[dandbj13]

Has anyone ever really stopped to ask themselves what they really want or need in a phone?

As a communication device, I have no complaints with my 9900;

There's your problem right there. You're still thinking of the modern handheld computer as a phone. That's like thinking of cars a horseless carriages. You need to understand that most of us aren't really talking about phones. If you think the #1 purpose of a handheld computer is communication, you will always be in tension with those who embrace these devices for all they are worth.

For my part, the cellular radio is the smallest part of why I buy a phone. My iPad with HSPA+ and Logitech Ultra-thin Keyboard Cover have taken the place of my laptop. My laptop is now my wife's main computer. And, my desktop is still my desktop. They are all just my computer in different form factors. Each form-factor is optimized for particular kinds of tasks, but they each do their jobs very well. If what you need from your phone is to do the simplest, least interesting thing a modern phone can do, then honestly, that is not the stuff of enthusiast sites. All phones do that stuff without breaking a sweat. BB10 is about moving BB into the next level up where there are more interesting things to talk about than communications.

[freemyplaybook]

"We have considered a range of options that included adopting someone else�s operating system, but ultimately we rejected that idea. We determined that the best way to build value for our stakeholders...."

Ahh... that`s the real goal of an operating system. Didn`t know that. I always thought the goals are user-experiance.

"We even have a way to move Android apps to BlackBerry PlayBook and BlackBerry 10, so we would actually be limiting choices by adopting another operating system."
Fishing in an otherone s pool?
C`mon Heinzy-trustee-in-bankruptcy... Let me choose by myself and give me an open bootloader for my playbook...

41_Pied_Piper

[Blacklatino]

I admire Mr. Heins' direct approach with these questions. I'm not sure that there are many CEOs who would respond so openly. I hope that Globe and Mail readers (and Crackberry members) are reassured by this Q & A.

Not all. Nothing has changed for me and I'm neither happy nor sad- with over 8 personal BlackBerries. So, none of the hate/troll BS warnings here. JMO.....like it or not. Not taking anything away from Mr. Heins, but from the moment that the latest numbers were posted, he knew that he was no longer the chief cook. He's in the frying pan with the heat being turned up. So, it should be expected that any of his interviews posted would/should be on point and better. Same with the media blitz which was good. Now RIM has to prove to potential and former "consumers" that they want our business. One more time....as I've said on several threads already, RIM should be defending RIM....using whatever means that are available. Consumers need to be able to believe/trust that RIM will be here next year and that those at the top are credible. But, PR (public relations) is always a step in the right direction.

[Ricktye]

Well, I can never see myself writing a novel on my phone or designing the next Empire State building on it either, so what kind of other (useful) Apps are we talking here? Games and the like or?? So far I haven't heard anything on here to convince me that any device does what its supposed to better than my BB. What am I missing?? I mean I can only use so many weather programs or web browsers that are improving productivity.....

R...

It's apps and people no longer want a communication device. They want a communication device that does communication but also does everything you could ever think about doing on your computer. They want desktops and laptops to disappear. They want their phone/computer to do it all and do it well.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[_StephenBB81]

Has anyone ever really stopped to ask themselves what they really want or need in a phone?

As a communication device, I have no complaints with my 9900; well maybe battery life, but it's still better than my iPhone 4s so maybe that's not a complaint either?

Whether its a iPhone, Android or Blackberry, I believe the primary purpose of the device is to communicate, whether by phone, text or email. My 9900 excels at these functions. My BB also has a great weather program, Berryweather and a fantastic cross platform program I Whatsapp. It handles Word and Adobe programs pretty good too! I browse the forums ok with Tapatalk and Facebook intrergation is decent... There are lots of available themes out there to individualize your BB.

So what else should RIM be giving us in a communication device? Or is it the software application developers who aren't supporting us? Food for thought....

R...

Those of us who still consider our devices as communication tools first are the minority, the bulk of users buying smartphones really have little NEED for a smartphone they need a media device, with an always on internet connection.

