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BlackBerry to cut 4,500 jobs, predicts 2nd quarter loss of $950M

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Re: BlackBerry to cut 4,500 jobs, predicts 2nd quarter loss of $950M

#91

Post by contextual »

rimantas wrote: post #22
maxsilver wrote: post #7

It's unfortunate, as someone who just purchased a Q10 (switched from Android), I think they've finally got their act together and released something excellent. The Q10's battery life is great, the hardware keyboard is solid and travels well. The Paratek antenna gets the best reception and data connection of any device I've ever used. The BB10 software isn't great, but it's decent. (It's certainly far better than wher…

Alas, Q10 does not compete with iOS from 6 years ago.

That's a subjective remark and one I completely disagree with. The BlackBerry OS is cleverly designed and the finger gestures make using it addictive even.

Re: BlackBerry to cut 4,500 jobs, predicts 2nd quarter loss of $950M

#92

Post by contextual »

eli wrote: post #11

I was really hoping they could turn it around -- by all accounts the new phones are pretty nice and the mobile OS market could use some more serious competitors. But they have virtually no apps and no clear path to getting apps. Combine that with BYOD policies that let employees bring their own phones instead of having one issued and their whole sales model goes out the window.

They don't have some big name apps like Audible yet (there are substitutes) but the app selection is decent. There are even some gems for BlackBerry you won't find anywhere else.

Re: BlackBerry to cut 4,500 jobs, predicts 2nd quarter loss of $950M

#93

Post by robterrell »

gummify wrote: post #19
mrcharles wrote: post #4

Was digging up some numbers. In 2010, BlackBerry still sold more phones than Apple. How the mighty have fallen.

What were the real problems then that led to their fall? Lack of technology innovation? badly run company and operations? lost touch with the consumer? All of the above?

I think they just flat-out missed the shift of gravity from carriers to consumers.

I think BlackBerry considered their customers to be (a) the carriers and (b) IT departments. End users weren't considered their customers until it was too late.

Re: BlackBerry to cut 4,500 jobs, predicts 2nd quarter loss of $950M

#94

Post by contextual »

kunai wrote: post #6
iamshs wrote: post #3

NO. Teary eyed. :( 3.7 million phone sales are nothing. Only if they had copied iOS the Samsung way in time.

Why? The problem isn't with the phones. The Z10 and Q10 are fantastic and BB10 is probably the best business-centric OS ever written. The problem is that the applications are just not there, and that people associate BlackBerry with reboots, battery pulls, and outdated, clunky software, even though that's not the case. It's an image problem, not a phone problem. They can't market like Apple used to. If they could, th…

You nailed it. You managed to perfectly articulate what I couldn't. The BlackBerry OS is fantastic, but people aren't willing to try it.

I hope the OS survives even if the company doesn't.

Re: BlackBerry to cut 4,500 jobs, predicts 2nd quarter loss of $950M

#95

Post by skc »

rocky1138 wrote: post #84
Touche wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

nit, but Ballmer did not dismiss the iPhone, he dismissed the $500 on contract iPhone. And he even said "it may sell very well". Here's the actual video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U I know it's become fun to pretend like Ballmer dismissed the iPhone but I have a hard time watching that video and seeing anything like that.

Remember when they held a public funeral for the iPhone?

Not that it matters but, it wasn't public.

Re: BlackBerry to cut 4,500 jobs, predicts 2nd quarter loss of $950M

#96

Post by skylan_q »

corresation wrote: post #81
skylan_q wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter if their flagship phone that's out today is better than any mobile device that comes out in the next ten years. The customer has a grudge against them and decided they're losers. I could only image how much people would be for cancer if BB came out with a cure.

Or maybe it just isn't better? Or maybe it isn't better enough for people to endure the complete lack of platform ecosystem. Ecosystem is everything. Android overcame that (remember when few of the top tier apps or services like Netflix were available on Android?) largely via the pull of Google services, getting enough inertia that the apps came. Blackberry...it wasn't and isn't going to happen. It just isn't worth i…

I didn't say it is better. I said it doesn't matter if it's leaps and bounds better. Everyone hates them worse than The Devil and there's nothing that can be done about it regardless of ecosystem and devices. People just aren't willing to even peek, nevermind even giving it a shot.

Re: BlackBerry to cut 4,500 jobs, predicts 2nd quarter loss of $950M

#97

Post by rorrr2 »

Asterick6 wrote: post #86
rorrr2 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They still have their chances with Android. All they have to do is make the best damn Android devices. Considering they have money, they can do it. Other than that, nothing short of miraculous futuretech invention-acquisition will save them.

This is an empty, useless comment full of hot air, and using swear words does nothing to support the poor assumptions and reasoning that you made. The "best" devices will never sell without marketing. And if RIM does move to Android, that signals that they gave up and tried to stave off their decline/death by exploiting the Android market. Not to mention that with the competition, RIM has even less of a chance. I rec…

"swear words"?

Re: BlackBerry to cut 4,500 jobs, predicts 2nd quarter loss of $950M

#98

Post by asveikau »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #57
Touche wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

nit, but Ballmer did not dismiss the iPhone, he dismissed the $500 on contract iPhone. And he even said "it may sell very well". Here's the actual video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U I know it's become fun to pretend like Ballmer dismissed the iPhone but I have a hard time watching that video and seeing anything like that.

That is a fair point. Microsoft's behavior however, with regard to "supporting" the iPhone as a new way to do business, was tepid at best.

Microsoft's phone team did react promptly. Probably not many people remember that they were originally planning to ship a "Windows Mobile 7" product which was an evolution of WM6. They axed that and started over, and the result was Windows Phone 7.

They messed up a lot of things both before and after that point (sometime in 2009 I think?), but there was a definite change in course in reaction to where the market was going.

Re: BlackBerry to cut 4,500 jobs, predicts 2nd quarter loss of $950M

#99

Post by mjburgess »

jmduke wrote: post #8
spodek wrote: post #2

The timeless story of Ozymandias -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias -- (if you don't know the 1818 sonnet by Shelley, read it before downvoting. It's relevant and timeless) I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sc…

There's something particularly ironic about calling Ozymandias timeless.

The poem is itself ironic... it's about Ramses III who rule c. 1000 BC and yet was famous enough that poetry would be inspired by him 3000 years later.

Re: BlackBerry to cut 4,500 jobs, predicts 2nd quarter loss of $950M

#100

Post by 205guy »

potatolicious wrote: post #32
hvs wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I first thought of "Watchmen" by Alan Moore.

Or "Civilization IV", which had this narrated by Leonard Nimoy :)

Am I the only one around here... Who was not educated by pop culture references, But actually remembers reading this in school?

Yeah, yeah, I get it, it's fun when we find subtle references to pop culture in the greater world around us. But it just seems wrong when the pop reference replace the actual culture (or maybe the irony is so subtle as to seem non-ironic, ironically--or something).

Somebody should update the wikipedia page with a "References in Pop Culture" section.

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