[AnibalGuzman]

The only reason I have a blackberry is because the company I work for issued it to me, otherwise I would not be near it. I have to say the one thing it does that works is email, the rest leaves so much to be desired, the web browser sucks so badly its almost unusable, the one cool thing about having a power hungry smart phone is so that once in a while you try to go into a website and feel good about paying for the data plan, but if that website is rendered all broken and slow you feel like you've been had. - BLACKBERRY FIX YOUR STUPID BROWSER, YES EVEN IN YOUR LATEST OS IT REALLY SUCKS. Also the apps (facebook) in the phone run slow and are very buggy, I think my old palm had more balls than this. I also own an android phone for my personal use and while its not perfect its 1000x better than the blackberry. So I hope it dies soon so my company would be forced to issue me an android or an iphone

[TheTronCarter]

No, they need to switch to android but make the blackberry email and BBM software exclusive to those phones. The BB software is not doing them any favors and the lack of apps hurts today. Imgaine an android phone, touch screen up top with the BB keyboard? That is a dream come true.

[karthiq]

TheTronCarter, on 18 April 2012 - 09:36 PM, said:

No, they need to switch to android but make the blackberry email and BBM software exclusive to those phones. The BB software is not doing them any favors and the lack of apps hurts today. Imgaine an android phone, touch screen up top with the BB keyboard? That is a dream come true.

I thought so too. They can also do the same thing with the tablet.

[RambabuTalluri]

MDM in this arena of BYOD would be a killer

[nonseq]

karthiq, on 18 April 2012 - 09:48 PM, said:

TheTronCarter, on 18 April 2012 - 09:36 PM, said:

No, they need to switch to android but make the blackberry email and BBM software exclusive to those phones. The BB software is not doing them any favors and the lack of apps hurts today. Imgaine an android phone, touch screen up top with the BB keyboard? That is a dream come true.

I thought so too. They can also do the same thing with the tablet.

Which, oddly enough, was the original Android device design which was put aside after the success of the iPhone.

[PaulFezziwig]

re: PlayBook tablet is a dud

Only iFad journalist think this.

Consumers who actually own and use the product love it, just look at their numerous online reviews.

They sold 1 million in the first year of its existence, most objective people would call that a success, as they build the ecosystem for their upcoming BB10 phones. Sure they didnt make money off the tablet but everyone knows they needed to get a big user base before developers would start building apps for their OS.

[nonseq]

PaulFezziwig, on 19 April 2012 - 05:41 AM, said:

re: PlayBook tablet is a dud

Only iFad journalist think this.

Consumers who actually own and use the product love it, just look at their numerous online reviews.

They sold 1 million in the first year of its existence, most objective people would call that a success, as they build the ecosystem for their upcoming BB10 phones. Sure they didnt make money off the tablet but everyone knows they needed to get a big user base before developers would start building apps for their OS.

You need to remember that the majority of Playbooks were sold at fire sale prices and sold at less than cost to manufacture. From a business standpoint, this is not sustainable.

[BillyDender]

PaulFezziwig, on 19 April 2012 - 05:41 AM, said:

re: PlayBook tablet is a dud

Only iFad journalist think this.

Consumers who actually own and use the product love it, just look at their numerous online reviews.

They sold 1 million in the first year of its existence, most objective people would call that a success, as they build the ecosystem for their upcoming BB10 phones. Sure they didnt make money off the tablet but everyone knows they needed to get a big user base before developers would start building apps for their OS.

How is the IPAD an IFAD? Fads are trends that come and go, and so far, after all these years, IPAD is still there. Look, I own the playbook, I got it on firesale for 200 bux. Do I like it? Yeah I do, it's form factor to my hands is what sold me. 2.0 is horrid. The native messaging is slow, you don't get facebook messages unless the screen is on and not in standby, the latest 2.0.1 update killed a lot of apps including Splashtop. It just seems like RIM releases poorly designed OS's and hope the fanboys don't notice the flat tires. It's annoying. I will tell you this, the reason I haven't gone Apple is because I don't like the big screen. If ipad were to ever go 7 inches like playbook, it's bye bye blackberry for me...... The only thing keeping RIM afloat are the fanboys. Go over to crackberry to learn what an insane asylum would be like if you ever found yourself in one.

