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Is Blackberry done for at this point?
- Thread starter maflynn
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Unless the software or hardware (or both) is truly innovative. Smaller fish won't stand a chance in the mobile market in order to gain market share.
Some Chinese smartphone manufacturers gained huge market shares of the mobile market because they were "innovative". Innovative as in being able to sell dirt cheap android phones at slim margins. Blackberry didn't want to go that route.
Microsoft would be dead in the mobile market just as blackberry except for one thing. Microsoft has billions in the bank to keep its mobile division going. Really that's the only difference between Microsoft and blackberry: money. Blackberry simply was running out of cash fast. Everyone kept saying RIM/blackberry was fine and kept on pointing to the 2-5 billion they had in reserve. But once they starting having to write down millions in loss investors got worried quickly.
I hope blackberry sticks around. I carried two phones with me up until 2011 (one of them was always a
Blackberry because i preferred their keyboard and email) plus an iPhone or android (whichever one i decided to use that day).
I brought RIMs playbook which had a lot of potential. But just too many missed deadlines with updates.
Blackberry like Microsoft tried to jerry rig their old OS into a touch screen world. Microsoft finally made decision to ditch their os in 2008 but took 2 years to bring windows phone os to the market in 2010. Rim was even later with qnx.
Some Chinese smartphone manufacturers gained huge market shares of the mobile market because they were "innovative". Innovative as in being able to sell dirt cheap android phones at slim margins. Blackberry didn't want to go that route.
Microsoft would be dead in the mobile market just as blackberry except for one thing. Microsoft has billions in the bank to keep its mobile division going. Really that's the only difference between Microsoft and blackberry: money. Blackberry simply was running out of cash fast. Everyone kept saying RIM/blackberry was fine and kept on pointing to the 2-5 billion they had in reserve. But once they starting having to write down millions in loss investors got worried quickly.
I hope blackberry sticks around. I carried two phones with me up until 2011 (one of them was always a
Blackberry because i preferred their keyboard and email) plus an iPhone or android (whichever one i decided to use that day).
I brought RIMs playbook which had a lot of potential. But just too many missed deadlines with updates.
Blackberry like Microsoft tried to jerry rig their old OS into a touch screen world. Microsoft finally made decision to ditch their os in 2008 but took 2 years to bring windows phone os to the market in 2010. Rim was even later with qnx.
That BlackBerry Leap looks pretty decent but knowing BB, they will overprice it right out of the gate. BlackBerry should try to emulate Microsoft and offer cheaper phones with good specs for under $100. I really wish they can start with the Leap.
You can't win a market when the OS/ecosystem is inferior to Android and you need to sideload their apps to make up for it while overpricing your own products which offer less in both software and hardware. I remember those days when BlackBerry were expensive with mandatory expensive BlackBerry data plans. Such a waste of money looking back at it. Now we can pick up a few Nokia Lumias and Xiaomi and Motorola Androids for under $120. BlackBerry needs to target the lower end market. The Leap basically has specs of the Xiaomi Redmi 1s but with the older S4 Pro from the Nexus 4/original Xperia Z days. Price it at under $100 and it can be a decent hit.
You can't win a market when the OS/ecosystem is inferior to Android and you need to sideload their apps to make up for it while overpricing your own products which offer less in both software and hardware. I remember those days when BlackBerry were expensive with mandatory expensive BlackBerry data plans. Such a waste of money looking back at it. Now we can pick up a few Nokia Lumias and Xiaomi and Motorola Androids for under $120. BlackBerry needs to target the lower end market. The Leap basically has specs of the Xiaomi Redmi 1s but with the older S4 Pro from the Nexus 4/original Xperia Z days. Price it at under $100 and it can be a decent hit.
Just bought a passport (AT&T) version. Had the gsm version for about a month and really enjoyed it, probably my favorite phone I've ever used. My iPhone 6+, even with jailbreak, just doesn't cut it when most of my phone use is for communication.
