BBX (BlackBerry 10) – spoke too soon?
Well it was only a few days ago that I re-iterated my prediction that BBX would be a flop and that the BlackBerry would fade away in Legal IT. For me a big part of this were the rumours that the first devices would be touchscreen, to me this removed the whole raison d’être for a BlackBerry, the hard keyboard. I mean if you want a touchscreen smartphone then why oh why would you go BlackBerry? (Think Playbook, everyone asked the same question re: tablets and went and bought iPads!)
But then this got leaked on N4BB.
The BlackBerry X10
If RIM release this as the first BBX device at the end of January then I have to say that the BlackBerry may still have a place in law firms. Having a good keyboard device would be a great reason to stick with the OS, a lot of lawyers use the BB as their primary email device and love the physical keyboard.
I still think it would be a pair of NHS spectacles (see my Top 5 for 2013 for the explanation!), albeit now they’d be a rather good pair and ones that a fair few people would actual be more than happy to wear!
Whilst I agree that for some, the draw of a physical keyboard will be overwhelming, I don’t think it will be enough to save the ailing platform.
The current RIM offering is getting very long in the tooth and RIM has also taken too long in coming to market with BBX.
In the consumer space, and in the enterprise space, BB has lost it’s key advantage of security and ease of use as iPhones, Android devices and Windows Phone devices are all fully manageable and secureable.
Equally, with the time between releases, are developers even interested in releasing software for BBX??
@planty agree with you re BBX. I love my smartphone, but it’s a pain to use for e-mail.