Black Sheep Blackberry Blackballed By Business 349
Hugh Pickens writes "Nicole Perlroth writes that the BlackBerry, once proudly carried by the high-powered and the elite, has become a magnet for mockery and derision from those with iPhones and the latest Android phones. as Research in Motion clings to less than 5 percent of the smartphone market — down from a dominating 50 percent just three years ago. One of the first steps Marissa Mayer took as Yahoo's newly appointed chief executive to remake the company's stodgy image was to trade in employees' BlackBerrys for iPhones and Androids and although BlackBerrys may still linger in Washington, Wall Street and the legal profession, in Silicon Valley they are as rare as a necktie. BlackBerry outcasts say that, increasingly, they suffer from shame and public humiliation as they watch their counterparts mingle on social networking apps that are not available to them, take higher-resolution photos, and effortlessly navigate streets — and the Internet — with better GPS and faster browsing."
So fucking what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Stupid people like to tease me for liking Star Trek and the Misfits. Fuck them, it's what *I* like that matters to me. If you switch phones because your old one isn't cool enough, you're a dipshit and deserved the mockery you were getting in the first place.
Re:So fucking what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So fucking what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
But they dont. Android and iPhone utterly crush the BB in "business email".
the BB is an exercise in frustration with email. android Jelly Bean's email client is a dream compared to the BB. Oh and it works great with our company exchange server, no nasty useless poorly written BB server in the back office that everyone hated to deal with.
Re:So fucking what? (Score:5, Informative)
But they dont. Android and iPhone utterly crush the BB in "business email".
Absolute nonsense. Lets do a comparison. And btw, Im sure ill get called a shill for this, but I post it because Im absolutely furious that I traded my bold 9650 for a Motorola Admiral, which might be the worst business phone ever despite having 2.3.7 android and a full qwerty keyboard.
Setup
Blackberry, the IT staff does their magic (basically, just auths a user's email address and generates a code). The user enters their email address, and a one time code. Thats it. Blackberry email is activated. Never have to worry about password changes, or SSL certs. Never have to worry about whether DNS name or email server changes (a refresh of the BES services will fix that immediately).
ActiveSync: User needs all sorts of stupid info: mail server address, mailbox name (some phones), mail password (a problem for some users who honestly dont know it), whether to use SSL, what parts of the mailbox to sync, retention period, etc. Also, it uses SSL, so if the cert is selfsigned or expired, have fun getting the phone to work. Also, will stop syncing when users password changes. Also, will stop syncing if you ever need to migrate email servers or change DNS name.
Usage
Blackberry: Has qwerty shortcuts for basically everything, so basically anything can be done one-handed. Recognizes phone numbers AND extensions in basically any context for rapid dialing. Hardware buttons for answering phone.
Android: Wants you to use touch for EVERYTHING (even if qwerty keyboard is present), which means 2-handed use. Has basically no keyboard shortcuts (for compose, reply, etc). Has problems with some extensions depending on vendor (my admiral can only recognize extensions with ###-###-####; ### format, which absolutely noone uses). Software buttons for answering phone-- which means input lag can cause you to miss your call (has happened several times to me).
Security
Blackberry: Uses per-device AES encryption. Devices support full storage and memory encryption. Only way to compromise a device is to get into that device, or else compromise the BES itself.
Android: Uses ActiveSync, which means SSL. Simply getting a CA to sign you a bogus cert for mail.targetcompany.com and doing some DNS poisoning is sufficient to perform a MITM on any and all phones for that organization. Bonus points when you go and check out what entities are on the trusted root authority list on all of those androids you deployed.
There are areas that Blackberry fails, I understand that; but in its core competencies Android is a poor replacement for Blackberry. Its problem is that it has accepted the mantra "touch input good, physical bad", which is great from a consumer media content but terrible from a "lets be productive" standpoint.
Bad IT Dept doesn't know how to setup Exchange (Score:5, Insightful)
Your explanation for setting up ActiveSync means the account you have is connected by an incompetent IT department.
Setting up an Android or an iPhone for Exchange needs only an email address and a password. There are at least 3 different means by which Autodiscover can be configured to take care of client device configuration. If your IT dept can't figure that out, what makes you think a BES server is within their capacity to manage?
Your shrill denunciation of SSL and the assumption that users are too stupid to use a password seems almost self-denigrating. You don't use SSL in any web app? You can't remember your corporate credentials? The iPhone might be too complicated for you.....
Finally, we see the issue - you have a phone you don' t like, so it must be someone else's fault. The phone you did like was designed and built by a company so incompetent they self-destructed. It must be someone else's fault. I'm starting to see a pattern here....
Regards,
Brian in CA
Re: (Score:3)
_I_ dont have problems remembering my web password, but apparently you dont do IT support in any capacity that has you dealing with users on a regular basis. Some of them-- particularly those who dont have to care because of their position-- have that problem.
