The jerks folks at Joy of Tech have once again taken on RIM with one of their cartoons, and boy oh boy they are just getting harsher with everyone they do. As always, they do mix in a good element of the truth with humor, which is what makes them clever, which is also why I like to post these up on the CrackBerry blogs. You have to be able to laugh at the tough times and admit your faults if you want to work through for a better future, which this cartoon addresses pretty well. Even if you disagree, it's at least good for a chuckle... makes me think RIM should brand their first QNX Superphone the BlackBerry Unicorn... or on second thought, maybe not! :)
Source: Joy of Tech
Reader comments
Joy of Tech takes on RIM yet again....
The cartoon forgot to mention how Jim Balsille devoted a few years of his life trying to buy a professional hockey team at a time when other smartphone platforms were gaining steam.
They had to use the word "Death" didn't they? I bet they would get less than half of their page views if they called it. "Five stages of RIM losing US smartphone market share".
As much as I find parts are true and some mildly funny, it really starts to get old now. Are you fellow crackberry members with me?
I've been reading titles involving RIM and death for at least a few months straight. Its the same article over and over. "RIM's aging smartphones". "The death of RIM". "Five reasons not to buy the Playbook". "RIM is losing to Apple and Android"... etc.
I love my Blackberry for what it does for me. I wouldn't be on this forum otherwise. I don't find it funny anymore that the media is suggesting that a multi-billion dollar company who employs many thousands of hard-working people, some of which I know personally, is going to fail.
The reason why we keep hearing the same story is because it sells. Journalists write them because it gets publicity. Its a shocking possible outcome, so it gets people excited. The writers use the same arguments which only tell half the story. I wouldn't mind this article if it didn't jump in the mindless "sky-is-falling" routine I hear everyday.
At least the "Acceptance" part is somewhat positive. I don't recall having new devices released being hand-in-hand with that company going under though.
It's spin like this that give the wrong impression of Blackberry devices. RIM lost sight of the ball and paid for it as a result. They now have current hardware and software improvements to hit the ground running. They have found their perspective from this wake up call. I'm afraid to say this type of media never had any to begin with.
Typed this with my Playbook.
BB 9700 OS 6.0.0.615
Pros:
Access whatever I need quickly (keyboard shortcuts and apps like quick launch)
Fast, reliable, secure and good battery life.
Solid push technology
Good phone reception
Fast Wi-Fi and GPS lock
True multi-tasking of apps.
A bunch of "useful" apps (GPS, social networking, finance, media, etc.)
Apps and communication are highly integrated into the OS.
Convenience keys for quick access to apps and media functions
Cons:
Limited memory
Browser needs more memory and horsepower to function well with the web-kit technology.
App development is somewhat limited, however, not all apps out there are useful.
Preferences:
Physical keyboard
Not a big gamer
Is it okay to like my phone, even if stock prices are up or down and RIM is slow to get some of the new devices out? For me the list of Pros outweighs the Cons. With my preference for a physical keyboard, my BB is a good match. Do look forward to the 9900 which will have the best of both worlds (Candy bar design, keyboard and touch screen). Not a fan of the slide out keyboards. Anyway, go with what works best for you. Be happy. :)
Stock is up regardless http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/business/231002633
Stocks were up 1.8% in response to the 2000 layoffs. May be RIM should lay off a bunch of their big fish. That should give a bigger boost to their stock.
A good start might be one of the CEOs.
funny how those US folks seem to think theirs is the only market in the world. going down in US = going down everywhere?? far from the truth.
that's how it started for Nokia too...remember?
Stocks are up, Global growth is there you all can leave im staying right here.
Unicorn? No. Unicron? Well maybe...