[ChinmayAthaley]

KyleMcInnes, on 18 April 2012 - 10:14 AM, said:

Nix the tablet just because the iPad sells really well? There's plenty of space in the tablet market for multiple players. RIM has over a million tablets in the market. That's something you can build an ecosystem on and worth the investment.

I completely agree with Kyle, with adoption rates running very low and specially tablets itself being a transient category theres ample space to come out with something new. And Innovation is at the heart of BlackBerry ... Playbook did not work so be it try something new which you have been doing as always. Go BB go !

[MichaelRadanovich]

RobertNichols, on 18 April 2012 - 11:11 AM, said:

Keep the fatastic keyboard and shortcuts, keep emailsecure using BES or Activesync, users choice. Use android for apps and Internet Browser asd a VM.
Thoughts?

Beat me to it. I could go futher and simply keep their current OS and integrate Firefox/Fennec or Opera.

So much punditry on the mobile device industry is captured by the unthinking assumption that mobile platforms will replay the OS dynamics of the PC era. The days of spending a month's paycheck on basic software to make your OS usable are over. Today's software is cheap to buy, cheap to make, cheap to port across platforms, and ridiculously cheap to distribute. Platform lock-in is very weak and we won't see one OS capture the industry like Windows did for PC's. Mobile devices compete on hardware and services.

RIM is still a competent competitor on hardware, but they need to consolidate their hardware line-up, as the article states. The Blackberry brand is iconic for devices with thumby keyboards and I think it is a mistake to assume that touchscreens will displace them completely. On services, RIM has a reputation for handling device data securely and privately, a quality distincly lacking from Apple and Android. If RIM made a turn-key server that I could plug into my home internet (or *encrypted* cloud storage where the user controls the keys) to back up my BB securely without sharing the data with the carrier, the manufacturer, or any other third party, they could democratize their enterprise product and open a whole new untapped market. RIM seems to have forgotten that there is a segment of the market that is willing to pay a premium for properly implemented security.

I demur with the article on the Playbook. I think a tablet, with the properly secured back-end service I mentioned, would fit nicely into the strategy. The Playbook supports remote wipe, but right now the typical customer for a tablet, an individual or small business, won't have the back-end server to be able to use it, and that is a colossal oversight.

[intrepid321]

KyleMcInnes, on 18 April 2012 - 10:14 AM, said:

Nix the tablet just because the iPad sells really well? There's plenty of space in the tablet market for multiple players. RIM has over a million tablets in the market. That's something you can build an ecosystem on and worth the investment.

I agree with you and disgree totally with the idea of getting rid of the Playbook.

Strategically, the Playbook has been RIM's incubator for its new line of smartphones. It is where the QNX based OS is being tried out with consumers. Reviews of the hardware and OS have been generally positive but the ecosystem has been viewed as weak, especially in the US. It is not a loss leader per se as I am sure RIM would have loved to have sold more units. But the Playbook has alot more benefits to RIM than simply units sold. So when you talk focus, actually Playbook has been and continues to be, an important element to that focus as it is a part of RIM's long term strategy for its BB10 line that will launch later this year. Then there will be a twinning of tablet with smartphone that is more complete than the current system where phones work on one OS and the tablet on another. The QNX OS is RIM's future. Think about that not the hardware. Until that transition is made though, the company will continue to struggle with sales and apps. If the QNX based phones change RIM's fortunes, the Playbook will benefit as well.

[SimoneRosa]

As a long time BB user I've wished RIM would cut the clutter and focus on the business users that made them the one-time world leader. With the announcement that RIM is pulling out of the consumer market I saw a glimmer of hope that they'll refocus on their core capabilities and save both the BB product and the company.

[TaniaMonardo]

If you are going to make a bold comment like the BB Playbook is a dud...Don't. I am the owner of both the iPad and the Playbook... and I would say by far the playbook is far superior to the iPad. It's sad that you made that statement according to the amount sold. That's do to poor marketing on RIM. Apple is great at marketing... doens't mean product is better.

