Wow. They've bulit a 6" cell phone. For those of us old enough, we had those in the 80's.
Jokes aside, they built / copied a tablet + phone. And they can deliver it quicker and cheaper to developing markets before RIM can. RIM effectively has no base / niche anymore. They also just lost a patent suit to Nokia!!!
Here WERE the arguments FOR RIM 1 year ago:
1) Security (Apple and EVEN Android have managed to convince enough government agencies this is not an issue any longer)
2) BBM (pfft.....Whatsapp killed that 2 years ago)
3) the blinking LED (My note 2 has it.....no biggie, but BB fanbois clung to that one like grim death...and not even a patent issue!)
4) Strong presence and cache in the developing world (India, Indonesia, Middle East, South Africa)....(Really? Really? The Chinese will destroy RIM in those markets and Huawei is evidence of their progress)
5) physical QWERTY keyboard. (More of a preference thing now. Hasn't stopped Apple or Samsung nor hindered MS's emergence...The Z10 is just another bold/curve/Porsche BB and if those haven't stopped the bleeding the Z10 won't either. The Z10 is their to retain the die hards. The X10 is supposed to save RIM)
6) BES data plan ($40 + $10 licence / mo to RIM was once attractive to IT departments when PDA data plans were $100/mo, but now that PDA plans have been dropping through "retention" and competition in the market, and the rise of demand for LTE networks. RIM's $50/mo for a$z backward slow BES data management and painfully sluggish web browsing, streaming and attachment opening is actually now a rip off!) Anyone find a BB on LTE faster due to "better data management"? Or do LTE devices smoke every BB device out there? When business needs data fast, what good is slow cheap data streams? BES has now become RIM's bane!
So what exactly do RIM have going for them? QNX? What kind of garbage software takes 2 + years after acquisition to modify into a competitive OS? Could have started from scratch like Android and come up with a better system by now!
http://www.osnews.com/story/23134/Research_In_Motion_Buys_QNX_Software/
PS, QNX was already licensed to plethora of auto companies at the time of its acquisition. RIM has had virtually ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERO development or integration with car interfaces despite the potential!!!! RIM is mooching off the cache of QNX developers, while they themselves have done nothing with it! And I am tired of hearing how "stable" QNX is! It's nooooooooooooooooooot!!!! I have to reset my PB once a week because it stalls when video recording, stalls the web browser, stalls various Android apps, and so on....only to be met with a 4:30 restart cycle....and it doesn't even run a phone!!! You know how many times I have had to send back White Screen BB handsets in the 3 years my company forced them on us? 3 times in 3 years! So how exactly are they going to convince us that this new QNX, which is already unstable (as any other OS), on what has been traditionally inferior hardware, now pushed to maximum capacity (running LTE, smartphone, GPS, multimedia device) is going to be an improvement on any other system currently available?
Meanwhile the first commercially available Android version (1.0) was released in 2008 and has stomped all over QNX, BB, and iOS and been developing like wildfire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history
"Since April 2009, Android versions have been developed under a
codename and released in alphabetical order: Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), and Jelly Bean. As of 2012, over 400 million active devices use the Android OS worldwide"...SINCE 1 YEAR BEFORE QNX ACQUISITION BY RIM!!!!!!!!!!!! That's how far they have come!!!!! Again, what makes RIM think they can swim in this market?
So as I say, RIM at beeeeeeeeeeest will be competing for 3rd place scraps with MS in the Western Markets, and entering into a dog fight with the likes of Huawei in developing markets. As developing markets "develop" they aspire to the high end consumables of the West, and as such, targeting an Indian working class slum to market a $500 handset may sound like an "emerging market", but the Chinese and even Indian companies will cram $100 gadgets into those slums quicker and faster and offer the 3rd world working class the opportunity to imitate the West with affordable bootleg tech gear. When it comes to the elite of the developing world, well, Apple and Samsung, HTC, and so on already have RIM beat there.
No offence to Arabs....I am one....but the argument that the Middle East still thinks RIM is cool, is actually the kiss of death! Arabs produce and contribute nothing to the global market, let alone the tech industries! I wouldn't value any trend in the Middle East as being anything more than a sad last on the bandwagon final hurrah. The Middle Eastern market will happily consume whatever the West tosses their way, from weapons systems, to architecture, to cars, to jet fighters, to satellite TV, to pop culture, to tech gadgets!
Asians can out develop RIM in under 2 years and lead their own tech trends, as well as consume them!
Africa is no market to brag about....and the Chinese will be all over that way before RIM if they aren't already.
