For one reason or another BlackBerry is having hard time moving its devices off the shelves. Sure they don’t have an app eco-system as vivid as those of Google and Apple, but the Canadian company has north of 100,000 apps. And a great platform.
In fact, I would add that the QNX-based BlackBerry OS 10 is much faster than any other smartphone OS out there. Everyone who tried Z10 or Q10 was amazed with its speed and real multi-tasking abilities. You see, unlike iOS and Android, BlackBerry won’t “pause” one app while you’re using the other application – it will keep running both of them like it’s nobody’s business. And check this out – all BlackBerry OS 10 phones have rely on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 dual-core chip. The system is that optimized.
But… it doesn’t sell. You may think BlackBerry phones don’t have the right UI. Wrong again; Canadians licensed many things from Nokia, including some camera software stuff and UI, elements of which have already been used in Nokia N9, the first (and only) Maemo smartphone, and the newly launched Jolla phone.
How about a web browser? Wrong again. Just like the its operating system, BlackBerry’s browser is super-fast, easily outperforming any other mobile browser on the planet on all popular benchmark sites.
But, key apps are missing. You can’t have Netflix, Instragram, HootSuite and few other titles on your BlackBerry Z10. You can side-load them as Android apps, but you won’t get the same experience. At least I don’t see it as such. Plus, if you want a smart watch – chances are it won’t work with your Z10, Q10 or Z30.
So what’s wrong with BlackBerry? Simply put – they need to invest more in marketing. And design. And PR. The blogosphere doesn’t like BlackBerry and that’s a big problem for the company. So they’re turning to enterprise and government customers, hoping BlackBerry’s intrinsic security will be enough to convince these client to jump on board.
To get consumers, on the other hand, they need to allow many of them to try out their devices. And release another (and another) statement that BlackBerry is here to stay, convincing the general public they won’t be buying a device that will soon be unsupported.
As I’m writing this, I still couldn’t get the Z30 to try it out. I’ve played with the Z10 and while I was impressed with the OS, I couldn’t but notice the unforgiving phone to screen size ratio. The bezel around that 4.2-inch screen is super-thick making the phone that much bulkier. The situation is different with the Z30, which I still want to try. So I’m hoping someone from the BlackBerry team will contact me and offer a review unit. That’s how the goodwill is generated – by going for bloggers who actually like what BlackBerry has created. 😉