From my own experience in IT support, those who don't have to care about not being able to remember their email password because of their position also are high enough that they don't set up their own devices - IT does it for them, or their executive assistant (or whoever normally handles their email for them so they don't have to log in and look at it themselves) does. For them, it doesn't matter how complicated the setup is, unless it's something that needs to be redone on a frequent basis.
(Indeed, tha
Re:Bad IT Dept doesn't know how to setup Exchange (Score:4, Informative)
As opposed to BlackBerry, where we know that some governments have access to at least some emails sent to/from blackberries.
Actually, we don't know that. Are you possibly confusing BIS with BAS? It's a little like the situation with Java vs JavaScript: RIM runs twoBlackberry services, one of which is a hosted email system, Blackberry Internet Service (BIS), on a par with Gmail and Hotmail but accessible by Blackberry devices, which is indeed intercepted by some governments in which it's located. Blackbery Enterprise Service, on the other hand, is a server which is located on your corporation's own LAN and theoretically is not crackable even by RIM, as it uses AES encryption end-to-end. And it's BES that most corporates will be using, not BIS.
Now I say theoretically because there is an additional wringle: even with a private BES server, all your emails are sent not just over the Internet but through RIM's own Blackberry routing servers, so they do have access to an encrypted copy of everything you send. That means your security really does depend on how well they've implemented AES and that there really truly are no backdoors. And it's close-source software so of course nobody can verify this. If there were backdoors - even just "the NSA runs a huge server farm / quantum computer and brute forces your cipher" - then, yes, your corporate mail would be readable by RIM and whoever they chose to give that data to. They of course swear blind that there are no backdoors in BES. But, then again, that's exactly what they would say if .gov had got to them, wouldn't they? And RIM is the preferred contractor for the US military and White House, which means as a company they've got the potential and a very big incentive to comply with "special" cyberwarfare requests. So I'd tend to assume that everything you send via Blackberry is at least cached in encrypted form in an NSA server. As is everything you send through any US internet interconnect point (remember the wiretaps that were installed about five years back?) But maybe that's just my tinfoil talking.
But back this side of the rabbit hole, for most people, they're worried about "Blackberry" because they've completely confused BIS with BES, which is pretty silly, and that's solely because the tech press has created this confusion with their usual abysmal standards of reporting.
Re: (Score:3)
That was their BIS system, which is glorified activesync hosted by RIM. You hand your email OWA credentials to RIM, they push email to your blackberry.
It has absolutely zero bearing on their BES security, since with BES they are never in posession of either the master key or the derived device keys.
Its wonderful that ignorance like this gets modded up, however.
Source (among many):
http://crackberry.com/rim-encryption-keys [crackberry.com]
The only people capable of such access are the corporate customers in control of the ac
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I will repeat: Your post displays ignorance about BIS vs BES, and how blackberries work in general.
The ONLY emails they have access to are the ones you are EXPLICITLY giving them the login details to. That is, NOT BES.
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India has been on RIMs case for the last several years to get access to their system. RIM caved and gave them BIS access, but of course cannot grant BES access-- which has india still rather pissed off.
I also have to deal with securing systems going to areas of the world where the gov't is all too happy to forge SSL certs to spy on folks. You can call me paranoid, but these are issues I have to deal with. SSL is a problem, and if you dont understand that you simply havent been paying attention.
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Hello BlackBerry GIVES the government the keys tot he kingdom. ALL your BlackBerry traffic is in the clear unencrypted for the government.
Utterly wrong. If you are using BIS, yes, that probably gets spied on. If youre using BES, it is not technically possible for RIM to hand anything to anyone since they do not have the encryption keys.
Re:So fucking what? (Score:5, Informative)
Sounds like you need to update your OS. I have both Android and iOS mobile devices and they are able to automatically configure themselves with the exchange server. It even tries to find the exchange server based on your email address. Besides this is a one-time configuration issue and not enough to complain about.
Blackberry has its share of exploits. One was demonstrated at Pwn2Own which exploited the browser of a BB Torch 9800. This exploit could be used to install Flexispy. There was also a talk at DefCon 2006 where the BB could be exploited to get access to the internal LAN of the corporation.
My point being that don't be so smug about the security of your device. There are exploits out there.
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Besides this is a one-time configuration issue and not enough to complain about.
....Unless you need to migrate one user to a different exchange server at a different DNS address.
Everyone here is right that there are ways of dealing with how finicky ActiveSync is, but it is more finicky than BES. It needs to know where the server is, what mailbox to use, what your mailbox password is, and it needs a valid cert. If ANY of that EVER chances, good by syncing.
BES needs none of that. Once its connected, its connected. Justify it all you want, BES is simply less finicky.
