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BlackBerry to cut up to 40 percent of employees

arstechnica.com

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Re: BlackBerry to cut up to 40 percent of employees

#11

Post by stephengillie »

RIM used to make it all - the best expensive mobile hardware, low-price decent mobile hardware, the fastest messaging server, a free but slower alternative, the most secure encryption, good mobile OS, the best mobile-to-mobile messaging service, and a solid network.

What happened?

Apple came in with better expensive hardware and a better OS

Google came in with a better (free) OS

Many other companies came out with better low-price hardware

The fastest messaging server (BES) became free for some reason... (couldn't compete with free* Activesync?)

Social networks and other messaging platforms overtook the free email alternative (BIS) and mobile-to-mobile messaging (BBM)

The most secure encryption fell by the wayside -- it was so secure that it was a liability, as some governments refused to let BES operate in their country because they couldn't spy through it.

The network was another liability, as people had a $10/mo higher phone bill to use a Blackberry than any other smartphone.

---

Blackberry still have the fast network, secure encryption, and a number of other assets, but as yet have failed combine those assets into any sort of compelling product.

Re: BlackBerry to cut up to 40 percent of employees

#12

Post by stephengillie »

HorizonXP wrote: post #10

BlackBerry really sucks at marketing this, but BlackBerry 10 is a brand new product . Whatever you may remember about old legacy BlackBerry, throw it out. This is a new OS built upon QNX, new hardware, and a new company. That said, this sucks for those involved, but it's all a part of the company's reinvention.

Which means that developers are forced to learn something new to continue. Now they choose -- they can learn QNX and develop for Blackberrys, with their meager userbase.

Or they can learn Java and develop for Androids and their very large userbase.

Or they can learn Objective-C and develop for iOS and their deep-pocketed userbase.

Edit: or learn...C# && .net?.. and develop for Windows Phone, which just went through the same situation, and their "loyal" userbase of mostly MS employees.

The choice seems obvious in hindsight, and was obvious to some people beforehand too.

Re: BlackBerry to cut up to 40 percent of employees

#13

Post by n00j »

zainny wrote: post #9

I think maybe only two or so years ago BlackBerry had over 17,000 employees so in total we're talking about more than half of the company being cut in the space of a few years. Huge when you think about it like that.

Yup, in 2011 they has around 19,000 employees when they had their first major layoff. Kind of sad to see a once iconic Canadian company go downhill so fast these past couple year.

Re: BlackBerry to cut up to 40 percent of employees

#14

Post by colmvp »

stephengillie wrote: post #12
HorizonXP wrote: post #10

BlackBerry really sucks at marketing this, but BlackBerry 10 is a brand new product . Whatever you may remember about old legacy BlackBerry, throw it out. This is a new OS built upon QNX, new hardware, and a new company. That said, this sucks for those involved, but it's all a part of the company's reinvention.

Which means that developers are forced to learn something new to continue. Now they choose -- they can learn QNX and develop for Blackberrys, with their meager userbase. Or they can learn Java and develop for Androids and their very large userbase. Or they can learn Objective-C and develop for iOS and their deep-pocketed userbase. Edit: or learn...C# && .net?.. and develop for Windows Phone, which just went through t…

What about Windows? I completely dig the Lumia but the lack of apps that I'm used to using on iOS is kind of a big annoyance.

Re: BlackBerry to cut up to 40 percent of employees

#15

Post by stephengillie »

colmvp wrote: post #14
stephengillie wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which means that developers are forced to learn something new to continue. Now they choose -- they can learn QNX and develop for Blackberrys, with their meager userbase. Or they can learn Java and develop for Androids and their very large userbase. Or they can learn Objective-C and develop for iOS and their deep-pocketed userbase. Edit: or learn...C# && .net?.. and develop for Windows Phone, which just went through t…

What about Windows? I completely dig the Lumia but the lack of apps that I'm used to using on iOS is kind of a big annoyance.

Probably because all of the Windows Mobile app developers were forced to make the same choice, and most of them didn't choose Windows Phone.

Re: BlackBerry to cut up to 40 percent of employees

#16

Post by stephengillie »

auctiontheory wrote: post #4

BlackBerry still rules in some markets. The BlackBerry Babes would not approve of these layoffs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDJGHCX2wA

The Objectification Police would not approve of the Blackberry Babes. And people wonder why these industries have a gender imbalance...

Re: BlackBerry to cut up to 40 percent of employees

#17

Post by hnriot »

stephengillie wrote: post #16
auctiontheory wrote: post #4

BlackBerry still rules in some markets. The BlackBerry Babes would not approve of these layoffs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lDJGHCX2wA

The Objectification Police would not approve of the Blackberry Babes. And people wonder why these industries have a gender imbalance...

you think women don't objectify just as much as men do?

If you do, then you are very naive. Yet you don't hear men whining about about a gender imbalance because women get up to just as much objectification. There are other reasons why there's an imbalance, if you look at other factors, ethnicity, for example, you'll find the same imbalance, and for the same reasons.

Re: BlackBerry to cut up to 40 percent of employees

#18

Post by flogic »

stephengillie wrote: post #11

RIM used to make it all - the best expensive mobile hardware, low-price decent mobile hardware, the fastest messaging server, a free but slower alternative, the most secure encryption, good mobile OS, the best mobile-to-mobile messaging service, and a solid network. What happened? Apple came in with better expensive hardware and a better OS Google came in with a better (free) OS Many other companies came out with bet…

Blackberry has 2 major problems. One, they're just not flashy enough to compete with Apple. Two, roll your own OS pretty much dooms you in computers. The network effect for compatibility is just too strong. Blackberry was fine before phones were really thought of as computing platforms.

Re: BlackBerry to cut up to 40 percent of employees

#19

Post by pavs »

stephengillie wrote: post #11

RIM used to make it all - the best expensive mobile hardware, low-price decent mobile hardware, the fastest messaging server, a free but slower alternative, the most secure encryption, good mobile OS, the best mobile-to-mobile messaging service, and a solid network. What happened? Apple came in with better expensive hardware and a better OS Google came in with a better (free) OS Many other companies came out with bet…

All your points can be boiled down to a single point:

They didn't take competition seriously until it was too late. Same can be said about Nokia and probably in the not too distant future it will be Microsoft.

Re: BlackBerry to cut up to 40 percent of employees

#20

Post by stephengillie »

hnriot wrote: post #17
stephengillie wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Objectification Police would not approve of the Blackberry Babes. And people wonder why these industries have a gender imbalance...

you think women don't objectify just as much as men do? If you do, then you are very naive. Yet you don't hear men whining about about a gender imbalance because women get up to just as much objectification. There are other reasons why there's an imbalance, if you look at other factors, ethnicity, for example, you'll find the same imbalance, and for the same reasons.

You're simply incorrect in every point you made.
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