S4 only might be a mistake...

[Coolknight1968]

I was reading that the S4 used in the new WP8 is in short supply.... I think it is a mistake not to make Nvidia Tegra based WP8 devices. Having a OneXp, I find the Tegra 4+1 pretty good. One should also consider Huawei SOCs for lower end WP8 devices. Never good to rely on a sole supplier.

 

[brmiller1976]

That would explain the inventory issues.

Microsoft's got to get stuff together. I'm starting to worry that RIM is going to kill off Windows Phone 8... they took their time for the launch, but they appear to be getting everything ready to do a proper launch, on all carriers, with good pricing and a complete experience.

 

[jhoff80]

I was reading that the S4 used in the new WP8 is in short supply.... I think it is a mistake not to make Nvidia Tegra based WP8 devices. Having a OneXp, I find the Tegra 4+1 pretty good. One should also consider Huawei SOCs for lower end WP8 devices. Never good to rely on a sole supplier.

The One X+ has a Tegra 3 quad-core, which is far inferior to the dual-core Snapdragon S4. The reason it's so popular is that Qualcomm's chips can have the LTE modem integrated (which not many can do yet), and it's one of the fastest SOCs there is (right behind the Cortex A15-based Exynos 5).

 

[brmiller1976]

It doesn't matter how great the chip is, if there aren't enough of them to build handsets in volume.

 

[jhoff80]

Well, it does matter if they want to be competitive. The Lumia 900's Snapdragon was in plentiful supply, but that just doesn't matter if it can't perform.

Besides, the kernel has to be optimized for each specific chip that is being used; it's not quite like an x86 system where you just install drivers for everything (which is part of the reason that it takes Android ODMs months to get updates out the door). By concentrating solely on the S4 for launch, they were able to get it shipped on time.

 

[brmiller1976]

Lumia 900 was super-smooth.

"Chart-topping speed" means nothing if Nokia cannot sell enough handsets to stay in business due to chip shortages.

 

[Ultimateone]

Nokia is selling out everywhere because they had no idea how much of an impact they would make, especially with the 920. They limited their supply of the 920 to create a buzz and its worked!

 

[brmiller1976]

I don't buy the idea of "limiting supply to create a buzz." That doesn't "create a buzz." A great product creates a buzz.

 

[Ultimateone]

I don't buy the idea of "limiting supply to create a buzz." That doesn't "create a buzz." A great product creates a buzz.

Stephen Elop said that in a recent interview.

Also Apple is the king of releeasing stuff in a limited supply to create a huge demand for a product, it always works and creates news.

 

[fardream]

That would explain the inventory issues.

Microsoft's got to get stuff together. I'm starting to worry that RIM is going to kill off Windows Phone 8... they took their time for the launch, but they appear to be getting everything ready to do a proper launch, on all carriers, with good pricing and a complete experience.

I doubt it. If it relies on android emulator to get apps, users might be stick with galaxy or nexus for a better experience.... They don't provide anything new - BBM? Their reliance of BES/BIS more and more looks like a liability given that majority of people access their emails through ActiveSync, and ditching BIS/BES means they are losing an important revenue stream and the distinguishing factor of BIS/BES based service (not saying Activesync is better, but it does come with any exchange server)

 

[brmiller1976]

Stephen Elop said that in a recent interview.

Sure, he also said that Symbian phones would sell at a rate of 30 million per year and fuel the transition to Windows Phone. Sales of Symbian are a quarter of that.

Also Apple is the king of releeasing stuff in a limited supply to create a huge demand for a product, it always works and creates news.

I wish everyone in the tech market would stop comparing their favorite tech company's stupid actions to Apple.

Apple is unique. It has a high margin cult around it.

Nokia ain't Apple.

In addition, there's little proof that Apple is limiting supplies of any product to "create buzz."

Here's the reality of the situation: if someone goes to an AT&T store wanting a Nokia phone, and gets told "we won't have them for three weeks," he isn't going to say "oh wow! That phone must be awesome, it's sold out!" He'll say "what else do you have," and walk out with a new phone from Samsung, Apple or HTC.

 

[brmiller1976]

I doubt it. If it relies on android emulator to get apps

It doesn't. It has a code generator in its SDK that allows Android developers to recompile their apps for the BB and release it on the BB App World.

Their reliance of BES/BIS more and more looks like a liability

There's no reliance on BES/BIS in BB10. It actually supports more e-mail standards than Windows Phone, including AS and the dreaded CalDAV/CardDAV.

ditching BIS/BES means they are losing an important revenue stream

The future of BIS/BES is as software for IT managers to manage BlackBerry, Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices across the enterprise. They've redesigned it for the BYOD universe, and I expect they'll see a lot of success from that approach. No other major player (including Microsoft) can securely manage all devices across the board from a single solution.

users might be stick with galaxy or nexus for a better experience

There's no way that Android will provide a comparable experience to the UI I just used on the Developer Alpha. It's smooth, fast, very stable and has no lag or crashing.

