[consv93]

The Priv is a great phone, but incompetence on BB's part prevented it from being as successful as it could have been at launch.

Armchair CEO time: What should BlackBerry & TCL do differently with the Mercury to make it a success?

Keep your comments realistic. No fanboy stuff like "must run BB10" (not going to happen) or "must come in red, green, silver, blue, yellow, rainbow" (not important) or "need a Porsche/silver edition" (non-BB enthusiasts/normal people don't care).

And don't talk about what SoC/processor it should have - the models are already set in stone, they may have already placed orders on processors and manufacturer, they're not going to change anything a week before it's announced, we are just waiting to find out the specs. I'm talking more about how they release and market this thing.

I'll start:

- They need an actual launch event. The Priv was teased for about 4 seconds at MWC, then magically appeared for pre-order in the dead of night on BB's website. You need to build excitement - invite the media, have a big event, lots of blogs covering it. Hopefully the CES announcement will be just that type of event. If they don't announce specs and a release date at CES, they should have another event when those are finalized.

- Tight quality control. I went through 4 Privs, all with different issues (mainly severe screen clicking), and the one I have now still has problems, just less bothersome. Two of them had fantastic clicky keyboards, two of them were mushy. Opinions are so divided about the Priv because everyone is getting a different experience due to poor QC. There should be no clicking, creaking, battery issues, etc.

- Real marketing. The Priv's marketing was horrible - creepy black and white images that looked like they were made by a high schooler; laughable internet advertising that seemed targeted only to CrackBerry visitors. They did sponsor the ABC presidential debates, which was a decent move, but it wasn't enough. If they can't afford a large quantity of ads - like TV commercials - they at least need high quality ads on YouTube and around the internet that actually show what the phone can do.

- Competitively priced. Goes without saying.

- Quick turnaround. It should be hitting all the carriers within 2-3 months max, and hopefully sooner. None of this "coming soon" BS, where we didn't have a release date until it was ready for pre-order, and even worse, the Verizon version was released 5 months after the GSM unlocked version.

Thoughts?

[Thud Hardsmack]

Please join the discussion already in progress.

/Closes