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BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

venturebeat.com

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Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#121

Post by rbanffy »

camelNotation wrote: post #40
alex_c wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Blackberry needs to target them. Why? Dumb phones are more or less a commodity - margins are tiny, and volumes are likely small. If Blackberry lost at the high-end smartphone game, then switching to enterprise security or whatever they're working on makes way more sense than shipping a few hundred thousand units of $100 dumb phones.

If you read my full post, I'm arguing for them to change the paradigm of the "dumb phone." A dumb phone as it stands now is a commodity. I'm arguing that there exists an untapped market of people who want a hybrid, capable of filling the multi-functional tool role of a smartphone WITHOUT the focus on social media, video, music, and other entertainment roles. Why do I need to buy a flagship smartphone to get the best…

You know installing or using Twitter or Facebook on Your phone is not mandatory.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#123

Post by ahassan »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #119
maxsilver wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't get why the CEO didn't do this as the first thing when he started his Android strategy. I don't think Chen understands device strategy, or cares much for it. Because every BB user has been asking for the exact same thing you just mentioned -- for years -- and they still haven't done it. It'll never beat Apple or Samsung in popularity. But if they just released a single solid high-end Android phone with a re…

I think many Android apps would adapt poorly to the BB aspect ratio.

Maybe, but it may not be a huge issue. I've had very good luck using apps split-screen in Android 7.0, which has a similar aspect ratio to classic BB devices.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#124

Post by st3v3r »

ultramancool wrote: post #52
wcummings wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What they just need to do is to put Android on the Blackberry Classic or some phone with a similar form factor. That's it. I would buy this so fast . There's slim pickins for android phones w/ keyboards.

Are there any pickins for android phones with keyboards with even remotely modern hardware (I'd settle for anything with a 1080p screen probably)? Seems extremely limited, I was unable to find any viable options last I checked. I hate the candy bar form factor but it seems as though it really has won out unfortunately.

The problem is, a keyboard adds to the device cost quite a bit. And most people, despite saying they want a keyboard, are not willing to pay above and beyond for it. They want the same price point they're already at. So that means cutting costs elsewhere.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#125

Post by st3v3r »

camelNotation wrote: post #35

There is a growing market for "dumb phones" among those of us that are disillusioned with the smartphone lifestyle. It's not enormous, but it's out there. Blackberry needs to target them. If you buy a dumb phone, you not only give up the life-sucking abyss of social media and mobile gaming, but you also give up decent cameras and useful tools like navigation, group messages, and keyboard typing. For those that want t…

Why would that be any better than just buying a regular smartphone, and not installing apps?

Further, while you say you'd pay them a lot of money, I really doubt anyone else would.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#126

Post by st3v3r »

camelNotation wrote: post #50
laumars wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's already a pretty wide spectrum of smart phones on the market. You don't have to spend half your monthly income on a handset to get navigation, messaging, etc.

True, but then you sacrifice other features in the package. You can't pay with NFC on a cheap phone. The cameras suck on cheap phones. The screen quality sucks. The build quality sucks. There are tradeoffs if you just go cheap. I would pay flagship prices for a hybrid phone that focused on productivity and ignored entertainment.

So just buy a flagship phone, and don't install the things you don't need.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#127

Post by huffmsa »

camelNotation wrote: post #35

There is a growing market for "dumb phones" among those of us that are disillusioned with the smartphone lifestyle. It's not enormous, but it's out there. Blackberry needs to target them. If you buy a dumb phone, you not only give up the life-sucking abyss of social media and mobile gaming, but you also give up decent cameras and useful tools like navigation, group messages, and keyboard typing. For those that want t…

So don't download games and social media.

The Good Lord gave you free will, exercise it.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#128

Post by aziraphale »

Anyone who did Blackberry development back in the day, before OS 10 and Android, knows why they're now in this state. It was an abysmal experience, and they either didn't care or didn't understand the importance of keeping developers onside once Apple and Google started taking market share. Code-signing servers that were down on a regular basis, sometimes for days, which meant you couldn't deploy your app to real hardware. Simulators that took 5-10 minutes to start up and had no hot-reloading. God knows how many different system configurations that you were expected to support, with different screen sizes, bit-depth, input devices, internet connectivity (they used to offer mobile data plans which would only connect to "approved" services), etc. No official developer support beyond the sparsely-populated community forums. It was just horrible.

Then when something finally did click it was far too late (by at least 5 years) to improve their own ecosystem, hence the jump to Android.

I have very little sympathy for them now. You reap what you sow.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#129

Post by Silhouette »

st3v3r wrote: post #126
camelNotation wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but then you sacrifice other features in the package. You can't pay with NFC on a cheap phone. The cameras suck on cheap phones. The screen quality sucks. The build quality sucks. There are tradeoffs if you just go cheap. I would pay flagship prices for a hybrid phone that focused on productivity and ignored entertainment.

So just buy a flagship phone, and don't install the things you don't need.

Have you actually tried buying a flagship phone that doesn't do things like phoning home to Google or Apple lately? It is absurdly difficult to buy and set up any modern smartphone so it is reasonably secure and private and it just functions as a good phone with some extra connectivity.

Even for geeks like the HN crowd it's difficult to determine reliably what is really happening on your device and what you can trust, and the average customer has no chance whatsoever. Thus we see the kind of sentiment that started this discussion, where some people want to get away from the mess and the creepy factor and go back to having a device that just worked.

Re: BlackBerry confirms it will end in-house hardware development

#130

Post by mikestew »

maxsilver wrote: post #15
whitecarpet wrote: post #9

I've been never more productive with my smartphones than with a Blackberry. The BB's keyboards are still unmatched. While I can type as fast with my iPhone 7 where cursor control is thanks to 3D touch great a BB Classic is still better—reasons why: - You can rest your fingers on the keyboard like on a real keyboard without pressing the keys (you can't do that on a touch screen) - After a short time you start to touch…

> I don't get why the CEO didn't do this as the first thing when he started his Android strategy. I don't think Chen understands device strategy, or cares much for it. Because every BB user has been asking for the exact same thing you just mentioned -- for years -- and they still haven't done it. It'll never beat Apple or Samsung in popularity. But if they just released a single solid high-end Android phone with a re…

But if they just released a single solid high-end Android phone with a real BlackBerry keyboard every two years, that product line would quietly print free money forever.

Android doesn't sit well with me, and I've given it several good runs. I'm also at this point firmly entrenched in the Apple ecosystem (AppleTV, Macs in the house, etc.)

And I'd still pay full retail price for such a phone. Seems to me that's BB's once last true shot at remaining a going entity. But, as already pointed out, Chen just seems incapable of getting it.

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