All eyes on Rim ( Now Blackberry)

The issue is cultural relevance, product wise. It has never been a stunning product. The original looked like a calculator. The original was a hit because there were literally no viable competitors at the time. It served a functional purpose. As soon as there were competitors that could do some of the same things (connect to secure exchange servers), it was a battle. They were skipped over, and now they are catching up (5 years later) rather than trying to skip over the competition.

Excellent association with Internet Explorer and Blackberry.

Thatā€™s exactly how I feel about BBā€¦

I had a BlackBerry once, it was a pain to use the touchtone keypad when calling automated services or dialing numbers I had memorized as spelled words. :angry:

A little OT, but still blackberry:

A decade ago, before I was a designer, I listened to a news story of a man who had the tips of his finger bones whittled down so he could use his blackberry betterā€¦Touch screens have their drawbacks, but that is the most excruciating compensatory behavior based on bad design I have ever heard of.

I actually despise that so much ha

Future Is Bleak For BlackBerry

Shares plunge 27.8 percent. :frowning:

the tablet had been designed by their accessories division - I wonder why?

How much do you blame Alicia Keys for Blackberryā€™s turnaround woes?

Itā€™s all Alicia Keys fault. Her career is over.

obvi. :wink:

A few lessons learned from Blackberry and many others before them:

1 - The longer you exist and people know youā€™re irrelevant, the harder it is to become relevant again
2 - The longer youā€™ve been irrelevant or decining in relevance, the more bold risks you need to take with your product offering in order to have a chance at reestablishing your relevance (EG Apple circa iMac 1, Nokia circa Holiday 2011 with the introduction of the Lumia 800, Microsoft with Metro, etc).
3 - Coasting and ā€˜safeā€™ ie bland design is riskier than bold, relevant design that strongly appeals to a target user group (not saying it has to be too trendy, but it has to be bold).

Cameron: They called a product ā€œBoldā€, doesnā€™t that count?

I think Alicia has been busy with other things:

Those sneaker heels just look so awkward. Not a fan.

Hah, I hear you on the sneaker heels. Iā€™ve seen acceptable oneā€™s but the graphics on these really donā€™t work with the shape. But anyway, that would be a whole different thread. :wink:

They are such an oxymoron to me^

I like the shoes more than the blackberry. =)

BlackBerry lays off 250 employees

I wonder if Alicia Keys was among them, Iā€™m sure she needs the job.

Going private sounds like a good move.

BTW, Iā€™ve played with a new Q10 and I was very impressed with the construction, I especially liked the faux carbon fiber back cover.

Massive Layoff Says Itā€™s Over For Blackberry :frowning: