Really?
"another smartphone vendor is about to get clearance"
Did the rumour say who? Or, given the other vendors' attempts at security, why?
RIM is reshuffling its European management team ahead of the launch of BlackBerry 10, with a new UK boss and the creation of a new, EU-wide managing director. Stephen Bates, who had headed up RIM in the UK, is being shifted to a new role as regional managing director of Europe. Rob Orr, a vice president with the company's …
Blackberries do feel outdated, though the hardware seems much more durable than, say, an iPhone and the software is quite amazingly customisable and capable without breaking into anything.
The Playbook doesn't.
It seems that the media, having decided to write off RIM, is now determined to make this a self fulfilling prophecy.
Two weeks ago the Guardian had an "article" about people's phone screensavers. Every single one was an iPhone, including that of an 11 year old girl. What's the chance that would happen in a sample of a dozen typical phone owners? There was also a full page iPhone ad. You would never imagine from the Guardian that BB was the most popular phone with British teenagers, or that Android had any market share at all.
If RIM adopted Android they would have to support four code bases, since BB 6 and 7 will be around for quite a while and they own QNX. By going with QNX they have a prospect of eventually supporting only one codebase which covers a much wider range of application areas than Android. It's probably their one hope of survival - but try explaining that to the average journalist, who doesn't understand the needs of development and support.
Brave words from the faithful. Regrettably the commercial world is not dictated by the Tony Robbins positive thinking formula; it's a cruel, unjust world out there.
No matter how good BB10 may be its launch and virtues will drown in the sea of PR emitted by Apple, Google and Microsoft.
The BlackBerry was doomed long ago when Lazaridis succumbed to hubris and failed to invest management support of anything innovative within RIM. Nor did they excel at buying innovation. In that they share the talent of Microsoft who, if Balmer remains, will soon slide inexorably toward the same abyss that RIM have fallen into.
i think that right now, when it comes to (company) email integrated in the smartphoe, blackberry still has everyone beaten.
For people whose main concerns with buying a new phone are:
- does it do email well [read, does it integrate with exchange]?
- can I text with it ?
- can I make phonecalls ?
and everything else is of secondary importance, the blackberry is still the most logical choice
(the physical keyboard is also a big help)
If WP8 will offer equal quality integration with private exchange servers MS might be onto something, although the lack of a physical keyboard might harm them .