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Is this a bad thing or an inconvenient thing? Having a mobile device that is always able to connect despite any configuration change on the server may be convenient but not necessarily a good thing. If the server certificate ever c
What about the iPhone... (Score:4, Informative)
Some of your information was wrong in regards to Android, but others have corrected you there... a few points though where you are wrong on iPhone:
1) iOS is easily remotely configured by the enterprise, a user pretty much just needs the password THAT THEY LOG INTO WORK WITH EVERY DAY.
2) I can type one-handed on an iPhone too, it's not that hard. It also recognizes phone numbers including international formats. There is also ZERO LAG for pressing the software button for answering the phone. You should have bought a faster device I guess.
3) The iPhone has the same levels of on-device security without your data all having to go through a server in Canada. BES is a 24x7 man in the middle attack that you pay Blackberry for.
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Same here. Indeed, I've had it happen a couple of times that I press the "Answer" button, get no reaction, and think that maybe I didn't make good contact with the screen, so I move to press it again... and then, as my finger is moving, it picks up, and I now press the "End Call" button, which conveniently goes right across where "Answer" was before.
Re:So fucking what? (Score:5, Informative)
To be fair, they will always have a market. It'll just be an extremely limited market of companies whose people need to be mobile and not using phones, yet still able to send and receive urgent messages. One example I know of offhand is Disney's theme parks, where supervisors carry Blackberry devices only for emergency emails while they're out in public. The supervisors can't waste time playing games, yet they can still call 911 and stay up-to-date on the status of the resort. The Blackberry devices look professional and do exactly what's needed, and nothing more.
Re:So fucking what? (Score:5, Insightful)
You should read the article. It was attacking the functionality of the BB as a business tool as well: mapping, not having all the messaging features, and client's having a low opinion of it. I don't think things are really that bad for BB but this is the NYTimes, so you can't just blow the article off.
Re:So fucking what? (Score:4, Insightful)
just because it's the NYT doesn't make it informative,
reliable or anything else. isn't this the same place that
mocks correlation == causation?
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Google maps on my blackberry worked just fine. Im really not sure what their issue was. Its honestly more infuriating on my Android because it doesnt have keyboard shortcuts for next/previous turn -- only touch screen controls-- which makes it kind of hard/dangerous to use while driving. And actually my old blackberry retained a lock better since they also used tower triangulation. My android tends to lose its lock sometimes, unless I stick it on my dashboard.
As for messaging, they mentioned social netw
BB vs Android / iPhone (Score:3)
I had no problems with google maps on BB either, though the touch screen controls for zooming are very intuitive and faster than the mouse. I've never used the BB in place of a GPS.
Oh boo hoo, how will business proceeed without facebook?
Facebook is kinda important to a lot of business, talk to someone in PR. But more important are things like Linkedin for HR or sourcing. Twitter is becoming a regular source of information. There are also all sorts of business oriented networks like Jive.
Blackberr
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Coal miners, sanitation engineers and police officers get paid a lot more than their skills would demand because of the unpleasantness of their work.
I've not known coal miners to be making that much cash. In these parts they can stand to make $33,600 topped out and starting around $26500. So that's a spread of $12.75 per hour to $16.15 per hour, with the usual pay increase $0.05 to $0.10 per hour per year.
Additionally, I think you place very little value on their skill. Most miners are using pretty advance machinery which have complex displays that show gas concentrations, slurry input/output, core rotor tempature, coolant inflow, rotor RPM, and s
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iPhone email is way ahead of blackberry now. Has been for a few years
Buggy BES servers are hated by IT
Re:So fucking what? (Score:4, Informative)
Whether or not the software is better, until an iPhone comes with a hardware keyboard, nuts to them!
Re: (Score:2)
Re:So fucking what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So fucking what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So fucking what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Other phones are *better* business tools, if you're in a business that has more to it then just email and IM. There's quite a lot of business that falls into that category.
We're looking at giving field staff phones when they do their ice jam monitoring during the winter/spring, because it lets them have maps of their routes, take photos of the jam, and submit it all from the field. We're not considering Blackberries for this task, because they're so far behind current phones that they're just not up to the task.
Have a business where you can use apps to look at client data, market data, or any other kind of data? BB is a bad phone for it.
Sorry folks, but "we do email best!" doesn't cut it anymore.
Re: (Score:2)
so...
what does ice jam taste like?
(relax, i'm joking, but it would be interesting to know what kind of work this is: ice floes on the great lakes/ some river somewhere? what is this work place, army corp of engineers?)
Re: (Score:3)
It's along a river, for government. In a nutshell people have a part of the river they can go along and from up on a bridge or at a safe distance from the riverbank, look out at the ice at pre-determined locations to see what's going on. The current method has things being written down, photos taken, then sent in when they get home or to a computer somewhere.
