Blackberry is positioned to take advantage of the next major shift in the evolution of the smartphone

adamallidina (42)in #blackberry • 8 years ago

Hey Steemit,

I've been thinking about BlackBerry (and more broadly the role of the smartphone culturally now) and have put together a rough outline of my thoughts. I wanted to get some feedback, opinions, start a broader discussion. I figured I'd ask my favourite community on the internet right now to chime in first :)

Smartphones were the minimum viable product; pocket sized general purpose computing the natural extension of the idea
The market was primed for a device centered around consumption
Apple was able to recognize and capitalize on this with a product centered around effortless and beautiful consumption
The iPhone was the perfect product for the market at the time
The ethos behind every iPhone was elevating consumption to a level of art; the evolution of the display is an apt metaphor
The iPhone has gradually started to compromise sane user experience purely for aesthetics
That's why every model of the iPhone has been feeling slightly worse for the past few generations
The consumer is now willing to accept compromises on behalf of consumption for a more general purpose computing machine
Software keyboards are objectively worse than a well made hardware keyboard; see the BlackBerry Q10
You can also swap the battery, which lasts for days, easily
It is by no means perfect, BlackBerry certainly needs a creative vision
They need to realize that their niche is broader than executives and professionals; it's really for creatives and creators.
That is, power users who wish to produce and not consume
People who do not mind minor compromises for the sake of durability, better battery life, cheap and easily replaceable components
People do not want a device with a programmed lifespan of less than two years
Even if BlackBerry marketed a device exclusively at writers (with a few software modifications as well) they could easily expand their market
People are yearning for a device which gives customization and production more equal weighing to consumption and ascetics