums, and the very idea is ludicrous and laughable.
Those people who bought and own their own BB phone have alternatives to update their phone's OS, so there's no real reason to complain. Yes, it's true that those who were issued their phones by their employers, locked down with BES, can't do anything but wait for the carriers, but that's exactly what you have to do. Yes, it sucks, but that's the unfortunate reality, and nothing is really going to change that. BB isn't the only company whose phones are waiting for carriers to release phone updates - everyone but Apple is in the same boat, even if some are closer to the front of the line.