If we can have a phone app that lets people submit directly from the field, it's both easier for the users and much more timely for the flood forecaste
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Maybe on the client side.. But having to build and maintain a server just for you phones to talk to your exchange server is a bit silly. Everyone else has moved to activesync. Encryption, forced security poicies, etc. (which BES has too, and used to be its strengths) but is now built into exchange, zarafa, gmail (and their apps hosted email) and other email servers.
Not to mention that weird "all your data goes to our servers in Canada first" thing.
Re:So fucking what? (Score:5, Interesting)
Business email may have a few different requirements (security and all that), but functionally it really isn't all that different from private email. Perhaps that is why people expect their phones to handle both kinds of email in the same manner. BB does this, but apparently other smartphones do a better job. At my client's office, managers have a corporate BB but can also get their business email and calendar on their iPhone or Android. Most of them have ditched the BB as a result, and keep in mind that these aren't your most geeky users; their primary use for their phone is making calls, checking appointments, and reading email.
I am seeing the same trend in other areas of IT as well: what's on the consumer market is often far better than what we're using in business... and there really are few good reasons why we shouldn't have the same stuff in business either.
Email and messaging are no longer enough (Score:5, Interesting)
If you want a no nonsense device with a physical keyboard and superior email and message handling, a BB is still the best.
"No nonsense"? Have you actually used a Blackberry? They do a few things rather well but overall they are almost obnoxiously annoying to use. I'll take any of the better Android phones or an iPhone over any Blackberry any day of the week. My mother uses a fairly recent BB and good grief is it irritating. Oh it can email fine but heaven forbid you want to do anything besides messaging with it including changing settings.
You also have to remember that the devices it is competing against are general purpose computers which happen to be able to make calls. The BB still is in a world where email is the so-called killer app. Things have changed and just email isn't enough anymore. Even if we concede that the BB is better at dealing with email and messaging, the difference is marginal for most people. The advantages of the BB don't even come close to outweighing its deficiencies.
Re:So fucking what? (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe it's because I'm a Gen-Xer and I hate typing "were U at?" in emails, but I wish my iPhone and my BlackBerry had gone away for a dirty weekend and I'd wound up with the offspring.
Congratulations! Your wish has been granted and you are now the proud owner of a touch-only Blackberry!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Indeed.
Of all the things a person can be mocked for.. their choice in smart phone.. really!
Either way, article missed the core reason. RIM created an identity as a "business" phone, which is inherently uncool. They were good at this. What they apparently didn't count on (and hindsight is always 20/20) was their business customers having "cool" phones for home use.. and seeing their blackberry as their "boring work phone". Only a matter of time before one says "why the hell can't I just use my iphone for wor
Re:So fucking what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Which incidentally is exactly why Microsoft is so worried about Android and iOS becoming the consumer standard for desktop / laptop. That is why their Win8 strategy makes sense, they don't want to be in RIM's position in 2022.
Re: (Score:2)
Which incidentally is exactly why Microsoft is so worried about Android and iOS becoming the consumer standard for desktop / laptop. That is why their Win8 strategy makes sense, they don't want to be in RIM's position in 2022.
They should wish to be in RIM's position. Microsoft Phone OS is not looking healthy and from Q3 Nokia Financial Statements...the main supplier of Phones its all bad news, and they deserve it.
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Microsoft's position happens to include a pretty strong desktop PC business, I'm pretty sure their position is better then RIM's right now.
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Microsoft's position happens to include a pretty strong desktop PC business, I'm pretty sure their position is better then RIM's right now.
You do know this Article is about about Phones...and Coolness. I think your post is more off-topic than I have ever seen one.
Re: (Score:2)
The post was an analogy, what's happening to RIM on phone is what could be happening in a decade to Microsoft on PC. As far as sales I think RIM is about 3:1 over Microsoft.
Re:So fucking what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Which incidentally is exactly why Microsoft is so worried about Android and iOS becoming the consumer standard for desktop / laptop. That is why their Win8 strategy makes sense, they don't want to be in RIM's position in 2022.
Bad analogy. RIM didn't have the advantage of massive legacy lock-in. The reason people use Windows isn't that it is better than Linux or OSX in some platonic sense; it's because Windows runs everything they have, and the other desktop OSes don't. The fact that just about everyone in the business world is trained on Windows (and usually not on Linux or OSX) also helps.
Microsoft's position is a lot more secure than RIM's, and their Windows 8 strategy is actually a threat to that position because it alienates their core demographics.
Re:So fucking what? (Score:4, Funny)
Stupid people like to tease me for liking Star Trek and the Misfits. Fuck them, it's what *I* like that matters to me. If you switch phones because your old one isn't cool enough, you're a dipshit and deserved the mockery you were getting in the first place.
Fitting in is important, although liking Star Trek which is pretty mainstream getting you teased is really surprising. I think perhaps you shouldn't cosplay all the time.