My NEEDS still are communication based, my Job, and my personal business both are largely communication & travel based, so mobile devices to me are PRIMARILY used for Phone calls, emails, and IM's I rarely browse, I rarely game, I rarely listen to music or watch movies. now having the abilities to do so is important, but not what I care about the most.

BB7 is still the best OS coupled with the physical qwerty keyboard for communications first. which is probably it's most notable Achilles heel

Well, I can never see myself writing a novel on my phone or designing the next Empire State building on it either, so what kind of other (useful) Apps are we talking here? Games and the like or?? So far I haven't heard anything on here to convince me that any device does what its supposed to better than my BB. What am I missing?? I mean I can only use so many weather programs or web browsers that are improving productivity.....

R...

Fortunately not everyone agrees with you. as EL James wrote her best selling trilogy mostly on her BlackBerry device. of which she even includes as a means of communication in her stories.

[MartyMcfly]

Well, I can never see myself writing a novel on my phone or designing the next Empire State building on it either, so what kind of other (useful) Apps are we talking here? Games and the like or?? So far I haven't heard anything on here to convince me that any device does what its supposed to better than my BB. What am I missing?? I mean I can only use so many weather programs or web browsers that are improving productivity.....

R...






Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

There are a ton of threads with iOS/android users describing different task that are possible on those platforms. BB users tend to brush them off as non important, useless etc etc...

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[dandbj13]

Well, I can never see myself writing a novel on my phone or designing the next Empire State building on it either, so what kind of other (useful) Apps are we talking here? Games and the like or?? So far I haven't heard anything on here to convince me that any device does what its supposed to better than my BB. What am I missing?? I mean I can only use so many weather programs or web browsers that are improving productivity.....

R...

It is a horrible, but classic mistake to measure the value of a thing based on your personal usage of it. Should I conclude that since I do not fly much, the value of air travel is minimal? That view is so self-centered as to almost be solipsistic. I'm sorry you do not understand, and are not personally participating in the mobile computing revolution that is presently taking place all about you. But I assure you, if you wait six to nine months, and if RIM is successful in their endeavors, they will happily show you exactly what you have been missing. If BB10 has any hope of being successful, it will major in all of the things that you seem to dismiss as insignificant for a communications device.

[Knightcrawler]

Really, because I can see some of the seams in every BB I have to support. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be out. I guess it depends on what you consider to be a seam. It is all very subjective and doesn't really say anything at all. What is not subjective is that he believes things are so bad, they need to be delayed until next calendar year before he feels comfortable delivering that on which the company's life depends. That speaks volumes. That tells me he doesn't see seams; he sees gaping holes.

The single biggest complaint with the Playbook and its dismal sales numbers is that Rim release an unfinished product. Now i LOVE my playbook, and i haven't found that it is unable to do anyhing that i would like it to do. Mind you, most of what i do is browse, and watch videos. However, just because i love it and find it satisfactory for my needs, doesn't mean that's the case for everyone else. Almost everyone who's even remotely involved with the tech world will tell you that Rim released the Playbook before it was a completed product, and now these same people are blasting Thor for holding back so he can deliver a completed product.

Im as saddened as any crackberry enthusiast at the delay, and i definitely think it'll hurt Rim, but not as much as yet another subpar, unfinished product. Really, my main concern, is whether Rim can hold out while BB10 picks up momentum, which will not happen instantaneously. They'll need a good couple of quarters, maybe even a year before you really see BB10 start to become a powerhouse (and i do believe it will be a powerhouse).

Bottom line is, Thor is stuck with what his predecessors screwed up and he has to make the best of a bad situation. The wonder twins hyped up the product so much and delivered so little that people have unrealistic expectations of Rim now, which aren't fully under Thor's control.

The timeline for development was inherited by Thor, not developed by him. He saw that a 2012 delivery date would result in a product that was only 75-80% of what people expected at this point, and another failed product launch would be much worse for Rim then an additional delay (which is also bad, dont get me wrong). He made an executive decision and picked the lesser of two evils.

