RIM Unveils BlackBerry 10, Its Big Turnaround Hope 267
Nerval's Lobster writes "Research In Motion has whipped the curtain back from BlackBerry 10. The revamped operating system is widely perceived as RIM's best chance at staying relevant in a smartphone market dominated by Google Android and Apple's iOS. Once a significant player in mobility, RIM watched its earnings and market-share crumble over the past few years. BlackBerry 10 abandons the longtime BlackBerry user interface, centered on grids of icons, in favor of one built on the same QNX technology that powers RIM's PlayBook tablet. The BlackBerry 10 home-screen offers 'live tiles' that dynamically refresh with updated information, and RIM is playing up how users can move between apps and alerts by swiping and flicking the screen. Other features include BlackBerry Balance, which divides the 'personal' and 'corporate' sides of the phone, as well as an updated BlackBerry Messenger. More details in the article."
RIM also announced they are rebranding themselves as BlackBerry. If you like pictures, omfglearntoplay sent in an article that delivers. Gimmicks of the launch include hiring Alicia Keys as their "Global Creative Director."
Re:Dominated by whom? (Score:4, Insightful)
technically HP, Dell and others sell a lot more computers than Apple. but the Mac business makes more PROFITS than everyone's PC business combined
market share is useless if you lose money on it
same with Android. only samsung is making any money. Moto, HTC and others are losing money or barely breaking even.
Speaking As A Canadian (Score:0, Insightful)
Please let this be a turnaround moment for RIM (now BlackBerry). The Canadian Pension Plan needs all the help it can get.
Re:Definitely a game changer (Score:1, Insightful)
In the long run (Score:5, Insightful)
market share is useless if you lose money on it
You forgot to add "... in the long run". Market share without profits can be very useful if the purpose is to drive other companies out of the market over a relatively short time period. Ask Amazon. However if a company is competing solely on price but cannot drive others out of the industry (think airline industry) then competition will drive most/all of the profits out of the industry. Apple doesn't compete primarily on price whereas Windows PC makers primarily do. If Apple were to dump OS X and sell Windows on their computers instead, their profit margins would evaporate faster than you could say "shareholder lawsuit". Same if they dumped iOS for Android.
RIM knows this and that is why they aren't going to Android. If they do there is nothing to make them stand out from Samsung, HTC and the rest and their profit margins are very likely to disappear.
Re:WTF is the point of BB Balance? (Score:1, Insightful)
If you get an IT job that requires a security clearance, it's very likely that you will have to deal with that "crazy dividing line." Corporate IT Security likes to be able to have full control over a device and its data when little things like national security are involved. One of the most reliable and less-intrusive ways to accomplish this is with some type of "personas" system, which has been successfully implemented by several different packages for many years.
This is not new.
Waaayyy to early to tell (Score:4, Insightful)
Their stock price says it all.
No it really doesn't. Their stock price is not based off of any fundamentals, merely opinion and short term speculation. Their competitive position has not changed and it remains unclear if consumers will buy their latest products in sufficient volume.
Last september/october it was around $6-$7 a share, now it is more than doubled.
So did SCO when they announced their lawsuit against IBM. Their stock price jumped and then steadily dropped as people realized they were doomed. Stock prices do not in the short term reflect objective facts about a company, merely opinion. If their stock continues to grow for the next 3 years then and only then will you have a valid argument.
Re:RIMfail (Score:4, Insightful)
The world doesn't wait for or revolve around the USA. If the UK carriers can launch tomorrow and Canadian carriers can launch in just a few days then there is no one to blame but the US carriers themselves.