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed, he walks around dressed as Captian Kirk and wears a misfits skullcap. It would not be so bad but he refuses to talk normal and is constantly asking for scotty to beam him up...
It all depends which Star Trek (Score:5, Funny)
Whether you deserve mockery depends on which Star Trek you like:
Same with old phones, the first people to use a real useful smartphone were the Nokia communicator users. Then for the people who found that to hard to use, the blackberry was invented.
Then the iPhone came along for those who didn't have any real use for them apart from playing flavor of the day games. How many slicing games does a platform need anyway?
But at least your not a windows phone user.
There is always a pecking order and always someone at the bottom. Windows phone users and Enterprise watchers are the equivalent of the dead half cannibalized chicken at your local factory farm. McNuggets.
Queue this post being modded down by a future McNugget.
Re:It all depends which Star Trek (Score:5, Funny)
I am a HUGE Star Trek nerd, but I always got grossed out when that dude's dad cut his hand off at the end of the second movie.
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Maybe once the market share gets low enough, these asshats can just don some thick-rimmed glasses and claim to be hipsters using thier BBs ironically.
*eyeroll*
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You really think it means nothing that a CEO of a major corporation(and countless other CEOs and business leaders) do something like this? I know, not to you personally, obviously, but this is how trends and perceptions are started and propagated. The story is about how screwed RIM is, and I think this is a valid thing for them to be worried about. Sure, RIM might possibly survive as a hardcore business technology if they get their act together and focus on that rather than poorly attempting to be 'cool'
Re: (Score:3)
Star Trek? I get that. It's campy, but you can have fun with that.
The Misfits... pffft... What I want to know is, what planet are Nickleback fans from? Go to the Nickleback Facebook page and see which of your "friends" actually clicked on the Like button - it is very highly correlated with the douche-bags on your Friends list.
Re: (Score:2)
Star Trek? I get that. It's campy, but you can have fun with that.
The Misfits... pffft... What I want to know is, what planet are Nickleback fans from? Go to the Nickleback Facebook page and see which of your "friends" actually clicked on the Like button - it is very highly correlated with the douche-bags on your Friends list.
The irony of your comment its the same elitist crap as is make out in the article...and you fell for it. Seriously in today's world Nickleback come across as talented musicians. Why would ANYONE hate them unless they were told to. I don't own or like their music, but I recognise that I am repeatedly told that I should dislike them. The sad fact is I see more people with posts like yours than "I saw this really great band you should check them out" and there is outside the charts an awful lot of talent.
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I agree. Blackberries are good handsets. No longer state of the art, and they can't play Temple Run (as far as I know :), but I have found them to be superior to Android phones when it comes to doing the basics like making phone calls, taking simple notes, and the like. They're closer to the Palm Pilot PDA approach than are touch-screen smartphones, and they are just made for doing simple PDA tasks very quickly and effortlessly. And it's worth noting that they had NFC in their handsets a couple of years
Grow a pair (Score:3, Insightful)
honestly, if you "suffer from shame and public humiliation" because of your phone, you need to grow a spine
Re:Grow a pair (Score:5, Insightful)
honestly, if you "suffer from shame and public humiliation" because of your phone, you need to grow a spine
A phone is not just a phone...It hasn't been for a long time. Apple would be out of business if that was true. Phones are Jewellery and have been for a long time. The other side of the coin is why shouldn't I have a nice phone, that I'm proud of and can show off. I worked for it!
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...and you continue to work for it as the phone plan costs $100/mo.
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I'm not going to defend wasting that kind of money, because I have a $30/month plan. But do you really think an executive is sweating $100/month? That's like 1/7 of a BMW payment and 1/40 of a McMansion payment. You can hardly get a decent bottle of wine with dinner for that.
(the wine bit was sarcasm)
Re: (Score:2)
Or maybe just get a phone that lets you do everything you want to do.
RIM phones are nowhere near as capable as the competition, and until fanboys get that through their heads the company is going nowhere.
Re: (Score:2)
Grow a pair... spine
Well, yes. If you grow a pair of spines, you will look like a badass Dr Octopus and no one would dare mock you for your phone.
Ugh. (Score:5, Funny)
The annoying alliteration in the headline makes me need to acquire an avalanche of aspirin.
RIM Fan here (Score:5, Informative)
- I love the keyboard!
- Unified inbox; everything is in one spot.
- Different modes; EG: when I go to bed I have a mode called "bedtime" that only alerts me if something important from someone important comes in.
- Contact based alerts. So during the day when I'm at work my phone will only "ring" if it's my mom (she has cancer, so lay off) or my wife (only calls if it's important, sends a text otherwise).
- Canadian company. Home country pride
Yes there is a lack of apps and yes, the Java based OS does sometimes show me the lovely hourglass but for me, it works.
