Disqus - Latest Comments for ptrgan

Re: RIM gets handed open letter from disgruntled employee, quickly responds in kind

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:29:52 -0000

RIM's AGM is next month, and shareholders are ifty about this open letter: Hence they need to respond and do damage control. Otherwise, can you imagine the CEO being questioned by shareholders during the AGM relating to this open letter and others?

Re: More letters to RIM; employees rally alongside anonymous exec

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:22:46 -0000

And the reason why they're responding to an open letter released this time around is because of the upcoming AGM, which is next month: Shareholders like you are getting ifty and they need to do damage control.

Re: More letters to RIM; employees rally alongside anonymous exec

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:16:12 -0000

Another reason why RIM is responding to this open letter is because their AGM is next month: Shareholders are iffty.

Re: More letters to RIM; employees rally alongside anonymous exec

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:02:50 -0000

If what's happening in RIM is pretty clear in everyone's mind and whatever said here is also agreed and seen from every other person's perspective and not just here, there is one thing the employees and shareholders, and the person who penned this open letter, can do together: Call for an EGM.

Re: Open letter to BlackBerry bosses: Senior RIM exec tells all as company crumbles around him

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 09:36:32 -0000

Afraid you might mis interpret my comments earlier. What I meant was RIM turning it nose up at developers and only see telcos as its worthy partner in pushing their product. However telcos are not happy with RIM because of the nature of their BB product, it's difficult for telco to value add, value sell additional VAS on top of their products, and difficult to earn more. Telcos do see additional potential earning from biz product like BB but RIM isn't helping much and some times, their local APAC team play hardball with the telcos if you get what I mean. And they also piss developers off with the so called development tools which are considered...... well... read another comment by a developer here who used to develop on BB platform and also gave up and you'll understand the technical drift. On top of that, their mentality is still that of yesteryear whereby they consider developers as small fry. Unfortunately, the tide has turned and these so-called small fry can now make / break a mobile ecosystem. Yet, their mentality is still that of yesteryear. Either that or they know what's going on but refuse to be humble due to previous legacy issues.

Approx market in SG:5 mil+ population
6 mil+ post paid subscription users
7 mil+ mobile devices in circulation.

Above fig are taken from Frost & Sullivan market research in Sept 2010. Fast forward to today and you can estimate what our market situation is currently at. Telcos, all 3 of them are looking at ways and means to increase revenue from additional VAS, not additional subscription users cause our market is already over saturated. With that in focus, you'll realize that there isn't much value RIM can add to telcos bottomline due to their product nature itself.

Take a look again at Singtel: Singtel being an "aggressive" stock, they need to keep on pushing their quarterly / YOY profits and cover their asses. Do you think Singtel see potential in B2B biz? Answer is a HUGE yes, but the focus is no longer on just RIM / BB devices anymore. Look out for Singtel marketing's collateral on the new cloud computing offerings and you'll see that the focus point are no longer BB and is switching to other devices.

In addition, pricing structures of blackberry devices to telco are stagnant after so many price war, marketing funding, etc. The only reason telcos are still selling is because there are still people using blackberry and they just want to maintain their current user base, hoping they might jump ship to other smartphones, especially iPhone / Android. And the truth is, many corporates in Asia Pacific are already dropping their blackberry by the dozens and going for iPhone or Android. With my earlier points on telcos focusing on VAS as additional source of revenue rather than subscribers in this island state, nature of BB product prohibiting telcos from generating additional profit, especially for aggressive stock like Singtel whereby their pressure is very very real to meet kpis quarterly, and stagnant product and pricing and their nose-in-the-air support from RIM APAC team, telcos don't see any further business improvement in terms of bottomline for blackberry devices for the next few years.Another contributing reason is our market being a small island state with 3 telcos competing aggressively for post-paid market. They compete on pre-paid market as well but that's another story, for another time.

With all these being said in public forum, I can still safely assume that RIM will still ignore my grunts in a public forum as I'm not from Indonesia market. Indonesia market for RIM is one of the top priority. Obviously so, as if it's me in their position, it will also be my top priority. Afterall BB is a number 1 phone of choice for many in Indonesia. and Indonesia is the biggest market driving force for RIM in APAC.

