Another nail in BB's coffin

[Pliablemoose]

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/201...-jp-morgan-think-about-bailing-on-blackberry/

The iPhone (and Android) migration into the (officially sanctioned) workplace isn’t new, but the move to Wall Street would be important symbolically. Bankers and their cohorts were the ones responsible for boosting BlackBerry years ago, when they called them “crackberries” and flashed them as status symbols.
The flip side of the story is also the version that gives RIM a fighting chance: BlackBerries used to be a corporate tool, but they’re now very much a consumer device. So there’s a scenario, theoretically, where it switches places with Apple’s (AAPL) phone line, which started out life in 2007 as an expensive toy you couldn’t use for work. Things move fast….

I think BB's going to go down a bit faster than I assumed...

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Does no one care about utility anymore? Is it all about the next cool app? Has everyone got so damn much time on their hands that they give a shit about tech opinion pieces?

 

[Pliablemoose]

Does no one care about utility anymore? Is it all about the next cool app? Has everyone got so damn much time on their hands that they give a shit about tech opinion pieces?

I invest in the sector, it's a big deal...

Not only that, but the current bunch of corporate bonds I hold were sold to me by UBS and JP Morgan... They're massive and have a shitload of influence, when the best of the best start supporting iOS and Android devices, breaking from their beloved BB's, you know something's up.

I work with a lot of factory reps, and they're pissed their companies don't give them Android based devices...

 

[MrX8503]

Does no one care about utility anymore? Is it all about the next cool app?

Whats wrong with having work and play in one device?

 

[rudeguy]

Does no one care about utility anymore? Is it all about the next cool app? Has everyone got so damn much time on their hands that they give a shit about tech opinion pieces?

do you not realize how close we are to real, working tricorders?

 

[dguy6789]

RIM's problem is that they are too afraid of starting over and losing their existing customer base. Nothing short of a complete platform reboot would allow them to compete with iPhone or Android or even Windows Phone 7. Microsoft went all in and did it. RIM needs to as well if they have any chance in the future. Comparing the Blackberry Torch to any modern Android or iPhone is like comparing a rotary dial phone to a touch tone phone. No matter how pretty you make the rotary phone, it still isn't as good, it needs to be abandoned.

 

[ChronoReverse]

do you not realize how close we are to real, working tricorders?

My Android phone can both be used as a metal detector and can read my pulse. We are SO close to real tricorders it's not even funny.

 

[MJinZ]

Does no one care about utility anymore? Is it all about the next cool app? Has everyone got so damn much time on their hands that they give a shit about tech opinion pieces?

Actually, I care about Utility, and I have to say, Blackberry and Android are pretty much on the same level.

I use and used both for corporate email (both were fine), and both had turn by turn navigations and browsing and research for acceptable.

Now the Blackberry was slow. So is my Droid.

But the Droid, being just as utilitarian as the Blackberry, also is capable of being better at doing other things.

And thus, the Blackberry dies.

Blackberry needs a device that:

1) Flies in performance
2) Competitive in features
3) Attractive in unique in form factor or some other way

Unfortunately, the latest "Torch" fails #1 + #2, and barely passes the yesterday's failed Palm Pre form factor.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Seriously anyone who believes this shit is retarded. I was just in NYC for 4 days walking around lower Manhattan/subway/etc. I saw a grand total of 4 android phones, an incredible, a droid x and 2 droids. Consequently, EVERYONE has a blackberry or iphone, almost at a 1 to 1 ratio.

I like Android and my next phone will probably be that barring blackberry doesn't put out something amazing, but RIM still has a lot of the market.

 

[rudeguy]

Seriously anyone who believes this shit is retarded. I was just in NYC for 4 days walking around lower Manhattan/subway/etc. I saw a grand total of 4 android phones, an incredible, a droid x and 2 droids. Consequently, EVERYONE has a blackberry or iphone, almost at a 1 to 1 ratio.

I like Android and my next phone will probably be that barring blackberry doesn't put out something amazing, but RIM still has a lot of the market.

