PorkChopSandwiches
01-28-2014, 05:09 PM
As BlackBerry races to add relevant features, are they compromising their one remaining asset?
BlackBerry, in their ongoing efforts to be 2006′s coolest technology, recently released update 10.2.1 for the Z30, Q10, and Q5 devices. The updates include an improved incoming call screen, picture-based passwords and, yes, an FM radio tuner. Soon, your Walkman portable radio will be entirely obsolete.
BlackBerry, who is all but dead in the consumer market, has been very public with their intentions to lean heavily on their enterprise market share for survival. The reason this works, or at least the reason it could work is that despite any shortcomings they may possess, BlackBerry is still the world’s most secure mobile platform. That makes them an appealing (if not the only) option for governments and large corporations that don’t want their proprietary information easily hacked.
That makes another feature of update 10.2.1 all the more perplexing, if not counterproductive: Users can now natively install Android apps from third party sources. Though the apps must be downloaded from “trusted” sources and not openly from the Google Play store, it still begs the question: Why compromise the feature of your products that are most valued by your only remaining customers?
Ostensibly the feature, which was not announced in BlackBerry’s press release, is designed to quell consumer complaints that have plagued BlackBerry for years: A lack of interesting apps. It’s not unreasonable to assume, even, that apps are what obliterated BlackBerry’s market share to begin with. As mobile devices evolved from phones into pocket internet machines, being a simple email and text device didn’t cut the mustard.
The new update also allows users to create SMS and email group threads, respond to calls via SMS or BBM, and monitor system and battery health. These “new” features have existed on other smartphone platforms for several years.
BlackBerry, in their ongoing efforts to be 2006′s coolest technology, recently released update 10.2.1 for the Z30, Q10, and Q5 devices. The updates include an improved incoming call screen, picture-based passwords and, yes, an FM radio tuner. Soon, your Walkman portable radio will be entirely obsolete.
BlackBerry, who is all but dead in the consumer market, has been very public with their intentions to lean heavily on their enterprise market share for survival. The reason this works, or at least the reason it could work is that despite any shortcomings they may possess, BlackBerry is still the world’s most secure mobile platform. That makes them an appealing (if not the only) option for governments and large corporations that don’t want their proprietary information easily hacked.
That makes another feature of update 10.2.1 all the more perplexing, if not counterproductive: Users can now natively install Android apps from third party sources. Though the apps must be downloaded from “trusted” sources and not openly from the Google Play store, it still begs the question: Why compromise the feature of your products that are most valued by your only remaining customers?
Ostensibly the feature, which was not announced in BlackBerry’s press release, is designed to quell consumer complaints that have plagued BlackBerry for years: A lack of interesting apps. It’s not unreasonable to assume, even, that apps are what obliterated BlackBerry’s market share to begin with. As mobile devices evolved from phones into pocket internet machines, being a simple email and text device didn’t cut the mustard.
The new update also allows users to create SMS and email group threads, respond to calls via SMS or BBM, and monitor system and battery health. These “new” features have existed on other smartphone platforms for several years.