I wouldn't count them out.

 

[fardream]

It doesn't. It has a code generator in its SDK that allows Android developers to recompile their apps for the BB and release it on the BB App World.
There's no reliance on BES/BIS in BB10. It actually supports more e-mail standards than Windows Phone, including AS and the dreaded CalDAV/CardDAV.
The future of BIS/BES is as software for IT managers to manage BlackBerry, Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices across the enterprise. They've redesigned it for the BYOD universe, and I expect they'll see a lot of success from that approach. No other major player (including Microsoft) can securely manage all devices across the board from a single solution.
I wouldn't count them out.

1) BES is their push email solution, the management software is mobile fusion competing with good technologies, ms system center ect (of course the scope of these technologies are not exactly the same) And unfortunately there are technologies that manage everything except the locked down blackberry. And given that a lot of companies already deployed good or Microsoft system center (which also manages computers), switching to rim's mobile fusion needs more than that.
2) their rreputation as the secured email relies on BES, and if they ditch and replace it with activesync, they lost the revenue from BES, they lost their distinguishing feature. Remember that the only reason people deploy BES is because of Blackberries. And if there are only a small number of people using blackberries, justifying the cost of maintaining BES will be more and more difficult.
3) BIS is a different story. No carrier wants to pay for that - now carriers are moving to tiered data plans and the compression advantage is also taken away. Also carriers have iPhone and android selling well, why would they want to pay for BIS (if they want to keep the price of blackberry data plan the same price)? If blackberry drops support for BIS, everyone will be happy except RIM.

4) what I mean to say - are there enough devs ready to develop for BB10? If some people use most android apps on BB10, why don't they get an android altogether? So when google updates android, they don't need to worry about the compilers breaking down, runtime not implemented

 

[Coolknight1968]

Coming back to the S4, it should be possible to have Nvidia design a WP8 compatible SOC. Also Huawei could do such a chip. I am starting to think that the whole WP project is a ship with no one at the helm.

 

[brmiller1976]

4) what I mean to say - are there enough devs ready to develop for BB10? If some people use most android apps on BB10, why don't they get an android altogether? So when google updates android, they don't need to worry about the compilers breaking down, runtime not implemented

They're going to have over 100,000 apps for BB10 on launch. That's a better performance than WP8 (which launched entirely with WP7 apps, about 1/3 of which had to be pulled off the market due to incompatibilities).

Count 'em out at your peril.

 

[brmiller1976]

I am starting to think that the whole WP project is a ship with no one at the helm.

Sadly, I share your concerns. There have been too many mistakes, false starts, reboots, bugs, and user experience failures so far.

From the "Shut Off Zune And Lock Out Multi-Device Users From WP7" debacle to the great "WP7 Execution" in June through the great "drought of WP" when sales vanished as people waited for new devices, to the "WP Shortage of November," to the "Most WP7 Apps Aren't Fully Compatible, But Fail In Serious Ways" to the "No Portico For You Screw-Up," the list is way too long.

Someone needs to clamp down and get this ship's leaks patched, fast. The assumption that Microsoft will just inherit third place for itself and get plenty more chances to screw up and piss off users is a flawed one -- if RIM executes flawlessly (or close to it), Microsoft could easily end up in fourth place (and fourth place = out of the game).

I'm not seeing a sense of urgency, and a sense of underdog status, nor a sense of humility. It's the Bad Old Microsoft in terms of go-to-market and user experience, and that's not good.

 

[eric12341]

That would explain the inventory issues.

Microsoft's got to get stuff together. I'm starting to worry that RIM is going to kill off Windows Phone 8... they took their time for the launch, but they appear to be getting everything ready to do a proper launch, on all carriers, with good pricing and a complete experience.

That has nothing to do with it because the GS3 (US version) uses the same chip.

 

[brmiller1976]

Hmmmm... interesting.

I do think that Nokia's strategy of "don't sell phones to people who want them, to build up buzz" will go down with the announcement of the Osborne II as one of the most imbecilic launch strategies of all time.

 

[dogfish54]

Hmmmm... interesting.

I do think that Nokia's strategy of "don't sell phones to people who want them, to build up buzz" will go down with the announcement of the Osborne II as one of the most imbecilic launch strategies of all time.

There is no evidence that this is ACTUALLY the strategy, in fact there is more evidence to say it is not. This whole thread is about how it may have been a mistake to have a single point supply constraint with the S4 chip. Listen to some of the most recent interviews with Elop, he is clearly frustrated with supply issues.

 

[Villain]

BES is A LOT more than a push email service lol