The point is that they are loosing market share every day.

 

[Deeko]

Threads like this are amusing.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Well heres' the news: iPhone is not ready for enterprise. Yeah, I said it.

Watching my wife struggle with her new iPhone after working for RIM for five years has been a real eye opener. Issues that suck for enterprise:

- No Calendar invites. iCal won't accept a regular invite, and you can't invite email contacts to an iCal event
- Need to log into the VPN constantly for email. If you don't remember to, you get no email. Unless you check you're on the VPN, you won't know your missing email.
- Nothing remotely close to BBM. BBM is an amazing app, and no other platform has anything like it. We miss it, except she still carriers her 9700 around along with her iPhone, just for BBM.

Maybe we're missing something, and someone can tell us how to avoid the above failings, but the experience is not fluid, consistent or as fast as BlackBerry. Enterprises need BlackBerry to get stuff done. People need iPhones to feel good about themselves and play Angry Birds.

 

[zerocool84]

Well heres' the news: iPhone is not ready for enterprise. Yeah, I said it.

Watching my wife struggle with her new iPhone after working for RIM for five years has been a real eye opener. Issues that suck for enterprise:

- No Calendar invites. iCal won't accept a regular invite, and you can't invite email contacts to an iCal event
- Need to log into the VPN constantly for email. If you don't remember to, you get no email. Unless you check you're on the VPN, you won't know your missing email.
- Nothing remotely close to BBM. BBM is an amazing app, and no other platform has anything like it. We miss it, except she still carriers her 9700 around along with her iPhone, just for BBM.

Maybe we're missing something, and someone can tell us how to avoid the above failings, but the experience is not fluid, consistent or as fast as BlackBerry. Enterprises need BlackBerry to get stuff done. People need iPhones to feel good about themselves and play Angry Birds.

I think the security plays into that as well as every bit of data goes through BB's secured servers which is good for businesses which most are worried about security but slow for consumers cus of the added length of time data needs to travel.

 

[akugami]

I think when talking about RIM, you still need to take into consideration that there are more smartphones out there today. Much like how Apple's declining market share can be misleading, RIM actually increased sales this year by 41%. Now, Android has had an astronomical surge in sales and market share but it's not like RIM or Apple is doing too shabby. This makes Apple and RIM look bad but again, they're doing quite well. Mostly it's Nokia, Microsoft and WebOS that is in trouble. Where RIM may fall into trouble is as both Android and iOS slowly better in the enterprise market, RIM doesn't seem like it's doing much to improve it's aging Blackberry phones with regular consumer centric features.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Seriously anyone who believes this shit is retarded. I was just in NYC for 4 days walking around lower Manhattan/subway/etc. I saw a grand total of 4 android phones, an incredible, a droid x and 2 droids. Consequently, EVERYONE has a blackberry or iphone, almost at a 1 to 1 ratio.

I like Android and my next phone will probably be that barring blackberry doesn't put out something amazing, but RIM still has a lot of the market.

Yes, they do have a big chunk of the market, but it's getting smaller, and the movers and shakers of the financial world are going to be moving away from the platform.

Businesses moving away from the platform will accelerate the curve pretty significantly, we're not talking about what's happening today, but what's around the corner.

BB won't be going away any time soon, but it will continue to lose market share.

How many Android devices did you see this time last year? Maybe a geek with a G1 (like me).

The Moto Droid hasn't even been out a year yet... And it's already been replaced, the cell market moves quickly....

 

[MrX8503]

- Nothing remotely close to BBM. BBM is an amazing app, and no other platform has anything like it. We miss it, except she still carriers her 9700 around along with her iPhone, just for BBM.