All we can do is hope that his expectations of the product are as high as ours, and judging from what we've seen form him in terms of outreach and interviews, im confident that he's as much a crackberry enthusiast as anyone here.

[trsbbs]

We have been hearing this and that from RIM for the past three years.

I now think that no matter what they say folks just do not trust RIM at its word.

To wait another 6-9 months for a phone they should have out last fall and then wait
until 2014 for the others is way out of line. Folks RIM has been working on this for three years now!

Right now I do not see RIM making any dent in their bottom line or market share
for a couple of years.
Other companies are faster at getting products out in time and offering phones folks want.
RIM has not been able to do this and looks like it still can't.

Same problems, different talking head. (Thor)

Tim

[bk1022]

We have been hearing this and that from RIM for the past three years.

I now think that no matter what they say folks just do not trust RIM at its word.

To wait another 6-9 months for a phone they should have out last fall and then wait
until 2014 for the others is way out of line. Folks RIM has been working on this for three years now!

Right now I do not see RIM making any dent in their bottom line or market share
for a couple of years.
Other companies are faster at getting products out in time and offering phones folks want.
RIM has not been able to do this and looks like it still can't.

Same problems, different talking head. (Thor)

Tim

The problem with RIM has been that they relied too much on junior programmers from UofW. And when I say junior, I mean like virgin wool junior.

Junior programmers who stayed at RIM long enough simply became senior programmers there and bore more responsibilities.

There are two groups of senior developers. One group feels you can earn the title simply through seniority. The other group is basically filled with child prodigies. It's like a musical instrument. Either you improve effortlessly and joyously, or every step is a struggle. If you don't inherently know how three different ways to implement a hash table, you're not a senior programmer. If you can't develop for 144 hours straight, breaking only for necessay bodily functions, you are not and never will be a senior programmer.

So who cares? Coding takes more than experience. It takes talent. Experience simply provides discipline. At RIM, people with insufficient ingrained talent have become team leaders, project leaders and managers simply due to seniority -- they outlasted everyone better than they were through laws of attrition.

As with many start-ups, as you grow, the critical decision is how much outside talent to bring in. Unfortunately, the dev side kept on with their junior developer UofW strategy.

Finally though, whether intentional or simply luck. The move to a C/C++ OS has forced RIM to (a) seek outside talent who presumably have a better chance of operating at the correct level of talent, and (b) jettisoned a large number of mistakenly hired and promoted individuals as part of mass terminations.

The assumption I make is that the new hires are more likely to be operating the levels they are suited for. Sometimes it's simply too difficult to untangle the ball of yarn and you have to start over, which AFAICT is what has been happening at RIM since March.

So for anyone who says RIM has a history of missing deadlines, I say, there is some chance the newer talent might have a handle on what's happening now. The old group could not possibly have performed. The new group? I have some faith.

[OzarkaTexile]

2) Why is BlackBerry 10 being delayed? What are the three or four reasons for the delay in consumer terms?

-Pam, 54, marketing consultant in Chicago

Thorsten Heins: There is really only one reason, Pam. We need more time to integrate all the features we have built for BlackBerry 10. While the core technology of BlackBerry 10 is ready to go � outside developers are already working on an array of applications � I decided that the way some features worked together and the related software integration needed more attention and refinement. The goal of BlackBerry 10 is to bring some of the best technologies in the world together in a seamless environment. Simply put, I could still see some of the seams. When you�re dealing with millions of lines of computer code that will be subjected to daily use by users around the world, fine-tuning can take time � in this case, more than we anticipated. We decided to delay the launch of BlackBerry 10 to give us ample time to integrate software, test, and polish the final product.

This answer strikes me as disingenuous. I'm sure the core technology is ready to go in the sense that they can power on the phone and make calls, but this is like saying your new house is ready for you to live in, but there's no flooring, appliances, or heating and A/C. QNX may be a great platform, but RIM can only sell a finished product.

I read this answer as, "Building a modern phone platform is harder than we thought."

It really shows RIM's arrogance / confidence that they believe they can pull this off. Arrogance if they fail. Confidence is they succeed.