The US government still has a very high opinion of BB.... doesn't let the President have his iPhone.
No, the U.S. Government is factually dumping Blackberry, I know this personally. In addition to all of that, the FBI, NASA, ALL of the Armed Forces, and many other branches have all shortlisted the company for decommissioning essentially. If not immediate, then planned retirement of all BB units at a Federal happen is almost 100% likely. The President still using the old BB is most likely due to feet dragging, and vetting new entrants, which can take many, many, many years.
Something has to be done about Apple, and quickly. The carnage this company has caused in the markets they have disrupted is simply unacceptable. First it was the mp3 player market riddled with the dead bodies of formerly big players like Creative and finally the Microsoft Zune. Next came the smartphone market which is now filled with the stench of wasted away companies like Blackberry, Moto, HTC, Nokia. Then came the iPad and the carnage it has heaped upon the PC business. Are we going to stand by and watch this, this Apple thingy do the same to the television and wearable tech markets? It’s time to take a stand! No more disruptions! Let the status quo prevail! ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡
As the 'smart-phone' before smart phones existed, it did email, light graphics attachments, some document editing back when the iPhone was just a sparkle in Steve Jobs pants. Let us give this company credit where it was due, for creating a different product with a secure backend that made believers out of the enterprises that backed them up. Do any of you remember what phones your company handed out before the BB existed? I do and my back /right hip are still hurting from carrying these around with three battery packs and sore feet from trying to obtain a clearer signal from my massive flexible antenna. Whether they survive the new 'smart phone' barrage or not, only time will tell but they deserve the honour of being the first successful one out there. Thanks BlackBerry for an amazing history.
Without the write down they would have been up $200 million. No doubt they are in trouble but brave companies will take a big writedown so they can move on. At least they aren't in denial anymore.
I don't get it, 4.3 million devices sounds like a lot to me... Why are they losing so much money?
Respectfully, your perspective needs an adjustment. That's 4.3 million devices in a quarter (phones of all types). Apple is manufacturing/selling the iPhone 5s's (just the one model) at a rate of a half million PER DAY.
As to why BB is losing money, I can only suggest that their customers won't pay enough to cover costs and provide a profit (i.e., the product is not compelling enough that people will pay a premium for it). And BB doesn't have an effective, money-making app store. Perhaps BB users buy a phone, and are satisfied doing their email and gabbing. Whereas iPhone customers actually BUY apps and USE their phones for many more daily activities, ranging from internet-browsing to gaming to reading to productivity, to health monitor/workout coach and much more!
Ok but you are comparing them to the market leader... NO ONE sells as many of one model as Apple. How are they doing against Nokia, Samsung, HTC, Huwuai (or however it's spelled).
Ok but you are comparing them to the market leader... NO ONE sells as many of one model as Apple. How are they doing against Nokia, Samsung, HTC, Huwuai (or however it's spelled).
Samsung is profiting and most of the others are lucky to break even but none seem to be bleeding as badly as Blackberry.
But to answer your original question it's not a matter of how many units you can push (even though economics of scale do play a part) it's about what your costs are compared to your revenue. Their new devices running BB10 only accounted for 25% of their device sales which means 75% are all old models that simply aren't profitable like they used to be.
Who knows if any of their BB devices are sold at a profit. For all we know they are selling them at a loss specifically to look healthier to investors in that regard and hopping to bouy their profits with their backend services. Regardless, their costs are far exceeding their revenue, which isn't helped by all these executive changeover which usually come with huge golden parachutes.
Can they figure out how to carve out a niche before it's too late? It's possible, but I think it's unlikely.
Thanks for the informative reply. I hope they can cut their losses and focus on what they do well. I don't think anyone has ever claimed that they products were "bad" per se. The playbook certainly had it's limitations and in the grand scheme of things was certainly ill-conceived, but I know people who still swear by their services...
I agree with theunfetteredmind. It appears that RIM is in a death spiral that will continue to feed itself as more and more people become hesitant to buy smartphones from a company they fear may collapse within a year. Adios!
As the 'smart-phone' before smart phones existed, it did email, light graphics attachments, some document editing back when the iPhone was just a sparkle in Steve Jobs pants. Let us give this company credit where it was due, for creating a different product with a secure backend that made believers out of the enterprises that backed them up. Do any of you remember what phones your company handed out before the BB existed? I do and my back /right hip are still hurting from carrying these around with three battery packs and sore feet from trying to obtain a clearer signal from my massive flexible antenna. Whether they survive the new 'smart phone' barrage or not, only time will tell but they deserve the honour of being the first successful one out there. Thanks BlackBerry for an amazing history.
I was gonna let this one slide, but you had to bring up Steve Jobs' pants. Dems fightin werds! /s
Wait, they lost $4B in the last quarter, but only have $3.2B left in the bank for this coming quarter. Am I missing something? Looks like GAME OVER.