Unfortunately, until the day that they became no 2, or no 3 or 4th in market share for Indonesia, I can safely assume that RIM is still gonna sit in their ivory tower, until it's too late.

Re: RIM gets handed open letter from disgruntled employee, quickly responds in kind

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 06:39:50 -0000

Re: RIM gets handed open letter from disgruntled employee, quickly responds in kind

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 04:05:45 -0000

Not sure what you mean exactly but if you mean that RIM are pricing it low to move stocks then I will have to add that that is only a short tem goal. But where is their long term direction? Does pricing it low help RIM to stay competitive? Yes and no I suppose but one thing's for sure: Pricing it low is NEVER the entire equation. Even though the location difference between Malaysia and Singapore is only less than a 100km, there're some significant difference between Malaysia post paid market and Singapore post paid market, agreed? So in Singapore with all 3 telcos selling phones at heavily subsidized rate for post paid plan subscription, the situation is much much more dangerous for RIM in Singapore, for iPhones, and other Android devices are priced more attractive compared to BB devices. However this is not too big a concern for telcos here as I mentioned before, the only reason telcos are selling BB still is because there're still userbase here. Telcos don't see any further business improvement in terms of bottomline from blackberry devices for the next few years and because of the nature of BB devices, telcos can't value-sell much VAS to BB customers. In short, RIM and their BB devices doesn't help telco to increase, and expand bottomline.

With all these being said in public forum, I can still safely assume that RIM will still ignore yours and mine grunts in a public forum as we're not from Indonesia market.

The market they're most concerned about is Indonesia for APAC region cause BB is a number 1 phone of choice for many in Indonesia. Until the day that they became no 2, or no 3 or 4th in market share for Indonesia, I can safely assume that RIM is still gonna sit in their ivory tower, until it's too late.

Re: RIM responds to open letter published by BGR

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 03:34:28 -0000

Only thru unity is there strength, The app developer enterprise level might be an ant compared to a giant like RIM but together you can make a difference. Can the app developers community get together on this? Post on your Linkedin profile saying you'll drop Blackberry OS support and concentrate on more popular OSes such as iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7 like what Seesmic did for its Twitter app, and openly declare dropping support for RIM. And support other various OSes via HTML5. Doing so will help in conserving your resources and time spent.

Re: Open letter to BlackBerry bosses: Senior RIM exec tells all as company crumbles around him

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 03:34:22 -0000

Re: RIM gets handed open letter from disgruntled employee, quickly responds in kind

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 03:33:59 -0000

Re: RIM’s Response to “Open Letter” «Inside BlackBerry - The Official BlackBerry Blog

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 03:12:23 -0000

On, and one more point, check your Asia Pacific manpower / HR department staff turnover: The staff turnover rate from 2010 till now is extremely high in Singapore. What does that, tells you?? Does that tell you that they have been doing a great / wonderful job at retaining market share, or it's hard working in a politic minefield whereby staffs couldn't concentrate on contributing to your company?

Re: RIM responds to open letter published by BGR

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 02:58:10 -0000

In one of the earlier point stated in the open letter
"Developers, not Carriers, can now make or break us"

I agree with this totally. I won't go into exact details so let's just say my job nature enables me to touch base with virtually all Mobile OS and companies, including Microsoft, Apple, RIM, Google, WebOS, etc, and telcos including Singtel, Starhub, M1, Optus, as well as SIM card suppliers.

Among all the companies representatives I spoke to, mostly director level, The ones at RIM are still stuck in the 1980's / 1990's mentality whereby they still think they are king of the road due to the earlier flagship product Blackberry when it first launched, and see developers as just small fry, and telcos as the correct parties they should be talking to NICELY. This move, is utter silliness at its best when RIM is trying to expand its ecosystem and have more mobile app for its platform. I also know that there's an internal mandate by RIM top management to all international country management telling them to engage the developers and enhance their current mobile ecosystem. May I just ask how will RIM enhance and improve their current mobile ecosystem when the director for Asia Pacific region just ignore developers by turning its nose up?

