Phone No One Uses Will No Longer Carry Game No One Plays

from the but-what-about-those-angry-birds dept

Thu, Jan 31st 2013 8:09pm — Dealbreaker

Cross-posted from

New versions of the BlackBerry mobile device won’t come equipped with BrickBreaker, a simple game that for years was installed on every BlackBerry and at its peak developed a cult following among traders and Wall Street executives. Richard S. Fuld, the former Lehman Brothers chief executive, became so addicted that in 2006 he had his technology department remove the game from his device in an effort to break his habit. Nick Manning, a spokesman for BlackBerry, on Wednesday confirmed the company’s decision to remove the game from new devices. [Dealbook]

Other posts from Dealbreaker:

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Filed Under: blackberry, brickbreaker, games, phones, wall street
Companies: blackberry, rim

29 Comments

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Skeptical Cynic (profile), 31 Jan 2013 @ 7:50pm

So...
This is posted on TechDirt for what reason?

Am I missing some importance that is hidden in this article?

IMHO a wasted page on TechDirt's server.
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- Atkray (profile), 31 Jan 2013 @ 8:38pm
  
  Re: So...
  In the previous post about soup the first line was:
  
  "We're just about to start experimenting with a variety of new advertising setups here at Techdirt,"
  
  I'm going to go way out on a limb and say that has now taken place based on the "Other posts from Dealbreaker:" link and the box that says "Cross-posted from DEALBREAKER".
  
  So probably not wasted space for the guy who hits send on the payment for the server.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 31 Jan 2013 @ 9:47pm
    
    Re: Re: So...
    this is not the good content we were looking for
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  - Mike Masnick (profile), 31 Jan 2013 @ 11:32pm
    
    Re: Re: So...
    I'm going to go way out on a limb and say that has now taken place based on the "Other posts from Dealbreaker:" link and the box that says "Cross-posted from DEALBREAKER".
    
    So probably not wasted space for the guy who hits send on the payment for the server.
    
    Nope. If we're doing anything that involves *sponsorship* we'll have that clearly marked. We're just running guest posts from Dealbreaker and Above The Law and they're running guest posts from us. We did one from each last week, and here's one this week, and we'll probably do another one next week.
    
    Just experimenting with expanding content coverage a bit. Dealbreaker and Above the Law cover somewhat different industries, but seem to have a similar outlook on life, and we've agreed to cross post a few posts to see if our audiences are interested.
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    - Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 1 Feb 2013 @ 5:44am
      
      Re: Re: Re: So...
      I really enjoyed the previous Above the Law story. However this one from Dealbreaker seems lacking. Short is fine, but there's no context or explanation of the reason they're removing the game. There's nothing to indicate what this really means to me/the tech industry/government/whatever.
      
      I'm potentially interested in other content that TD typically doesn't cover - but a story about a random game or app no longer being preloaded on a phone with no wider impact is at beast a 1.5 out of 10 on the interesting scale. The twinkie story was better.
      
      Just constructive (I hope) criticism.
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- Anonymous Coward, 31 Jan 2013 @ 8:53pm
  
  Re: So...
  The wasted Kbs, oh the horror! >_>
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G Thompson (profile), 31 Jan 2013 @ 10:09pm

hmmm.. Subliminal crossposting of Dealbreaker part of Breaking Media Inc. who also own Above The law - a slightly snarky leagle beagle site that I find humorous in regards to USA law going ons - and Fashionista - OMG the new styles are to die for girlfriends!

So is this a new advertising cross promo bartering thing with TD and Breaking. Should we soon see some non-sequitor law posts and fashion disaster posts to do with what we all like at TD. ;)

I for one welcome seeing legal, economic and fashion posts in conjunction with what TD does. May I suggest though that any posts having to do with what the latest crop of lawyers wore at the 'to die for' Copyright swaray and who bought whom for pennies would be a bit much.. Though I am thinking that Tim (you pick) already has a headline for it ;)
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- Mike Masnick (profile), 31 Jan 2013 @ 11:34pm
  
  Re:
  hmmm.. Subliminal crossposting of Dealbreaker part of Breaking Media Inc. who also own Above The law - a slightly snarky leagle beagle site that I find humorous in regards to USA law going ons - and Fashionista - OMG the new styles are to die for girlfriends!
  
  So is this a new advertising cross promo bartering thing with TD and Breaking. Should we soon see some non-sequitor law posts and fashion disaster posts to do with what we all like at TD. ;)
  
  Not advertising. We just like the folks over at Breaking, and we're both experimenting with cross posting each other's content (just Dealbreaker and ATL -- not Fashionista). We did two posts last week, and no one seemed to care, so I find it interesting that this week people are concerned about the cross posts. Data point, I guess, as perhaps the content of this week's wasn't as notable as last week's...
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  - Mike Masnick (profile), 31 Jan 2013 @ 11:35pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Also, how is it "subliminal"? It says it three times...
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    - G Thompson (profile), 1 Feb 2013 @ 12:00am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      it It IT
      hmmmm.. has anything appeared? well has IT? ;)
      
      ok.. My whole comment was sarcasm mixed with Aussie dry humour and to be subliminal something needs to be below the threshold of the (communities in this respect) conscious perception. Looking at the current bunch of comments above (and elsewhere on TD lately) the conscious perception is severely lacking. Therefore saying it was subliminal was the sarcasm.
      