Cash flow and profits/losses are not the same thing. As someone else pointed out a few messages before yours if you don't count the write-downs they would have made $200 million last quarter. Obviously big losses are bad news, but you can't just project those losses forward and compare to money in the bank. Most (all?) of there reported losses are paper losses accounting for capital expenditure that were made in the past.
The time for bbry has runout. They are operating solely on debt now. They will have to sell assets to keep whatever they keep in existence. What they have left is a certain loyal segment and some ip.
The US government still has a very high opinion of BB.... doesn't let the President have his iPhone.
I don't think it's a high opinion, I think it's the fact the BB the president uses can have its HW and SW controlled much more easily than with modern smartphones. I doubt Obama is using the Z10.
In the MacRumors version of this story they mentioned that more than 3 million of the phones they sold were running the BB 7 OS.
Comments
If they had made nothing, sold nothing and all stood very still they'd be better off!
The US government still has a very high opinion of BB.... doesn't let the President have his iPhone.
No, the U.S. Government is factually dumping Blackberry, I know this personally. In addition to all of that, the FBI, NASA, ALL of the Armed Forces, and many other branches have all shortlisted the company for decommissioning essentially. If not immediate, then planned retirement of all BB units at a Federal happen is almost 100% likely. The President still using the old BB is most likely due to feet dragging, and vetting new entrants, which can take many, many, many years.
As usual. First the risk. Second gamer enter the field. Third dead of the company. The flatline will start to jump and fall before dead happens.
So what! Nobody needs this crap tech of yesterday golden days
Gov will face the future as last man standing
Hmmm, $1k/device loss...
Hey RIMM! Pay me $1000 and I'll take one too!
(Better yet, just send me the $1000... you can keep the BB.)
That's because the China Mobile deal didn't fall through for them. /s
Something has to be done about Apple, and quickly. The carnage this company has caused in the markets they have disrupted is simply unacceptable. First it was the mp3 player market riddled with the dead bodies of formerly big players like Creative and finally the Microsoft Zune. Next came the smartphone market which is now filled with the stench of wasted away companies like Blackberry, Moto, HTC, Nokia. Then came the iPad and the carnage it has heaped upon the PC business. Are we going to stand by and watch this, this Apple thingy do the same to the television and wearable tech markets? It’s time to take a stand! No more disruptions! Let the status quo prevail! ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡
I don't get it, 4.3 million devices sounds like a lot to me... Why are they losing so much money?
Respectfully, your perspective needs an adjustment. That's 4.3 million devices in a quarter (phones of all types). Apple is manufacturing/selling the iPhone 5s's (just the one model) at a rate of a half million PER DAY.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/11/27/foxconn-building-500k-iphone-5s-units-for-apple-per-day-with-nonstop-production-lines
As to why BB is losing money, I can only suggest that their customers won't pay enough to cover costs and provide a profit (i.e., the product is not compelling enough that people will pay a premium for it). And BB doesn't have an effective, money-making app store. Perhaps BB users buy a phone, and are satisfied doing their email and gabbing. Whereas iPhone customers actually BUY apps and USE their phones for many more daily activities, ranging from internet-browsing to gaming to reading to productivity, to health monitor/workout coach and much more!
Ok but you are comparing them to the market leader... NO ONE sells as many of one model as Apple. How are they doing against Nokia, Samsung, HTC, Huwuai (or however it's spelled).
Samsung is profiting and most of the others are lucky to break even but none seem to be bleeding as badly as Blackberry.
But to answer your original question it's not a matter of how many units you can push (even though economics of scale do play a part) it's about what your costs are compared to your revenue. Their new devices running BB10 only accounted for 25% of their device sales which means 75% are all old models that simply aren't profitable like they used to be.
Who knows if any of their BB devices are sold at a profit. For all we know they are selling them at a loss specifically to look healthier to investors in that regard and hopping to bouy their profits with their backend services. Regardless, their costs are far exceeding their revenue, which isn't helped by all these executive changeover which usually come with huge golden parachutes.
Can they figure out how to carve out a niche before it's too late? It's possible, but I think it's unlikely.
Thanks for the informative reply. I hope they can cut their losses and focus on what they do well. I don't think anyone has ever claimed that they products were "bad" per se. The playbook certainly had it's limitations and in the grand scheme of things was certainly ill-conceived, but I know people who still swear by their services...
I was gonna let this one slide, but you had to bring up Steve Jobs' pants. Dems fightin werds! /s
Wait, they lost $4B in the last quarter, but only have $3.2B left in the bank for this coming quarter. Am I missing something? Looks like GAME OVER.
Cash flow and profits/losses are not the same thing. As someone else pointed out a few messages before yours if you don't count the write-downs they would have made $200 million last quarter. Obviously big losses are bad news, but you can't just project those losses forward and compare to money in the bank. Most (all?) of there reported losses are paper losses accounting for capital expenditure that were made in the past.
In the MacRumors version of this story they mentioned that more than 3 million of the phones they sold were running the BB 7 OS.