[kernelpanix]

So here are my thoughts on how to to a better strategy plan which can make many people and the company happy.

Make Z10 and Q10 your low end phones. NOW!
Both phones are pretty decent phones, the only thing is that today they can't compete with there hardware-to-price ratio.
Z10 is 265/300 Euro (white/black). If that device would sell for 200 max. the device would be more attractive to people who can't live with the "old" hardware. Don't get me wrong, hardware is more than fine and it manages to beat todays more high end devices in several aspects, but there are these killer phones like the Moto G for 200 Euro (16GB version to be comparable).
So, let's consider it would be 200 for the Z10 against 200 for the Moto G, BB would win the point of replacable battery, sd card slot and general BB10 plus sides. The Moto G then still has a better CPU, but people would be more willing to consider the Z10 even though it has the CPU disadvantage! BB10 will always be a feature you have to pay for, but people right now don't know they want it, so you have to make prices attractive.
Me personally, I can forget about the raw CPU power aspect as I really don't need it. BB10 is so well balanced with the hardware they give you, but more on that later.
Make the Q10 around 300, 460/470 Euro is just not a reasonable number for the hardware power it gives you nowadays. And I think with this whole smartphone thing there are new, more important aspects people expect from a phone thab being general or having a QWERTY hardware keyboard. There are just not enough people left who will pay a not that small bonus just for this feature.
Addition: I would love to buy the Q10, but I just can't justify the additional cost. Thus, I will have to settle with the Z10 ones it becomes cheaper...

Make 4 phones - The premium/low end aspect
Take the Z10 and Q10 and make them your entry phones. Make a new Version (lets call them Z20 and Q20) with todays top notche hardware and make them high end prices (just make shure the entry/later on price gap is not _that_big). If you do so, you can first sell off the previous phones you have left and thus finance the development of the new premium devices. Keep this circle up: Old premium is new entry, add new premium and so on.
Addition: This strategy is not that likely to not work. I mean, how many people have hated about the iPhone 5c strategy in the beginning? And now have a look at how this thing is actually selling!

Make 4 phones - The Q5 aspect
Really, please make 2 low end and 2 high end devices. What is really the thing about the Q5? Again, no one is willig to pay more for the plastic phone with a keyboard than for the former premium device. How is the price of 320 vs 270 justified? Lower spec hardware and plastic vs premium? No sorry, I think today nobody is so desperate for a physical keyboard to justifie the loss of money and hardware power.

Make 4 phones - The Z30 aspect
What is it about this phone? I still wonder about the Z10/Q10 price gap. I think you are doing the same and you just made a device with a bigger screen to have a direct opposite for the Q10 device? The concept of BlackBerry on touchscreen is so well thought trough, I just see no plus side for the Z30. The people who buy a S4 or other big phones won't consider this device as any alternative... I just can't decide wheter the Z30 or the Q5 phone is the more useless.

Keep on with BB10
It is by far the most superior OS on the market. I think you all know the advantages like the hub (no apps needed!!!) or the keyboard (it will automatically learn my dialect!!!). But there is one other thing to it:
The things that make BB10 so efficient are the small ones. Just 8 apps in parallel? Booho, is the first thing people say when I tell them this. But just think one more step further: Who has more than 8 apps open in parallel? (Remember: Facebook, Twitter, Mail, Whatsapp, all of these apps are never open because you have the hub!). But it is just a feature, that makes the BB10 experience as good as always on any device, that has the minimum specs. And hey, people say it is a downside that BB10 needs 2GB of RAM, but on the other side: If you have the 2GB RAM, it will work fully! Just because Android 4.4 runs on 512MB RAM, it does not mean you actually want to use this combo!
So, just keep on with this BB10 philosophy, and any other smart decisions that you have made (like no landscape mode, because the Z10 is a one-hand device!).

One last thing:
Forget about low-cash markets. Forget about it now and for now
BlackBerry is at no point to compete in those markets. Not at the moment. As time moves on, Q10 and Z10 get more low end day by day. So how on earth can you establish low end which is more low end than that? It has not worked with the Q5 and I believe it will not work with any other thing you have planned. Today, expanding to these markets can only be a failure...

So let's see what you people say about my 5 pence. Cheers!

[Sith_Apprentice]

Moved to Armchair CEO

[IJKBB10]

I like your strategy 100%

[stroberi]

Agreed

[wojciechp]

That's just 2 of you. I love my Z30 and they should just build on that. IMHO, it's the best touch screen phone there is.

Posted via swift BlackBerry Z30!

[itsnotaboutart]

Does BlackBerry need to make the Q10 top-of-the-line specs? Not meant to be rhetorical, rather a serious question.

In my view, there is one reason the Q10 sells and it is the keyboard. It needs to have "good enough" specs, but I suggest its target market is not those who have an iPhone 5S or Galaxy S4. It is the 9900 crowd who want/need the physical keyboard but also want an upgrade. There seems to be a wide gulf between the 9900 and the "top-of-the-line ". The Q10 seems to be placed nicely as is. People will buy it because it "feels" premium and has the keyboard. Just my thoughts.

Posted via CB10

[bluetroll]

i don't agree with your comments.

