[Andy Wijaya]

Since the carriers all over the world don't want to support BlackBerry, why bother? Over time, at this rate the company condition would get better and better. The transition of BlackBerry into a software company is almost done. I think BlackBerry may survive and gets profits from their software services alone. They can get profits from BES, BBM, and providing mobile security services for companies and enterprises. If BlackBerry succeed in doing so, the image of the BlackBerry company would improve, and over time people would (possibly) want the handheld from BlackBerry again. If the consumer market wants it, then, if the time comes, give it to them. Don't try to hard to get too many profits from selling devices. Our market share is almost non-existent. Trying to penetrate the market at this condition is just unwise. Whenever BlackBerry fail in doing so, the company would get a bad name, and the stock price would get punished by the media and the market. BlackBerry these days just can't show any weakness. Make the BlackBerry brand the brand for enterprise and business users. Market them as it is, and target the niche prosumers they always wanted to target. Don't bother too much to penetrate the consumer market. Sell handheld devices to those who really want to use the BlackBerry, and let them order directly from BlackBerry, factory-unlocked of course. After that, provide a good costumer service to support those who bought it. I'm sure many of the BlackBerry fans would still buy the device, although maybe not as many. If they succeed pulling this out, maybe BlackBerry might live to see another day of its glory.

[Thunderbuck]

They already do this through shopblackberry.com. Or am I missing something?

[Andy Wijaya]

They already do this through shopblackberry.com. Or am I missing something?

Yes, they do. What I meant is that they should not try so hard to join forces with the carriers to push the handheld devices to the consumers. The carriers are in general unsupportive of BlackBerry.

[CanuckBB]

The vast majority of users buy phones through the carriers. Businesses in particular are not adverse to sign a 2 year agreement to get subsidized phones. It beats the large capex to buy new devices.

[Jimberry Storm]

They already do this through shopblackberry.com. Or am I missing something?

They do indeed, but not all models (for all carriers)

[TGR1]

The vast majority of users buy phones through the carriers. Businesses in particular are not adverse to sign a 2 year agreement to get subsidized phones. It beats the large capex to buy new devices.

Agreed. In the US, and likely Canada too, the carriers have enormous influence on what gets sold.

[Troy Tiscareno]

The last time I saw numbers for the US, it was something like 85% of smartphones were purchased subsidized through a carrier, and if you excluded models that cost $300 or less outright, it was about 98%. So, you can see why selling phones outright isn't really going to move the needle very much, when the overwhelming majority of smartphone buyers in the US, both consumer and corporate, purchase phones on subsidy from a carrier, and desire to continue doing so.

I would imagine that Canada's numbers are similar.

There's no getting around the reality that if you want to sell phones in any volume, you've got to have a good relationship with the carriers (i.e., you have to make the carriers a profit). In the past, BB made carriers a profit, but carriers have made little profit on BBOS phones since about 2012, and they lost money on BB10 in 2013, which is why so few are carrying BB phones in 2014. Even John Chen alluded to "once being a profitable partner for the carriers", meaning he knows they aren't currently profitable for them.

[barbas79]

They already do this through shopblackberry.com. Or am I missing something?

Well, they do. But not to all countries I think only US and Canada is supported. Besides the devices, they do not sell licenses outside US and Canada for BES

Posted via CB10