RIM just doesn't get it.

[johnnymobile]

And apparently, neither does their fanbase. It boggles my mind how some brand loyalists can be so close minded that they don't even realize that they've become an afterthought to the rest of the smartphone community

RIM just had a 'big' Blackberry event this week, which you may have seen on some tech blogs and skimmed over. Here's what I took away from it:

RIM Stocks dropped during their event. How embarrassing.
Media covereage was lukewarm or negative
Big name developer interest was notably absent
The 'innovations' they revealed on this upcoming "BB10" were basically just a different face on things that Android, iOS, and even WP have been able to do for the last year. And if not, they'll probably be on those platforms before RIM launches it.

Here's a sad example of misguided and blind brand loyalty. Talk about Osterich... wow.

 

[A.Nonymous]

People like to stick with what works for them. There are things that BB excels at. It's just never transitioned successfully to the consumer field.

 

[kool kat2]

I'm actually lookingforward to trying one of the new BB10 devices when they hit Verizon.

 

[breadnatty08]

The thing is, BB still has a huge following for people who need it for email and BBM. In DC, it's really very common to see folks with Blackberries. It's very popular (read: required) among those in the corporate and government world. Honestly, I don't think any of them care (they're generally in the 40+ age range). Plus they're one of the only OEMs that offer smartphones sans cameras which is required in a lot of government work.
I don't think RIM is going to gain any market share, it'll likely lose some or stay flat. But, it'll be a long while before they're completely phased out.
Interesting who would be the ones to replace them: Android, iOS, or WP7?

 

[pastafarian]

RIM will have some security advantages for a while and be the choice of our government officials. Also, because of they're obsession with battery life and the fact that they use older cheaper hardware, they still have massive advantages in emerging markets. That's it! Everywhere else as in ~80% of the market and ~95%+ of the profitable markets they are already essentially dead men walking. Like Palm before them, they don't have nearly enough resources both monetary and intellectual to regain their lost momentum against the deep pockets of Apple and Google. Look at what M$ is putting into their mobile platform and so far they've been only been able to barely tread water. RIM either sells out to someone else, or they're belly up in less than 2 years. There is absolutely no chance of a resurgence for them at this point.

 

[Hadron]

It's also different in different markets. For example, I understand that BB has had a problem with the consumer market in North America. But in Europe and Asia it's the consumer business that's been their growth area recently, with corporate flat or falling. Except when I'm at airports, most of the BBs I see are being carried by teenagers.

Now, whether they can maintain the consumer business in global markets is another question. But if they look at just one market, or go for an undifferentiated "one size fits all" approach, I don't think they are going to succeed.

 

[A.Nonymous]

RIM will have some security advantages for a while and be the choice of our government officials. Also, because of they're obsession with battery life and the fact that they use older cheaper hardware, they still have massive advantages in emerging markets. That's it! Everywhere else as in ~80% of the market and ~95%+ of the profitable markets they are already essentially dead men walking. Like Palm before them, they don't have nearly enough resources both monetary and intellectual to regain their lost momentum against the deep pockets of Apple and Google. Look at what M$ is putting into their mobile platform and so far they've been only been able to barely tread water. RIM either sells out to someone else, or they're belly up in less than 2 years. There is absolutely no chance of a resurgence for them at this point.

I think some security advantages is an understatement. They have a huge security advantage. The fact that they are a smartphone that can be bought without a camera as mentioned earlier is huge. Plus, you can lock down a BB from the server side pretty much the same way you can lock down a workstation from a domain server. If you want, you can set it up so the BB can only access the Internet through your corporate proxy server. Then you could, theoretically, monitor every single packet that comes from that phone. You can't do that type of thing from any other device.

 

[Omar Days]

the rimpire strikes back. how cringe

 

[OfTheDamned]

My girlfriend is a die hard BlackBerry loyalist. I've given her 3 different Android phones and she even tried the iPhone 4S recently. She has had various reasons for disliking each. She uses her Bold strictly for communication. She wants long battery life, a physical keyboard and something that is manageable to hold in her hand (thinks my Nexus is ridiculous). Since she is primarily making phone calls, sending email (100s of them daily), texting and occasionally using the web it is really all she needs or wants. I can't fault her or consider her misguided for this. People like what they like. When you don't care about the bells/whistles and only want a communication device then what does it matter?

As far as RIM going away, it may in time. Then again, many analysts thought that flip phones would be gone now too.

 

[Demache]

I think Blackberries will have their own niche. Will they ever become a hot consumer item? Probably not. However, until their rivals provide a similar level of corporate support and security mindedness, Blackberry isn't going anywhere.

 

[SUroot]

sending email (100s of them daily), texting and occasionally using the web it is really all she needs or wants. I can't fault her or consider her misguided for this.

This is just it. I am a blackberry Admin at work so I have experience of most of their devices. I also used to have the Bold 9000 personally before converting to Android.

IF you have the fortune to have the high end devices (9000, 9700, 9900) then yes, the keyboard is ergonomically fantastic and it makes perfect sense.

My personal issue lies in the lower end devices. Things like the 8520's. The Keyboard is horrible and unusable (at least for me). Those raised ridges on the high end keyboard do a great job at Key-differentiation but the cheaper, flat keys are crap.

What also annoys me is to make a device lower end, they remove 3G capabilities. This is really annoying to me too.

 

[damewolf13]

The way I see it, if the Blackberry loyalists are happy with BB, that's fine. As long as BB serves their needs, they have no reason to look around for anything else. They are happy.
Same for Apple loyalists. I get that too. That is the platform that serves their needs at this time.
I understand that, because that is how I feel about Android.

 

[Tattycakes]

As someone who has done tech support for Blackberries sold to average consumers, I can't stand them. I'm sure they're great for corporate and business users who send emails containing sensitive data, or worth hundreds of pounds, but all I saw was 14 year olds trying to use BBM, getting their passwords wrong, and having their entire device security wiped.

 

[SUroot]

As someone who has done tech support for Blackberries sold to average consumers, I can't stand them. I'm sure they're great for corporate and business users who send emails containing sensitive data, or worth hundreds of pounds, but all I saw was 14 year olds trying to use BBM, getting their passwords wrong, and having their entire device security wiped.

Nope, I'm sick to death of activating Blackberries against the BES. I'm sick of the MDS service. I'm sick of it all. I'd prefer to get Android and MAAS360 implemented.

 

[A.Nonymous]

This is just it. I am a blackberry Admin at work so I have experience of most of their devices.

I pity you my friend. I would not wish that job on anyone.

 

[SUroot]

I pity you my friend. I would not wish that job on anyone.

Thanks. I really hate it. It's been exacerbated by the fact we just migrated 500 people to Microsoft on-line. We had about 300 blackberry activations to do in 6 weeks. Gah

 

[Stuntman]

BlackBerrys has been the phone we use at work for many years now. It's only recently that some iPhones are starting to increase their presence. I have a BB Tour 9630 for work, but I cannot stand the physical keyboard. I find that the keys are too close together and cause me to make a lot of errors when using it. I like keyboards where the keys are spaced far apart like on my HTC Desire Z and my old Nokia N97. These are landscape keyboard slider phones.

The BlackBerrys integrate well with the various communications systems (email, and office messaging) quite well. I am less than impressed with the UI of the various communications apps. If you know the various keyboard commands, you can navigate quite quickly. If not, then it is a pain to use.