Comments on: Developers see bleak BlackBerry future, use Android as a backup

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 12:32:22 +0000

As a mobile user experience designer focused on mobile e-commerce, which platforms comprise these 78 million devices? What technologies do these support. I see numbers where a third of the mobile customer base is 33%, but the traffic is less than 5%. That is simply my personal experience in one large company.

Designing for mobile requires an understanding of the development process and how the technologies are managed across device capabilities. I have recommended for several years to avoid BB efforts. One company agreed. One did not. The use case is negligible however.

When asked about why I would not design a mobile experience for BB, I generally ask the BB user to open a site on their device. The conversation usually stops.

By: 106alleyways

106alleyways — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 05:57:14 +0000

Hm, with Android and iphone leading in the markets Blackberry has been in trouble for quite awhile now. Going to get worst for them unfortunately with the ever increasing popularity of Galaxy S3 and iphone

By: Harry Minhas

Harry Minhas — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 09:46:16 +0000

That’s true kevin. But this growth is based on BlackBerry 7 devices weren’t as promising as BlackBerry 10. On Android activations, I agree it is growing rapidly. But one question, How much is Android making for Google since its launch. Haven’t seen any reports on revenue from the OS. If samsung & other partners decided to leave Android, things can change rapidly.

By: AK

AK — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 20:34:09 +0000

There is nothing to suspect in that as RIM explicitly mentions that and infact, that is a selling point for BB10 platform. Less developers so more money. The other things is that surveys are not always representational for the large population – even though thats how they need to be designed. Rather than point to that news artcile, its better to analyze using that as an input along with many other inputs.

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 19:48:52 +0000

Harry, that’s correct: RIM has 78 million subscribers as of last month. But I don’t think developers are missing that; they’re looking deeper. As of September of last year, RIM had 70 million subs. That’s about 10 percent growth in 10 months: Not at all stellar when compared to the growth rates of iOS and Android, for example. And when you look at Android, in particular, you see one million new devices activated (a loose similarity to “Google subscribers”) per day. RIM’s 78m subscribers in that light aren’t very promising, IMO.

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 19:46:44 +0000

Totally fair point; thanks for mentioning it. Even with a relatively low number of survey participants though, the sentiment is pretty consistent with what we’ve seen from other similar surveys. RIM keeps suggesting that their platform is the most profitable on a per-app basis, but I suspect that’s because of the limited number of developers fighting for those app dollars.

By: ormyofone

ormyofone — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 18:27:47 +0000

Kevin, You should indicate only 200 individuals out of a minimum 4300 were polled. You would probably not take that to the bank as gospel truth. That said, I agree there is certainly some anxiety out there.

By: Harry Minhas

Harry Minhas — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:06:06 +0000

BlackBerry has over 78 million subscribers and gaining more every quarter. So maybe developers are not seeing this. RIM has to deliver BlackBerry 10 this time and challenge the dominance of Apple and Android.

By: sinithwar

sinithwar — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 15:47:53 +0000

They need to make a phone that’s completely voice operated, don’t get the screen dirty with fingertips and have a sensor layer for when they play games. This will be the next phone.