Editorial

Another BlackBerry Q20 'Classic' concept hits the forums

Submitted by James Richardson on Wed, 04/23/2014 - 09:53

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We all know that the BlackBerry Q20 is coming at some point this year and will be the first BlackBerry in the 'Classic' range so says CEO John Chen. There's a few things we know for sure that the Q20 will feature - such as a hardware keyboard and also the return of the optical trackpad and function keys.

How BlackBerry got me off of social media

Submitted by Team CrackBerry on Fri, 04/18/2014 - 15:40

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I can't tell you how many times I get a strange or confused look whenever I mention that I'm not on Social Media. Even Kevin admitted his envy when he discovered that I'm not on Instagram, Twitter, foursquare, Facebook or anything else. In fact, he asked me to share my reasons about it on CrackBerry even though it's not news.

I initially shied away from writing such an article but I know the strength of CrackBerry is in its community, and connecting to everyone here should always remain my priority. Before I start, I'd like to also note that BlackBerry's CEO, John Chen, isn't on any social media either — so to my comfort — I'm not alone.

BlackBerry's ace in the hole

Submitted by Team CrackBerry on Thu, 04/17/2014 - 11:05

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BlackBerry quietly and slowly exhales as it sits unnoticeably at a table surrounded by other high profile players sporting taller stacks of chips. Nobody's head is turned at BlackBerry's direction but their eyes are secretly watching. The river has quite possibly changed the outcome for BlackBerry, but what cards the other players hold has yet to be revealed.

The world audience waits in anticipation to see if BlackBerry will fold, lose or go all-in. To the surprise of the other players, BlackBerry chooses to go all-in. The tension in the air is high as everything is at stake for them. The other players can afford to lose chips but BlackBerry cannot — not this time. The question on everyone's mind is if BlackBerry is bluffing, but the veteran player sits confidently with an unflinching expression. What does BlackBerry hold that none of the other players hold?

What if BlackBerry had the best devices and BB10 became the best OS in the world?

Submitted by Team CrackBerry on Mon, 04/14/2014 - 14:29

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During CrackBerry podcast episode 114, Chris Umiastowski brought up the reality that it probably doesn't matter if BlackBerry unquestionably had the best devices and OS in the world, because it still wouldn't help them gain market share. The CrackBerry team engaged in this discussion a little but it deserves more attention and certainly makes for an interesting conversation.

Are BlackBerry devices so good that they're bad?

Submitted by Team CrackBerry on Fri, 04/11/2014 - 14:35

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The quality and durability of BBOS and legacy devices are so legendary that they continue to outsell BlackBerry 10 devices still after a year of BB10's launch and, as announced, will stay in BlackBerry's handset business.

Why is this happening and what does this mean for BlackBerry moving forward? Some explanations are obvious, such as the lack of effective marketing by BlackBerry and support from network carriers for BB10 devices. But there are other not so evident factors that are leaving BlackBerry followers puzzled about the decision to continue BBOS and legacy devices. Let's take a closer look.

Experiencing the BlackBerry Experience: New York

Submitted by Team CrackBerry on Thu, 04/10/2014 - 17:16

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BlackBerry Experience New york

My first assignment for CrackBerry entailed meeting BlackBerry CEO John Chen, President of Global Enterprise Services, John Sims, and the VP of Global Alliances and Ecosystems, Marty Mallick. Suffice it to say I wasn't expecting to meet these gentlemen let alone be speaking with them.

But before I continue, let me start at the beginning.

BlackBerry Experience: New York was held in the beautiful and historic Gotham Hall at the heart of the city. Just walking there from the subway station one can see Madison Square Garden, the Empire State Building, and Herald Square in the midst of the busy streets and bustling businesses.

What John Chen actually said in his Reuters interview

Submitted by Chris Umiastowski on Thu, 04/10/2014 - 13:16

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UPDATED: Reuters reached out to explain things. They claim the original quote from their story is accurate and was part of a bigger off-camera interview. It was still out of context, but it wouldn't be fair to suggest they misquoted, so I've updated the text.

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty big mess as far as BlackBerry news goes. Last night Reuters posted a brief story quoted John Chen saying they might get out of the handset business. Once a video interview was posted, it looked like a misquote (but wasn't) and snowballed down from there.

Here’s what went down: First, Reuters posted this story at 7:45 P.M. which quotes John Chen as saying, “If I cannot make money on handsets, I will not be in the handset business”. Since this was a quote from an interview it’s natural that people took as an accurate statement. The only problem with this quote is he didn’t actually say those words in the video interview that followed. I and many others saw the message from the video vs. the original Reuters story as conflicting. But Reuters tells me this quote was part of a longer (one hour) interview with about 20 people in the room, and he did actually say this. I'm including the shorter video interview (which is created by the TV side of Reuters, not the news side) below.

CrackBerry Mailbag: In Bulgaria we can't type in our native language on BlackBerry 10

Submitted by CrackBerry Kevin on Thu, 04/10/2014 - 10:39

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Keyboards!

From the forums: The BlackBerry Coupe concept

Submitted by James Richardson on Wed, 04/09/2014 - 06:09

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Its BlackBerry 10 concept time once again and CrackBerry forum member Ziro1 has been hard at work coming up with the idea of the BlackBerry Coupe. I have to say that on a personal note both the all-touch and hardware keyboard versions of the concept look absolutely beautiful.

John Chen shows us BlackBerry has a lot of fight left in it (and that he won't take crap from anyone)

Submitted by Chris Umiastowski on Tue, 04/08/2014 - 12:22

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John Chen Soup

While the new BlackBerry CEO hasn’t been at the company very long, he’s made a lot of changes and most of us agree that he’s been very effective so far.

Lately, on the legal front, he’s shown that BlackBerry won’t take any crap from anyone. The company successfully stopped Typo from selling their iPhone case after convincing a judge that BlackBerry would likely win a lawsuit. The injunction was granted in late March, not that long after Typo hit the market. This new BlackBerry sure moves fast.

Just this week BlackBerry was also successful in court with Dutch semiconductor company NXP. They had been sued for willful patent infringement by NXP in 2012, and the case went to court only last month. BlackBerry crushed NXP. The jurors reportedly deliberated for less than a day.

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