Allow me to reveal further information. And in order to drive the point across I'm gonna use actual company names: Telcos such as Singtel, Starhub and M1 LOATHE Blackberry now due to the pricing structure of the blackberry devices, forcing telcos such as them being unable to value-sell other VAS on top of blackberry devices. Pricing structures of blackberry devices to telco are stagnant. The only reason they're selling is because there are still people using blackberry and they just want to maintain their current user base, hoping they might jump ship to other smartphones, especially iPhone / Android. And the truth is, many corporates in Asia Pacific are already dropping their blackberry by the dozens and going for iPhone or Android. Telcos now don't see any further business improvement in terms of bottomline for blackberry devices for the next few years. If you don't believe me, drop by Asia Pacific region yourself and speak to industry insider and listen for yourselves. Don't listen to your internal staffs comments (Asia Pacific region) for many are just political players at work and you don't get a truthful ground level picture. Go down to ground level and listen for yourselve or get a research company and get the data you need.

In a nutshell,
1) You are barking up the wrong tree.
2) In addition, the tree also hates you now.
3) The small little ants whom you used to think are just ants, they're more than just ants now. They can make you and break you.
4) And your current nose in the upper air employees are just pissing ppl off, and making the ants bite back at you by going to other more popular ecosystem.

If you don't believe me, check your Asia Pacific manpower / HR department staff turnover: The staff turnover rate from 2010 till now is extremely high in Singapore. What does that, tells you?? Does that tell you that they have been doing a great / wonderful job at retaining market share, or it's hard working in a politic minefield whereby staffs couldn't concentrate on contributing to your company?

Let's not talk about your roadmap for the next 1yr, but let's just talk about it for the next 3 months:

Beside buying companies / investing in companies to create mobile app for your ecosystem, How are you going to retain your current market? Note that I'm using the word retain, not improve. Because you're already losing market share in the first place.

Re: Open letter to BlackBerry bosses: Senior RIM exec tells all as company crumbles around him

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 02:57:46 -0000

In one of the earlier point stated in the open letter
"Developers, not Carriers, can now make or break us"

Allow me to reveal further information. And in order to drive the point across I'm gonna use actual company names: Telcos such as Singtel, Starhub and M1 LOATHE Blackberry now due to the pricing structure of the blackberry devices, forcing telcos such as them being unable to value-sell other VAS on top of blackberry devices. Pricing structures of blackberry devices to telco are stagnant. The only reason they're selling is because there are still people using blackberry and they just want to maintain their current user base, hoping they might jump ship to other smartphones, especially iPhone / Android. And the truth is, many corporates in Asia Pacific are already dropping their blackberry by the dozens and going for iPhone or Android. They don't see any further business improvement in terms of bottomline for blackberry devices for the next few years. If you don't believe me, drop by Asia Pacific region yourself and speak to industry insider and listen for yourselves. Don't listen to your internal staffs comments (Asia Pacific region) for many are just political players at work and you don't get a truthful ground level picture. Go down to ground level and listen for yourselve or get a research company and get the data you need.

Let's not talk about your roadmap for the next 1yr, but let's just talk about it for the next 3 months:

Re: RIM gets handed open letter from disgruntled employee, quickly responds in kind

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 02:44:40 -0000

Oh, and just to add on one more valid point to support my earlier statement:

Check your Asia Pacific manpower / HR department: The staff turnover rate is extremely high in Singapore. What does that, tells you?Does that tell you that you have been doing a great / wonderful job?

Re: Open letter to BlackBerry bosses: Senior RIM exec tells all as company crumbles around him

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 02:28:01 -0000

In one of the earlier point stated in the open letter
"Developers, not Carriers, can now make or break us"

Allow me to reveal further information. And in order to drive the point across I'm gonna use actual company names: Singtel, Starhub and M1 LOATHE Blackberry now due to the pricing structure of the blackberry devices, forcing telcos such as them being unable to value-sell other VAS on top of blackberry devices. Pricing structures of blackberry devices to telco are stagnant. The only reason they're selling is because there are still people using blackberry and they just want to maintain their current user base, hoping they might jump ship to other smartphones, especially iPhone / Android. And the truth is, many corporates in Asia Pacific are already dropping their blackberry by the dozens and going for iPhone or Android. They don't see any further business improvement in terms of bottomline for blackberry devices for the next few years. If you don't believe me, drop by Asia Pacific region yourself and speak to industry insider and listen for yourselves. Don't listen to your internal staffs comments (Asia Pacific region) for many are just political players at work and you don't get a truthful ground level picture. Go down to ground level and listen for yourselve or get a research company and get the data you need.

