Fighting Fragmentation with Better Naming

The classic BlackBerry OS was sometimes seen as having a bit of a fragmentation issue with the differences between the Curve, Torch, Pearl, and Bold series of phones, and then launching five or six different models of the Curve every year. With the new BlackBerry 10 OS, BlackBerry has greatly improved the situation by offering just two phones, the Z10 and the Q10.

Except that the truth isn’t that simple. There are in fact many different models of the Z10. Some have an Imagination GPU and some have a Qualcomm GPU, some support LTE and some do not, some support CDMA networks while some do not. In years past these different radio stacks would result in the phones being released as the Zed 1000, Zed 1010, Zed 1015, and Zed 1030. Yet BlackBerry has greatly simplified their image by simply referring to all of these devices as the Z10.

BlackBerry has been able to improve the image of their company simply by giving their device a better (and simpler) name. As an app developer the specific radio stack used by the device for internet access could not be less relevant to my games. For consumers, there is no need to be confused by multiple devices, as you simply use the one that is compatible with your carrier (and are not even informed of the behind the scenes differences).

Explaining that my apps work on the Z10 is a lot simpler than explaining that my apps work on the Curve 9220, 9300, 9310, 9315, 9320, 9330, and 9620. To be perfectly honest, I couldn’t even tell you what the trivial difference is between some of those Curve models. Having a simpler naming scheme is great.

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