Bye, Bye BlackBerry
By Lynne Bell
The recent news that BlackBerry is canning its Classic smartphone model has brought both howls of protests and howls of laughter, from fans and detractors respectively.
Long time Blackberry loyalists mourned the loss of the Classic's QUERTY keyboard, with CNN's business correspondent, Richard Quest tweeting his “love” for his BlackBerry Classic “with its real qwerty keyboard'” and comparing the end of the Classic with “the end of civilization.”
Others have served up cutting jibes on Twitter, such as: “If you still own and use a BlackBerry Classic, let me know and I'll gladly give you a tour of 2016,” and “BlackBerry has dropped the Classic model from its line-up. This is bad news for its user base, Steve Lewis of Burlington, Ontario.”
Ouch!
Fans of the Classic say the phone's traditional QUERTY keyboard made speed typing easy and as an added bonus, the format made cringe-worthy autocorrect fails almost impossible.
Fervent supporters of brand BlackBerry also cited the company's commitment to user security, which made it a favourite among users in the government and business worlds, to name two.
What went wrong for the once-proud Canadian company is a story that would more than fill this entire newspaper, but part of the company's problems are dismal sales and a distinct lack of apps. And although the iPhone was first dismissed as a toy by BlackBerry users when it made its debut, it's tough to defend a so-called smartphone that can no longer support an app for something as ubiquitous as Facebook.
As a former Blackberry user, there are things I miss besides the QUERTY keyboard. The commitment to user security and product quality were cornerstones of BlackBerry's business model.
And it's sad to see a once-proud Canadian company-and the jobs it created- reduced to a punchline.
I certainly haven't followed BlackBerry's decline obsessively (too busy playing with my iPhone...), but it's puzzling and more than a little disappointing to me that the company can't seem to recapture its glory days of innovation and commitment to its customer base.
According to the company's CEO and General Manager for Devices, Ralph Pini: “It's been an incredible workhorse device for customers, exceeding all expectations.”
This may not be the beginning of the end for BlackBerry, though. The company says it has plans to introduce two Android-powered smartphones within the year and adds that it won't rule out using its highly-touted and secure operating system (BB10) in conjunction with the proposed new devices.
Like many former users, I won't be trading in my current smartphone for BlackBerry. But like many Canucks, that won't stop me quietly rooting for this Canadian company to make a comeback.
Innovation and technology: never standing still
By Kelly Running
Technology is something that comes and goes. When I was little there was the Game Boy or the Game Gear, two similar items, but the Game Boy took off and the Game Gear (although mine still works) became a relic of the past.
The same things happen with gaming consoles… Nintendo managed to outlive Sega, while Playstation and Xbox manage to ebb and flow in sales. They have to keep themselves on the edge, constantly innovating and improving upon what they have. I know the graphics of the first Playstation were amazing for its time, but today the Playstation 4 has extremely realistic graphics. And I’m sure Xbox is the same, while Nintendo has also kept up. For me I like the Playstation console, it’s familiar, and I like their original games, so I tend to stick to that brand.
This corresponds to smartphones. There was a time that the cameras were all fairly cruddy, there were small screens, and there were T-9 keyboards – which let me tell you was weird at first but you got used to it. Before the T-9 keyboard you had to work for the letter you wanted, you want a “k” you better hit the “5” twice. Even in that, you became quick at texting as you came to just know where each letter was according to the middle key’s little protrusion, much like the home base while typing as “j” and “f” always have little bumps on them and as long as I’m there I don’t have to look to see which key I’m hitting. I just know what it is.
When smartphones first really took off there were two brands that seemed to be above the rest the iPhone and the BlackBerry. Recently it was announced that BlackBerry will be stopping the production of their Classic model. It was a model which boasted the QUERTY keyboard, BlackBerry Messaging, and a fairly easy to use interface. For those that had BlackBerry phones they loved them and although many are complaining the phone is gone… it really should have disappeared long ago. BlackBerry forgot to do the one thing that every other phone company is doing… keeping up with the times and staying on the edge of new discoveries.
You have BlackBerry Classic; you’re standing still while your competition is now talking about making a completely waterproof phone. If you carry your phone in your pocket then you sometimes wonder if anyone has lost it in the toilet when they go into the washroom or if they drop it in a puddle for some reason. They fell behind in innovations as other companies improved their camera features, offered larger phones (which to be honest I was happy with the size of the iPhone 4 – again more technology of mine that still works but just become obsolete).
And because I was hooked into iPhone, it simply has the most features that I like about a phone on the market, I only noticed about a year ago that maybe BlackBerry was falling behind when a BlackBerry user switched to Samsung. He used to make fun of my iPhone saying the screen would shatter or the battery was terrible (both of which I’ve personally had good luck with) and he would tell me how much better the BlackBerry was. So, when he made the switch it seemed a little odd to me.
Apparently BlackBerry hasn’t completely given up and will be marketing two new smartphones within the year, but I don’t know if they’ll be able to bring back their customer base unless they do something extremely unique. Nintendo was once the top gaming console, then it died down as Playstation and Xbox became the top dogs, but Nintendo was innovative and developed the Wii which sent them surging, headlong back into the race.
So, can the BlackBerry do something similar? Or has its time passed?
