Why the NSA Doesn’t Want You to Have a BlackBerry

[Renegade]

Here's an interesting article that I'm sure a lot of people here will enjoy.

It really sounds fanboi-ish, but Blackberry fanbois haven't become annoying yet, unlike their Apple counterparts.

http://www.cantechletter.com/2013/07/why-the-nsa-doesnt-want-you-to-have-a-blackberry0723/

Granted, BlackBerry has done an awful job of marketing these things. What few ads there have been have been weak. They should have licensed the song “Back in Black” and done a bad-ass, kick-ass, in-your-face campaign showing off their new badass line. Oh well. That’s what happens when you let technologists run a company — they create amazing technology but don’t know jack about selling it.

"In a world where every detail of your life is scooped up and sliced and diced until each one of us is living our own little Truman Show, privacy is the enemy. Apple and Google harvest your data and share it with the BlackBerry not only doesn’t harvest your data, it can’t. The technology prohibits it."

That still doesn’t explain the raw hatred for the brand. From whence did this come? Then it dawned on me: Of all the incredible features on this thing, privacy is the one that certain powerful people probably wouldn’t like.

...

What I do know is that rocking a BlackBerry makes them work a bit harder at turning my life into the Truman Show.

Definitely a refreshing read compared to most of the drivel out there. But then again, I'm very partial to articles that manage to sound like they were written by a human, and not a PR department.

[justice]

Nobody wants you to have a Blackberry!

[Vurbal]

Nobody wants you to have a Blackberry!

BlackBerry's executives have certainly done their part to convince you not to buy one.

[Renegade]

Hahaha!

I actually do a lot of work in the mobile handset sector for a large manufacturer, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for RIM. I guess I sort of root for the underdog sometimes.

[Vurbal]

I'd love it if they could get it together and stop operating from the "How Not To Handle Disruptive Competition" playbook. I certainly have a lot of respect for their engineers. I still probably wouldn't buy a BlackBerry but more serious competition (2 players is not enough) is better for everyone in the long run. The problem is they keep blaming everything but themselves for their market failures. All the engineering in the world can't fix that.

[Renegade]

I'd love it if they could get it together and stop operating from the "How Not To Handle Disruptive Competition" playbook. I certainly have a lot of respect for their engineers. I still probably wouldn't buy a BlackBerry but more serious competition (2 players is not enough) is better for everyone in the long run. The problem is they keep blaming everything but themselves for their market failures. All the engineering in the world can't fix that.

+1

What I'd LOVE to see is a decoupling (or detripling as the case may be) of the hardware manufacturer + software manufacturer + carrier marriage/bigamy.

But the anti-competitiveness goes much, much deeper than just that.

[superboyac]

I'd love it if they could get it together and stop operating from the "How Not To Handle Disruptive Competition" playbook. I certainly have a lot of respect for their engineers. I still probably wouldn't buy a BlackBerry but more serious competition (2 players is not enough) is better for everyone in the long run. The problem is they keep blaming everything but themselves for their market failures. All the engineering in the world can't fix that.

+1

What I'd LOVE to see is a decoupling (or detripling as the case may be) of the hardware manufacturer + software manufacturer + carrier marriage/bigamy.

But the anti-competitiveness goes much, much deeper than just that.

+100000