10 reasons why Blackberry is screwed

Jon

Well-Known Member
Dec 16, 2008
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Ten Reasons Why BlackBerry Is Screwed
Kelly Hodgkins — RIM, the maker of BlackBerry, was absolutely destroyed yesterday in the stock market. But that's just part of the story. RIM is screwed.
1. No new products until the summer

RIM's current lineup of phones is subpar, to say the least. Worse, basically none of the current models will get the marginally newer and better BlackBerry OS 7.0 update. Yet, RIM says there are going to be "delays in new product introductions into the very late part of August." Ugh.

2. Upcoming leaked products are boooooooring

Just look what is coming up next, supposedly: Stuff like the BlackBerry Bold 9900. Sure, it'll run BlackBerry OS 7 and might have a touchscreen! But it's also the same handset RIM has been pumping out for the last five years.

3. The Playbook

RIM's jump into the tablet market has been pretty floppy. The PlayBook is impressive under the hood and we liked it, at first. But the lack of basic features like email—something BlackBerry is very known for!—and a basically deserted app store makes it non-buyable. For basically anyone.

4. Blackberry App World is a ghost town

BlackBerry App World debuted in 2009 and had about 26,000 applications as of April 2011. Android had over 200,000 apps and iOS was pushing 350,000. More importantly, the number of quality apps? A barren wasteland.

Ten Reasons Why BlackBerry Is Screwed
 

hyson

Forum Jerk
Oct 19, 2008
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Sorry, iPhone is still way better than Android.




Hold on, wrong thread.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
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Toronto, ON
I think they are dead. They got destroyed because their earnings are way down. Their earnings are way down because their product line stinks. Once businesses dump them (and eventually they will), they will be as dead as Palm if not deader.
 

Wolf

Well-Known Member
Oct 11, 2008
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Phoenix
I never owned a blackberry before, but I have looked at a few different kinds and I don't like the feel of the keyboard and small screens. That why I prefer smartphones!
 

jef

Power Pig, Hello!
Oct 12, 2008
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John Gruber from Daring Fireball linked to this article today:

Mobile Opportunity: What's Next for RIM?

He pointed out the following quote:
"The company says it will accelerate the introduction of new products, which sounds sensible in the abstract, but if it's possible to develop products faster, why didn't RIM do it before? And considering RIM's history of shipping buggy devices, I tremble at what its products might look like if they were developed even faster."

Gruber also notes that "Starting with the iPhone, the mobile industry shifted from phone/messaging to full-on mobile computing, and RIM wasn’t prepared for that."

And 3 years later, they still really aren't prepared... Good luck to them, though, as competition keeps things interesting.
 

memebag

Top Brass, ADVP
Oct 11, 2008
17,404
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Lake Huntzing
Blackberry's only play is to be "Android for business". Provide a safe, stable, manageable layer on top of Android that benefits from some of the best of the technology that comes out of the "cesspool of malware" churning beneath.
 

HecticArt

Administrator
Oct 19, 2008
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. . . And considering RIM's history of shipping buggy devices, I tremble at what its products might look like if they were developed even faster."

. . . .

woodphone.jpg
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
27,230
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Toronto, ON
These guys really don't have a clue what the hell they are doing!

I get the feeling that a couple of years ago they figured they were invincible. They were defacto standard when it came to 'smartphones'. Rather than push the envelope they sat back and rested on their laurels. Now they are blown away by not 1 but 2 platform competitors. Now they are scrambling trying to get something to market without proper development cycles. I guarentee Apple and Google both have a roadmap of carefully planned releases and plans for the next 2-5 years. RIM didn't and has got caught with their pants down.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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Louisiana
Maybe. Or maybe they don't see a way to win in the 10" tablet market, so they're cutting their losses.

Steady losing market share and sales on the phones and really never got the Playbook off the ground. These half-baked efforts will avail you nothing!
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
27,230
13,833
168
Toronto, ON
Steady losing market share and sales on the phones and really never got the Playbook off the ground. These half-baked efforts will avail you nothing!

My sister-in-law has a blackberry. She likes it. But even she (non-technical) is asking whether she should go to Android or Apple when she is due to replace it. Even she considers blackberry dead.

Since she likes US Celular (for coverage in the hills of WV) I recommended Android since US Cellular does not carry iPhones.
 

limegrass69

Confused
Oct 12, 2008
6,079
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New York
It's usually a mistake to brand something as "dead". Fads come and go. Blackberry has a pretty broad base, and I would not be surprised to see somewhat of a resurgence at some point.

RIM won't ever be the force it once was, but I see them sticking around.