BlackBerry still has a firm hold on Washington, probably not changing anytime soon

[Brendan Hugo]

My thinking is that for enterprise and government, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Even if there are more do-dads and gizmos somewhere else, familiarity and no capital investment are good things to hear. So I think the question will be whether or not RIM can keep a grasp on the customers it already has, and if it can continue expanding into new markets. It just added a major service for China Unicom a couple weeks ago, and BlackBerry 7 in Cambodia this week. So it is growing, kinda.

I'm getting the sense, and I think Heins said something to this effect recently, that RIM can no longer be a "DIY" solution. In that RIM does some things well, but simply cannot keep up with hardware, infrastructure, and software. Apple outsources hardware and some infrastructure, Samsung outsources all infrastructure and most software, and HTC out sources both infrastructure and software, apart from its custom UI overlay (Sense). As far as a buyout of RIM is concerned, I seem to recall the Canadian government ruling that a no-go, but I'm not sure exactly how far it can go in enforcing that.

[CrowdAds]

[WalkGood]

Brendan Hugo
Like I previously stated, I hope you’re right and they do survive. Your point on the two contracts is valid, they also currently have 77 million subscribers outside the USA and decent sales in Indonesia, South Africa and Venezuela that help them. BTW they are a debt-free company with around $2 billion in cash on their balance sheet which should allow them the freedom of R&D.

Although the CEO Thorstein Heins recently acknowledged that RIM is in need of significant changes if they are going to survive. And keep in mind that Blackberry OS is no longer cutting edge, it’s fallen behind Android and iOS substantially …

[nathan]

There is still a large fan base for RIM in Canada. I know a lot of people who just bought new blackberrys. They claim they'll never give up a qwerty physical keyboard for a touchscreen keyboard. But yes, those things seem so out dated compared to a galaxy s2 or even an iphone. A female friend was using the screen to check her make up. I ask her "why don't you just use the front facing camera? Pretty much every phone has one now a days." She just angrily glared at me .

[Brendan Hugo]

$2 billion in cash? Wow, think they'd be willing to share some with "the little people?" As far as the physical QWERTY goes, I loved my original Droid for that very reason. If I could get the performance of a GS II, RAZR, etc with a physical QWERTY, I'd be all over it.

[saratoga]

Originally Posted by Brendan Hugo

If I could get the performance of a GS II, RAZR, etc with a physical QWERTY, I'd be all over it.

You can. The Droid 4 has the Razr's processor but a Droid 1 style keyboard.

[sideways]

I used to be all for a physical qwerty, these days I'll take a good size touchscreen and a thinner device.

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by sideways

I used to be all for a physical qwerty, these days I'll take a good size touchscreen and a thinner device.

Strange no comments about the company with your background

[3602]

Originally Posted by sideways

I used to be all for a physical qwerty, these days I'll take a good size touchscreen and a thinner device.

I'd take a resistive touchscreen over a capacitive one. But where does one get those things nowadays?

[sideways]

Walkgood, I already commented on the company a few posts back. 3602 You might still be able to track down a nokia 5228 or 5230. They are inexpensive phones with resistive screens. IIRC one had a wifi radio in it and the other had a 3g radio in it. Both were good at calls and text messages but neither can do the same kind of stuff android or ios will do these days. RIM made a few resistive touchscreen models, I can't remember the names, that were not up to much and were very expensive. I'll stick with capacitive touch and gorilla glass for wear resistance.

[3602]

^ So you're saying that there are no resistive Android tablets/phones ?

[sideways]

You Tube

You Tube

[3602]

I fail to see the issue.

[Brendan Hugo]

Originally Posted by saratoga

You can. The Droid 4 has the Razr's processor but a Droid 1 style keyboard.

Wow, I feel smart. How'd I forget about the DROID 4? Now to procure the needed $550...

[saratoga]

Originally Posted by 3602

I fail to see the issue.

The Android UI is built around high resolution, capacitive sensors. Resistive ones lack the resolution and multitouch capability assumed by the UI, so they tend to work poorly. You mostly see resistive screens on low cost devices that lack access to the Android market (and thus a larger pool of apps that assume you have a capacitive screen).

[3602]

Originally Posted by saratoga

The Android UI is built around high resolution, capacitive sensors. Resistive ones lack the resolution and multitouch capability assumed by the UI, so they tend to work poorly. You mostly see resistive screens on low cost devices that lack access to the Android market (and thus a larger pool of apps that assume you have a capacitive screen).

I see.

I used to have a fifth-generation Archos 7. Proprietary firmware, resistive screen. That thing supported Flash to the point that you can download the proper .swf game files to your hard drive and play them with a stylus, just like with a mouse.

It's just too bad that the firmware was utterly crap and the HDD lacked a G-sensor so you hear the freaking head crashes when you move it around. It's a miracle that it still booted and worked somewhat correctly after no less than a hundred such crashes.

[WalkGood]

RIM seems to be looking at options to license off parts of its company’s products and/or software. They stated that a "decision to work with at least one bank could come in the next few days." Full story click here.

[saratoga]

Given the mess that RIM's platform is in, its hard to see much interest in licensing it.

[dfkt]

I wonder what RIM is going to do with QNX... let's hope it gets a better home than BeOS with Palm. It's a great OS, don't wanna see it going down the drain.