[Sean Delaney]

My wife and I were at a Telus store last week, and she was hellbent on getting rid of her iPhone 5S because of chronic frustrations with iTunes and how some of the account management settings worked. She was very intrigued with the Blackberry Priv, as she was wanting a premium device AND ready to switch to Android.

As we listened to two different sales representatives working with clients, we noticed they were actively steering people away from the Priv and towards the Samsung devices. Is there something Blackberry has stopped doing that has their product hitting the bottom of the pile amongst retailers ...as they have virtually zero visibility in retail stores, and the staff are loathe to even answer a question about their product.

By the way, my wife was also talked out of the Priv, and went with the S7 Edge. Great phone as well, but just underscored that Blackberry seems to be completely out of the retail game if they aren't playing whatever game Samsung was playing to get that kind of attention.

[conite]

Salespeople steer people to what they know. BlackBerry hasn't really been on the radar for a long time.

[howarmat]

priv is 6 months old....much newer better phones have come out since. Pretty easy to see why Priv is not going to be pushed really

[Stephen Perron]

Probably because Apple & Samsung pay them big bucks to display and promote those 2 products anything else is regulated to the back of of the store or worse yet in the stock room. Sadly you got to pay big $$$ to have your product seen and be heard.

Posted via CB10

[app_Developer]

Sales reps don't like selling things that end up being returned.

[bluetroll]

When it's sales based on commission, the last thing you want is for customers to return the device.

Also, there are probably more monetary incentives offered by Samsung to the sales rep.

And like above posters have said, they sell what they know... which also leads to manufacturers seeding devices with retail reps (aka giving them away to them or selling at a steep discount).

That's how retail sales work.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[1REDRUM]

Many vendors give the sales people spiffs / commission from them semi directly. If BlackBerry is not doing this the sales people will tend to steer people to those that are.

Posted via CB10

[donnation]

For one the S7 is a better phone, that's just reality.

[byex]

You get out of something whatever effort you put in. That's a general rule and works in most cases.

Posted via CB10

[Ment]

Anything older than six months that's not selling gets put out of sight.. Try finding a Sony phone.

[tfitzpat03]

Anything older than six months that's not selling gets put out of sight.. Try finding a Sony phone.

I agree. I bought a z5 premium for the same price as the priv. It is waterproof and has better specs. It also has good battery life. Love having the blackberry apps too.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[littlebuff]

Simply because BlackBerry has done so little if not nothing at all to gain attention in the market.

Posted from my Passport

[aha]

Salespeople steer people to what they know. BlackBerry hasn't really been on the radar for a long time.

Most decent sales people also steer people to something with better value... if we still have faith in humanity, which I do.

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2876

[conite]

Most decent sales people also steer people to something with better value... if we still have faith in humanity, which I do.

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2876

Value is hard to measure. I personally find the Priv has good value because it has features I want that no one else has. The sales person should do a needs/wants assessment first. My point was that BlackBerry isn't even in their head space, so it doesn't become part of the decision tree.

[blueburk]

For one the S7 is a better phone, that's just reality.

Hmm got proof of that

[werkregen]

Because BlackBerry isn't seeking attention, they hope God will save their business.

[donnation]

Hmm got proof of that

Really?

Specs wise it's not even close, has a way better camera, is waterproof, has better battery life, has more accessories to choose from. Granted the Priv is 6 months old and the S7 should be a better phone. The only reason someone would have to choose the Priv over it is the pkb if they were desperate to have one.

[Krnmc]

For a business, the hardest thing for them to do is to retain and attract new users. And because people already have negative perception of BlackBerry it makes things harder. Since changing someones view about a negative company takes much work and effort to do so, also cost $$$$.

I'm not too sure how the financials are set up in Blackberry, but for the Priv I think they needed a larger online and physical presence before the release of the phone. And the full price of the phone being slightly lower compared to other flagship devices. The timing of the phone release was bad too (for verizon at least).People also like to follow the mass, and because so many people are getting the Iphone and the Galaxy devices, other brands like HTC, Blackberry, Nokia and Moto. Just doesnt get enough traction to gain new customers. Which leads to poor sales and having little to no retail space.

I personally love my Priv, even though im still on verizon Lolipop, and I have other high end flagships devices like the nexus 6P had the S6 edge and recently sold my iphone 6S. Is the phone perfect? nope, but for what its worth blackberry did a hell of a job making this thing and I cant wait to see the other two phones they make. Even though it might be mid range phones, Ill probably buy one with the keyboard. Few years ago I would of wanted high spec devices but now I only run or use few apps (Spotify mostly, and Web and emails) so I don't really need to spend $$$$$ to buy the highest spec phones, but I probably will cause i have a problem.... ><

Sorry for the long post as well as some grammatical errors! =]

[o4liberty]

Lack of product and marketing , this has always been the case with blackberry along with failed device launches.

I don't understand why they gave up on blackberry 10 its a great platform in my opinion.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[donnation]

I don't understand why they gave up on blackberry 10 its a great platform in my opinion.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

Because no one was buying them.

[mitchy_mitch]

Cuz BB's are old school and sales reps can't relate to them

[xtremeled]

Probably because Apple & Samsung pay them big bucks to display and promote those 2 products anything else is regulated to the back of of the store or worse yet in the stock room. Sadly you got to pay big $$$ to have your product seen and be heard.

Posted via CB10

Or perhaps the priv was a substandard phone that was over priced on launch day.

[Bbnivende]

It seems like most PRIV buyers currently or previously owned a BlackBerry. It will be tough to expand the base. I suspect that BlackBerry may become direct sales only device.

The slider is a hard sell too.

Posted via CB10

[mutigbeere]

OP - interesting question to tweet Chen about.

[blueburk]

Really?

Specs wise it's not even close, has a way better camera, is waterproof, has better battery life, has more accessories to choose from. Granted the Priv is 6 months old and the S7 should be a better phone. The only reason someone would have to choose the Priv over it is the pkb if they were desperate to have one.

? Touchwiz no thanks
? samsung secure no