So, as it turns out, Chen had no other plan. What's curious is not the partnership itself, but the fact that the new Blackberry Android device will apparently be named the Priv, one 'y' away from privy, or a toilet.
"The Most Challenging Job in Tech": John Chen's Blackberry Handset Plan Must Include Android
I tease my uncle every time he brandishes his Z-10. Blackberry’s hardware is great (save the Storm click screen), but their ecosystem has been dying a slow painful death for quite a while. It goes without saying that all of Blackberry has more than a-foot-in-the-grave. It’s doubtful that Apple or someone else won’t run them out of town in enterprise eventually. They need the consumer market.
So, I wonder if new CEO John Chen has a primary plan for saving Blackberry’s hobbled handset business other than selling consumer handsets running Android. If he does, I wonder what that plan is. If he does, I wonder how much this 'other plan' is worth. If he doesn’t, I wonder how much the insight and fortitude to sell consumer handsets running Android is worth. I shouldn't think it too expensive considering the abundance of logic in favor of such a maneuver... oh wait.
DIY Phone Dock and BlackBerry Remote Stereo Bluetooth Gateway
No matter what automobile manufacturers tell and sell you, nowadays you only need one thing for infotainment in your vehicle – your smartphone. Like you, I use my iPhone for listening to Pandora, Mule Radio (the talk show, new disruptors etc.), Podcasts (The VergeCast, Science Fantastic, The Joe Rogan Experience, The Critical Path, Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast etc.) and for navigation. With voice assistants like Siri built into any real mobile phone, its also safer to use your phone while keeping your eyes on the road than ever. I don’t need the elaborate multi-screens designed to look as if they run android, iOS or the like. In fact, it is quite telling that automobile manufacturers will not work more closely with Apple or Google, and just allow certain apps (Google maps /iOS maps) to be mirrored unto our vehicle screens. These actions tell you that automakers really don’t care about truly integrating vehicles with prominent mobile OSes. Truth be told, automakers think you are just stupid enough to be fooled and satisfied with a vastly inferior more expensive system. They’re betting that as long as the icons on their OEM screens looks similar to an iOS or Android icon you will remain lobotomized, as they take the load off, via your wallet.