Building more or less devices will not solve their problem. They have multiple issues that need to be resolved.

please have research backing up your strategy.

[Haytham Hamad]

Nice stuff man ...

And to add on that, i currently moved back to work and live in Jordan and i travel twice a month to the UAE and the Gulf Area (emerging markets), i currently own two BB devices running OS 7 and a Playbook. it wasn't until i went on to subscribe to a GSM and a BIS service that it hit me ... why does anyone need to pay extra to get emails on his mobile device!

Blackberry has extreme loyal customers in those countries and they'd rather give away one of their children but not BBM, Blackberry hasn't put enough efforts to retain their customer base in that area and the levels of support were terrible, a simple example is launching the Playbook with no support for Arabic language which literally killed the device! i picked a brand new PB for my 2 years old son dirt cheap $130 coz no body wanted them.

To succeed in those markets, i suggest:
1- Forget about making cheap and crappy devices, just eliminate the extra charges for the BIS service so that people can really see a benefit from buying a Blackberry handset (compared to the trashy androids infesting the market) at relatively reasonable prices).

I understand that BIS brings allot of cash and is one of the core services to Blackberry, but if it is going to be an obstacle and going to scare away regular/non corporate customers, then why stick to it! You'd be surprised how much people spend on mobile devices and the frequency they swap them.

2- The App World geo-restrictions is literally horrible! the App World is already poor in terms of app count, putting more restrictions on the app availability is making Blackberry even more unattractive to app and game lovers! Do something to encourage developers to code for Blackberry, others are recruiting hackers of their own devices to help them develop even more for god-sake

3- Make quality devices but don't MSRP them higher or equally with the current market leaders! (a Z30 is more/equally priced to an iPhone 5s in my country).

4- Do something about the current Playbook and release a new one with a BB10 OS with various screen sizes, tablets are essential to people now and replacing laptops!

This is at least what i think, i love Blackberry and their devices but sometimes i feel like why should i be loyal to a brand which isn't loyal to me.

Cheers ...

[antoscimento]

I agree about the uselessness of the Q5 and to a certain extent the Z30 (I like the phone though). The Z10 and Q10 are very sexy phones but abit overpriced for their finishings and specs, maybe getting to the right price point will see the sales booming... hopefully not too late.

Posted via my Q10/Playbook/Curve

[rohetaku]

Low cash markets part is the one I do not agree with!

Posted via CB10

[Marauder2]

I think they should open little stores in some of the biggest malls in the USA and Canada, and some more here and there throughout the world. Not massive stores because they don't have many products to fill the store with, but start in the big malls and have little incentives to get people to enter the store. People will walk by and just see BlackBerry and won't even bother, but have little draws or wheel spins to win free coffees from local shops, or little goodies, etc to bring people in the store.

BB10 is good, people just need to see it.

[kernelpanix]

Ok, so 3 months later here are another thoughts:

Price adjustments:
Since my post prices here in Germany have dropped. We are now facing the Q5 at 215, the Z10 at 215, the Q10 at 313 (qwerty and not the german qwertz, though I don't care) and the Z30 at 430 Euro (cheapest price each, unbranded, unlocked and from a serious distributor).
The Z10 is now at a price point, where it should be. I don't think the price will drop further down to 180 or so within the next 6-8 months. But right now, it should be a competable price. Now just marketing has to kick in. But these additional 10 bucks are not an argument for competing phones like the Moto G anymore
The Q5, I don't know man. I understand that at a certain point prices can not really drop further, but I would choose the Z10 over the Q5, simply for battery/camera/high end finish. The physical keyboard just does not justify it for me.
When it comes to the Z30, I have no clue. Given that it has not that much power, it is too pricy still. Again, I would choose the Z10 and I see a lot of people choosing iPhone or Android if they want the big screeny things. Propably 340 would be a reasonable price?
Q10: Now, that's the phone I will be getting when it drops to 300 (or at the end of the month). Altough it hurts paying a hundred bucks more than for the Z10 and the Q5, I just simply feel that (after a quick test at MediaMarkt with the Q5) a mechanical keyboard just kills it for me. Z10 would be a real alternative, but when I got my Motorola Defy a Blackberry Curve was in the decision too, and I don't want to choose a full touchu over a keyboard again. And I see the Q5 as no real alternative (same SoC, but not overclockable, fixed battery, worse camera). I feel like the markup of a 100 Euro is hurtfull, but necessary.

The Z3 aspect
Hmm, not quite sure about this. I see this device yet again as a compromise/direct competer to the Z10. Altough price is rumored to be set around 150 Euro (direct conversion of 200 USD), I somehow can't believe it will hit Europe at this price. So in the end we are likely to have a Z3 at 190 and the Z10 at 215 or so. Yet again, I do not really see a plus point for the Z3 (you may have noticed that I do not like big *** screens that much. Motorola Defy could be a bit larger, but is alright. So Z10 would have the perfect format).

Somehow I think that most of these problems I encounter are Europe-problems. The pricing is just not quite right here.

So let's wait for the Q10s price to drop (or at least another week or so, I feel like I can't wait anymore ).

[badiyee]

as ambitious as that sounds..

BlackBerry fired all their hardware design people.

Or rather, they have no more hardware engineers.