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The last time I saw Richard Stallman talk he had a pager. I’m actually interested in getting one, it would be cool to get push notifications for things I norma

The last time I saw Richard Stallman talk he had a pager. I’m actually interested in getting one, it would be cool to get push notifications for things I normally get on my phone. I wish there was a watch that had pager service.

Zenst 7y ago
Remarkably, what you describe was the foundation of Research In Motion. They started out in pagers, advanced along with push email and then like most, feature bloated chasing a consumer market into the annals of history.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  They should have stuck with consumer markets, but clinged to hardware when what they had was winning software. If they stuck with messaging software (BBM), they could have been WhatsApp. Which was sold for 6x what they’re worth now. They only made it platform-independent way too late.
  - Zenst 7y ago
    Their core business was Business customers, the company grew out of that. They then pivoted around the time of the pearl towards a consumer market, which was also a couple of years into launching a consumer service BIS, as opposed to BES which required you to have the backend BES software. That was when the focus shifted and at a time in which the Apple and Google offerings started to appear and the rest is all she wrote. They did offer their messaging software for other phones for a while in the early days, Microsofts CE offering with blackberry connect (iirc the name). It worked, yet didn't traction that well as anybody who really needed it, would be better of buying an older RIM phone and using that and many did stick with the older phones come the rise of the colour screen and onwards. What they did do well was effecient comms over 2G, once 3G became palatable for chipsets and more so, cost of use, that along with the rise in alternatives from the likes of Apple and Google, helped Blackberry push themselves into an also ran for trying to compete instead of focusing upon the real bread and butter - the Business customers. But life is always full of what-if's. But all companies have their retrospective if we knew then what we know now moments.
UncleEntity 7y ago
Totally a thing and "it is a marvel of miniaturization" --> https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/07/31/Motorola-unveils-wrist-watch-pager/6758649396800/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/07/31/Motorola-unveils-wri...

Zenst 7y ago

Remarkably, what you describe was the foundation of Research In Motion. They started out in pagers, advanced along with push email and then like most, feature bloated chasing a consumer market into the annals of history.

Scoundreller 7y ago
They should have stuck with consumer markets, but clinged to hardware when what they had was winning software. If they stuck with messaging software (BBM), they could have been WhatsApp. Which was sold for 6x what they’re worth now. They only made it platform-independent way too late.
- Zenst 7y ago
  Their core business was Business customers, the company grew out of that. They then pivoted around the time of the pearl towards a consumer market, which was also a couple of years into launching a consumer service BIS, as opposed to BES which required you to have the backend BES software. That was when the focus shifted and at a time in which the Apple and Google offerings started to appear and the rest is all she wrote. They did offer their messaging software for other phones for a while in the early days, Microsofts CE offering with blackberry connect (iirc the name). It worked, yet didn't traction that well as anybody who really needed it, would be better of buying an older RIM phone and using that and many did stick with the older phones come the rise of the colour screen and onwards. What they did do well was effecient comms over 2G, once 3G became palatable for chipsets and more so, cost of use, that along with the rise in alternatives from the likes of Apple and Google, helped Blackberry push themselves into an also ran for trying to compete instead of focusing upon the real bread and butter - the Business customers. But life is always full of what-if's. But all companies have their retrospective if we knew then what we know now moments.

UncleEntity 7y ago

Totally a thing and "it is a marvel of miniaturization" --> https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/07/31/Motorola-unveils-wrist-watch-pager/6758649396800/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/07/31/Motorola-unveils-wri...