1. swyost's Avatar
    I just did... I am surprised that app developer that sold over 1m apps for bb phones would publically say things like that about rim.
    Saunders did respond and did a third rate hack job worthy of a guy who spends more time blogging and tweeting than doing anything productive for RIM. Even if you do not like what someone says, a VP should not be attacking any app developer. There are both tactful and productive ways of addressing things but that appears to be lost on the guy who tweets first and thinks later. Point out where the CEO of Youmail is mistaken, but do not just throw a temper tantrum insulting the guy in response. How much confidence does anyone really think that a VP tantrum brings with existing (or more importantly) new app developers? BTW, yes it is ranked 7th on the list of BB apps and Saunders shows his vast knowledge of a former key app developer by not knowing that Youmail is available outside the US....
    04-18-12 01:09 AM
  2. SK122387's Avatar
    If you look in the comments on the CNN Money story, I think you'll see I did a pretty good job also, the Most Popular comments were ones citing BlackBerry strengths. Of course there were the "Die RIM Die" people, but whatever.
    04-18-12 01:13 AM
  3. papped's Avatar
    Between carriers offering VVM, Google Voice and other services how many people still use Youmail...

    Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using the CrackBerry Forums App!
    04-18-12 02:35 AM
  4. omniusovermind's Avatar
    Between my posts that you actually see, and PM conversations with other CB members that you don't see, I paint a pretty good picture of someone who is very active against the few doomsayer trolls we have around here. But you want to know something? A lot of the responses in this thread are easily as dull witted and ignorant as a lot of the troll posts I've gone after. Saunder's childish little tantrum reply was also a pretty terrible PR move. I don't think I've ever seen MS or Google engage in the kind of immature pot shots I've seen coming from RIM and Apple execs.
    TBone4eva likes this.
    04-18-12 04:53 AM
  5. TBone4eva's Avatar
    Between my posts that you actually see, and PM conversations with other CB members that you don't see, I paint a pretty good picture of someone who is very active against the few doomsayer trolls we have around here. But you want to know something? A lot of the responses in this thread are easily as dull witted and ignorant as a lot of the troll posts I've gone after. Saunder's childish little tantrum reply was also a pretty terrible PR move. I don't think I've ever seen MS or Google engage in the kind of immature pot shots I've seen coming from RIM and Apple execs.
    Well said. I was actually hoping that Alec was going to engage YouMail to see what could be done to keep them on the platform, not attack them! That is beyond stupid and then to basically say that YouMail waited too long to make a pivot... uh, hello RIM, pot calling the kettle black much? Regardless of whether Alec was right or not in his assessment of the visual voicemail market, his reaction looks way too personal and condescending.
    04-18-12 07:12 AM
  6. Tre Lawrence's Avatar
    I thought the same.

    I had always found Alec approachable, and considered him to be a breath of fresh air with regards to PR at RIM. I find that blog/post/mix tape diss somewhat baffling and atypical.
    04-18-12 08:06 AM
  7. jeroen_13's Avatar
    I thought the same.

    I had always found Alec approachable, and considered him to be a breath of fresh air with regards to PR at RIM. I find that blog/post/mix tape diss somewhat baffling and atypical.
    LikeA likes this.
    04-18-12 08:11 AM
  8. youmailmike's Avatar
    Anyways, while I agree you might be losing users on a BB because the decline of sales of BB in the US, YouMail just burned thier bridges with RIM. Stopping service could have been handled better, like, 'we have stopped developing for the BB's current OS and will have a wait and see approach to developing future products on the BB10 platform'.

    If BB10 can make a strong comeback for RIM, YouMail has lost out.
    I certainly hope nobody believes we burned bridges just because media outlets distort an R&D budgeting decision to add more fuel to anti-RIM dog-piling.

    We simply posted on our YouMail Blog that we were releasing a new version of the app to AppWorld last week and (quoting our blog):

    ".. it�s a bittersweet release for us. That�s because we are suspending doing any further work on our BlackBerry app, at least for now."

    and

    ".. enjoy this release. If BlackBerry stages a comeback (and we�re definitely rooting for BB10 to take off!) or we can figure out how to drive a meaningful number of new BlackBerry users, we�ll be back. "

    We certainly intend to support BB10 if it gains good traction in the U.S. "Good traction" means it would need to surpass Windows Mobile adoption for us to hire a full-time developer to craft a BB10 version.

    That said, we do have a public API that plumbs a half-dozen free and some paid clients created by independent developers. I can assure you that we'll do our best to support anyone in the community who steps forward on client development - you can simply quote this post to ensure I prioritize it appropriately.
    04-18-12 09:48 AM
  9. Zidentia's Avatar
    I have Youmail and and at first it worked well but with each update it became really buggy. It would shut off on its own, not allow caller to leave messages and when you tried to delete messages it would say they were but would pop up again.

    That is why I stopped using it because it was not worth the effort to work with it.
    04-18-12 06:18 PM
  10. omniusovermind's Avatar
    I certainly hope nobody believes we burned bridges just because media outlets distort an R&D budgeting decision to add more fuel to anti-RIM dog-piling.

    We simply posted on our YouMail Blog that we were releasing a new version of the app to AppWorld last week and (quoting our blog):

    ".. it�s a bittersweet release for us. That�s because we are suspending doing any further work on our BlackBerry app, at least for now."

    and

    ".. enjoy this release. If BlackBerry stages a comeback (and we�re definitely rooting for BB10 to take off!) or we can figure out how to drive a meaningful number of new BlackBerry users, we�ll be back. "

    We certainly intend to support BB10 if it gains good traction in the U.S. "Good traction" means it would need to surpass Windows Mobile adoption for us to hire a full-time developer to craft a BB10 version.

    That said, we do have a public API that plumbs a half-dozen free and some paid clients created by independent developers. I can assure you that we'll do our best to support anyone in the community who steps forward on client development - you can simply quote this post to ensure I prioritize it appropriately.
    reasonable and prudent people know this, there was nothing in your blog to indicate any kind of pot-shots or snarkiness. I would ignore extreme reactions from emotionally distraught people who have zero influence over major media outlets. As much as this news disappoints me from a Blackberry user perspective, I can't argue with decisions made on sound economic grounds. You were not making money equal to your efforts, plain and simple. Only a fool would argue against that. I wouldn't work for crappy pay at my job either. Good luck, and here's to both of us hoping BB10 brings us better things this year
    04-19-12 03:53 AM
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