

BlackBerry Says It's Done Designing and Building Its Own Phones (theverge.com) 90
BlackBerry today reported its fiscal second-quarter sales and said that it will stop making its iconic smartphones and focus on its software business. The Verge adds: BlackBerry has announced that it plans to stop making its own phones as the struggling company continues to focus on its software and security products. This is far from the end of BlackBerry devices, the production of which will be outsourced to third-party manufacturers -- as was the case with the company's recent DTEK 50, a clone of Alcatel's Idol 4 with BlackBerry branding. "The company plans to end all internal hardware development and will outsource that function to partners," said CEO John Chen in a statement. Elsewhere he stated: "We are reaching an inflection point with our strategy. Our financial foundation is strong, and our pivot to software is taking hold." This isn't surprising news considering BlackBerry's ongoing struggle in the mobile market. According to estimates from Gartner, the company claimed just 0.1 percent of the market in the second quarter, equating to sales of some 400,400 units. The last BlackBerry phone manufactured by the company was the Priv, the company's first Android-powered device, released November last year.
Just In Time! (Score:3)
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That surprised almost no one. Except the last guy in my office who still uses a BB.
I'd just filed my thumbnails to points to be able to use the keyboard you insensitive clod
It's a shame. (Score:5, Interesting)
I like my Z10 and Z30. I really like BB OS 10. I love the way messages are organized in "Blackberry Hub"
But if Blackberry is moving to an OS they don't write, on hardware they don't design or build - is there any reason to buy their stuff any more?
Sad. I've had a Blackberry in my pocket since the 5790, a three line pager with the iconic keyboard. :(
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Agreed. I'll keep my Passport until it dies - if not, they'll have to pry it from cold, dead fingers. Blackberry Hub is making my corporate life sooooo much simpler !
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I switched to the Priv (Android) as a gentle introduction to a reality I'd ultimately have to accept. Of course I immediately noticed that:
- The Passport got better cellular reception
- The Passport had much better battery life
- The Passport was much better at multitasking
- The Passport never got laggy
However, the Priv ran all the "official" versions of the software everyone wants you to be running these days... and at the end of the day, that's unfortunately all that matters.
(Yes, I'm aware of the BB10 And
Re:It's a shame. (Score:5, Informative)
Thankfully, they've ported the hub (and other tools such as the virtual keyboard) to android, and they're available on the play store. I've been using them for some time now - and the $1/month subscription fee is quite reasonable for what it gives me. I love the blackberry virtual keyboard, and the hub is far better than any other alternative that I've seen.
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FWIW I was never able to get the hub working on the BB Priv. Seems to be a problem, at least on Verizon.
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For a consumer, can't think of a reason. For a business looking for good BYOD-style options, yes - there's some decent stuff done by them.
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But if Blackberry is moving to an OS they don't write, on hardware they don't design or build - is there any reason to buy their stuff any more?
As long as some of those outsourced OS they don't write on Hardware they don't design or build combos has a physical keyboard, count me in.
I have a friend who is daltonic, and is enthusiastic about the iPhone 7 because of the filters for the colour blind. I have a essential tremor, and I need a physical Keyboard, I do not care about brand or OS. Just about Phisical Keyboard, specs and Build Quality. And, so far, only blackberry makes those (other brands make physical keyboard phones, but the specs are krap)
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Re:Our financial foundation is strong (Score:4, Funny)
the results for this quarter were clearer: a net loss of $372 million on revenue of $334 million.
So, for every dollar of revenue, they spent that dollar, plus more than more than another dollar. If that's the definition of a strong financial foundation, give me your credit cards and I'll make you WONDERFULLY strong. They must be using graduates from the Trump University's school of accounting.
Re:Our financial foundation is strong (Score:5, Informative)
the results for this quarter were clearer: a net loss of $372 million on revenue of $334 million.
So, for every dollar of revenue, they spent that dollar, plus more than more than another dollar. If that's the definition of a strong financial foundation, give me your credit cards and I'll make you WONDERFULLY strong. They must be using graduates from the Trump University's school of accounting.
They have, according to their balance sheet, $3 Billion in cash and short-term investments and about $3 Billion in liabilities, half of which is long-term debt. So, they aren't going bankrupt for at least 5 years with the current burn rate. I'm guessing that dropping in house development of phones will reduce the burn rate quite a bit. So, their financial foundation would be considered solid for at least the next couple of years. However, if they don't return the company to profitability within that time, things could get worse.
Note: The above is purely my opinion. I am not a financial analyst.
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The above is purely my opinion. I am not a financial analyst.
You are absolutely correct. While they are burning money now, they have enough assets to last though this bit of a rough patch. And, if they sell off any patents they don't actually need (Hardware) to someone, they can add to their liquidity.
The fact is, there are plenty of /. "experts" who don't know shit about running a large enterprise business, but think they do. Mom N Pop doesn't scale, and far too many IT people live in that world (and make a good living at it)
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Shareholder equity now stands at $2.554 billio
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Actually, this is more like Hillary saying Lowering Taxes delayed the recovery, and she is going to tax us more, so they can spend more. Because taxing people in a recession is a great way to get us out of recession.