Now, this is my first post on anything here on crackberry and I will not pretend to be very intelligent when it comes to my phone, which is a Bold 9700. I do know quite a bit on it and have had it updated to BlackBerry 6.0 with the help of a friend and keep up with it and upgrades, etc. Before getting a BlackBerry (my first one was the 8900 Curve), I owned a Google G1. I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that it was the very first Android/HTC phone? I hated it. Yes, it was "cool" for about a week and the apps were "cool" also, but after a while all of the "force close" popups were terribly annoying. I then decided that I am not a touch screen person, since I for almost a year didn't really like the texting on the screen but at least had the option of the keyboard. By the end of that year, I decided that I didn't really need applications where you can play fake guitars or look at the "stars" and constellations so I thought I would give the Curve a try. I'm sure Androids have come such a long way, I have used a ton of them, but the G1 left a terrible taste in my mouth and will never own another Android phone. Pocket dialing, the terrible battery life, the lagging/freezing, malware, etc. suck!! BlackBerry is awesome. I will never, personally own another phone. I am looking forward to the 9900 but not in a terrible rush for it. What my BlackBerry does, it does really well. I mostly use it for the emailing, security, gps and bbm. I do run Pandora on it when driving, and maybe another app or two, but I don't need anything else. I think that people need to realize, unless it changes in the future, a BlackBerry is a business phone and not a toy for playing Angry Birds on (as cool as it is. I do play it on other phones whenever I see it but don't need it). Anyway, if people want to get other phones, please go ahead because that is what I did when I chose BlackBerry, but don't hate on BlackBerry for being "behind". BlackBerry users such as myself do not need/want full touch screens, angry birds and other unnecessary apps running and seeing it "force close" all the time and lag like it was meant to do it. Never getting rid/or leaving BlackBerry! Good day everyone!
Awesome
Sorry to break it to you.. judging by declining profits, company turmoil, layoffs, and declining market share, I'm pretty sure that some, if not alot of BB users want high end phones, with bells and whistles. Hard to live off reputation alone, that of which is quickly eroding.
I totally agree with you!!
When I want to play angry birds, I pull my iPod touch. LOL
I don't need an iPhone, love my BB to death.
Jerks or not - you have to admit that they might be right.
I love you, BlackBerry. I really do. But I don't have to like you right now.
Some of you guys sad! You have a company with a superior network architecture and your bitchin about phones! It doesnt matter what comes when it comes CRAP! You can still run an 8100 and its email and security surpasses anything out there today! So grow up people RIM been around for years and will be around for awhile! If ya dont like it go get a Android and see it rust away with the gazillion malware infected apps.
We don't want to run a "8100" we want to run the "SuperPhones" with "SuperAPPS" that one of RIM's CEO's mentioned :o)... Even if it's 2 years from now, give us an actual date MM/DD/YYYY. not a season like we've been getting "Late Summer".
It would be good if the comic was funny, but it's not...
I have had my Style since 7/9/11. Was brand new to the BB world. Even though it has a good solid feel to it, great keyboard and nice battery life I can't justify staying with a company that has almost completely ignored the app market. I used to fly the Palm flag once upon a time but not anymore. If RIM wants to pull itself out of the dregs it has precious little time left. Would hate to see another tombstone with a BB symbol on it right next to the one that has the Palm symbol.
I have visited this site for quite some time now as I my phone of choice has been BlackBerry. I have never had one complaint with any of my phones; I started out with the 7250 and have had every model since.
I like to read the comments and forums as some of you people have some very well researched thoughts. Lately though it’s getting lets say, a little childish. If you are not a BlackBerry user please go elsewhere and quit putting down a company you know nothing about except for what you read by insecure analysts and uniformed bloggers.
If you are a true BlackBerry user enjoy your phone until the next ones are released. I believe the next batch of phones will be as great as the past ones.
If I am not mistaken hasn’t Apple released only 4 phones since 2007?
If RIM doesn’t release new phones very 6 months the sky is falling, and if they are missing the junk apps that the other manufacturers need to make sales, users will complain they are behind. This will then cause another batch of ridiculous comments from users that don’t even own a BlackBerry. All this whining lately sounds like a lot of Apple and Android users are not happy with there phones, but need some place to complain.
This is a naive and "childish" comment from someone who is apparently unable to see RIM's devastated market share and inability to execute like all of the other major players in the industry are. You think their stock is at around $27 because of childish comments in blogs and "insecure" analysts? Give me a break
You should read more often the shares are up.
