BlackBerry is all about Android this year
by Volker Weber
BlackBerry CEO John Chen said in an interview at CES in Las Vegas, that BlackBerry has no plans for new smartphones with BlackBerry 10 for this year. They are planning on releasing at least one more device with Android, possibly two.
I have talked about this before, and the interview strengthens my opinion, that BlackBerry 10 is now on life support. Blackberry will continue to sell devices with this operating system. The Classic seems to be very well received. They will also work on new versions of the software, to keep it fresh.
This is an interesting situation. The software works very well, the devices are more than adequate, so there really is no need to refresh either one. They're just doing their job. As long as you only need the software, that comes with the device, you are all set. Only if you want to add your own apps, you hit the app gap. Adding the Amazon store was a great idea, but it failed because Amazon failed to sell their own phone.
So now it is all Google. The PRIV is an excellent Android smartphone. I expect blackberry to Bring out a less ambitious device for may be half the price. And before the year is out, we will know if this plan is working or not. Blackberry's future is either on Android, or software-only.
Comments
If they'd ship the BlackBerry Classic with Android, BlackBerry Hub and Apps that handle Cal-/CardDAV, PGP and S/MIME by default they'll find a loyal customer for years to come.
Seriously.
You have to take a look at the PRIV. That is the software you're going to get. I have no idea what the hardware would look like, but I imagine the device to be very similar to the Classic. No slider, and less ambitious screen, but the keyboard.
It's an at least interesting situation for both BlackBerry and their customers. The customers need certainty of using a modern and up-to-date smartphone by a professional vendor like Blackberry. Therefore I miss a clear statement of the management that they not only stand for their own OS but also really support it for the near and far future.
For Blackberry it's like a learning process this year -- how the users react, how they digest the parallel development of Android and BlackBerry devices.
Until now I can't imagine to turn to Android, I'm just too disappointed from the past experience. iOS is probably heading in the right direction concerning privacy, usability and data security. Maybe this is my choice from 2018 on (hoping BBOS10 is surviving until then).
BlackBerry has announced two more revisions of BlackBerry 10: 10.3.3 and 10.3.4
