Monthly Archives: September 2013

Bye Bye BlackBerry

The steady decline in BlackBerry Ltd. has been evident for quite some time. The company that used to be on the top of the smartphone industry has been left behind by the innovative and focused companies such as Apple and Samsung.

They recently announced the harsh decision of laying off 4,500 employees, and writing off more than $900-million (U.S.) worth of unsold phones in an attempt to save the business. BlackBerry claims the losses were due to the unenthusiastic sales and bitter returns of the BlackBerry Z10 (which looks oddly familiar to the iphone 5), introduced in January.

The unemployment of more than 40% of local workers will definitely impact the community of Waterloo, Ont. as BlackBerry has exhausted all their options in saving the business.

The only thread of hope they are clinging onto is the BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 sold to corporate users. Through the cost-cutting and the failed smartphone launch, Blackberry needs to either refocus their entire company to their only popular service (BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10) or simply let the business go.

The stacking failures of the new phone launch, attempt in selling BBM and change in smartphone appearance to resemble Apple has made their situation clear. There is no point in clawing onto the industry when failure is inevitable. BlackBerry has had a great run through their height in popularity in 2008-09 but it’s time to let go.

The end has come, BlackBerry.

Article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/trading-in-blackberry-halted/article14440386/

Photos:

http://media.idownloadblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/sad-blackberry1-e1319653370667.jpg

http://www.technobooklet.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/iPhone-5-Vs-Blackberry-Z10.jpg

Asia’s Sin City- Literally

The city that was once a forgotten speck in China, has expanded into a gambling wonderland. Macau has taken the spot as the World’s top gambling venue, as their turnover last year was 6 times of the old Sin City, Las Vegas.

 

 

The new dominance of the casino scene is due to the ever flowing stream of Chinese mainlanders that fly over to escape the Communist government’s ban on casinos. Due to the tight grip China holds on gambling debt collection, many resort to finding junketeers to help them slip through currency controls and discreet debt collecting.

Macau has less heavily regulated casinos where they don’t question who and how people spend their money. Transactions are much easier to make in this city compared to Las Vegas.

This act of “turning a blind eye” as long as they’re making money is not socially responsible, and may be costly and dangerous to certain individuals, however is probably the factor that boosted them to their level of success. Although aware of the fact that many customers should be questioned of their money and transactions, the Macau gambling empire would much rather ignore such realities and bask in their newfound glory.

 

Article/Photo1:

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21584995-although-it-has-growing-number-rivals-macau-worlds-casino-capital-set-new

Photo2:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macau-Casino-Lisboa-at-night-0824.jpg

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