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The reality is that they've been overstating cash flow for a while, using asset sales to maintain a positive cash flow. Revenues have been in the dumps for years, and BB has largely been living off the large cash reserves it accumulated during the boom years of its business. They should have shuttered the windows a long time ago and returned the investors the cash, but they had managed to turn BB into some sort of weird stock cult, and had legions of idiots running around declaring "any day now, BB is going
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Good riddance (Score:5, Insightful)
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Nope (Score:4, Funny)
"This is far from the end of BlackBerry devices..."
I suspect it's not that far.
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Thank the Canadian Mounties (Score:1)
"BlackBerry CEO John Chen has responded, ... to media reports that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police force has used a “global encryption key” to intercept and decrypt over one million “electronic communications on BlackBerry devices (Pin to Pin messaging)” between 2010 and 2012.... “When it comes to doing the right thing in difficult situations, BlackBerry’s guiding principle has been to do what is right for the citizenry, within legal and ethical boundaries,” write
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Great. (Score:1)
Just what we need, more Android phones!
Am I the only one who remembers QNX? They used to have a decent desktop OS for x86 that booted on a Pentium II 450mhz/128MB machine in about 45 seconds. It had a full fledged GUI (Photon), and was approaching BeOS levels of speed. From what I've seen of the kernel source, it's pretty well written too.
What did Blackberry do with it?
Well, they turned it into a tablet OS that took 5+ minutes to boot up on a 1ghz processor with 1GB of RAM.
How did they fuck that up so badly
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1. they tried to compete with the app-store model, got in too late, and got fucked
2. they failed to bail out of making devices after the BBOS 9, where it was already not profitable, and focus on their excellent corporate control
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QNX's problem is that it isn't the only RTOS out there. Vxworks is probably the biggest player on the scene.
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System requirements (and boot time) aside, the BB10 incarnation of QNX actually ran really well.
(I see the "Tablet OS" as more of a tech demonstrator, that didn't really live long once BB10 was out.)
The problem is that they stopped putting real effort into marketing the devices (and designing new ones) about 6 months post-launch, and just coasted on inertia (and existing plans, half of them canceled) since. Once those existing projects reached completion, and the momentum fell off... well here we are.
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Am I the only one who remembers QNX? They used to have a decent desktop OS for x86 that booted on a Pentium II 450mhz/128MB machine in about 45 seconds. It had a full fledged GUI (Photon), and was approaching BeOS levels of speed. From what I've seen of the kernel source, it's pretty well written too.
What did Blackberry do with it?
Blackberry bought QNX because they had a ton of cash, and the original BBOS wasn't up to competing with iOS or Android. They to differentiate themselves with a modern proprietary
It's a sad day for us Canadians. (Score:1)
I don't know why they couldn't just continue to make Android devices with Blackberry features. The quality of their cellphone and software was superb compared to most Android device manufactures. I highly doubt that selling QNX can make as much money as selling smart phones.
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Bullshit, their phones were buggy, their encryption was backdoored, and they handed the key to the encryption FOR EVERYONE to a 5 eyes country for ONE investigation. There's zero doubt that key went to every 5 eyes partner and Blackberry messages were read and captured by all of them. The million or two messages they admit to, will be the tip of the iceberg.
Which in turn means every password to every account sent on Blackberry is in a 5 eyes database. So all those passwords to all those servers sent using B
The death of the Candybar QWERTY (Score:1)
Looks like I'll be keeping my Q10 until it dies. I was really hoping they'd produce a non-slider Android with a physical keyboard before throwing in the towel.
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I'm still wondering what the Android-land replacement for the Q10 is.
My wife is still using a Q10, and doesn't really know what to switch to. And yes, she hates typing on touchscreens.
I personally switched from the Passport to the Priv, but the Priv is a bit to big for her (and the battery would likely die on her too quickly).
Make a decent addon keyboard. (Score:4, Interesting)
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So they own some ridiculous patent like using physical keys on any mobile device or some shit?
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I will not miss the tiny buttons on a Blackberry Keyboard. Once I learned to Swype, it was like a dream come true.
And if I can learn to Swype, anyone can. I have a big time small motor control problem with my hands, so typing on screen is only slightly worse than typing on little keyboards. Swype is much easier than trying finger type.
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Let's say I go to type the word "project". I start pr, and if I use "project" a lot, over the "o" will be "project", which I just swipe up and there it is. I'm quick, so often I'll have already typed the "o". In that case, "project" floats over the "j", ready for me to swipe up. And, if "protect" is a common word of mi
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I miss them too. But I wouldn't buy one from the FBI even if it was the only one.
Oh did I say FBI, I meant Blackberry. But really what's the difference anymore.
Very sad (Score:1)
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Why not? it's my opinion
It was never an alternative to the iPhone. BlackBerry almost invented the smartphone market.
