[Raestloz]

BlackBerry 10 was supposed to be a good news in terms of updates: radio and OS files are separated, so you can update your OS while still retaining your trusty radio file.

But that's not the case: carriers still want to inspect the package as a whole.

And, I think, the reason is the fact that BlackBerry delegates almost the entire technical support job to carriers

BlackBerry itself indeed offers technical support for individuals, but it costs you $49 just to ask the question alone.

BlackBerry also technically offers technical support, but only after a representative of your carrier tells them about your problem, and only if the problem is indeed BlackBerry's fault, which as you may imagine can be hard to confirm at a glance. Also, only if you bought the device from the carrier.

Otherwise, technical support is in the hands of either the carrier, the shop where you bought it or yourself via DIY projects. As you can see, offering technical support for someone else's fault is not something anyone would want to do, so it makes sense that carriers would want to inspect the whole package: they are the front line in dealing with the angry customers if the OS botches the device.

In turn, this way of dealing business also disables BlackBerry from selling their own devices by themselves, because they don't want to offer technical support directly for free.

I think it's high time BlackBerry tries to hold itself together and start trying to do business in which they (of course, via branches)can be contacted directly by customers, which is the way Apple do business.

Apple's ecosystem is evil, but if there's one thing they do right (of which there are many), it'd be the way they handle their business: the way you'd expect their business to work. You can go to a certified Apple store anywhere and you can be confident you're dealing with someone who actually has the knowledge and ability to deal with your problem. What's your record time from being answered by a polite low-ranking employee trained to listen to your problems to being transferred to the guy in charge capable of actually doing something to your problems?

BlackBerry may have corporate customers, but money funds research, and if they keep bleeding, it's only about time Apple and Google comes up with an OS and infrastructure as secure as BlackBerry's

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[Sith_Apprentice]

This will change likely, with the upcoming changes within the company. It is still unclear if BlackBerry will continue handset sales 18-24 months from now, if they find a hardware partner things might be very different. However, if you look at Android this is also tied to carrier releases, so Apple may very well be the only company that can withstand this process.

[Raestloz]

This will change likely, with the upcoming changes within the company. It is still unclear if BlackBerry will continue handset sales 18-24 months from now, if they find a hardware partner things might be very different. However, if you look at Android this is also tied to carrier releases, so Apple may very well be the only company that can withstand this process.

True, but then again, you almost never see carriers or manufacturers issue Android updates lol. Most Android updates, I believe, are from DIY

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