Thread: Article: Updated: RIM's CEO To Answer Top 10 Questions From Readers

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There's only one question I would like to ask
Q. Is there a problem with bringing BBM to QNX? Is this the reason for the delay? We know radio stack is not an issue coz its already there on Devalpha.

These are all great questions!

Hey veeru, I don't think there is an issue, I just think it's not finished.

I would have asked question 10 differently. I would have asked why not release a dev alpha that runs a Smartphone version of PB OS 2.1, and would be able to upgrade to BB10? I would like the answer to that one. lol

Originally Posted by Joe Jerde

I would have asked question 10 differently. I would have asked why not release a dev alpha that runs a Smartphone version of PB OS 2.1, and would be able to upgrade to BB10? I would like the answer to that one. lol

you should reach out to thorsten for us and see if he responds :P

I may be mistaken, but reading between the lines, what RIM's CEO is saying that current BB phones will NOT be upgraded to BB 10. And neither will be the PlayBook. My colleagues and me are in the need to get new phones, currently we own BBs. They are non-IT people and come to me for advise. I don't see how I can tell them to wait for next year and that whatever BBs we could buy today, will be "obsolete" in 6-7 months.

Originally Posted by vmiyakawa

I may be mistaken, but reading between the lines, what RIM's CEO is saying that current BB phones will NOT be upgraded to BB 10. And neither will be the PlayBook. My colleagues and me are in the need to get new phones, currently we own BBs. They are non-IT people and come to me for advise. I don't see how I can tell them to wait for next year and that whatever BBs we could buy today, will be "obsolete" in 6-7 months.

Current BB phones will not be upgradable to BlackBerry 10, however, the PlayBook will as the PlayBook is already running QNX via PlayBook Tablet OS. This has been confirmed by RIM (I have personally heard it from Tim Neil, Director of Tools and Applications) so I can verify it for you.

While one may argue that it is not a good time to buy BB phones because it will be 'obsolete' in a few months, I think the argument can also be said for any other phone out there currently on the market. If I purchase an iPhone now, it will be 'old' when iPhone 5 comes out likewise for the next Nexus phone. I understand the difference is that 'current' apps will still work on those newer platforms (Andriod 4 > 4.1 etc) but that also the whole discussion of why Thorsten is saying those phones arent actually newer, they just got a new 'face'. If I was a particular company, I would not be hesitant to adopt new BlackBerry phones. Most companies do not typically adopt new devices until a few months after they are introduced to market (reasons include cost, required testing/set up etc..) so by the time the company is on board, the current BB 7 devices will be in time for an upgrade. Like Thorsten said in the piece, the currently BB 7 phones do pack a punch, if you are not a huge 'apps' person and are usually on email or the phone, BlackBerry 7 is the best mobile solutions right now available.

Feel free to disagree below that's what open forums are for.

I shudder to think how much blackberry 10 handsets will cost?

I have desperately been holding out for the new BB10 devices while a vast majority of people in my company have been changing over to apple products. I very much like my BB and Playbook, but unless RIM has some tremendous offer on their current products now, I'm forced into a 2 year commitment with at&t that, unfortunately, will be on an apple product or at best a BB7. I'm VERY concerned that while BB10 currently may be as good as, and hopefully a lot more advanced than the competition, by the time it actually comes out, it will be one and possibly two generations behind what will then be the current technology.

Originally Posted by Pelinore

I'm VERY concerned that while BB10 currently may be as good as, and hopefully a lot more advanced than the competition, by the time it actually comes out, it will be one and possibly two generations behind what will then be the current technology.

What makes you think that? Also technology is a combination of hardware, software and user experience. It will not be hard to upgrade hardware for a manufacturer like RIM, software is BB 10 (so how can it be old?) and user experience will all be completely new. Its easy to say 'wont things be outdated by then' well if they used the same software, similar hardware and call it a new phone yes it is possible - but we know this isnt happening, that is the reason why bb10 cant run on os 7 devices. It is also suffice to say that Apple has been doing this for years and succeeding (their hardware are almost always behind the competition, same as software - they got copy and paste a few years after BlackBerry already had it!). So lets see .

very good read. . . i love BB. . .

BLACKBERRY all the way

I had a CAL/licensing question. We currently have around 600 BES CALS but use a RIM partner for support instead of T-Support. Initially I was told all of the CALS would transfer or we could update for free. Now I am being told only if we have support through T-Support. I was told this by a sales rep from RIM. Has anyone else been told the same thing?