There's a BB and iPhone app called whatsapp that is similar to BBM. I hope they release an Android version soon.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

i use blackberry and droid. droid is buggy but bb is painful to use when it comes to internet stuff and the keyboard is horrible. when i walk down the street in the financial district of sf, the ratio of bb's to iphones is about 1:10. so there you have it, you heard it here first, bb is going down

 

[DivideBYZero]

i use blackberry and droid. droid is buggy but bb is painful to use when it comes to internet stuff and the keyboard is horrible. when i walk down the street in the financial district of sf, the ratio of bb's to iphones is about 1:10. so there you have it, you heard it here first, bb is going down

LOL, try that in a real financial district like London or NY, or any business flight gate seating area. BB isn't "going down" because you once hung out in SF's business district you saw iPhones, because you were looking for them; "When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail".

 

[zinfamous]

i thought the original popularity of BB was due to the security algorithm that was absolutely essential in sending billion dollar corporate and political info back and forth.

the type of security that, as I understand it, is currently untouched by Apple/Google/Win/et al. The same security that just got Dubai and ...Pakistan or India? all aflutter about information exchange and privacy invasion, whatever, last week.

If I'm understanding this correctly (and I really don't follow the mobile market or tech news, so that's always possible), then it's laughable to think that BB will disappear anytime soon.

 

[zinfamous]

i use blackberry and droid. droid is buggy but bb is painful to use when it comes to internet stuff and the keyboard is horrible. when i walk down the street in the financial district of sf, the ratio of bb's to iphones is about 1:10. so there you have it, you heard it here first, bb is going down

if you are seen in the streets of SF without an Apple device attached to your wrist/skull/pants...then the authorities are authorized to shoot you on site.

Seriously, it's law here.

 

[DivideBYZero]

I think the security plays into that as well as every bit of data goes through BB's secured servers which is good for businesses which most are worried about security but slow for consumers cus of the added length of time data needs to travel.

It does, yes, but "slow" data is only apparent with web browsing, as the servers are compressing images, etc, of the pages you're looking at. For email you can guarantee that is very, very fast. I always get mail on my BB before it turns up in Outlook.

The email speed on the iPhone is pretty good to send, but recieving is noticably slower in response. And this is on an iPhone on the Apple Inc. infrastructure, so it should be the finest example of an iPhone implementation.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

LOL, try that in a real financial district like London or NY, or any business flight gate seating area. BB isn't "going down" because you once hung out in SF's business district you saw iPhones, because you were looking for them; "When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail".

you dont have to rely on my inability to tell the difference between a bb and an iphone

the fact is that the projections are all over the media. i think android is even expected to surpass bb sales in 2011. one of the things thats kept rim in the game is that people were locked in contracts for two years. now there are better choices which was less true before android and newer iphones came out. bb users are much more likely to consider a different type of smartphone than are iphone users. i havent seen bb6 but their hardware is basically what apple had two years ago

some people would argue that what happens here is a bellwether for what will later happen in less tech savvy places like ny and london

 

[MrX8503]

I really don't understand why people bring up anecdotal evidence as it means next to nothing. Just look at the stats and trends. I think the only thing that is keeping rim afloat is enterprise.

 

[Oyeve]

I really don't understand why people bring up anecdotal evidence as it means next to nothing. Just look at the stats and trends. I think the only thing that is keeping rim afloat is enterprise.

Even that is waning. I have been tasked with migrating smartphones into our email system and am in the last phase of removing our BBs from the system. A few hundred users at work. Similar things are happening with another client, moving off RIM and switching to smartphones. They are 12000 worldwide. So I do see the trend shifting away from BBs. Its a shame as for email, RIM is really good. But the world wants its toys.

 

[rudeguy]

Even that is waning. I have been tasked with migrating smartphones into our email system and am in the last phase of removing our BBs from the system. A few hundred users at work. Similar things are happening with another client, moving off RIM and switching to smartphones. They are 12000 worldwide. So I do see the trend shifting away from BBs. Its a shame as for email, RIM is really good. But the world wants its toys.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

BlackBerry has the best email, reception and quality of any phone I have ever sold. And I have sold A LOT of different phones. The problem seems to be that they got stuck and for some reason couldn't inovate like Android or Apple did. Heck even Palm blew them out of the water in that regard.

It really is too bad. RIM had a great run with a really great product. They are just years behind now.