As for other phones, I have looked but not willing to move at this time. I am very excited for BB10 and hope it will allow RIM to mount some kind of comeback.
I have never been randomly made fun of for my phone. Sure friends and co-workers will sometimes poke fun; but it's people I know.
Finally; it's just a phone people - there are bigger things in life to worry about.
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My first-generation iPhone still works (mostly). If I want a reaction, I just swap the SIM into it and bust that thing out.
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I've got an Android, had the Nokia E71x, and also have a Blackberry Bold 9900. Hands down the 9900 is my favorite phone out of the bunch, the E71x being my second favorite - the major difference is that the E71x doesn't have a touch screen.
For me I don't need some pop culture device with a ton of apps. I primarily need a phone that works as a phone and secondary one that can receive email. The main app I use is Pandora which is on there. Also, "How to Tie a Tie" comes in handy when you're like me and tie th
Long Time BB user here. (Score:3)
I was forced to use a BB for work for years. I have a shoebox full of useless BBs that I can't even sell.
BB OS 10 won't run on your 9900. You can add it to your shoebox.
The camera, keyboard and call quality was nice. The MDM set the bar for the industry.
The industry passed the last of BB's advantages some time in 2011. There are much better devices out there now. Get an iPhone, it will not only have a better camera, microphone and display, but Apple won't abandon it next year. Your skills and k
RIM is doomed - probably (Score:3)
- I love the keyboard!
Personal preference but nothing wrong with that. I used to prefer a physical keyboard but then I realized it is just a whole bunch more stuff that can (and does) break. I don't really miss not having a physical keyboard and I do like not having to carry the extra bulk of one around. Personal preference however and I get the appeal of a physical keyboard.
- Unified inbox; everything is in one spot.
- Different modes; EG: when I go to bed I have a mode called "bedtime" that only alerts me if something important from someone important comes in.
- Contact based alerts. So during the day when I'm at work my phone will only "ring" if it's my mom (she has cancer, so lay off) or my wife (only calls if it's important, sends a text otherwise).
I can do all of this on an iPhone and I'm pretty sure most of the better Android phones as well.
- Canadian company. Home country pride :)
You're proud of using an inferior product just because it
WTF is this world coming to (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:WTF is this world coming to (Score:5, Insightful)
WTF is this world coming to if someone can be "shamed and humiliated" because of what type of phone they have?
The need to define a hierarchy based on shame and humiliation(and if that fails, good, wholesome, violence) appears to be older than humanity, if research on our adorable monkey colleagues is anything to go by). The precise means are historically contingent and practically irrelevant, so long as something is available.
Re:WTF is this world coming to (Score:5, Funny)
( ) )
Your parentheses are mismatched; your argument is invalid.
Re:WTF is this world coming to (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah kids never made fun of other kids because of their clothes or bike.
Re:WTF is this world coming to (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah kids never made fun of other kids because of their clothes or bike.
If this were kids in the playground I'd agree. This is talking about representatives of major companies though!
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So, just as mean and feral; but without the excuse of youthful stupidity...
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Where you think those kids end up 15 years later?
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WTF is this world coming to if someone can be "shamed and humiliated" because of what type of phone they have?
I got laughed at the other day because I still use a 5 year old Razr flip phone. But it works for me and as I am pretty well always in front of a computer I rarely need any smart phone apps. Plus my yearly phone bill is probably only 2 months worth of a hipsters' data plan.
Re:WTF is this world coming to (Score:5, Insightful)
While one might be tempted to blame some specific group like 'hipsters', it is a pretty pervasive behavior that pretty much every subculture is guilty of.
Re:WTF is this world coming to (Score:4, Interesting)
WTF is this world coming to if someone can be "shamed and humiliated" because of what type of phone they have?
People were shamed and humiliated by the sneakers they wore in the 80's.
Shame and humiliation over points of differentiation between people has been going on as long as there's been people.
Hell, most life does it. You wouldn't get natural selection if you didn't have one life form looking down on others for one thing or another. "Oh, your feathers aren't poofy enough, you must be a lousy father!"
First World Problems... (Score:5, Insightful)
Can we agree that anybody who experiences "public shame and humiliation" about their cell phone should be reassigned to some ghastly corner of nowhere where they can feel 'public shame and humiliation' over how many goats they own? And, of course, anybody inflicting public shame and humiliation over cellphones should be reassigned to be one of the goats in said ghastly corner of the world?
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Reminds me of when the Motorola RAZR came out. It was a revolution in terms of size and general look and feel. It was a kind of slick that no one has ever seen before and I wanted one badly!
Well... I never got one... time went by, I had whatever it was I had at different times... my life is no better or worse for not having had that phone.