      And I saw both articles last week . Thought It was actually interesting concept for you to do this, widens the readership and content in different directions. And no it's not advertising persay, though it is a form of networking and barter.
      
      But why not Fashionista? I mean this article is highly relevant (and that last sentence *eyeroll*) ;)
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      - Mike Masnick (profile), 1 Feb 2013 @ 12:12am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        But why not Fashionista? I mean this article is highly relevant (and that last sentence *eyeroll*) ;)
        
        Believe it or not, we've discussed how there may be ways to do things with Fashionista at some point too.. but that may be down the road. :)
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        Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 1 Feb 2013 @ 5:48am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I imagine many in the TD crowd (including myself) could use some fashion advice from time to time.
        
        Of course, the idea that fashion advice gotten via a tech blog is necessarily good advice may be a hurdle.
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JarHead, 1 Feb 2013 @ 2:35am

Phone no one use? Hmm, last time I checked BB still have large market in asia. Only recently Apple can break into that market, but still largely used by tech-savvies with deep pocket. If you think iBlah is a bit pricey, for asian market it's astronomical.

Unless you're saying that asian are nobodies...
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- Mike Masnick (profile), 1 Feb 2013 @ 3:20am
  
  Re:
  Phone no one use?
  
  It's a joke....
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  - Anonymous Coward, 1 Feb 2013 @ 4:48am
    
    Re: Re:
    sarcasm does not transition to text well.
    
    I had no idea that was intended to be humorous.
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    - The Groove Tiger (profile), 1 Feb 2013 @ 6:41am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      So you think it was intended to convey that literally not a single person uses it?
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      - The Groove Tiger (profile), 1 Feb 2013 @ 6:41am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        (and who said it was sarcasm. Look up "sarcasm". this is hyperbole, not sarcasm)
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        Anonymous Coward, 1 Feb 2013 @ 11:16am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Hyperbole? Is that bigger than the Superbowl?
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Zakida Paul (profile), 1 Feb 2013 @ 2:43am

Phone no one uses? Really? If no one used the phone then no one would be buying it and the company would be out of business already.

Blackberry phones still have a large business market because the email integration and BBM is still better than any of their competitors.

I am surprised and saddened that Techdirt would post something so erroneous.
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- Ninja (profile), 1 Feb 2013 @ 5:21am
  
  Re:
  It's a joke. And honestly, if you compare 80 million users to the rest of the smartphone market....
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- Mr. Applegate, 1 Feb 2013 @ 6:59am
  
  Re:
  I think the article was tongue in cheek. That said though I consult for a large number of SMB's and not a single one has a BES server any more. Most turned off their BES Servers in 2011, the last one I consult for in January of 2012.
  
  If security or integration is an issue, I suspect Windows 8 phones / tablets will be the thing that will be turned to rather than cranking up a BES server since they can integrate directly with Exchange / AD which nearly every company already runs.
  
  Though until there is a MAJOR breach CEO's, CIO's... will likely continue to want to use their iDevice or Android device. I just don't see a future for Blackberry, and I used to be a huge fan.
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Elohssa (profile), 1 Feb 2013 @ 2:53am

BlackBerry obviously has it's priorities in order. That must be why they continue to dominate that market.
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Anonymous, 1 Feb 2013 @ 3:41am

Nick Manning? The guy who played Batman in "BatfXXX"?
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Ninja (profile), 1 Feb 2013 @ 3:56am

Phone No One Uses Will No Longer Carry Game No One Plays

Epic headline is epic. Nokia soon to join!
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known coward, 1 Feb 2013 @ 4:54am

all kidding aside it is a damm stupid idea.
get rid of the one quirky thing your loyal audience likes, now that is some brilliant marketing.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Feb 2013 @ 5:08am

I guess 80 million users is nobody. Second if BrickBreaker is the primary reason you use a BlackBerry then I'm not really sure what to say to you. And finally, since it doesn't come free and pre-loaded you may just have to take the 10 seconds to go to BlackBerry World and download one of the 7 other versions that is already available.
I already have my BB10 and its awesome.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Feb 2013 @ 6:50am

haven't kept up to date on the latest blackberry phones/os too much, but unless they fixed the onboard stoarage issues (i.e. don't provide enough of it to install more than 10 apps at a time) or let you install apps to an sd card, brickbreaker was just about the only thing that fits on my blackberry.

it's a cryin' shame when you have to "curate" the apps on your phone. I would rather they dump the useless 3rd party crapware that you can't uninstall rather than take away something that actually gets used.

Man, I hate corporate required phones.
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Gregg, 1 Feb 2013 @ 9:14am

addicted too
I had it on my BB Pearl and was supper addicted to the game. I always got stuck in the same levels, but every 2-3 months, I'd break my record by a little. Drove me nuts! I had to remove it from my Torch as I couldn't start the cycle over again.
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Brandom, 29 Mar 2013 @ 8:49am

There is always somebody using an old phone. My mother used the very same Nokia brick phone for 11 years and only changed to another phone when she absolutely had no other option. Point is, there's always somebody playing the game until it can no longer be played. Even cell phones, last years. As do TV,s wireless home phones, and so on. Your topic is more than just useless. bell - pacific centre
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