Do you own a Blackberry? Do you own stock in the company? My comment had nothing to do about their market share, execution or market share; it was about the childish whining about where's my this and where's my that. How about you give me a break and read before you comment!
You must be very lucky, taking every phone offered and being in complete agreement with how it functions.
Apple has a different fan base so to speak. They are used to waiting for releases do to how the CPU side of things operates. Wait longer and get a CPU that almost never crashes. Apple phone users are used to this and expect it.
Not an Apple user by the way, I have never agreed with how long it takes for changes to happen, always seemed like to little and too far between.
If RIM wants to continue providing jobs for good people and phones for the rest of us they need to at least attempt to keep up with how the rest of the market is swinging right now.
Does not matter how good the hardware is, if the software is not up to specs or you cannot make the phone your own with the addition of apps or menu features, the company is going to continue to fade.
You may just be right about that. Good post
As a BB customer, I feel as though I have a right to demand that the brand i have helped support provide me with a competitive product or I will (and am) switch.
Please save the naive, blind faith consumerism for the 1950's. Welcome to the world of competition my friend. We're not all socialists here.
There's no word on ANYTHING! It's all speculation because there's NOTHING official!
everything on here everyone is saying is so true. they are losing the American and European fan base. Blackberries are soon becoming an entry level smartphone you get for free for signing a 2 year contract. I'm already looking forward to iphone 4 or 5, my bold 9700 is on its last legs and the exterior hardware is very flimsy and loose now :(
Real sign of RIM's death... a site called crackberry feeds only cynical a-holes who want to dump on RIM.... RIMpire Strikes Back...ppppplease get over yourselves crackberry and admit you've thrown in the towel.
Real sign of RIM's death... a site called crackberry feeds only cynical a-holes who want to dump on RIM.... RIMpire Strikes Back...ppppplease get over yourselves crackberry and admit you've thrown in the towel.
"They see me trollin' they hattin'...."
+1 bro
I, among others can't wait for the Bold 9900 to be released. I still remember when the initial "concept" days of the possible 99xx which was just around when the BB Tour (or lack thereof) came out. 2 years and 2 iPhones later and we still don't have a clear date in sight. Unbelievable.... I am going to start asking myself what keeps me loyal to BB :o(
As far as I know about Release Dates: Rogers will be the first carrier launching the 9810 (Jennings) in Zinc Grey and white colors the next month. Meanwhile in August too Sprint and Verizon will launch the 9850 (Monaco) almost at the same time but Verizon will be the first carrier to launch the 9930 and now word of the GSM version yet :(
RIM is starting to die a slow death. I hope they can turn it around but it is not looking good at this point
I have to agree. Where are the native calendar and mail apps? Moving messages to folders and flagging for BIS? All the promised "big name superapps?" Proper mapping of Google calendars?
All bullshit. How long are people supposed to wait?
Ive been a BB owner for close to a decade, and have begun my search for an Android phone. I have had enough with the lack of progress on BB and the sheer ignorance that RIM mgmt has show with regards to customer satisfaction.
I don't know why crackberry.com or other posters have any issue with the cartoon. It's painfully true, and perhaps the most accurate depiction of where RIM truly is at right now.
Agree. RIM can't make anything new because there is nothing new to make. BB has a keyboard. If you want a keyboard, you get a blackberry.
I can't believe RIM hasn't made anything else official, and we're approaching 3 months since the 9900 with no release date. It's hard to believe, and that tweet on Monday that was deliberately worded to deceive was a major letdown, and just made RIM look worse. It's no way to treat their loyal base. Disgusting!!!
I want to call out all the bloggers/"journalists"/news sites that took that tweet and FB comment and ran with it.
It's been obvious for years that RIM can't keep anything under wraps, we find out about new devices and get constant firmware leaks for all of our devices all the time, much more so then most companies and everyone keeps thinking that RIM is going to surprise them and magically start acting differently? I don't think so.
