Live data from Hacker News

Anonymous RIM Employee Blasts Company in Open Letter (2011)

allthingsd.com

1–10 of 23 posts

Re: Anonymous RIM Employee Blasts Company in Open Letter (2011)

#2
> 4) Developers, not Carriers can now make or break us [1]

Hindsight is 20/20, but this anonymous letter to RIM Senior Management Team, really nailed this point. The developer ecosystem, and the app for everything mind set, that Apple pretty much invented, and later emulated via Google with Android, is simply stunning.

Personally, I think RIM should turn itself into mainly a hardware vendor, cut its losses, agree that Apple and Google own the market, and join them. Ditch BlackBerry OS, install Android (with their custom BES encryption used in the enterprise [2]), and tap into the massive market of developers, just waiting there. Why on earth are they putting this effort into a losing battle?! I think there is a poker term for this (chase [3]), when you are in a bad hand, but you still have all this money invested, so you keep bleeding, hoping the situation will improve, till you get killed.

[1] http://bgr.com/2011/06/30/open-letter-to-blackberry-bosses-s...

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry_Enterprise_Server

[3] http://pokerterms.com/chasing.html

Re: Anonymous RIM Employee Blasts Company in Open Letter (2011)

#3

> 4) Developers, not Carriers can now make or break us [1] Hindsight is 20/20, but this anonymous letter to RIM Senior Management Team, really nailed this point. The developer ecosystem, and the app for everything mind set, that Apple pretty much invented, and later emulated via Google with Android, is simply stunning. Personally, I think RIM should turn itself into mainly a hardware vendor, cut its losses, agree tha…

I thought it was called "pot stuck". Chasing implies that you still have some hope (i.e. you are waiting for a card to drop to make your hand). "Pot stuck" is when you know you are beat, but you can't get yourself to fold because you have already committed so much to the pot.

Re: Anonymous RIM Employee Blasts Company in Open Letter (2011)

#4

> 4) Developers, not Carriers can now make or break us [1] Hindsight is 20/20, but this anonymous letter to RIM Senior Management Team, really nailed this point. The developer ecosystem, and the app for everything mind set, that Apple pretty much invented, and later emulated via Google with Android, is simply stunning. Personally, I think RIM should turn itself into mainly a hardware vendor, cut its losses, agree tha…

I think they actually have a chance of not dying if they do this. And knowing they're in this position they could perhaps have partnerships that Apple and Google would not be willing to do, and which could help them differentiate.

Re: Anonymous RIM Employee Blasts Company in Open Letter (2011)

#5
post #3

> 4) Developers, not Carriers can now make or break us [1] Hindsight is 20/20, but this anonymous letter to RIM Senior Management Team, really nailed this point. The developer ecosystem, and the app for everything mind set, that Apple pretty much invented, and later emulated via Google with Android, is simply stunning. Personally, I think RIM should turn itself into mainly a hardware vendor, cut its losses, agree tha…

I thought it was called "pot stuck". Chasing implies that you still have some hope (i.e. you are waiting for a card to drop to make your hand). "Pot stuck" is when you know you are beat, but you can't get yourself to fold because you have already committed so much to the pot.

A minor correction; the phrase is usually "pot committed".

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pot%20committ...

Re: Anonymous RIM Employee Blasts Company in Open Letter (2011)

#6

> 4) Developers, not Carriers can now make or break us [1] Hindsight is 20/20, but this anonymous letter to RIM Senior Management Team, really nailed this point. The developer ecosystem, and the app for everything mind set, that Apple pretty much invented, and later emulated via Google with Android, is simply stunning. Personally, I think RIM should turn itself into mainly a hardware vendor, cut its losses, agree tha…

I am sad because of QNX, not BB. I don't know what's the future of QNX if BB decides to follow the Android or Windows 8 route.

Re: Anonymous RIM Employee Blasts Company in Open Letter (2011)

#7
One of the funniest/saddest parts of how RIM treated developers was that initially there was something like a $250 fee to get into their developer program, and then you only got something like 5 app submissions/updates. You then had to pay for more submissions/updates. I believe they suspended this policy around the time they launched the BB Playbook, but compared to distributing through Google Play or the Apple App store, it was surprisingly ridiculous.

Also, Window's Store developer setup experience was pretty embarrassing as of a year or so ago.

If you want your ecosystem to do well, nail the developer onboarding experience, not just the getting started docs but the whole end to end experience. As a multiplatform developer, it makes a huge difference to where I want to develop for.

Re: Anonymous RIM Employee Blasts Company in Open Letter (2011)

#8
post #6

> 4) Developers, not Carriers can now make or break us [1] Hindsight is 20/20, but this anonymous letter to RIM Senior Management Team, really nailed this point. The developer ecosystem, and the app for everything mind set, that Apple pretty much invented, and later emulated via Google with Android, is simply stunning. Personally, I think RIM should turn itself into mainly a hardware vendor, cut its losses, agree tha…

I am sad because of QNX, not BB. I don't know what's the future of QNX if BB decides to follow the Android or Windows 8 route.

I'm assuming somebody else will pick up QNX, or it will be split off into it's own company. I don't think most people realise the value of QNX, maybe not as a phone OS, but in running so many other devices.

Interestingly, RIM doesn't say how much revenue QNX makes for the company. http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/04/05/the-little-known-comp...

Re: Anonymous RIM Employee Blasts Company in Open Letter (2011)

#9
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sad because of QNX, not BB. I don't know what's the future of QNX if BB decides to follow the Android or Windows 8 route.

I'm assuming somebody else will pick up QNX, or it will be split off into it's own company. I don't think most people realise the value of QNX, maybe not as a phone OS, but in running so many other devices. Interestingly, RIM doesn't say how much revenue QNX makes for the company. http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/04/05/the-little-known-comp...

I'm guessing that QNX will soon face a run for its money as iOS and/or Android start seeing use in devices besides phones and tablets. A common UI experience from phone to tablet to automobile controls/navigation would be something consumers would appreciate.

Re: Anonymous RIM Employee Blasts Company in Open Letter (2011)

#10

One of the funniest/saddest parts of how RIM treated developers was that initially there was something like a $250 fee to get into their developer program, and then you only got something like 5 app submissions/updates. You then had to pay for more submissions/updates. I believe they suspended this policy around the time they launched the BB Playbook, but compared to distributing through Google Play or the Apple App…

From their historical position as an "enterprise" phone provider, the dev program makes sense. It's like how being a Microsoft Windows developer used to be. You had to pay for all the tools. They may have felt that by having a price of entry it would help ensure that only "serious" developers would bother to apply.
Post reply on HN