Originally Posted by
belfastdispatcher 50 BlackBerrys? How is that in any way relevant to big enterprises needs that roll out thousands of devices while absolutely don't care in any way of what employees might want in a phone
When you have to look after thousands of devices my guess is even the most hardcore IT professionals would want to limit the employees to the strictly basic needed functions.
Had a busy week since New Years but now I'm back with a capital BACK.
I'll tell you how my small estate of 52 BlackBerry 10 devices (it's gone up a few just recently) is relevant to both the fact that almost nobody in Enterprise still wants physical Qwerty and also the needs of big enterprises with thousands of devices and no interest in "user preference". Not that we were talking about the latter at the time but you do so love to "amend" the subject when the going gets tough...
It's relevant because it is real world data from the real world of work. What real world data of a magnitude greater than 1 user (you) can you provide from your own personal experience? It shows that when presented with a choice of physical Qwerty BB10 with a small square screen and a full touch wide screen BB10 phone out of 52 people only 2 real people in the real world, 2 dinosaurs struggling on after the meteorite hit the Earth, chose physical Qwerty. The percentage who have chosen full touch is now up to 98.96% with a few recent additions.
How's that relevant to thousands of force-issued phones? If those users were given a choice I would bet my job that the percentage would remain above 90% in favour of full touch, and I would put a side bet on it remaining above 95%. People have moved on from physical Qwerty in their personal lives years ago, or never used one in the first place (since the iPhone has been around a long time now) and so they expect the same technology in their work lives. The only people who still think that Enterprise still must equal psychical Qwerty are people who are stuck in the past and regularly meet up with Mike Lazaridis for a pint and a chat about old times.
Now here's why even after the full touch smartphone revolution of the late 2000's large Enterprises have historically still force-rolled out physical Qwerty BlackBerry phones, with an emphasis on the historically!
When Enterprise has to roll out thousands of smartphones, unless they are cash mega rich and not trying to maximise profits in all areas, they are looking for two main qualities; cheap and secure.
Historically, between say 2008 and today,
the requirement for security ruled out Android.
The requirement for a low cost ruled out iPhone for obvious reasons and also Windows Phone (and it's predecessors) because the back end required to secure them properly (MS SCCM) is very expensive compared to typical MDM solutions.
What that used to leave was cheap as chips crappy but 'secure' old BBOS phone with physical Qwerty keyboards. Dear Carrier, Please find an order attached for 6,000 BlackBerry Curve xxxx's.
The fact that the phones their two main requirements would lead them to purchase had physical Qwerty keyboards had nothing to do with their selection, physical keyboards are just what they happened to have.
Part of that problem within BlackBerry's own range of BBOS phones was that they never actually produced a full touch BBOS that wasn't horrifically flawed in some way. I've used 2 of the most recent as my daily driver in the last 2 years; the Curve 9380 and the Torch 9860. Both are phones with so much potential and yet they somehow managed to over promise and under deliver whenever they can usually with a few minutes of "spinning clock of yawn" right when you need to do something. And both of those were far superior to either of the Storms, as I frequently say to my Apple fan boy colleague "We do not speak of BlackBerry Storm."
But anyway, I say 'historically' because oh boy the times they are a changing. Every enterprise tech blog in the world has in the last 6 months has posted an article or 'white paper' on why your enterprise must devise a plan to migrate away from BlackBerry. The company has been in a death spiral for too long, as a customer you have to have an exit strategy because in the next 12 months you might need it. And enterprises all over the world are deciding that their best exit strategy is to get out now!
What Enterprises expect of a smartphone, even a low end smartphone, is changing too. It's no longer just messaging, hasn't been for a couple of years. Almost anything can do messaging now, it's old news, stale beer. They expect apps; specifically Corporately developed/purchased and deployed apps that are controlled by IT. They expect that the phone will be able to connect to their company database systems so the user can have no excuse not to have done their electronic paper work on the move. When they turn to a developer for a bespoke mobile app or even to their database vendor for an off the shelf one they find that next to nobody is developing for BlackBerry any more whether that's BBOS or BlackBerry 10. What they are developing for is Android and iOS and the burgeoning Windows Phone, that's where the momentum is now.
Many who aren't 'Regulated' and so aren't forced by their Industry/Government to meet very high and specific security requirements for mobile devices have replaced BES with A.N.Other MDM solution and replaced aging BBOS phones with cheap Android full touch. Or if they already have the expensive (tens of thousands of pounds) back end infrastructure in place, Windows Phone full touch. Or they've implemented BYOD in an attempt to bring down costs so iPhone is brought in to the mix too. They may be leaking corporate data like a sieve trying to hold a pint of water, that's a big risk they have taken as the world moves on, but with the 'ditch us now' image that BlackBerry is leaving in the minds of the enterprise tech world coupled with poor awareness of BB10, ridiculous pricing in many countries and still no true low end BB10 phone, BlackBerry is left out of this new picture.
BlackBerry's last refuge is 'Regulated' Enterprise, Governments, Public Sector organisations and financial intuitions where they do have to comply with strict security policies for mobile devices. Even here the times they are a changing as Samsung is aggressively chasing wounded BlackBerry with Samsung KNOX, it's not fit for purpose yet but it's just a matter of time. 2014 will see Microsoft launch "Enterprise features" for Windows Phone 8.1, nobody knows what the hell they are yet but Microsoft stand to become 'trusted' in regulated Enterprise more easily than most Android pushers.
Just about often enough for BlackBerry to still be able to carve out some kind of niche business and market share in 'Regulated' Enterprise all this still leads to a BlackBerry roll out. But the age old rule of 'cheap and secure' gets applied.
Dear Carrier, Please find an order attached for 6,000 BlackBerry 9720's or worse 9320's.
As a sweetener when you've always used BBOS historically the bespoke apps you had written years ago to connect to your databases will still run. Your perpetual device CALs you've had for years will work with new 'old' BBOS phones on the BES you already have so you don't have further expense there.
It's a no brainer to go BBOS if you are a 'Regulated' Enterprise that needd to roll out thousands of BlackBerrys and you aren't ready to go BES10 and cash rich enough to buy BB10 phones. But the all too obvious point of the longest post I think I've ever done here is that the fact that the BBOS phones they end up with happen to be physical Qwerty has absolutely... nothing... to do with... the selection process.
Thank you and good night!
Posted via CB10 on Z30 STA100-2 on O2 UK - Activated on BES10.2