In a nutshell,
You are barking up the wrong tree.
In addition, the tree also hates you now.
The small little ants whom you used to think are just ants, they're more than just ants now.
They can make you and break you. And your current nose in the upper air employees are just pissing ppl off, and making the ants bite back at you by going to other more popular ecosystem.

Let's not talk about your roadmap for the next 1yr, but let's just talk about it for the next 3 months:

Re: RIM gets handed open letter from disgruntled employee, quickly responds in kind

ptrgan — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 02:24:25 -0000

In one of the earlier point stated in the open letter
"Developers, not Carriers, can now make or break us"

Allow me to reveal further information. And in order to drive the point across I'm gonna use actual company names: Telcos such as Singtel, Starhub and M1 LOATHE Blackberry now due to the pricing structure of the blackberry devices, forcing telcos such as them being unable to value-sell other VAS on top of blackberry devices. Pricing structures of blackberry devices to telco are stagnant. The only reason they're selling is because there are still people using blackberry and they just want to maintain their current user base, hoping they might jump ship to other smartphones, especially iPhone / Android. And the truth is, many corporates in Asia Pacific are already dropping their blackberry by the dozens and going for iPhone or Android. They don't see any further business improvement in terms of bottomline for blackberry devices for the next few years. If you don't believe me, drop by Asia Pacific region yourself and speak to industry insider and listen for yourselves. Don't listen to your internal staffs comments (Asia Pacific region) for many are just political players at work and you don't get a truthful ground level picture. Go down to ground level and listen for yourselve or get a research company and get the data you need.

In a nutshell,
1) You are barking up the wrong tree.
2) Btw, the tree also hates you now.
3) The small little ants whom you used to think are just ants, they're more than just ants now.They can make you and break you.
4) And your current nose in the upper air employees are just pissing ppl off, and making the ants bite back at you by going to other more popular ecosystem.

Let's not talk about your roadmap for the next 1yr, but let's just talk about it for the next 3 months: Beside buying companies / investing in companies to create mobile app for your ecosystem, How are you going to retain your current market? Note that I'm using the word retain, not improve. Because you're already losing market share in the first place.

Re: Make The N82 To Stand By Itself - Great For Self Portraits & Timer Mode

ptrgan — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:47:49 -0000

Check out the 2 custom made tripod I made for my N82

Tripod 1
http://www.flickr.com/photo...
http://www.flickr.com/photo...

Tripod 2
http://www.flickr.com/photo...
http://www.flickr.com/photo...

Re: Your N82 on a Nokia DT-29: Camera and Video Delight

ptrgan — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:46:33 -0000

Check out the 2 custom made tripod I made for my N82;

Tripod 1
http://www.flickr.com/photo...
http://www.flickr.com/photo...

Tripod 2
http://www.flickr.com/photo...
http://www.flickr.com/photo...

Re: Introducing Mobile Photography Section

ptrgan — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:32:44 -0000

This is great.

Submitting my HDR photos and panorama HDR photos taken with N82 with a big tripod that I modified.

http://www.flickr.com/photo...
http://www.flickr.com/photo...
http://www.flickr.com/photo...
http://www.flickr.com/photo...

Normal photos taken with N82
http://www.flickr.com/photo...
http://www.flickr.com/photo...
http://www.flickr.com/photo...
http://www.flickr.com/photo...

And here's a few photos of the 2 tripods that I use for my N82 and my stowaway keyboard to remote control the camera;

Tripod 1
http://www.flickr.com/photo...
http://www.flickr.com/photo...

Tripod 2
http://www.flickr.com/photo...
http://www.flickr.com/photo...

My stowaway keyboard
http://www.flickr.com/photo...
I use this to remote access / control my N82 camera when taking night shots, to prevent any vibration when pressing buttons