Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What's really wrong with BlackBerry

mobileopportunity.blogspot.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 76 posts

Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry

#41

Post by rahoulb »

SandB0x wrote: post #35

In the last year I have seen a lot of new BlackBerry users in London. However, the majority of these have been teenagers on the bus using some entry level model, which is available on pay-as-you-go, or with a very cheap contract. I get the impression this was not their first choice of phone, and I think this (anecdotal evidence) matches the author's analysis. All the older BlackBerry users I know have switched to iPh…

Blackberries are certainly the phone of choice for teenagers in the UK at the moment. According to my daughter this is entirely because of BBM

Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry

#42

Post by Isamu »

Several years ago I did some development on the BlackBerry platform and was shocked at their api - got the distinct impression they were coasting. I think they only started to get back in the game in response to iPhone and Android. I still get the feeling they wouldn't have updated as much if not for the competition.

Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry

#43

Post by nextparadigms »

timtadh wrote: post #8

"Yes, Android is doing well, but neither RIM nor Apple is giving away its operating system, so it was close to inevitable that Android would eventually get the unit lead." If that is true, why doesn't the Linux desktop have the unit lead? I mean its free, installable on everything, and easily obtainable. This kinda of reasoning simply does not hold. There a loads of reasons why Android is doing well, but I don't thin…

The main reason why Android is winning is because they were the first quality (iOS like) multi-manufacturer OS that was pushed by a big company that most people love and got a lot of momentum. I don't think being free or open-source was the main reason Android is succeed. It definitely plays a huge role, but even if Google charged a $10 license like Microsoft is doing now with WP7, Android would've still succeeded.

In this case it's actually WP7 that is more like Linux - opportunity wise - because WP7 is the one coming into the market after Android is well entrenched.

Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry

#44

Post by quadhome »

Stormbringer wrote: post #38
Andys wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironic, given my perception of Linux as doing good things in a mediocre way...

Apologises for 'wall of text'(tm) (patent pending) TLDR: move along, nothing to see here If you're one of the people who likes fiddling around with your computer, and having very fine grained control over the OS, then Linux is pretty near perfect. If you just want to use your computer to do work , if you want an integrated and unified user experience * that makes it easy to move from one app to another, if you are...…

In 2-5 years, will the "Mac" product be relevant?

Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry

#45

Post by bmelton »

Stormbringer wrote: post #38
Andys wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironic, given my perception of Linux as doing good things in a mediocre way...

Apologises for 'wall of text'(tm) (patent pending) TLDR: move along, nothing to see here If you're one of the people who likes fiddling around with your computer, and having very fine grained control over the OS, then Linux is pretty near perfect. If you just want to use your computer to do work , if you want an integrated and unified user experience * that makes it easy to move from one app to another, if you are...…

The thing you mention though hasn't happened -- nobody's taken Linux to anywhere near the level of polish found in OS X.

I think Canonical is the obvious front-runner in that regard, and while they're making leaps and bounds, I've found nothing in Ubuntu that comes anywhere near the level of fit and finish available in almost every single OS X application.

Functionally, the Ubuntu equivalents are close, but from a usability perspective, they're a very long way away.

Perhaps dropping Xorg is the push that things need to make this happen? I honestly don't know, but while OS X is iterating even more towards perfection, simply moving the control icons to the other side of the title bar in Ubuntu caused an uproar. I think the community at large is too big and stubborn to allow a complete makeover similar to the OS9 OS X transition.

Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry

#46

Post by nextparadigms »

Isamu wrote: post #2

Very insightful analysis. At the very least read the section "How a computing platform dies" - this is the first I've seen that perspective. I wouldn't mind reading more about this.

You could've gotten the same insights if you read (and understood) 2 books: Innovator's Dilemma and Chasm Companion. They are extremely insightful books about why companies succeed (and fail) and I felt that most of his assumptions came from the theories in those books, because I've been saying those things for over a year to a friend that works at RIM, but she never believed me because RIM "is doing so well financially".

Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry

#47

Post by halo »

Stormbringer wrote: post #36
SandB0x wrote: post #35

In the last year I have seen a lot of new BlackBerry users in London. However, the majority of these have been teenagers on the bus using some entry level model, which is available on pay-as-you-go, or with a very cheap contract. I get the impression this was not their first choice of phone, and I think this (anecdotal evidence) matches the author's analysis. All the older BlackBerry users I know have switched to iPh…

Apparently RIM has its own replacement for SMS that is dirt cheap, and this is what attracts the (extremely price sensitive ) teens. Not all teens are price sensitive of course, but those who are will get buried by outrageous SMS fees

SMS is dirt cheap in Europe.

Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry

#48

Post by revorad »

pwpwp wrote: post #23
alanh wrote: post #10

Remember how everyone likes to note that Apple is never afraid to obsolete itself? Killing OS 9 to start completely new in OS X… Aggressively and constantly re-imagining the iPod… Replacing the iPod (effectively) with a completely new touch-based system (iOS)… beginning the revolution from PCs to iPad-style devices (they are selling as many iPads as they are computers, now). When has Blackberry ever really dared to c…

Why do you glorify doing something new and stupid, when doing good things well is what people really should be admiring. — Linus Torvalds

Because doing something new and stupid often leads to great things?

Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry

#49

Post by philwelch »

gnufreex wrote: post #24
alanh wrote: post #10

Remember how everyone likes to note that Apple is never afraid to obsolete itself? Killing OS 9 to start completely new in OS X… Aggressively and constantly re-imagining the iPod… Replacing the iPod (effectively) with a completely new touch-based system (iOS)… beginning the revolution from PCs to iPad-style devices (they are selling as many iPads as they are computers, now). When has Blackberry ever really dared to c…

About Apple killing classic MacOS, it was really kill or be killed. They did it years too late, IMHO.

They had been trying continuously since the late 1980's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taligent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copland_(operating_system)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhapsody_(operating_system)

Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry

#50

Post by philwelch »

timtadh wrote: post #8

"Yes, Android is doing well, but neither RIM nor Apple is giving away its operating system, so it was close to inevitable that Android would eventually get the unit lead." If that is true, why doesn't the Linux desktop have the unit lead? I mean its free, installable on everything, and easily obtainable. This kinda of reasoning simply does not hold. There a loads of reasons why Android is doing well, but I don't thin…

Being free is a big reason, in the same way that cheap OEM licenses are Windows' way of having the biggest market share. Free's not the killer, being cheap enough to be widely available is. Even if Macs or iPhones are the better product, Windows and Android both have nearly every hardware maker in the market selling it (and, in Android's case, on every network), making it a more convenient and marketable option.

AT&T being a crappy network is analogous to AutoCAD and games only being available on Windows; a way to leverage wide availability into concrete advantages for some segments, despite having a worse product to begin with.

Post reply on HN