BlackBerry thrown in the towel, puts company up for sale

[mlbrowninsc]

Blackberry isn't going anywhere. The company is doing exactly what it should be doing. They are positioning themselves for the future. Everyone has made a headline out of part of a statement.

 

[11B1P]

I totally get Laura's explanation. But yours makes no sense. Wouldn't having to go through BlackBerry's servers be an extra step? All voice, SMS & data flows through the network first, unless you're on wifi in which case only data goes through. I'm guessing so correct me if I'm wrong.

I can't explain it any different, that's how it was explained to me. On BBM it went through their server. Texts go through the cellular network, which is like a highway, everything taking its turn to proceed, hence the delay from the time the text is sent, to the time it is received.

 

[bryantest]

Geez.

"Positioning yourself for the future" is NOT THE SAME as "looking for a savior"

 

[danieljohnNL]

all bb is doing is planning their future. if they carry on how there doing now they will be in alot of trouble very soon. selling the company is ONE option out of many that the committee needs to investigate. btw. bb has 3 billion cash and has a market value of 5.6 billion. highly undervalued!
i do see bb making wp8 devices. would be a nice addition to the wp family, with a completly different design

 

[tissotti]

all bb is doing is planning their future. if they carry on how there doing now they will be in alot of trouble very soon. selling the company is ONE option out of many that the committee needs to investigate. btw. bb has 3 billion cash and has a market value of 5.6 billion. highly undervalued!
i do see bb making wp8 devices. would be a nice addition to the wp family, with a completly different design

Net cash (you are hopefully talking about net cash reserves) mean less in valuation if its not expected for the company to use the available/invested money and return it with profit. Nokia was valued at one point to around 11 billion dollars and they had net cash reserves of 6 billion dollars net cash reserves.

I personally have never understood the value of BBM, but I can see it being a thing for old BB user. I very much doubt MS has any use for the company.

 

[SnailUK]

I personally have never understood the value of BBM, but I can see it being a thing for old BB user. I very much doubt MS has any use for the company.

BB have huge marketshare in some 3rd world type countries, where talk/text/data costs are comparitively expensive.

All their network data is heavily compressed, and with BB messenger putting stuff through the (heavily compressed) data connection, its possible to run a phone completely through a tiny data bundle.

To be fair, Microsoft have implemented the same compression in WP8, its just none of the networks actually installed the servers their end, as it effects their bottom line, which i think is why Nokia have their browser they release recently that compresses web content.

 

[sueha]

Had a Bold 9900 before I bought my 920 and only rarely used BBM. Couldn't see any advantages over WhatsApp. I only had 2 friends using BBM and ~100 using WhatsApp. You have to link to your BBM friends with their BBM PIN, but I found that was too complicated. Just use the phone number like with WhatsApp.

Compression is fine, but my data plan is big enough to handle WhatsApp. Streaming videos and surfing desktop websites are the killers I'd say. I enjoyed compression with BB, but I had to pay additional 10 Euros each month for enabling that BlackBerry service. For those 10 Euros I can easily get a much better data plan again...

I liked the BB hardware, but Nokia is doing even better. There is not much value I see in BlackBerry. People tend to think that MS needs to buy every company available. I dont think it is needed here.

 

[Twitter@Firas_MD]

The one thing im hoping for, before BB is done , is to make a BBM version for WP... Not just for IOS and android. Wow just imagen having BBM here on your WP home screen...

 

[z33dev33l]

The one thing im hoping for, before BB is done , is to make a BBM version for WP... Not just for IOS and android. Wow just imagen having BBM here on your WP home screen...

Why? It's like a worse version of whatsapp.

 

[gsquared]

In a way this should remind us of where Nokia was at about three years ago. Thankfully Nokia was a little smarter than BB. They swallowed their ego's and brought in someone who, by the looks of things, is leading them down the right path.

BB had their chance last year and let their own arrogance get in the way. BB10 has the same shortcomming as did MeeGo. It doesn't have the supporting backend services to support it.