It's such a shame that everyone took that single Tweet and FB posting as some super magically event that was going to change everything for the better! I read it and I instantly knew that they were talking about Facebook 2.0. It's been in the BetaZone for quite a while and even prior to that there were tons of threads and comments being posted on this site/forum, and everywhere else online stating that it was going to be released the next day.
I just say FAIL. And most of this is directed at sites like CB/N4BB/Engadget and so forth that just ran with it. The worst is by far sites that just repost rumors and shit that get started on one site and then eventually it's treated like it's fact, when in fact it's based on almost nothing.
It's fucking treating this shit like a tabloit. What a waste.
I'm not a troll, btw. I'm a firm believer in RIM and own both a Torch and a PlayBook and will probably be getting an 9900 when they eventually get released soon. Just getting so tired of all the "media" acting up... seriously chill out, it's not that serious.
You're completely disregarding every other major player in the industry. HTC, Samsung and LG transitioned to dual core chips and even 3D screens, while RIM can't even make modest upgrades in a YEAR.
I agree that the media runs with speculation, etc. way too quickly, but RIM is responsible for shameful marketing and simply not executing while all of the competition around them is!
Wait.. what do those Android manufacturers have to do with the fact that the media is taking every little tweet/comment and running wild with it without any kind of thought or research?
Yes, I can agree with you that RIM sucks at developing phones with the latest and greatest. I've always wanted a phone that requires me to constantly charge it every few hours because the battery technology does not exist yet to sustain it's usage.
I will fully back your comment that RIM sucks at marketing and has for a long time now. However that is something that is going to take time to fix and probably won't kick in until after all the layoffs have been settled. That doesn't change the fact that the media is being stupid right now.
I guess I've just been so ignorant up until now, not realizing that I've been reading all these tabloid websites. My bad.
agree with everything thats said on that, whether its supposed to be humorous or not. its the truth :)
They can brand it FED EX or Waterloo. lol, you can name a dog "fluffy" but at the end of the day it is still a dog. RIM needs to be getting the devices that they announce sooner to the public. RIM has to produce their phones and release them 3-6 months before Apple products to increase their sales. They seem to announce products 3-6 months before Apple devices are released and end up releasing them after Apple releases their new devices. Think Playbook and iPad2 :o(
And here we go again, if they are even able to push anything out in "late" August or September, it's right there with the iPhone 5! Gee, that makes sense!
Exactly my point! whover at RIM believes that releasing a phone anywhere near the release date of an iPhone is a fair fight must also believe that a person with a butter knife will win at a gun fight.
Seems pretty fair to me. If RIM can't learn how to get new hardware to market much much faster, they will die. Harsh reality.
RIM needs to do something fast people are getting restless. I have bb friends that have already moved on. Come on RIM do something
same here. my BB friends have moved on, & are now using Thunderbolts, Charges, and EVOs. worst part is, they're all laughing at me!
HURRY RIM! PLEASE!! my 9630 is on its last leg!
The 9630 was on its last leg on the same day it was released. LoL, I was dumb enough to buy it for $400 out of contract when the Bold 9650 was already the talk a few weeks before the Tour came out. I was unfortunate to get my hands on one of the handicap ones with major trackball issues.
Double entry
Funny, your mother spoke of the same thing... O_0
SMH
Just backup your stuff, install device software, delete the vendor.xml file if it's from another carrier or it's a leaked one, click Wipe Device. Wait for the 507 screen, then click Load OS, select the 5.x or 4.x software, click Load OS. THERE YOU GO!
Blackberry Eleanor (like in Gone in 60 seconds)
And yeah, kind of funny. Haters got to hate right?
Agreed
I shouldn't have..but I lol'd. :P
What a poorly designed site! Totally lame! You can always tell the quality of a company by their website!
Oh wow! I didn't check it until I saw your comment. You sir are absolutely right! What an ugly website! Geocities 2.0 +ads? I think so...
Agreed the website is bad but speaking the true about our beloved RIM
Ok. You can bash the website. But their content made its way to this site. It means there must be something meaningful into it.
Sorry. Repost.
.....BlackBerry Unicorn?....Um.....No. Not even as a code name.