What you're describing is a chicken and an egg problem.

"They have/had great smartphone features, particularly around messaging, and they have server software running in most corporations around the world." -- They had to build an OS from the ground up BECAUSE they value these things. Android is great for what it does, but security is not one of it's strong points. Blackberry's name is built on security for those messages.

You can't just throw that out and still have a Blackberry. If they were shooting for another consumer reskin, then they could have waded into the bloody waters of the Android market and sold themselves to the highest bidder. Instead they took the hard road, bought a rock solid kernel and built a new OS from the ground up with messaging, security and the future in mind.

iOS and Android are great, but they're starting to get long in the tooth. They ride the cutting edge, but eventually that will show it's age. Blackberry started over the beginning to build an OS for the next 10 years. If they can launch Mobile Computing, it's a bright future.

That, however, is a BIG if.

You know, the thing that I never understood about the Laptop market is why companies didn't pour the money into the production value. My wife owns a Macbook Pro, and I flat out refuse to buy a Mac product for a variety of reasons. Her question to me? Then what out there is as nice as my Macbook? Problem is... not much. Razor has a decent laptop, but it's only 17" - she only wants 13 or 15". Is it really that hard to build a unibody laptop with decent specs (midrange graphics, anyone?), reasonable battery life, and a good screen? With the PC market I can find one or two of those things, but never all of them together, unless it's pricier than the Macbook, or unwieldy in size. The commodity market that got the PC in the door has gone out the window. I'd love to see a fantastic Windows 7 Laptop come in at a reasonable ($1500-2000) price range that doesn't feel like it's going to fall apart after a month of use.

I work with youth, and so I feel your pain on this one. In my local town last year there was nearly a dozen suicides, and none of them were broadcast or publicized in any way. That being said, the research, professionally and anecdotally, shows that if you broadcast or glorify the person who has committed suicide, there will be others. Almost do a disproportionate level. Even without the broadcasting, there were copycats or others suicides that were clearly and directly linked to prior ones. It has a lot to do with developing minds, and how some teenagers have a fragile sense of self-worth. Their social setting drastically affects the way they view the world, and if all they want is to be noticed, and they see someone who has committed suicide being glorified, or even lifted above the situation, some people take action to get the same attention. It's a tricky line to walk, and one that is very much in contention. One thing to make clear though: Just because it's not publicized doesn't mean it is swept under the rug. Counsellors, friends, communities are very much involved in those who are left in the wake of a suicide, and that effort goes unpublicized as much as the suicide itself. It is a long, hard journey for everyone involved.

In fact, the most recent 'controversy' was over social media publishing results of eastern polls before the western provinces could vote. The reason being that if a party were winning in the East, by a narrow margin, voters in the West could drastically change their voting patterns with the sole purpose of voting against that party, rather than for the candidates. Speed doesn't seem to be an issue up here.

I'm not sure why we're seeing all of this. But if you RTFA, you'll see a totally different message. Heins gets that they are in a lot of trouble. He's simply saying that they aren't going anywhere. They are executing their strategy in the midst of a transition. All of the negativity is expected. But they haven't lost their head, they know where they're going. The headline should read: "RIM CEO Acknowledges past, hopeful for future" Nice to see a CEO be candid about their problems.

+1

You must have just missed it. I read through the whole article -- it's written by a researcher working on the project, not just a journalist who's trying to make it understandable for everyone. It's certainly not a white paper on the technical aspects, but it's fairly robust in it's description on the information they have today.

If this catches on (I don't see any Japanese partners in TFA), it could be a sudden outbreak of common sense. Maybe even... convenience for the consumer?

I'm no developer, but from what I've read, this is only partially true. Up until this point, nearly all development for the Playbook has been done through Adobe Air -- including the keyboard, browser, etc. At BB World, they have released a further iteration of the NDK, with their UI Components (Cascades). So many of the apps that couldn't be written before now have much deeper integration. The rooting discussion doesn't even come into it -- you can sideload apps, so there is really no need to root, other than for a USB to go integration. Nor is it possible to root the tablet any longer. What's encouraging to me is that RIM gets it... they are quite self-aware of their position in their market, and finally giving voices to the people inside the company that get it too. They're pivoting -- with a fundamental paradigm change in their design and OS philosophy. Will it pay dividends in 6 months? We'll have to wait to see.

You mean the Android emulator, with documented situations where it doesn't work? Or you're blaming windows for the problems, which is a Microsoft product? Or developing natively, which hasn't even been fully released yet? You'll have to wait until next week to see the full NDK. I'm no developer, but from what I've heard about Android 'just working' involves supporting hundreds of devices, and plenty of different versions of Android just to get it working. Make no mistake, RIM has not been the easiest to develop for in the past, but they're working overtime to get communication working now. Alec Saunders has made himself completely available to developers to work out problems. Name one other company that gives you that kind of access to people who can make the changes needed. Don't sing the swan song just yet, the bets are still out on this one.

Doesn't that work for Bill O'Reilly?

They set you up the bomb, obviously.