3 ms·

BlackBerry goes for qwerty keyboard, again, with Passport smartphone

12 points by ajani 12y ago

jdhawk 12y ago
Blackberry, ditch the OS...it's holding you back. I loved my Moto Droid Pro back in the day. I got a decent ecosystem, compact portrait qwerty package, and serviceable screen. Your problem now is that your ecosystem is toast. Trim the fat in your development house, package a nice Android OS with some throwback GUI cute shit to your old blackberry feel, and move on with your life as a hardware player.
- pinaceae 12y ago
  how many Android HW manufacturers are profitable? BB is stuck between a rock and a hard place. no obvious way out.
  - Grazester 12y ago
    Its not Android that makes them not profitable. By your rationale Blackberry should then be profitable.
    - pinaceae 12y ago
      they can't use the OS and apps as a differentiator. reason why Nokia went with Windows - which is also questionable. going with Android reduces you to a pure hardware OEM. see the Windows laptop world how great that is. my rationale is that switching BBOS with Android solves nothing for BB.
      - jdhawk 12y ago
        The issue is that BBOS stinks, is not on developers radar, and a major driver in the decision of "what phone to buy" is "does it have all my apps?" BBRY is what, 1/8th of its high? 1/10th?
npongratz 12y ago
> While the Passport is almost exactly the size of a travel passport, it is much heavier at 6.9 ounces. Hilarious comparison. Must it be actually be stated that the Passport is heavier than a travel passport? Apples and oranges... Passports and passports.
nicholassmith 12y ago
It's a bit of an ugly duckling device, and I'm not sure it can ever grow into a beautiful swan.
- laughfactory 12y ago
  I kind of like the form factor. For me the deal-breaker is the Blackberry OS. I don't just want to be able to run Android apps (after jumping through lots of hoops) I just the phone itself to run Android (preferably stock).
  - mkr-hn 12y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry_10#Android_applications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry_10#Android_applicat... > On June 18, 2014, BlackBerry announced an official relationship with Amazon.com, which will see the upcoming 10.3 update offer official access to Amazon Appstore. Amazon's Android store is missing some things, but not much. The apps it has are more up to date than they were when I first got my Kindle Fire. I think developers are warming up to it.
artsandsci 12y ago
I see a pattern in this article: "said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group" "Maribel Lopez, an analyst at Lopez Research, added" "Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates,"
laughfactory 12y ago
Love the Blackberry keyboard, but hate the OS. If I could get their keyboard on an Android or iPhone I'd be all over it. I don't like touchscreen keyboards, but since they're the only option offered on devices with an acceptable OS, I use them grudgingly. Clearly the security-first mantra that Blackberry adheres so religiously to isn't doing them any favors--as their market share, even among the security conscious, falls precipitously.

12 points by ajani 12y ago

Blackberry, ditch the OS...it's holding you back. I loved my Moto Droid Pro back in the day. I got a decent ecosystem, compact portrait qwerty package, and serviceable screen. Your problem now is that your ecosystem is toast. Trim the fat in your development house, package a nice Android OS with some throwback GUI cute shit to your old blackberry feel, and move on with your life as a hardware player.

pinaceae 12y ago
how many Android HW manufacturers are profitable? BB is stuck between a rock and a hard place. no obvious way out.
- Grazester 12y ago
  Its not Android that makes them not profitable. By your rationale Blackberry should then be profitable.
  - pinaceae 12y ago
    they can't use the OS and apps as a differentiator. reason why Nokia went with Windows - which is also questionable. going with Android reduces you to a pure hardware OEM. see the Windows laptop world how great that is. my rationale is that switching BBOS with Android solves nothing for BB.
    - jdhawk 12y ago
      The issue is that BBOS stinks, is not on developers radar, and a major driver in the decision of "what phone to buy" is "does it have all my apps?" BBRY is what, 1/8th of its high? 1/10th?

npongratz 12y ago

> While the Passport is almost exactly the size of a travel passport, it is much heavier at 6.9 ounces. Hilarious comparison. Must it be actually be stated that the Passport is heavier than a travel passport? Apples and oranges... Passports and passports.

nicholassmith 12y ago

It's a bit of an ugly duckling device, and I'm not sure it can ever grow into a beautiful swan.

laughfactory 12y ago
I kind of like the form factor. For me the deal-breaker is the Blackberry OS. I don't just want to be able to run Android apps (after jumping through lots of hoops) I just the phone itself to run Android (preferably stock).
- mkr-hn 12y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry_10#Android_applications https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry_10#Android_applicat... > On June 18, 2014, BlackBerry announced an official relationship with Amazon.com, which will see the upcoming 10.3 update offer official access to Amazon Appstore. Amazon's Android store is missing some things, but not much. The apps it has are more up to date than they were when I first got my Kindle Fire. I think developers are warming up to it.

artsandsci 12y ago

I see a pattern in this article: "said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group" "Maribel Lopez, an analyst at Lopez Research, added" "Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates,"

laughfactory 12y ago

Love the Blackberry keyboard, but hate the OS. If I could get their keyboard on an Android or iPhone I'd be all over it. I don't like touchscreen keyboards, but since they're the only option offered on devices with an acceptable OS, I use them grudgingly. Clearly the security-first mantra that Blackberry adheres so religiously to isn't doing them any favors--as their market share, even among the security conscious, falls precipitously.