That's Blackberry finally down the shitter then....

dindude

5 years ago it was pretty much the only phone that companies handed out to employees, now 4500 job losses and £600m second Q losses. 

I'm sorry for the job losses, although I do find it fascinating how the tech market plays out. 

I guess they found themselves in a position that they had to either stick doggedly to their keyboard phones and hope people still wanted them or admit defeat and "copy" apple with full touchscreen.

They did both in the end, not very well and not with very good timing.

ICBM

I'd guess Microsoft going into partnership with Nokia might have been another nail in the coffin - that's three competing touch-based operating systems with serious money behind them now.

Technology moves on quickly, and even big apparently pre-eminent companies can go under if they get overtaken by trends. Where are Atari now? Nintendo probably need to watch out too...

dindude

You could have probably added Nokia to the watch list 18 months or so ago before the Microsoft tie in. I have a Nokia Lumia work phone and it's fine, but not a pimple on the backside of an iPhone, but then I am allergic to anything to do with Windows.

monquixote

Yes it's a big shame. 

A big chunk of Blackberry's UK workforce are in the same building as me. I wonder if they will be there on Monday. 

I think they managed to get something good out of the door in the end with the Z10, but it was way too late. 

Handsome_Chris

monquixote said:

I think they managed to get something good out of the door in the end with the Z10, but it was way too late. 

The Z10 would be better if you could assign an individual text message alert to a contact.  Otherwise I am a big fan.

[Deleted User]

I heard something on the radio this morning where they repeated a five year old quote from Blackberry's boss where he stated that the ability to type on an iPhone was fundamentally flawed and that people would always want a proper keyboard....

Much like the man from Decca who told The Beatles that groups with guitars were on the way out, it shows you how easy it is to misjudge the market....

monquixote

When the iPhone came out a lot of people said disparaging things about it, but I expect internally they realised they were in deep shit. 

There was a recent feature where they said as much about Nokia. 

I suspect Blackberry might however have assumed that they were probably safe in the short term from consumer focussed Apple.

The problem that fucked both Nokia and Blackberry is that they both had operating systems that weren't designed for developing modern smartphones and writing a new operating system from scratch is an insanely hard thing to do (Don't forget even Apple failed at it first time around).

TTony

dindude said:

You could have probably added Nokia to the watch list 18 months or so ago before the Microsoft tie in.

In the same way that two wrongs don't make a right.

Two weaks don't make a strong.

ROOG

I too feel for the work force. Our Firm have stuck with blackberry apparently because they struggle to find an alternative system which offers sufficient email security. Sadly the handsets we are issued with are ancient technology, no one likes them. Be interested to see what happens.

monquixote

TTony said:

Two weaks don't make a strong.

Agreed though apparently the amount they can make through one phone sale is considerably increased under common ownership and MS aren't afraid to lose a shit load of money to achieve a long term goal (The XBox for example)

maltingsaudio

Shame because they make my perfect phone

Sensible keyboard 

flip phone so can just sit in pocket

makes phone calls

sends texts

plays Wav's

ICBM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24214301

If I was them I would take the 4.7 billion dollars and... run away fast!

Jalapeno

Not gone yet, but neither are they in a good place.

monquixote

If they get bought by an investment group who specialise in insurance they are dead in the water. 

Apparently the offer valuation means their share price has dropped 95% in the last 5 years!

Myranda

You know... if I were MS right now I'd be yelling at Blackberry to Shut Up And Take My Money in trying to buy them.

They just acquired Nokia, but the extra patent and tech experience they could get would give them a BIG advantage in trying to make an MS branded phone.

monquixote

I think it's a very obvious purchase for MS.

They probably don't want the handset business, but the patents and the messenger and e-mail infrastructure would be a great match for Skype and the enterprise focused parts of MS. 

ICBM

Myranda said:

You know... if I were MS right now I'd be yelling at Blackberry to Shut Up And Take My Money in trying to buy them.

They just acquired Nokia, but the extra patent and tech experience they could get would give them a BIG advantage in trying to make an MS branded phone.

Especially as Blackberry's main market is/was business, and that's something MS knows well - better than Apple.

octatonic

Fairfax Financial are mostly legal/insurance oriented.

I wonder if patent trolling is the reason for buying RIM?

bertie

"It appears that the end game is going to be whether Blackberry can emerge as a niche supplier of highly-secured phones to enterprise customers and governments."

thats the key, right there.