Good
The more competition the better.
A work-in-progress build of the next BlackBerry OS, version 10.1, has leaked onto the interwebs. This latest update is due to ship this month to coincide with the planned launch of the BlackBerry Q10, a touchscreen phone with a QWERTY physical keyboard. This model follows its all-touchscreen cousin the Z10, which went on sale …
The 4.7% figure comes from a report released on April 1st, though there isn't anything in the press release to suggest that the date is significant:
http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/News/Android-Sprint-and-Samsung-Increased-Share-In-Early-2013
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2417283,00.asp
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> Nokia as a new entrant to the US market are already outselling Blackberry nearly 6:1! (4.1% versus 0.7%)
You are confused (and later you claim 4.7%). The 4.1% is for Windows Phone from all makers and versions, not for Nokia. Nokia reported that in Q1 they sold 400,000 phones in the US market. Your 'new entrant' reference is unwarranted.
Nokia also reported in Q1 that 1/3 of to WP phones shipped were the obsolete WP7, presumably overproduction being dumped into bargain bins.
I'm liking my Z10 a lot so far. For the waverers out there its certainly well worth a look.
One of BB's biggest problems is the shops. The sales staff don't care, and it's difficult to get a proper go on one to see what it's like outside of the limited demo app. Because BB do some things so differently to Apple and Android you need that proper look to see why it's worthwhile and to decide whether it's what you really want.
Anyway, BB are clearly having a good go at surviving reviving.
I'm not a BB user, although I do support them at work and hate to see a what I consider a decent company to fail. While watching the F1 at the weekend, I noticed BB are still sponsoring Mercedes and thought this is surely a good sign they're not that tight for cash, especially since they seem to be one of the most prominent logos on the car.
I'm looking forward to playing with BB10 when we get some devices in.
<One of BB's biggest problems is the shops. The sales staff don't care, and it's difficult to get a proper go on one to see what it's like outside of the limited demo app.>
Completely agree - the missis and I went into an O2 shop on Saturday to look at upgrading my BB to the Z10, and the first thing the sales assistant said about it was that it was a difficult interface - I pointed out that I'd just had a play with one in another shop that had a working demo model and found it to be very easy. You'd think the sales people would reserve their own opinions and give a balanced view to prospective customers! I even bit the bullet and had a go with the iPhone, and tried to open 2 apps at once... can it really still not do that or was I doing something stupidly wrong?
"You'd think the sales people would reserve their own opinions and give a balanced view to prospective customers!"
No, I'd think that the sales bod will push devices and contracts in the following order (a) whatever gets him the best commission, (b) whatever his boss tells him to push, or (c) whatever stock has built up in the back room of the shop.
Of course, if you can find a tech savvy, customer focused, ethically principled saleman, happily working for a company that offer no commission (or a flat rate regardless of the type and value of sales) then you might get impartiality, but equally pigs might fly. A successful salesman knows he generally can't sell ice to eskimos, but if you're seeking advice then you give the game away that you are persuadable - to buy a fatter contract, or to be upsold a 32GB handset, or to plump for a fruitphone over a top end Sammy or HTC, etc etc. The mistake your O2 guy made was not seeing the clue that you were upgrading from a BB handset, and really wanted the Z10 - but I'll guess his wallet-sniffing instincts are right more often than wrong, at least for his purposes.
It's a shame because the Z10 is a great step-up from any other smartphone on the market. No front physical button, perfect size (unlike Samsung wanting to make their phones balloon size so it doesnt fit in one hand and be operational with one hand) and works very fast!
I loved the iPhone but the 5 looks awful design wise and iOS needs a reshape to incorporate a next step in touchscreen software. I've bagged the Z10 on a 12 month contract so I can ultimately decide next year if Apple have lost me as a phone customer.
Apps is the only thing lagging, but that'll come over time. This OS is only a few months old and is making great waves already. Only thing missing is Spotify. Running sideloaded android apps is a steal to be honest!
"...and the first thing the sales assistant said about it was that it was a difficult interface..."
The sales assistant isn't a freaking mind reader. They don't know whether you've had 10 billion years experience and can tell the difference between a 9320 and 9360 by smell or whether you're someone that has trouble finding the "call" button.
It *is* a big change going from the old OS to the new one and it is better for the assistant to assume a lack of knowledge and issue a warning than mindlessly flog a Z10, only to put up with a barrage of abuse and questions later.
I think it might be useful to consider BlackBerry to be in a similar position to Apple in 2001, when transitioning from Mac OS 8 (the really old tech they'd had since the late 80s) to Mac OS X based on BSD.
Moving from a crufty OS to a new Unix-like OS gave Apple a huge boost in capability to build decent user facing applications. Apple was able to parlay that into a renewed consumer success.
Moving from BB OS + the J2ME stack to QNX may very well be a similar watershed for BlackBerry. I.e. finally having some decent underpinnings to work with may do wonders for what matters to users. i.e. if you have to constantly slap bandaids on top of your tech stack, you will not be very good at innovation.
And the market would benefit from not being in the 2 horse Apple + Samsung race.
Time will tell...
I think the most important thing is that it continues to be possible to configure everything every which way on a BB without having to pay out of "apps" that basically translate as "stuff we should have fixed that you now have to pay extra for".
The old BB might have been clunky but it is still amazingly customisable.
I cannot say that the fact that one particular missus cannot understand a phone is the best measure for usability. My missus moans about her android phone endlessly (which my kids understand in the blink of an eye), but at the same time refuses to listen to any advice (like what different buttons/apps do, what gestures are available, etc). In quite a few cases I find that moaning is not about getting help or advice, it is purely about getting attention. If you truly solve the problem, you deny them the chance to moan about that again.
BTW, this is not a female thing: we have several excellent and technically very competent female PhD students here. It is much more of an anti-tech mindset that some people develop.
Sorry, end of rant, it has been that kind of morning. Beer, because I feel I am in need of that.
Yeah I do that every time I use a mac!
Very capable of working it all out, but still like to complain the @ is in the wrong place, That ctrl + C doesn't work, that finder is probably the worst FM I have ever seen, that there is no HDMI port to connect to the TV, plus any other little niggle I can find. When really there are ways round it, and it's the same learning curve for my wife when she sits down in front of my laptop.
Probably something of an anti-apple mindset I have developed...
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Mrs. L, despite my entreaties, got an iphone. I find the under-the-hood clunky non-intuitiveness of her phone an absolute pita every time she needs help with it, which is quite often, so I'm really hoping that when the battery explodes or the screen cracks, she'll get a BB with its endearing set-up simplicity. Or another droid, even.
Not really the "full" OS, if you mean released to market. It's a dev. OS that has been modified by an outside BB developer to allow a "full" install. Will it break your phone? How long is a piece of string? No idea if it will or not. Can only say that it did not break my own phone.
When you say "security restrictions" I assume you mean that you're on a BES? Difficult to answer your question without knowing what policies your BES admin has or hasn't put in place. You'll find more information at crackberry.com with a full list of what's new and what does or doesn't work after installing it.
If you're not comfortable installing it then just wait until your carrier pushes out an OTA update.