Why did BlackBerry crumble? | Hacker News Reader

Why did BlackBerry crumble?

theguardian.com

7 pointssasvari4 comments

Blackberry just can't seem to catch a break in the media these days. I love that articles are coming out in Britain now about how the BB is yesterdays technology about a year and a half after all these articles came out in the US. The press reaction to the Blackberry reminds me of the Doonesbury cartoon that savaged the Apple Newton and its hand writing recognition software. Even though Apple worked out the bugs in the Newton and it turned out to be a pretty amazing technology, it just couldn't recover as a consumer product. I sort of feel the same way about Blackberry. QNX is an amazing operating system and I worry that it will never reach it's potential if BB gets out of the handset market. Plus, some people argue that BB unlike Apple and Android, lacks integration into a closed app, music, OS system like it's a bad thing. The day when I have to give up my Blackberry and join a smartphone duopoly will be a sad one.

I feel your pain. I've had platforms I loved killed twice for want of competent management: webOS and MeeGo (mainly in its harmattan avatar). And in the case of webOS I was an employee there, so I really feel your pain.

here are some random disjointed thoughts: 1) it ain't over til it's over. 2) even if it is over your Z10/Q10 still has a lot of life left in it. I still have and lovingly use my Nokia N9, and heck there are still people clutching to their Newtons! 3) it's not necessarily a smartphone duopoly. Not just because of Windows Phone, Tizen etc but also for the emergence of smaller, community powered niche devices like Jolla Sailfish and Ubuntu. There will always be a ticket out of the "duopoly"...I for one can't wait to get my Jolla.

Thanks for the supportive words. I do have 18 months before I need to start thinking about my next smartphone, and I really wonder what the market will look like then.

I could never "get" what BlackBerry was all about.

To me it is a Phone with Email capability. And i could not understand how this was a selling point. And that was long before iPhone was introduced.

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