[anthony lovings]

I don't post a lot as I feel this is a wonderful place of information and as a long time Blackberry user I can only hope the sky is the limt for the platform. That being said and I know this issue has been talked about and most of us don't see it and only read about it here, well this weekend I saw it and......this is the part where I should say I was surprised nut honestly I really wasn't and that should be of concern for Rim. What I'm talking about is the retail stores freezing a lot of Blackberry products out. Here's the deal, I went to the Best Buy in Harrisburg, Pa to purchase a new 64 gig playbook to go with my 16gig, so I walk to the where the tablets are and the display has a 16g plugged in but I couldn't turn it on which after reading here doesn't surprise me, so the clerk looked to see if there were any in stock.....none and this still was no surprise. He suggested that I get it on line as he was "somehow" able to tell me from his pc that there was none in the whole city. (not just Best Buy's, everywhere in Harrisburg) That being said I was making my way out the door and as I was passing the phone section I couldn't help but notice the new BB Torches that were "plugged in" but they were dead. I made my way to Staples and I should have called and saved myself the trip but I went there and asked about the Playbook and this clerk if you could call him that looked at me gave the " let me think about that look" smiled and said we dont carry them anymore since they were discontinued. I was like.....um ok, and i walked out and ordered it from Shopblackberry. What bothered me it the smile this moron had on his face and the Best Buy clerk speaking for the whole city. This was a long story but the point here is if Thor, really want to here from us then know that we all cant be wrong in the way that certain stores are steering customers away from Blackberry. It has to be addressed.

[SCrid2000]

I agree, but don't see what RIM can really do about it.
IMO, they need to create the demand via compelling advertising, afrer which places like Best Buy and Staples will be head over heels to get BlackBerrys.

[zzbsb]

you shouldnt go to bestbuy to look for playbook.

problem fixed.

[palmless]

I tried to play with one at Staples yesterday. It was the first one I'd ever seen in a store, and I've never seen one in use.

Plugged in but dead, would not come on. Didn't have time to pull the display out and check it.

Is this usually because the charger isn't plugged in at the other end?

[jwn66]

you shouldnt go to bestbuy to look for anything.

I fixed your post as this is what I think you meant to say.

[SCrid2000]

you shouldnt go to bestbuy to buy anything you don't want to be overcharged for (except the occasional sale price) and NEVER to get any kind of knowledge or support.

I also fixed the post.

[Chrisy]

Pull all BlackBerry products out of Best Buys and etc for sure. Best Buy employees told me twice the PB was discontinued and RIM was going out of business.

RIM should open BlackBerry only stores. This was discussed in a few threads here. I think it's a good idea for the future of RIM.

[andyJH]

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to find a working Playbook in London Drugs' (Burnaby, British Columbia) computer department, then walked out and past a non-affiliated cell phone store and saw a set up with a cool stand and both a bold and a playbook on display as a combination.

[Chaddface]

I got the same "grin" from two staples employees in West Chester not far from you OP. When I asked where the PB accessories where they looked at each other and smiled. After some back and forth they told me "the boss" bought one. I told them to go get the boss and the smiles quickly faded. He was very helpful and walked the store with me. I made no mention of the condescending attitude. Just bought 2 chargers and made my exit.
Even when I bought first day back in April the best buy employees looked at me funny. Why is this? That was before anyone had any experience with it. Seems like RIM was behind before they started.
Is this more a US occurrence?

[larsonage]

I went in four best buys, three staples, and a office depot. And none of them had a powered up playbook. I went to a sprint store to play with it to make my decision to get one. Do these other stores get special incentives for selling other tablets and e-readers?

[cfx_will]

Dude, so many grammar mistakes @_@ I could barely understand what you're trying to say lol. ANYWAYS, yeah I agree, It seems that in some areas, playbooks are JUST not being sold. I actually know quite a few people who want one but cannot get their hands on it (I guess it's due to the promotion frenzies) but despite it all, RIM has got to start getting PBs into people's hands.

[jwn66]

I went in four best buys, three staples, and a office depot. And none of them had a powered up playbook. I went to a sprint store to play with it to make my decision to get one. Do these other stores get special incentives for selling other tablets and e-readers?

not sure if serious.

but.

why yes, yes they do..

[3lionsbecks]

Pull all BlackBerry products out of Best Buys and etc for sure. Best Buy employees told me twice the PB was discontinued and RIM was going out of business.

RIM should open BlackBerry only stores. This was discussed in a few threads here. I think it's a good idea for the future of RIM.

I didnt see the other threads in the idea of a RIM store but I'm not sure they have enough products to do it.

Apple can do it because they have a lot more products, specifically computers

[ralfyguy]

I believe Apple could get this mess under control. I don't like Apple, but this could never happen to them...

[Schewbe]

So where is the marketing person that Thor was going to hire right away? Rim needs to do some serious promotional advertising to make everyone aware that the Playbook is alive and well.

[[email protected]]

.

