BlackBerry CEO John Chen has put forth his own agenda for net neutrality in a blogpost on the company’s website and a letter to the US Congress, by stating that rival companies
should be asked to make their widely used apps available on Blackberry
handsets.
In his blog post Chen
wrote, “Key to BlackBerry’s turnaround has been a strategy of application and
content neutrality. For example, we opened up our proprietary BlackBerry
Messenger (BBM) service in 2013, making it available for download on our
competitors’ devices.” He also points out how BlackBerry introduced its secure
BES12 mobile device management software for enterprises and government agencies
whose employees use iPhone and Android devices as well.
However he alleges that
companies like Apple are not playing fair.
He notes, “Apple does
not allow BlackBerry or Android users to download Apple’s iMessage messaging
service.” Chen also took aim at popular video-streaming site Netflix and says
the site has “discriminated against BlackBerry customers by refusing to make
its streaming movie service available to them.”
According to Chen, some
app developers are only offering service only to iPhone and Android users and
that thus is has created “a two-tiered wireless broadband ecosystem”. He adds,
that since iPhone and Android users get access to more content apps, this is a
prime example of “discriminatory practices that neutrality advocates have
criticised at the carrier level.”
He goes on to conclude
his letter by saying that
“Neutrality must be mandated at the application and content
layer if we truly want a free, open and non-discriminatory internet. All
wireless broadband customers must have the ability to access any lawful
applications and content they choose, and applications/content providers must
be prohibited from discriminating based on the customer’s mobile operating
system.”
Net neutrality is the
principle that there should be no paid prioritisation for net traffic, that all
data packets should be treated equally. ISPs in the US however want to charge
more for when users access service like Netflix at high-speeds. Chen with his
letter is trying to expand this definition of net neutrality from just at the
carrier level but also at the content level.
For starters, Chen’s comment specially the one against Netflix
need to be seen in context of the history between the two companies. As this ArsTechnica piece
points out, “Netflix said in 2013 that it would not build an app for BlackBerry
because of the platform’s low market share.” Right now it is possible to run
Netflix on BlackBerry thanks to the Amazon App Store which brings Android apps
to BlackBerry users. However in the past, BlackBerry even offered to create a
Netflix app, a request that didn’t really go down too well.
Chens’ definition of ‘net neutrality’ hasn’t gone down too well
with most. As this piece on The Verge notes, “Chen’s freestyling
redefinition of neutrality equates two highly distinct industries and conflates
a whole bunch of issues into a specious, and utterly warped, argument.”
It goes on to state that
while “fast and reliable internet connections are a necessary public service”
where apps are concerned BlackBerry’s “best strategy would be to make a better
OS, which would attract more users and thus more developers.”
Then of course there’s
the whole BBM argument. Chen says the company opened the app to Android and iOS
users in 2013, to bolster his ‘content-neutrality’ theory. Except the truth is
that BBM was virtually inaccessible to those who didn’t have a BlackBerry
device during the period when BBM was one of the most desired apps. Even in the
early days of the smartphone revolution from 2010-2012, BBM was seen as a
much-prized app, but because the app never came to other platforms, other apps
took-off like WhatsApp. Currently BBM doesn’t have too many fans left.
The truth is
BlackBerry’s OS hasn’t left the kind of mark the company hoped it would. It’s
not longer in the top five OS and frankly for app developers, it will never be
a good enough to get a standalone app. Also this demand for Netflix and
iMessage seems in conflict with the kind of image that BlackBerry has been
trying to project. It’s trying to move into the enterprise space, the new
devices (Classic and Passport) are aimed at business-end users. So then why ask
for Netflix or iMessage? Also isn’t BBM good enough for BlackBerry users.
Frankly’s Chen’s
argument for ‘app neutrality’ isn’t convincing anyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment