Amateur Hour Still Not Over

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins, five months ago: “Our plan is to upgrade all existing PlayBooks to BlackBerry 10.”

Last Friday:

BlackBerry has just announced that it will not, in fact, be upgrading the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to its latest mobile OS, BlackBerry 10. CEO Thorsten Heins revealed the sour news on the company’s investor call relating to today’s earnings report, though he didn’t delve into the specifics of why the company’s plans have changed. The only justification offered by Heins is that BlackBerry was unable to get performance up to a satisfactory level, and the company now intends to focus on core products instead.

BlackBerry ad campaign for the Playbook, in May 2011: “Amateur hour is over.”

★ Monday, 1 July 2013