

BlackBerry 10 Launch Event to be Held on January 30th 2013 - willfarrell
http://press.rim.com/newsroom/press/2012/blackberry-10-launch-event-to-be-held-on-january-30th-2013.html

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martythemaniak
Here's the question that's critical for both Windows 8 and BB10 - is having a
good product enough anymore?

By most accounts WP8 is pretty good and we can give RIM the benefit of the
doubt and assume BB10 will be pretty good as well. But are consumers going to
care? Is that enough to move a significant number of units? Other than being
different, what exactly are these platforms offering? I've read through the
new and exciting features - preditive keyboards, email at a glance, good
multititasking - and all I think is "neat, but I've been doing that on my
phone for years"

It seems that while WP8 and BB10 are still trying to nail down the "modern OS
on decent hardware" problem, iOS and Android have moved on to the next level
of competition - ecosystems (iTunes, Google Play) and smart services (Siri and
Google Now).

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activepeanut
About a hundred years ago you could've asked the same questions of the car
industry.

I'm not a fan of RIM, but the iPhone might just be today's Ford Model T.

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twerquie
Your perspective is refreshing, however it's worth noting that the automotive
market doesn't have the same network effects as mobile computing. All cars
take the same gasoline and oil for the most part.

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mgkimsal
All mobile devices use TCP/IP and have browsers. But they also all have
specific add-ons: cases, plugs, add-on mics, tie-ins with devices - medical,
etc. Just like all cars have a lot of after-market parts (spoilers, rims, etc)
that all only fit specific car/models.

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HeXetic
Kinda important to mention _apps_ when talking about smartphones.

Sure, you can buy Angry Birds (or whatever) again for $0.99 if you switch
platforms, but will you buy _all_ of your apps again? And what if you really
like an app that's only on one platform?

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WrkInProgress
I am of the belief, that the latter is what we will prevent migration to a new
platform but not the former.

Perhaps power users would rather not repurchase dozens of paids of apps; but
for the average user, the amount of money invested into apps would probably be
on par with the amount of money invested into a case for said phone.

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espitia
For RIM to have any chance at being the market leader once again they must do
what the iPhone did to the mobile industry back when it was first introduced.
Anything under that just means a slower death.

What could it be? I believe making a phone itself is useless at this point.
Why not look in to Pranav Mistry's SixthSense? Something of this caliber is
what is needed to make the 'next big thing'. Competing in Apple/Google playing
field is futile, a new field is needed.

Although I had high hopes for RIM (ex bb user), I highly doubt their execs are
even in this mindset^^^.

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easternmonk
For years RIM has mistreated their customers. They real "customers" are the
businesses who buy phones for their employees and not the employee themselves.
That is what has hurt them the most.

BB10 is their last hope of survival. So far I have not see anything ground
breaking with this phone and being the first model it is likely to be far from
perfect. If their latest BB10 phone does not match Samsung Galaxy S3 in specs
I would say it is pretty useless.

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mjs
"The BlackBerry® 10 platform has recently achieved FIPS 140-2 certification"--
not sure how meaningful this is if you can become certified months before the
final hardware/software is available...

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eli
Well, I'd imagine it's critically important for customers who can't even
consider devices without the certification (i.e. some parts of the federal
government). I don't believe any iPhones or Androids currently meet the
standard, so it's actually kind of a big deal.

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ebbv
They need to do more than just attempt to play catch up to iOS and Android. I
think this is where WP8 really fails; it doesn't revolutionize.

The time is long past when it's enough to just say "Me too!", you have to do
what the iPhone did in 2007; change the game. If BB10 doesn't do that, it's
not going to save RIM.

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UnoriginalGuy
I agree but they might not be able to afford to make something revolutionary.

I mean if they even want to ship any units at all right now they either need
to pick Android or WP8. Now from rumour Microsoft are literally paying
manufacturers (as opposed to Google who just give it away).

I think RIM are just trying to stay alive right now, they can consider their
competitive edge later.

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ebbv
They're not going to stay alive if they don't introduce something
revolutionary now.

Doing something revolutionary doesn't require tons of money, companies with
far fewer resources than RIM introduce revolutionary products all the time. In
fact I'd say most innovation comes from startups working on a shoestring
budget.

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dmritard96
buy or sell?