I think if BB can make somewhat of a comeback but they need a cheap, and i mean dirt cheap, phone that can compete in developing countries. They also need to get more apps on board like snapchat or netflix or something. If they maintain only like 1-5% market share thats still enough to survive
I think if BB can make somewhat of a comeback but they need a cheap, and i mean dirt cheap, phone that can compete in developing countries. They also need to get more apps on board like snapchat or netflix or something. If they maintain only like 1-5% market share thats still enough to survive
I can't help but think the only chance Blackberry has is as an Android OEM. Maybe they could do something great with the open software environment.
They pretty much already are. No one develops for BB10 when any Android app can simply be ported.
I never cared about old BBRY and never had one but after a demise of webOS I gave a try to BB10 and I found it to be a spiritual successor to webOS.
Truth is both of their hardware and software is really good. Hardware has better build than any Android out there and it's right on par with iPhone 6 and HTC One. Its really that solid.
Software is my favorite mobile OS so that is not even a question. Again truth is that all mobile OSes look bad due to that dematerialized fad that is going on but as far as usability its the most efficient piece out there. Of course if apps are your concern that you might be discouraged because Android apps cant work in the background yet nor integrate into hub properly, and some really take more time to load than on Android, for example Microsoft Office loads as fast as on native Android but WPS Kingstone Office has a blank screen for few seconds before it shows up.
But if you are a gamer you wont believe how good games scale on the Passport and they are as fast as on any android phone. Who would have thought that 1:1 gaming on 4.5' would be that good but it surprisingly it is. Check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtMel-VXG-Q
Bottom line: BB10.3.1 phones are good products, much more satisfactory than your 4.x Android experience
Truth is both of their hardware and software is really good. Hardware has better build than any Android out there and it's right on par with iPhone 6 and HTC One. Its really that solid.
Software is my favorite mobile OS so that is not even a question. Again truth is that all mobile OSes look bad due to that dematerialized fad that is going on but as far as usability its the most efficient piece out there. Of course if apps are your concern that you might be discouraged because Android apps cant work in the background yet nor integrate into hub properly, and some really take more time to load than on Android, for example Microsoft Office loads as fast as on native Android but WPS Kingstone Office has a blank screen for few seconds before it shows up.
But if you are a gamer you wont believe how good games scale on the Passport and they are as fast as on any android phone. Who would have thought that 1:1 gaming on 4.5' would be that good but it surprisingly it is. Check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtMel-VXG-Q
Bottom line: BB10.3.1 phones are good products, much more satisfactory than your 4.x Android experience
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Had every iphone since the first one till iphone 4S (wife had 5, 5S and 6 now), moved to android (samsung and sony) for about a year and then bought my first blackberry last year - the full touch Z30. Amazing phone and OS..By far the best mobile OS I've used. Specs might not compare to the other devices but it works perfectly with the OS. Everything is so smooth and as a communication device its simply the best (email, text and phone) I simply cannot go back to anything other than a BB10 device. With 10.3 all android apps can run on BB10. So no lack of apps
i wanted to buy the samsung S6 Edge but i simply cant go back to android after using BB10 for almost a year now!!
So i can only hope Blackberry as a company lives on!!
i wanted to buy the samsung S6 Edge but i simply cant go back to android after using BB10 for almost a year now!!
So i can only hope Blackberry as a company lives on!!
After trying out a bit the horrible iOS 8, using an S4 and and S5 for some months, and experimenting with the current state of Jolla, I want to buy a BB10 full touch flagship with removable battery to replace my Z10 (I also want to buy a Jolla 2 when it exists to continue tracking its progress).
I picked up a cheap BB 9900 for use as a MP3 player small and fits better in a pocket, I didn’t realise it was lacking the app support that said I cannot find a working podcast app that allows you to download the podcasts onto the phone and keep (just tunein that uses data or WiFi annoyingly)