BlackBerry CEO Thinks Tablets Will Be Irrelevant Five Years From Now

[thewitt]

Blackberry CEOs continue to be completely irrelevant. You remember when they predicted the iPhone would be a total failure because it didn't have a keyboard?

 

[fb si]

I think tablets are here to stay, just like desktops and laptops. Will tablets sell in the numbers they do now? Who knows? But they'll obviously get lighter, clearer, faster and perform more and more functions like everything else.

 

[s2mikey]

Lower margins don't mean death to tablets. Amazon has already proved that, because its biz model is different and it makes nothing or next to nothing on tablet hardware.

If the BB guy can't already see what exists, and the potential or necessity of evolving biz models, he's a joke.

Apple does make a good buck on the iPad though and I believe super thin margins will be unattractive to them. Sure, apple rakes in cash via app downloads too but their hardware isn't being given away for free like a kindle fire or whatever. Personally I don't feel the iPad will ever lose profitability. It's a great device and feels the most polished and useful when compared to all of the other tablets. I know the rage now is smaller and lighter but not everyone wants a tiny phone screen for everything. The iPad is the perfect size IMO and I can't see them going anywhere except in people's homes.

 

[i2030]

[TABLE="width: 601"]
[TR]
[TD][SIZE=+1]The Fox and the Grapes[/SIZE][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


[TABLE="width: 601"]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]O[SIZE=-1]NE[/SIZE] hot summer’s day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. “Just the things to quench my thirst,†quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: “I am sure they are sour.â€

[SIZE=-1]“IT IS EASY TO DESPISE WHAT YOU CANNOT GET.â€[/SIZE]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[KevinJS]

It must leave a sour taste in the mouths of those at Blackberry. The Playbook is a great piece of equipment, very well put together and easy to use. My wife loves hers. It was becoming increasingly obvious, however, that it was a marketing disaster when I bought it. I paid less than the difference of a storage upgrade for my sons iPad mini. He loves that too, by the way.

And there's part of the difference. My son is app-based. He really doesn't care what the hardware is. He just want to be able to use it. My wife, on the other hand, couldn't care less that there are absolutely no worthwhile apps for the Playbook. Why should she? She uses it for browsing and emails.

Me? I still remember the pat on the head that RIM gave to smartphone users a few years ago. Let the children play with their iPhones. Real people use Blackberrys. Of course, that was back in the day when Blackberry owners would leave them on the corner of the desk to show the passing hoi-polloi that they were part of the jet set, that they had arrived. Now every exec, and his janitor, has the latest iPhone or Android stuffed in his pocket so it's not really a status symbol any more. But RIMs condescending attitude, I believe, is part of the reason for the woes they face today. I suspect tablets will still be a hot commodity in 5 years. I suspect that Blackberry may not be around to see it. Perhaps Apple should buy Blackberry now, chuck iOS on the BB hardware and market them as the iPhone/iPad for the masses. We keep hearing cries for a cheaper model range. There's one right there that just needs a decent OS, and would then be good to go. Of course, that CEO would need firing immediately.

 

[AQ_OC]

Five years is a long time and the public is fickle. For all I know, he could be right.

If you want to know the future, look to the past....all those episodes of star trek featured "pads". Now they are here. Their use will increase, not decrease.

 

[Kaykaykay]

If something better than tablets is going to come along, I can't wait. I don't want Google glasses, even for free, though.

 

[AQ_OC]

If something better than tablets is going to come along, I can't wait. I don't want Google glasses, even for free, though.

Don't worry about Glasses....that will never become a product that real people buy...

 

[Kaykaykay]

Don't worry about Glasses....that will never become a product that real people buy...

That would be a shame -- the goobers would be easier to spot, lol.