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Bad products, horrible software That seems strongly overstated. I don't use a BlackBerry, but nothing about RIM's products strikes me as bad or horrible. The

by alex_c 15y ago

Bad products, horrible software That seems strongly overstated. I don't use a BlackBerry, but nothing about RIM's products strikes me as bad or horrible. They are, at worst, uninspired products in a market with much stronger competitors. I get the strong feeling that many in tech want RIM to crash and burn as spectacularly as possible - I can swear there's a lot of schadenfreude in all these articles, and I can't figure out why there's so much anger towards RIM. It seems counterproductive, I would much rather see them sticking around and becoming a strong competitor.

mattdown 15y ago
You said it yourself you don't use a blackberry, so your comment doesn't exactly reflect on reality. I use a blackberry and I can confirm it's the worse phone I have ever had. It's missing features that my other 5 year old phone has, almost pathetic. To tap this, their prices are over the top. Personally, I don't think that article exaggerates anything. I don't know why people want RIM to fail but I bet they will fail if they won't make a drastic change.
- jrockway 15y ago
  I have a Blackberry for work. It's fine. It receives emails. It makes phone calls. It makes a noise when I have a meeting. An amazing work of art it is not, but it does work well enough. So I agree with the OP, it's uninspired but it's not horrible. It's a minimum viable product.
  - iMark 15y ago
    Minimum viable product in this market will only compete at minimum viable price, and that's not where the margins are. Nokia is surely evidence of this. RIM's emphasis on services and their brand recognition may help stem the tide for a while, but they desperately need competitive products.
  - SoftwareMaven 15y ago
    It's a minimum viable product. I'm not sure that is true today. The enterprise fortress is crumbling around RIM, and BES was the anchor giving RIM some stability. As more companies allow people to bring their own device in, being a very weak competitor to iOS, Android, and Windows very likely will be too much to overcome. I expect Microsoft to buy RIM in 2012 in order to integrate BES with Windows Phone. Blackberry's OS will be shuttered then.

by alex_c 15y ago

mattdown 15y ago

You said it yourself you don't use a blackberry, so your comment doesn't exactly reflect on reality. I use a blackberry and I can confirm it's the worse phone I have ever had. It's missing features that my other 5 year old phone has, almost pathetic. To tap this, their prices are over the top. Personally, I don't think that article exaggerates anything. I don't know why people want RIM to fail but I bet they will fail if they won't make a drastic change.

jrockway 15y ago
I have a Blackberry for work. It's fine. It receives emails. It makes phone calls. It makes a noise when I have a meeting. An amazing work of art it is not, but it does work well enough. So I agree with the OP, it's uninspired but it's not horrible. It's a minimum viable product.
- iMark 15y ago
  Minimum viable product in this market will only compete at minimum viable price, and that's not where the margins are. Nokia is surely evidence of this. RIM's emphasis on services and their brand recognition may help stem the tide for a while, but they desperately need competitive products.
- SoftwareMaven 15y ago
  It's a minimum viable product. I'm not sure that is true today. The enterprise fortress is crumbling around RIM, and BES was the anchor giving RIM some stability. As more companies allow people to bring their own device in, being a very weak competitor to iOS, Android, and Windows very likely will be too much to overcome. I expect Microsoft to buy RIM in 2012 in order to integrate BES with Windows Phone. Blackberry's OS will be shuttered then.