Editorial

Rumor has it, by word of "AgentJucey", that the end of life for first generation BlackBerry 10 devices is in sight. But how realistic are those rumors? Perhaps, not so realistic at all but they are rumors and rumors that have been discussed pretty heavily in the CrackBerry Forums, so they're worth taking a look at.

As I'm sure most of you already know, last weekend Kevin, James and I headed to Montreal to check out the Canadian Grand Prix — and we had an amazing time. I drove up from New Jersey with a friend of mine, but it wasn't until the day before that it dawned on me that I wouldn't have any phone service once hitting the Canadian border. Since I rarely leave the country I don't carry an international plan on my phone, and on AT&T (like most carriers) you pay quite a bit for not a whole lot in return. So I decided to forego data service on my main SIM and instead brought along my trusty BlackBerry Bold 9930. Why you ask? The short version is that is has Verizon service which I don't pay for, hence free roaming in Canada.

Several months ago I embarked on an experiment. As a guy who'd used BlackBerry since 2000 I had deep experience with the platform along with good experience on iOS. But I had practically no experience on Android. So I put my Z10 on my bedside table and left it there while I moved my SIM into a Samsung Galaxy S4. At the time it was among the best Android handsets available.

I realize I'm in dangerous territory on CrackBerry when I say this, but unless certain things change it is very unlikely that I'll switch back to BlackBerry. I truly wish this was not the case. I say this because overall I think BlackBerry makes a better device and a better OS. I wish a few things would change to tip the scale back in their favor. But as it stands the major factor keeping me away from BlackBerry is app availability.

I could make the argument complicated and tell you that it's about 3rd party apps AND Google services. But in reality the Google services are apps, and they are available in Google Play. If BlackBerry 10 gave me access to Google's awesome apps along with the selection of Android apps available in the Play store, I'd feel like I had the best of both worlds.

On Tuesday June 3rd, 2014 the BlackBerry Experience headed to London, U.K. This event ran a little differently to the previous events. Most of the attendees there were invited by BlackBerry themselves and we were lucky enough to get a press invite to the event. It was a small event and most of the people in attendance were IT administrators or representatives for global blue chip companies. The day was split into sessions with the first half containing the keynote presentation. The second half was where things got meaty with future product details, enterprise applications and of course a Q & A session.