I've got Galaxy S2 now and have been eyeing the S3... but you know? I'm starting to rethink that too. Perhaps the Google Nexus would be better for me. With all this a
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Reminds me of when the Motorola RAZR came out. It was a revolution in terms of size and general look and feel. It was a kind of slick that no one has ever seen before and I wanted one badly!
Well... I never got one... time went by, I had whatever it was I had at different times... my life is no better or worse for not having had that phone.
Unless you had ended up with one of the later ones, your life is probably better for not owning it. The early ones had incredibly poor radio reception. And let's face it, that particular software stack was canned crap. I spent quite a bit of time hacking triplets and RAZRs up and it was a big waste of it.
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Depends. It's hard to tell how opportunity costs are figured in. You may never need a iPhone. On the other hand, it does have functionality that certain older phones do not. That may be useless to you until you figure out what you might use it for, and then, it might become irreplaceable. Also, the ability to join a large group using a popular device may mean that you gain positive network effects. There are good reasons that being popular is so... popular.
If you're an Amish farmer, you can get along
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Can we agree that anybody who experiences "public shame and humiliation" about their cell phone should be reassigned to some ghastly corner of nowhere where they can feel 'public shame and humiliation' over how many goats they own? And, of course, anybody inflicting public shame and humiliation over cellphones should be reassigned to be one of the goats in said ghastly corner of the world?
Or we could say. Not every problem should not be compared to poor survival rates of infants in the third world, or the lack of clean water. In fact I'm a little tired of this tasteless pop comment appearing everywhere.
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Can we agree that anybody who experiences "public shame and humiliation" about their cell phone should be reassigned to some ghastly corner of nowhere where they can feel 'public shame and humiliation' over how many goats they own? And, of course, anybody inflicting public shame and humiliation over cellphones should be reassigned to be one of the goats in said ghastly corner of the world?
Cell phone penetration is as high, or higher, in the 3rd world as the first world -- because much of those countries never had hard line infrastructure.
And, clearly based on RIM's sales numbers, people in the 3rd world don't want them either.
Why iPhone for business? (Score:2)
Exchange support is fantastic.
Meeting alerts rock, calendar is big and easy to manage.
Multiple email account support, unified or separate.
Video conference and Skype support. Webex support.
Games. Sometimes you just need a few minutes of downtime.
If you *need* to take notes, bring a laptop or a pen and paper. Any phone keyboard is deficient
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This is half-assed IMHO. I've used an iPhone for several years now and still one of my biggest pet peeves is the single signature block that is global to all email accounts (this is a PITA if your work requires some standard boilerplate garbage that must be on every email but you really don't want that crap on your personal emails as well). They finally did do one thing right and break up / allow assignment o
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iPhone has per-account sigs.
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Of the three (Score:4, Interesting)
I used a Blackberry since I got to my place of work 5 years ago. A few months ago it was traded in for an Android RAZR. On the personal front, I bought an iPhone 3GS 2 or 3 years ago.
For consistent reliable access to company e-mail and alerts from the monitoring system, the Blackberry wins hands down no question. On the Android, we've had alerts not show up for hours and at other times, the alerts repeat every few minutes. The Blackberry is inherently part of the system for getting e-mail. On the Android I have to use a third party app ("Good"). If the app bails, I don't get any further e-mail until I log back in to the app. The Blackberry would last 5 days without having to charge it. I have to plug in the Android phone every single morning. And the battery's anywhere from 5% to 90% charged when I plug it in. At 5% it takes 4 hours or so to charge back up to "Charged".
The thing I dislike about both the iPhone and the Android are the virtual keyboards. Nothing is more frustrating for me than having to look at the damned keyboard while I type and still I get garbage in the message. Even worse, on the iPhone the autocompletion can be so frustrating that I have to put the phone away or I'll throw it as far as I can. I've bounced it off the carpet more than once over the past year. The Blackberry had an actual keyboard and I seldom made the mistakes I make on the Android/iPhone devices.
Back after I got the Blackberry, I was thinking about getting one for personal use. I kept putting it off because I had such a hard time surfing the 'net. Having to spin the little ball and press on it to click was annoying, not always staying where I pointed when I clicked so I'd click on some different link. And that's assuming I could even get to the site. It's the primary reason I went with the iPhone. The web surfing worked so much better than the Blackberry. And I was able to get all my e-mail in one place.
But you know, on the Blackberry, work e-mail and SMS alerts worked with very few issues. If I had my choice right now, I'd go back to my old Blackberry.
[John]
Herd Mentality: baa, baa, baa (Score:3)
I'm really not impressed with the sudden emphasis on gadget trendiness and 'cool' factor, implying Blackberries are less cool and thus to be shunned like clamydia or herpes sores.
You know when I stopped carrying my Palm Tungsten? Last week. That's right, about 7 days ago. Old? Yes. Perfectly functional, useful, and integrated into my daily system for staying organized? Absolutely. I upgraded to a "hot/awesome/trendy/fantastic" Google Nexus 7 tablet, and though it does some things better it does some other things worse.
