BlackBerry CEO: Our vibrating devices will satisfy most needs BlackBerry CEO and President Thorsten Heins has declared the organisation he leads is “not a phone company” but a mobile computing company whose networks and operating system can be used to connect a wide range of devices. Speaking in Sydney, Australia, at the formal local launch of the new Z10 handset, Heins bridled at …
1. "Car markers want to speed up their innovation cycle to internet speed". Innovation in car manufacturing? He forgot which country he was in.
2. "I was told in two quarters we would be bankrupt. I was told we did not have enough cash to get BB10 to market". Was he really told that? Or was it something he pondered to himself when looking in the mirror? He's such a facking hero.
No, he just assumes that the BlackBerry faithful - and they tend to be very faithful - will spread his words around other markets.
They're sponsoring Mercedes F1. Given that in the US they won't know what that means, it tells you (a) what countries he's interested in and (b) the development platform to which they would like to contribute. Even if Lewis Hamilton may be going to have to spend a lot of time learning not to say "my iPhone".
He's a technical CEO who seems to get an awful lot and also appears to listen. If you contrast his achievement with Elop at Nokia you might think that either he was dealt a better set of cards - QNX and the BlackBerry enterprise history - or had more strategic vision. Nokia now looks like it's stuck with good hardware and a doomed OS.
His comment on tablets makes a lot of sense - much as I like my PlayBook.
It's also significant that he took Canadian citizenship this year which suggests he doesn't plan to return to Germany any time soon.
Of course one person is far from making a company, but looking over the heads of the current big players, I get the feeling that overall it is Samsung and BlackBerry who really know what they are trying to do. Microsoft seems to be internally confused, and Apple is radiating "The CEO is away and the head of manufacturing is caretaking" signs.
Next smartphone? Tough decision. The only thing I can be sure of is that I'm not paying £800 for an iPhone with adequate storage when the Samsung and BlackBerry competition are both expandable.
Well judging by the lukewarm response to the Z10 in the UK it looks like break then.
It's overpriced and the app support is pitiful. Surely he knows it's not just the phone and hardware but the eco-system behind it that drives sales .... and it's sadly lacking.
They should have brought out the keyboard version first to appeal to the BB fans, but they've delayed both handsets and people are losing interest.
I've not seen one in th wild yet, and that speaks volumes.
"Well judging by the lukewarm response to the Z10 in the UK it looks like break then."
citation required please, since every company that does market research has back tracked on all "less than expected" predictions
"It's overpriced and the app support is pitiful. Surely he knows it's not just the phone and hardware but the eco-system behind it that drives sales .... and it's sadly lacking."
Over priced? seems fairly run of the mill pricing wise for a similar specced iPhone or android based phone.
App support i have to agree isnt great but its a new platform barely a month out from release. iOS and Androiud both took time for momentum to gather.
I do wonder how many "apps" are really for the benefit of the user, and how many have data collection and advertising as their principal objective.
Those of us who can remember the early days of the IBM PC will recall just how much junk there was out there, and how few programs there were for the Mac by comparison. Yet in those days the Mac was a far more useful tool. I do wonder if we are just going through a repeat and before long most of the apps will start to disappear as the income drops below development cost.
BlackBerry still haven't fixed navigation, which is important, but the communications stuff looks good and the web browser is impressive. Give me a decent remote access toolkit, a GPS that knows about Ordnance Survey references, and the utilities from Maemo/Meego and really you can stuff Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and the like into a burlap sack and drown them in a spent fuel pool at Fukushima and I won't even be bothered to watch the video.
If third place is going to be decided by eco-system then MS are way out in front compared to Blackberry IMHO. The Blackberry store is seriously bare. With that said, any sensible person should look past the usual "our AppStore has 700K apps" marketing BS and look for the apps they will actually use.
On a different note, I can't understand why the mobile computing industry has polarised as ridiculously as it has. Sheep instinct I guess...
Well it's selling pretty well here in the Toronto area, I have a Z10 as do several of my friends and co-workers. I actually had to go around to several shops before I found one that wasn't sold out of them. Got it at a great price too. It's a pretty nice phone but takes some getting used to as would any full touch screen device.
As to the apps, it seems to have a good selection with a couple notable exceptions, Blackberry Travel and Metrolinx Go Train App. Why no BB Travel yet I just don't understand. WhatsApp was released last week and that's the one most Z10 users where waiting for....but I'm not a fan.
I do agree that the Q10 should have been first but I will assume that Mr. Heins had good reason not to do that.
Buying QNX was BB's smartest decision. QNX is a super OS highly respected in many industries.
Still it's not enough to day dream about being a mobile service company. BB has a very limited experience in this space, the email premium service is no good proof with highly public outages and no support in BB's 2 newest phones.
In addition everybody wants in: other manufacturers such as Samsung or Nokia, all network providers and the is devs, be it google or Microsoft or apple.
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