RIM should open BlackBerry only stores. This was discussed in a few threads here. I think it's a good idea for the future of RIM.

I don't think they have enough products to support a retail store. They would be better off putting their own reps in Best Buys and other locations. Samsung does it as does Sony and LG.

[[email protected]]

So where is the marketing person that Thor was going to hire right away? Rim needs to do some serious promotional advertising to make everyone aware that the Playbook is alive and well.

They don't seem to have anything "new" to market. They shud get the OS out the door yes. But their bread and butter, phones, wont hit the market til 4Q this year.

That's a long time to focus only on tablets.

[CairnsRock]

This is depressing. I love PB, but maybe I'll pop over to the Apple forum to cheer myself up.

[playbookster]

i bought my pb at bestbuy and the guy there was great. Told me is was the best tablet for the price and they had been selling really well since the price drop.

[swyost]

The 16 GB Playbook is stocked in most of the Phoenix area Best Buy stores and the 32 GB model is stocked in some; the 64 GB model is only carried online at any Best Buy unless they have an odd old stock box in the cage. That Best Buy does not stock the 64 GB model in stores can be confirmed by just going to their website, so you were really wasting your own time anyway. A quick trip to Staples' website would have also confirmed that they only carry the 32 GB and 16 GB models anymore; they don't even list the 64 GB model. Again, sorry to say but that is mostly on you. As the retailers I know have now raised the prices back to $499/599/699, that stock is moving nowhere any time soon.

As far as BB phones being dead on display at Best Buy, that is actually true of almost every brand in almost ever Best Buy I have entered in the last couple years. They tend to keep working phones behind the counter in the phone section. That is certainly not something unique to BB phones. As far as Playbook tablets not working, the 16 GB models on display in the Best Buy stores near me certainly do work. Like other display tablets though, they get a lot of abuse. I haven't seen in any way that they are more or less likely than other brands to be fucntional or non-functional. The obvious exception is the iPad display where everything does work, but I would hope people understand that Apple is paying for that display.

The biggest stumbing block to Playbook sales in a Best Buy at the moment is that a device the size of a paperback book has a higher price than the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Transformer Prime (that happens to be on sale this week). The fact that people equate smaller with cheaper is simply as a matter of cognitve processing so a Playbook being more expensive is counter intuitive. All of the 7 inch tablets also happen to be much cheaper than the Playbook.

No one is freezing RIM products out, except in as much a retailers stock the stuff they can move. The fact of life is on that front that RIM is freezing itself out by pricing and product decisions. It has not been able to move past the fact that it is no longer selling the status product people want to own. If they want to sell, they have to price and sell on the same playing field as all of the other non-status products.

[[email protected]]

The 16 GB Playbook is stocked in most of the Phoenix area Best Buy stores and the 32 GB model is stocked in some; the 64 GB model is only carried online at any Best Buy unless they have an odd old stock box in the cage. That Best Buy does not stock the 64 GB model in stores can be confirmed by just going to their website, so you were really wasting your own time anyway. A quick trip to Staples' website would have also confirmed that they only carry the 32 GB and 16 GB models anymore; they don't even list the 64 GB model. Again, sorry to say but that is mostly on you. As the retailers I know have now raised the prices back to $499/599/699, that stock is moving nowhere any time soon.

As far as BB phones being dead on display at Best Buy, that is actually true of almost every brand in almost ever Best Buy I have entered in the last couple years. They tend to keep working phones behind the counter in the phone section. That is certainly not something unique to BB phones. As far as Playbook tablets not working, the 16 GB models on display in the Best Buy stores near me certainly do work. Like other display tablets though, they get a lot of abuse. I haven't seen in any way that they are more or less likely than other brands to be fucntional or non-functional. The obvious exception is the iPad display where everything does work, but I would hope people understand that Apple is paying for that display.

The biggest stumbing block to Playbook sales in a Best Buy at the moment is that a device the size of a paperback book has a higher price than the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Transformer Prime (that happens to be on sale this week). The fact that people equate smaller with cheaper is simply as a matter of cognitve processing so a Playbook being more expensive is counter intuitive. All of the 7 inch tablets also happen to be much cheaper than the Playbook.

No one is freezing RIM products out, except in as much a retailers stock the stuff they can move. The fact of life is on that front that RIM is freezing itself out by pricing and product decisions. It has not been able to move past the fact that it is no longer selling the status product people want to own. If they want to sell, they have to price and sell on the same playing field as all of the other non-status products.

Well said.

[mathprof08]

you shouldnt go to bestbuy to look for playbook.

problem fixed.

You shouldn't go to 'Best' Buy for anything.

[papped]

I went in four best buys, three staples, and a office depot. And none of them had a powered up playbook. I went to a sprint store to play with it to make my decision to get one. Do these other stores get special incentives for selling other tablets and e-readers?

They routinely have the same problem with various android tablets and phones as well. They only really care about a couple primary devices and everything else kinda gets ignored and isn't maintained.