[nicky_willz]

After the conclusion of a rather boring F1 season,does anyone have any predictions for next season?

I personally would love to see McHonda make it's way to the middle of the grid although they were so terrible this year it's hard to imagine them being better than any team supplied by Mercedes or Ferrari which is the majority of the grid.

As far as drivers go my prediction is that the WDC will be decided in the final race at Abu Dhabi between Vettel,Hamilton and Rosberg

[early2bed]

I predict that the BlackBerry sponsorship of the Mercedes deal will not be renewed. It cost $12 million per year and was done as part of the BB10 launch effort. It's not the type of advertising that John Chen is likely to continue. Given the success of the team during that time I'll bet the price of sponsorship doubles, especially since F1 is back in the US.

[nicky_willz]

I predict that the BlackBerry sponsorship of the Mercedes deal will not be renewed. It cost $12 million per year and was done as part of the BB10 launch effort. It's not the type of advertising that John Chen is likely to continue. Given the success of the team during that time I'll bet the price of sponsorship doubles, especially since F1 is back in the US.

Considering how integrated BB technology is within the Petronas infrastructure I'd count out the possibility of BB and Petronas discontinuing their partnership. BB was in more of a financial hole when they started the partnership than they are now and as long as the Mercs continue to win BB would be wise to remain as the primary sponsor. I have plenty of buddies in the U.S that use a BB because of that partnership including myself to some degree.

[early2bed]

I think you're probably buying into the PR regarding how much the team relies on BlackBerry technology. It's overstated in practically any corporate sponsorship. The bottom line is that it's advertising and with an entirely new executive team at BlackBerry it's likely to be purely a financial decision.

The fact that the team has done well has been great for BlackBerry but come contract renewal time there is a lot more interest among other sponsors. BlackBerry probably isn't even in that league of corporate sponsorship anymore. In 2012, the year before the deal was signed, BlackBerry shipped 32.5 million handsets. This year, the goal is 5 million? This isn't the same company it was in 2013. I'm sure the decision has already been made.

[johnnyuk]

I think you're probably buying into the PR regarding how much the team relies on BlackBerry technology. It's overstated in practically any corporate sponsorship.

It's not overstated in this case. The Brackley based team had been using BlackBerry phones on BES for their security and privacy features since the BAR and Honda days in the mid 2000's. F1 is a highly secretive sport where engineering secrets must be kept safe. There is an article on the team's historical and current use of BlackBerry products on the Web somewhere, I'm sure it would be a CrackBerry news article at the time.

The team got a handset and BES refresh to BB10 and BES10/12 out of the sponsorship deal over the last 3 years. I'm sure they use tablets too though on BES12 so I wouldn't be surprised if they at least stayed on BES12 but changed handsets to iPhone or Android and use BES12 Secure Work Space for secure email/apps.

Outside of the Mercedes team in the F1 sport you see a lot of BlackBerry phones amongst other team personnel, media and driver managers in amongst the iPhone and Androids. There are secrets to be kept everywhere in the sport and many people still trust BlackBerry with keeping them safe.


Posted from the CB10 app on my BlackBerry Z30 STA100-2/10.3.2.2789 on O2 UK - Activated on BES10.2.6.28

[early2bed]

Considering how integrated BB technology is within the Petronas infrastructure I'd count out the possibility of BB and Petronas discontinuing their partnership. BB was in more of a financial hole when they started the partnership than they are now and as long as the Mercs continue to win BB would be wise to remain as the primary sponsor. I have plenty of buddies in the U.S that use a BB because of that partnership including myself to some degree.

The new Mercedes AMG Petronas:

[HaberNik]

Looks like the end for them. Mercedes is no longer updating their BBM Channel either. The comments there are a cess pool


Posted via CB10

[early2bed]

It's not overstated in this case. The Brackley based team had been using BlackBerry phones on BES for their security and privacy features since the BAR and Honda days in the mid 2000's. F1 is a highly secretive sport where engineering secrets must be kept safe. There is an article on the teams historical and current use of BlackBerry products on the Web somewhere, I'm sure it would be a CrackBerry news article at the time.

The team got a handset and BES refresh to BB10 and BES10/12 out of the sponsorship deal over the last 3 years. I'm sure they use tablets too though on BES12 so I wouldn't be surprised if they at least stayed on BES12 but changed handsets to iPhone or Android and use BES12 Secure Work Space for secure email/apps.

Outside of the Mercedes team in the F1 sport you see a lot of BlackBerry phones amongst other team personnel, media and driver managers in amongst the iPhone and Androids. There are secrets to be kept everywhere in the sport and many people still trust BlackBerry with keeping them safe.

I wonder if the team will still use BlackBerry communications systems.

[johnnyuk]

I wonder if the team will still use BlackBerry communications systems.

Other than the phones and BES, what systems are you referring to? The team's earphones with BlackBerry branding on them? Just branding.

Posted from the CB10 app on my BlackBerry Z30 STA100-2/10.3.2.2789 on O2 UK - Activated on BES10.2.6.28

[early2bed]

Apple considering buying Formula 1. Did anyone predict that?

Rumor: Apple latest bidder for Formula 1 race series