back to article Heins didn't have the beans. Can comeback king Chen fish BlackBerry out of jam?

BlackBerry’s plan for rebirth using the dream team of Alicia Keys and chief executive Thorsten Heins has failed. Sybase turnaround king and CEO-of-the-moment John Chen is now its new great hope. Heins lasted less than two years in the hotseat at BlackBerry. He was named CEO in January 2012, taking over from co-CEOs Mike …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Don't tell me, he had 57 different strategies ....

  2. Jess

    Microsoft managed to sell Windows Phone

    So why can't blackberry sell their new phones?

    Especially since they aren't based in the USA.

  3. Kevin Johnston

    First step should not be hard

    The changes to BB10 from the handset side were good as the new handsets are better than the old and still include a physical keyboard option for people with fat fingers (yes that does include me)

    Where it went spectacularly wrong was on the back-end with BES10....the previous server system worked on the premise of 'one server to rule them all' etc etc but with BES10 that all changed. Mail/Calendar no longer routes through BES meaning you have to setup extra servers at which point why bother with BES at all? Yes they have lots of extras which are really funky like making files on your network available and suchlike but they have lost the core product.

    If they offered a BES10 version of the old command/control/delivery server then handset sales would improve as companies actually considered it as an upgrade path. At present BES10 is just a dead-end.

    1. MacNews

      Re: First step should not be hard

      I would heartily agree. My server friend says BES10 is great, except you need another server to run BES for your legacy BBOS devices. And another server to run Mobile Fusion so you can manage iOS and Android. Great for BlackBerry to snag all those licence fees but not so great when the result is "25,000 commercial AND test servers".

      1. Afflicted.John

        Re: First step should not be hard

        I thought Fusion has been depreciated?

  4. jason 7

    Where are.....

    ....all these dirt cheap Z10's?

    1. Moktu

      Re: Where are.....

      My EE account manager tells me you can buy a Z10 from them for £200.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

  5. Levente Szileszky

    Article misses the main point...

    ...the tight integration between BB10 and BES10 and how it could very well be an Unwired-type solution sales push effort to BB's existing corporate BB7 user base eg offer full upgrades, with literally no profit on the phones, or even giving them away subsidized/free while asking for the license fees or the other way around, all spread out through a 2-3-y support cycle etc.

    Not only that but the writer completely misses the point behind QNX and its optional (also tight) integration with BB10 - as more and more personal and other things (car, fridge, watch, glasses, coat, snowboard/ski etc) will join our already numerous internet-enabled devices in our several domains (home, work, mobile) the market is ripe for a windfall - the question is if QNX can ram up feature development and Chen can execute it properly, both quick enough to not to miss the boat like BB always did with everything...? Or is it gonna be another missed boom and someone else (Samsung, Apple, MSFT or some another embbedded RTOS vendor) will take the crown...?

    There are lots of opportunities for BB but it needs money and most importantly very tight and top-notch execution. It's really their last best shot - all eyes on Chen now...

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You people realize that BlackBerry has other products than just the smartphones, don't you?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      We People

      Yep - We people do. And presumably you realize that the "software and services" revenue they list is almost entirely just the service access fees Blackberry charges the carriers for every one of the OLD BBOS devices they support. Those devices will churn out at an alarming rate because those low end users can now keep their BBM on a far better deal from a plethora of Android vendors. That revenue will be gone forever.

      As for the rest. Its pin money.

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