Give Mr. Elop some credit. He saw this and turned his ship away from a dead-end.

 

[borasar]

it's just not on other platforms, if it was i don't think it would be worse than whatsapp

Why? It's like a worse version of whatsapp.

 

[borasar]

Had a Bold 9900 before I bought my 920 and only rarely used BBM. Couldn't see any advantages over WhatsApp. I only had 2 friends using BBM and ~100 using WhatsApp. You have to link to your BBM friends with their BBM PIN, but I found that was too complicated. Just use the phone number like with WhatsApp.

Compression is fine, but my data plan is big enough to handle WhatsApp. Streaming videos and surfing desktop websites are the killers I'd say. I enjoyed compression with BB, but I had to pay additional 10 Euros each month for enabling that BlackBerry service. For those 10 Euros I can easily get a much better data plan again...

I liked the BB hardware, but Nokia is doing even better. There is not much value I see in BlackBerry. People tend to think that MS needs to buy every company available. I dont think it is needed here.

the browser was a complete mess, and to be honest I can't say the hardware was all that great either, keyboard aside.
I think WP8 is really well positioned right now to take it hard to RIMM when it comes to corporate clients, I hope MS sees that and starts executing.

 

[z33dev33l]

it's just not on other platforms, if it was i don't think it would be worse than whatsapp

It didn't have near the level of features.

 

[borasar]

It didn't have near the level of features.

like what?

 

[hdtracy]

When I had a blackberry, I loved BBM. My closest friends happened to also have BBM, and so it allowed me to cancel my SMS/MMS plan and instead just use BBM - saving me about $20 a month. Until then no one had a blackberry anymore. And then iMessage came out - and Whatsapp got more popular, and BBM just got totally left behind. Things like BBM are only useful when they are widespread. I now have the same setup with iMessage - I haven't had need for a SMS/MMS plan in years between iMessage and a GV number...
BBM just isn't enough to hold them up anymore when there are much better, and far more widespread options out there to compete with now.

 

[Laura Knotek]

BB have huge marketshare in some 3rd world type countries, where talk/text/data costs are comparitively expensive.

All their network data is heavily compressed, and with BB messenger putting stuff through the (heavily compressed) data connection, its possible to run a phone completely through a tiny data bundle.

To be fair, Microsoft have implemented the same compression in WP8, its just none of the networks actually installed the servers their end, as it effects their bottom line, which i think is why Nokia have their browser they release recently that compresses web content.

That compression you are referring to exists on the legacy BlackBerry platform. BlackBerry 10 does not use BIS, so that feature does not exist.

 

[John Beardsley]

Too bad this headline is totally false and misleading .we have seen similar scenarios in many companies. don't count Blackberry out. They have a a lot going for them including 2.9 billion in cash. The BB10 software is superior and they just need to start licencing to has- beens like Nokia and Htc to get back in the race. It would be nice if there weren't so much trash talk against them but hey we are Canadian and we are used to it. The British used us for Cannon fodder until they realized we were actually winning more battles than they were. the Canadians were much better in dday and especially dday plus 2 and 3 rescuing the United states bacon. But hey you will live to hear me say "I told You so"

 

[FearL0rd]

My Company uses Lync. It supports all main plataforms (WP, Android and IOS). It is almost perfect..

Getting Started with Lync 2013 - Office.com

 

[blackhawk556]

Microsoft needs to put some money (like the did with NOKIA) on and use BB hardware with WP and BBM. Enterprise market share will go to roof

No it wouldn't.

 

[borasar]

All speculation at this point. They likely would like to take the company private but getting the cash together will be an issue. There will not be many PE firms willing to put up that kind of money for a one trick pony.

they are talking to Silver Lake who are currently trying to take Dell private, Fairfax already owns roughly 5% of RIM.

now there are news floating around that CPPIB and AIMCo wouldn't mind taking a look at them either, I'd say OTPP and OMERS would as well.