So I'm not overly concerned about how tech pundits feel about Blackberry today. I use a BB for work and admit I wish it had better apps. But I love that keyboard (I have trouble with the Nexus 7 touchscreen keyboard even when I use a stylus and truly fail to see the attraction of a screen with greasy fingerprints all over it), and nothing tops it for email.
Pundits suck. I think the Android phones are fun and useful and do all sort of neat things that BBs don't. But that doesn't mean BB should just piss off and die. And I don't appreciate the attempt in convincing consumers that's the case.
Trolls (Score:2)
This whole post should tagged "Irrelevant socalled news" and moderated to "-5 Trolls feast here".
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Slashdot would be a better place with that moderation. You made me laugh, thank you.
Get off my lawn! (Score:4, Funny)
The Blackberry is a great moving telephone, I don' t know what they're talking about. I can reads all my emails too, which is a bonus on a phone these days -- can't do that on the office or home phone. Very rugged, too, I dropped mine while adjusting the rabbit ears on my 24" big screen TV (still can't pull in a signal worth a damn anymore), and it didn't break. I hear you can even surfs the internets with the Blackberry, though I'm not sure just what people see in all that.
Oh please (Score:3)
That is nothing compared to ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Too big to fail (Score:4, Interesting)
effortlessly navigate streets? (Score:3)
Perhaps for those iPhone users who haven't upgraded to iOS 6?
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Actually, since marketing affects so many other departments, being seen with a blackberry is currently a way to become an instant pariah.
If I was hiring for example, your out-of-date and out-of-touch phone would be a hindrance to me hiring you and force you to answer more questions than the next guy.
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Not sure if you're being serious or not, but if so, no wonder the the current business world is so screwed up. It seems to be just a childish high-school popularity contest all over again. And IME, many business-people are the most childish, vindictive people I've ever met.
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Its nice to see that the type of phone a person has reflects on their ability to do their jobs. I figured most jobs would be supplying phones if they mattered that much.
I have a hacked Driod phone. It is a model or two behind the current phones on the market but does more then most the current models. Whats that say about my job skills or employment prospects?
hmm.. I wonder if the type of car I drive would be a hindrance, what abut the color of my girlfriends hair?
Re:What a stupid article (Score:4, Insightful)
1) Except for that time that the entire European Blackberry base couldn't send or receive email for several days because it was all routed through one datacenter (even if you used a local Exchange connector, I believe) and there was a "data incident" that took WEEKS for them to catch up properly with normal email delivery for an entire continent? (Nothing to do with connectivity or the hardware itself, just the stupid idea of routing ALL email through a central server!)
Because that's what killed my employer's use of Blackberry from that day onwards.
2) The best tool for business is generally the best tool full stop. I'm not aware of many areas of technology where consumer/business versions aren't pretty much identical unless you're doing something quite serious - and that's a different matter. The majority of "business" is NOT huge corporations with thousands of employees.
Mobile phones, for example, were always consumer items until BB turned up. They got used in business. They were so popular that people offered business packages. And now BB is dying because all consumer phones can do what the BB can do.
Because that's what my employer did when the contract for the BB phones came up for renewal - they evaluated it, ditched it, went consumer, and never had any problems or missing features. They actually saved money at no loss.
3) You think your employees aren't surfing anyway? Sure you can chain them to the desk and enforce a "no-mobiles" rule, and block everything online, but you won't make a happier or more productive staff by doing so.
Whereas if you just open it up but say "on your head be it, and don't let it interfere with work", there's no expensive and resource-intensive management required, your staff will be happy that they can check that little Jimmy got to the doctors okay with his grazed knee without worrying, they'll be able to do what they want in lunch-hour anyway and you can STILL sack them if they don't do the work you require in a reasonable timeframe (which is the ONLY metric worth bothering with).
Though I agree that work is a place for work, I'd die in a place that wouldn't let me show others a picture of my kid from Facebook while I'm chatting at lunchtime, or log in to check my delivery status on my Christmas order just before the end of the day to see if I can drive straight home or need to drive 20 miles out of my way to pick up a parcel before leaving or, hell, just do things like add things to my personal calendar or sort out family "emergencies" (like Jimmy's left his school shoes at home but only I know where they are).
Sure, I can do that some other time. And I do. But I also do "work" stuff on my own time too and getting strict about that border actually works AGAINST my employers. Vastly.
The company that treats its employees like the enemy is like the customer services department that treats its callers like the enemy. Costing you more to do less and making everyone miserable in the process.
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Actually, I would hire a contractor to do the work and expect him to farm out the work to subcontractors to do the parts he cannot. Usually these subs are brought in at the lowest bid the contractor can find to get the job finished on time while passing inspection.
A phone seems to fit this model just fine.