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Why not? it's my opinion
It was never an alternative to the iPhone. BlackBerry almost invented the smartphone market.
Blackberry made it's mark in it's earlier years, and at the time was a really good phone, but due to a drop in user base, a lack in device innovation, and market decline the Blackberry has run it's course.
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What kind of linguistic game are you trying to play? Yes, it existed before the iPhone, but the day the iPhone was released, BlackBerry became an alternative. And it was especially an "alternative" once the iPhone started outselling it. Which, considering BlackBerry had an 8 year headstart, happened pretty quickly. http://www.businessinsider.com... [businessinsider.com]
"Alternative" simply means "If I want to buy an iPhone, is there something else available I can buy instead?"
Re: Very sad (Score:2)
Because facts state that Blackberry was dominant until the iPhone came out. The iPhone changed everything and blackberry never recovered.
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Blackberry has been circling the drain since 2010. They have been surpassed by nearly every other device maker in almost all areas from build quality to software capability. Not only will Blackberry not "return their smartphones on the market", but they will be gone altogether within 5 years.
Not sure what you're getting on about with the Apple smartphone technology thing.
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If Blackberry bought something like Discord (or Slack), and integrated it with their corporate support software/systems (BBM for example), it could dominate one area of Smartphones, especially if they figure out how to secure the IM platform with good encryption end to end.
The problem is, that everyone is looking to get into the IM field now, from Google (Allo) to Facebook (Slack/FB for work). Google only has a slight lead, and only because it is huge. FB is such a "no touch" to many corporations that that
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Besides, BBM has been available for Android and iOS for a long time; that has not saved it.
Not sad at all (Score:2)
It was a good alternative to the iPhone, but at this point Apple has gone far away in smartphone technology.
That hasn't been true for a long time if indeed it ever was true. Not just with regard to Apple either. Android phones surpassed Blackberry phones a long time ago as well. Heck even Microsoft's offering are arguably better even if they haven't been well received in the market.
Hopefully in the future Blackberry can still return their smartphones on the market
"Hopefully"? Why hopefully? They were an arrogant and stagnant company with products that couldn't keep up with the competition. They threw the privacy and security of their users under the bus to cater to governments around the
This sounds familiar... (Score:3)
...probably because it's precisely what I've been saying they should do since the first android hit the shelves. They were outclassed, but they had a great corporate security reputation. They should have ditched the hardware and partnered up with an android maker to provide a corporate secure device, complete with the software backend.
Instead, they sat around pretending their market position could never be threatened, and consequently got left in the dust.
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but they had a great corporate security reputation
Emphasis.
Even if they followed your approach it wouldn't have mattered. They pissed their corporate security reputation against the wall. That was before actions this year show that absolutely nothing Blackberry is safe from any governments.
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Wrong reputation.
The C*O types would have lined up to throw money at BB had they made any serious software/hardware security collaborations. C*O types don't really care much about governmental meddling. Hell, as we can see from earlier stories, they don't really care about security in general; as long as lip service is paid to security, they're thrilled to write those checks.
Software? Really? (Score:2)
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I find this decision difficult to understand. I was forced to get a BlackBerry for work, ended up with a Z30. The hardware seems decent, but the absolute worst thing has always been the software.
I've heard that the corporate side for controlling, monitoring, and updating remote handsets is very good - and this is who they mostly sell it to.
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Really, though, most of my gripes are with the UX: basic navigation is wildly inconsistent, menus are cluttered and disorganize
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They're moving away from mobile and into other things software wise.
In fact, Blackberry signed a contract for real-time trailer tracking. Real-time truck tracking is common, but usually it's only the tractor that's actually got the GPS unit and tracker.
Blackberry's new device is a box that screws into the trailer and provides monitoring of the trailer itself, as well as interior sensor for monitoring temperature (critical for reefer trucks). Given trailer theft is extremely common, it's a niche that surpris
I can shorten the Headline... (Score:1)
There. That is much more concise. AND Accurate.
BB Priv - the last Android physical keyboard? (Score:3)
Too bad. The Priv seems to be the last physical keyboard Android phone. Prior to the Priv, I had a Droid 4 which I liked even better (bigger physical keyboard still).
Unfortunately, people like me who need to compose longer emails while on the road are a very small minority. Most people are happy typing one line "text speak" with their fingers or talking to the phone. That's not good enough for me.
Not to mention that the onscreen keyboard takes away from screen real estate.
Frickin Amazing... (Score:2)
So few? (Score:2)
reaching an inflection point with our strategy (Score:2)
Sounds a lot like Homer Simpsons boxing strategy where he lets the other guy punch him in the face...
"OK, we've successfully been totally destroyed in the global mobile phone market, exactly how we had planned to do. Next step, world domination! Muhuhahaha!"
Quality goes from "Abyss" to "Challenger Deep" (Score:2)
Now that they're letting a third party do it, any semblance of quality will cease to exist.