Reply to post: Re: Just can't make it work?

Re: Just can't make it work?

Well, by now you have very much a very big defensive wide moat for the incumbents (Android/iOS): the apps stores.

If they're not fully stocked at D-Day, the new OS gets reviewed as being incomplete. Now, I didn't really mind that with BB10 as I am at best a very very picky app installer, whether $ or free. There's so much junk out there and app store discoverability is poor enough that it seems easier to just stick to websites.

But I understand I am in a minority not to care overmuch about apps.

Another defensive mechanism is the collected collective wisdom (hah) of the crowd. Nearly any solvable iOS/Android configuration/usage conundrum has made its way onto the internet. Via blogs, forums and now StackExchange covers both iOS and Android. So if you don't know how to use something in your gadget, but it can be done, the answer is likely out there.

Contrasting that with CrackBerry's rather poor IMHO, S/N, is instructive.

BB10s are excellent phones. I dropped my Z10 into a pool and, after spending a month in a rice bag, it boots up again. In the meantime, I replaced it with a Classic and that is a brilliant little phone too. OS functionality is sparse, but highly discoverable and elegant. And rock solid - they stay up and usable during most of duration of a major OS update, only to reboot at the end.

Sad, but not surprised they will be the last.

It will be difficult for a challenger to knock off the Android/iOS incumbents without doing something really radically different, like what the v1 iPhone did to Nokia & BB when it came out. To forestall protests about Apple having imitated whatever the iPhone imitated, that's somewhat besides the point. Whoever Apple imitated had not pulled off selling whatever it was that was being imitated. Apple did.

(mind you, Apple also didn't pull off selling the Newton)

Copying someone else in order to leapfrog incumbents is allowed, perhaps even preferable. But the new guy will have to catch Apple and Android by surprise by using their imitation/innovation as a new angle, not just to improve on standard mobile paradigms. Augmented reality? Much better AI than Siri and the like?

Hint: solving problems for the ultra-geek won't do a breakthrough, you need mass appeal.

Look at it this way, how much $ has MS thrown at exactly this problem so far? Plus, they basically sacrificed desktop Win 7 usability to give Win 8 a leg up on mobile.

My advice? Take up the upcoming fire sale on a keyboard BB10 if you have the chance and inclination.