RIM rebrands itself as BlackBerry

[♪Twiggy♪]

http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/30/39...-to-blackberry

Originally Posted by The Verge

At today's BlackBerry 10 event, CEO Thorsten Heins announced that his company will no longer be known as Research In Motion. As of today, RIM is being rebranded as BlackBerry. "We have reinvented the company, and we want to represent this in our brand," Heins said. "One brand. One promise. Our customers use a BlackBerry, our employees work for BlackBerry, and our shareholders are owners of BlackBerry." In addition to the new branding, RIM is changing its stock symbols to reflect the change: it will be listed under BBRY on NASDAQ, and BB on TSX.

So what do you think of the name change? Did it remind you of anything else? Do you think BlackBerry and BlackBerry will survive?

[TRIFORCE89]

As a proud Canadian, I'm pulling for RIM, err... BlackBerry. They're kinda in a make it or break it spot right now.

I kind of see the point of rebranding. The founders are mostly out of the picture now. The BlackBerry brand is still recognizable. If what was RIM were to go under, someone would probably buy what was still strong (the brand, BBM, and the keyboard). I think it was more of move to please investors than anything. For the consumer market, or even the business market, I don't think people care. Do you go and buy an "iPhone" or do you buy an "iPhone by Apple" or an "Apple"?

For the phone itself, it wasn't mind blowing. They've updated and modernized in one big jump rather than in consistent increments (which they really ought to start doing if they want to stay in the game). But that's it really. Apparently they have a great stock touch keyboard (and you can swap it for anything else? O_o). But otherwise, it's just the Blackberry version of an iPhone or Android phone. Nothing really to set it apart.

People are devoted to BBM for reasons I can't understand. I get the security thing. So, for all those companies who haven't updated their employee phone fleets from the old Bold, will probably finally upgrade. But for personal consumers? I don't see it making a big splash. The draw is a keyboard. You can get better keyboard apps on your Android for like $5, why would you pay hundreds for a BlackBerry instead?

[twocows]

RIM stagnated the cellphone industry in the US for far too long. Now that other people finally brought change, they forgot how to innovate. They deserve to die and I'll be happy to see the suckers go (and they will).

[Mac]

Originally Posted by twocows

RIM stagnated the cellphone industry in the US for far too long. Now that other people finally brought change, they forgot how to innovate. They deserve to die and I'll be happy to see the suckers go (and they will).

This. They took too long to adapt and now they will pay the ultimate price. BlackBerry will be bought out or will just become obsolete. Android in Q4 2012 carried 70% of the smartphone market and iOS another 19%... with 89% of the market... it's really a two horse race. BlackBerry and Windows Phone are scraping in with the last eleven percent... along with any other stragglers.

Time to die, BB. Time to die.

[TRIFORCE89]

twocows, Mac... what's with the hate? They can attempted a comeback, not saying it will work (I don't think it will), but stranger things have happened. Look at Apple's history

[Mac]

They didn't innovate so they're hurting. Apple hadn't changed too much in a while, leaving room for Android to succeed. The best way to compete is to innovate. Change or die.

[TRIFORCE89]

Originally Posted by Mac

They didn't innovate so they're hurting. Apple hadn't changed too much in a while, leaving room for Android to succeed. The best way to compete is to innovate. Change or die.

I understand that. That's how it works.

I don't wish them to fail though. Although I think they will

[Elendil]

That was awesome. I have no idea what everyone's talking about, the multitasking here seems far more superior then the multitasking done in android. I loved the example of swiping to close, and then having something open, only to slide it out of the screen half way to get to your message or whatever else you have open.Screw the lack of applications, I want it for the OS alone.

[twocows]

Originally Posted by TRIFORCE89

twocows, Mac... what's with the hate? They can attempted a comeback, not saying it will work (I don't think it will), but stranger things have happened. Look at Apple's history

The "hate" is because they had the cellphone industry by the throat for years and instead of actually putting out a better product and bettering peoples' lives, they let things stagnate until someone else took up the torch. I don't want them to "make a comeback" unless it involves getting rid of every single person in charge of the direction of the company for the past decade. They'll just sit on their collective rumps again if they do make a comeback, and that's unforgivable for a tech company. It's both their financial and ethical responsibility to innovate. If they can't do that, they fail at being a corporation and they fail at being a useful part of society. Their stupidity is directly responsible for a lower quality of life for some 300 million Americans for a significant part of the last ten years. Who knows what brilliant inventions or art or whatever we've missed out on because they failed to add obvious and useful functionality to devices used by millions? I hope they rot.

[droomph]

Research In Motion? Hm…that's weird. Anyways

I don't really care much for them, because honestly the only Blackberry I've ever even used for a couple minutes was a gigantic piece of poop compared to the iPhone and such. But then again this was in 2007 or so so things might have changed.

It's dinky, the screen is small…it looks just like my flip phone, just with the difference that it's branded as a smartphone.

I much prefer the iPhone or the Android over anything else, because their designs are just better.

And besides, the versatility of those phones (songs, complex games, video, web browser) is much more than what I would care to see on that screen. And the fact that Google and Apple give so much care to the software makes me stick to those two for just the convenience.

tl;dr blackberrys look like turds when put next to a iPhone.

[♪Twiggy♪]

I think I'll chime in...

Really, BlackBerry? I know that it's a name thing, but wouldn't it better to call your consumer-focused BB10 as something not BlackBerry? Right now, the BlackBerry name screams "old-school" to me, and I've tried a BB7 phone recently (that's less than three months ago), and it's a total kludge. Compared to iOS, Android, or Windows Phone (all consumer-first), BB is behind the times when it comes to the user experience. I wouldn't be sad to see BB go - the Symbian OS, while being a mature platform, is already a thing of the past at this point. The market surely has changed.

I'm actually rather glad that Windows Mobile as we knew it then is deader than dead at this point, as we got Windows Phone instead now. Same thing for Nokia ditching Symbian. They both represent the "old" school, and frankly, in today's consumer world and BYOD stuff, a corporate-centric phone won't cut it for many people.

I still see a lot of BBs here, but I wonder whether that'll be the case in one year...

Also, the Z10's camera is a total joke compared to pretty much every other flagship smartphone. Ew.

That said, I still reserve judgment for the Z10, but I don't have high hopes.