“Research In Motion announced today that it will hold its BlackBerry 10 launch event on January 30th, 2013. The event will happen simultaneously in multiple countries around the world. This day will mark the official launch of its new platform – BlackBerry 10, as well as the unveiling of the first two BlackBerry 10 smartphones. Details on the smartphones and their availability will be announced at the event.” Genuinely interested in what they have to offer. They’ve been down for a while, but I know from experience that many people perform best under pressure. Let’s hope many of them work at RIM.
obviously not simultaneously on the same date and time in different countries where the time zones differ… then it wouldn’t be “simultaneous”
They’ll offer Qt based QNX phone or Gnu/Linux phone, and take over the world with the same strategy Nokia had before it was hijacked by Microsoft.
These guys are dead. Sorry RIM, but it’s over. Stick a fork in ’em already.
I recall when lots of folks were saying that about Apple.
I don’t think their road back will be easy but they still have a large, if dwindling, userbase and a strong prescence in government.
I wish RIM well but they’ve got a problem. They’re running head-on into Microsoft, who also desperately want to be the “third player” behind Apple and Android. I don’t think there’s going to be room for four. It’ll be a Big Three and my guess is that means Apple, Android, and Microsoft.
I’ve played with the new keyboardless BB10 phone. (I have a friend at RIM.) Gotta say, it’s pretty snappy. But yeah, at this point, I think the best they can hope for is to make themselves look juicier for the inevitable acquisition.
dead. on. arrival…
I hope they do well. Competition is always good. I’m even very keen to get one. It’s all about the apps at the end of the day. I know RIM understand this and have been working with a lot of the leading developers, as well as the Blackberry 10 Jam sessions they’ve been putting on globally.
Same here.
Yes, it’s certainly true that there are now some very good apps available for the PlayBook and that many are already BB10 compatible. Seems like developer feedback is very positive so far. I’m very much looking forward to this launch.
If only AgileBits cold be persuaded to release 1Password for BB10, and MS to release Skype (trickier, that) it would be a no-brainer for me.
This is the same dilemma Nokia faced with MeeGo, and ultimately why they decided to drop MeeGo.
It is notoriously hard to bootstrap an ecosystem. Nokia, like RIM, had almost no chance to do that. (Someone will probably reply to this with “But, but QT!!!” and to them I kindly recommend shutting the fuck up, but anyway)
I really am trying hard to find a scenario in my head where this plays out favorably for RIM but nothing I see implies anything other than a multi-year catch up.
RIM doesn’t have a developer platform with 1/10th the polish of the other ecosystems, it doesn’t have an ecosystem with even hints of promise (I don’t care about app counts, but developer momentum is decidedly lacking) and it will be time consuming and expensive for them to organically grow one.
They can try to buy themselves time with things like Android app compatibility, but people don’t really want that, that’s stupid.
RIM is burning cash, losing time, and coincidentally those two are key ingredients for growing an ecosystem, which they lack.
Blackberry 10 is dead on arrival. I’ve written it off completely.
Why would consumers not want that? Interoperability would even the paying field somewhat. It may be bad for RIM’s ecosystem but it could inflate sales. I’m not saying that it would save RIM but it could keep them alive in the short term.
Who is RIM and what is Blackberry?