[JasonBryan]

Nix the tablet??? Makes no sense to me. Numbers have proven that there is plenty of demand at the value end. RIM should go after that market BEFORE Apple enters it...and you can bet that's exactly what they're going to do with a "mini" iPad. I would suggest this is RIM's last stand in the tablet market. Android has proven it hasn't gotten it exactly right just yet. Android tablet makers are just now getting that they can't slap Android on a tablet...its just a commodity tablet at that point. They have to differentiate and specialize...kinda like Amazon's tablet...which is - oddly enough - an awful lot like a Playbook...

To win in the tablet space, RIM has to:

1. Produce a device that has the feature's people want. Not just features that lock them into RIM, but features that enable people to collaborate across multiple branded devices. Leverage Google, Calendar, Hotmail, whatever. Just make it work across the cloud...not just BES or BIS.

2. Attract and embrace the developer. Have you noticed what a bangup job Amazon has done in this? Amazon's app store is second...ahead of Google. They were able to hijack that by providing users with a well curated store and developers with attractive cuts. Bottom line: if there aren't any apps, no one is coming to the show.

3. Focus on a niche and push the market out from there. Hell, create a new market if necessary but do something new that pushes the line in space...I'd recommend the value segment. Make the iPad owners sad to be iPad owners.

So don't tell me that Amazon can make a tablet based off the playbook that people want and RIM can't. This is RIM's last chance to get it right before the market converges on an iPad mini. Times-a-tickin' RIM.

[JasonBryan]

.

This post has been edited by JasonBryan: 19 April 2012 - 01:18 PM

[DavidRjfip]

DanJay8wt8, on 18 April 2012 - 11:00 AM, said:

As a software developer who has written a few Android and iPhone apps, all I can say is Blackberry's programming API sucks. Not only is the OS limited compared to other smart phones, but the development tools themselves are weak. When a company selling an OS doesn't write good development tools for that OS then programmers will walk away. That's why Blackberry has very few apps in their market and why users are walking away from it.

Wow, looks like we've got a time traveler! RIM as massively expanded their App market, and their tools have been above-par for a while now.

Comparing development on BB to Andorid (I've done both) RIM's platforms are MUCH easier to develop for. Their new OS is in no way limited -- it's light years ahead of WP, iOS and Android by any objective measure.

Their old OS still does multitasking in a sensible way, which makes writing apps for the platform easier (Unlike Android, I don't have to preserve/restore my application state because the OS decided to close it randomly.)

Get with the times -- your opinion is years out of date.

[DavidRjfip]

AnibalGuzman, on 18 April 2012 - 08:51 PM, said:

the web browser sucks so badly its almost unusable,

LOL! They have one of the best browsers in the market! They even out-do iOS in HTML 5 support. (See html5test .com)

The "RIM's web-browser sucks" was old two-years ago. Get with the times.

[DavidRjfip]

JohnMandracchia, on 18 April 2012 - 10:26 AM, said:

I would say they also need to
* Not make a horrible web browser

Done. They now have one of the best browsers on the market -- their HTML5test score even tops desktop browsers.

JohnMandracchia, on 18 April 2012 - 10:26 AM, said:

* Open the door for better app making

Done. Between Cascades, the new NDK, and Air and WebWorks, they're outshining every other platform as far as development goes.

JohnMandracchia, on 18 April 2012 - 10:26 AM, said:

* Fire whoever thought of the storm

Given the recent executive purge, I'm guessing "Done".

[JamezNieves]

this is so unintelligent. Yellow journalism is far from dead. Anyone who knows anything about Blackberry knows Research In Motion is far from dead. And the tablet is to RIM as the iTouch was for Apple. STFU TROLL

[AzharSiddiqui]

Haha shut up guys...i think bb playbook was an initiative, i loved tht device its not something tht can be an 'Apple' for ur eye....but it is something worth trying...and it raises the level of expectation from the next tablet or device they are going to launch ...QnX is indeed a success n future!!! Though i agree its do or die for RIM ...and i partially agree with this post....