1. treo_knight's Avatar
    I was in HK for business last week. I pretty much convinced a business associate of mine to hop on to the BlackBerry ship over dinner as he complained about his, I quote "crappy Samsung S4". I demoed my Z10 and since he wanted a bigger screen I patiently explained that a Z30 would be like a Z10 on steroids. And so the next day we decided to go get him a Z30 and / or get some info on the Passport launch. I was not aware that the next day was HK's official launch day for icrap6. The two of us spent about 3 hrs walking all over Kowloon to every major retailer carrying cellphones as well as the walk in stores of every single HK carrier. Not one person we spoke to had a clue about the Passport. Forget launch date - no one knew what it was. As for the Z30, the closest we got to holding one were two plastic display dummies at one Fortress store and one carrier store. Zilch, nada, nothing. No Z10, 30 or 3. We found a few Q 5's and one carrier rep told us he did see one Q10 in stock which they could offer at an equivalent of around USD 880!!! A very sad tale of not being able to find one single Z30 in one of Asia's most vibrant tech centres. What made it worse was having to work our way through crowds at every carriers walk in store with hordes of people queuing up to book their crapple devices. Frustrating - YES. BlackBerry your devices need to be available to sell. Hong Kong, Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok, Manila, Delhi : at least make a little effort to market your devices in these markets. How about releasing 10.3 and in the slipstream of the Passport launch bring in some of your other BB10 devices into these markets. You have to get devices into people's hands and create more buzz. These markets are not controlled by carriers so unlocked SIM free devices at competitive prices is the way to go. If not anything else at least find a way to get a huge existing user base of OS 7 device users here to migrate to 10.

    Posted via CB10
    Elite1 likes this.
    09-23-14 12:04 PM
  2. playbookster's Avatar
    That's what they are doing with the z3

    The Gif Exchange C001B7B16
    09-23-14 12:27 PM
  3. Elite1's Avatar
    First off, welcome to CrackBerry! Although I see you've been part of our Mobile Nations family since 2004... That's amazing!
    Please update your profile to include current device, carrier, and location. This makes it easier for others to help you.

    I moved your thread into our General BlackBerry Discussion Forum since it's a bigger topic than just the Passport.

    A lot of what you say has merit, but just FYI some of your cities listed aren't good examples of your case. BBRY does have decent strength in Jakarta, Manila, and Delhi. I really couldn't say about Singapore or Thailand. BBRY seems pretty weak nowadays in HK and Japan especially. (Unsure of 3 other major Asian markets: mainland China, Taiwan, and Korea.)

    Anyway, you raise good points. Hopefully BBRY has the capability to address all the Asian markets ASAP.
    treo_knight likes this.
    09-23-14 12:27 PM
  4. playbookster's Avatar
    I moved your thread into our General BlackBerry Discussion Forum since it's a bigger topic than just the Passport.

    A lot of what you say has merit, but just FYI some of your cities listed aren't good examples of your case. BBRY does have decent strength in Jakarta, Manila, and Delhi. I really couldn't say about Singapore or Thailand. BBRY seems pretty weak nowadays in HK and Japan especially. (Unsure of 3 other major Asian markets: mainland China, Taiwan, and Korea.)

    Anyway, you raise good points. Hopefully BBRY has the capability to address all the Asian markets ASAP.
    BlackBerry has always been weak in the Chinese and Japanese markets. They do well in Singapore and Thailand from what I understand. But especially Indonesia and India.

    The Gif Exchange C001B7B16
    09-23-14 12:29 PM
  5. Hai Bo's Avatar
    And please control the price, control your market. Don't let the distributors take too big bites.
    09-23-14 12:48 PM
  6. crackberry_geek's Avatar
    First off, welcome to CrackBerry! Although I see you've been part of our Mobile Nations family since 2004... That's amazing!
    Please update your profile to include current device, carrier, and location. This makes it easier for others to help you.

    I moved your thread into our General BlackBerry Discussion Forum since it's a bigger topic than just the Passport.

    A lot of what you say has merit, but just FYI some of your cities listed aren't good examples of your case. BBRY does have decent strength in Jakarta, Manila, and Delhi. I really couldn't say about Singapore or Thailand. BBRY seems pretty weak nowadays in HK and Japan especially. (Unsure of 3 other major Asian markets: mainland China, Taiwan, and Korea.)

    Anyway, you raise good points. Hopefully BBRY has the capability to address all the Asian markets ASAP.
    I was just in Singapore, Thailand and Japan during the past month... nothing. The Z3 only become available in Singapore a couple of weeks ago... after how many months?

    BlackBerry seems content to be making piddly profits in irrelevant markets. BlackBerry marketing seems better suited to just running a lemonade stand... cuz hey, a few of the locals like our product.

    Let's hope 9/24 marks a turning point... and that the Passports will actually make itself available.

    Posted via CB10
    09-23-14 01:05 PM
  7. Ment's Avatar
    BlackBerry has always been weak in the Chinese and Japanese markets. They do well in Singapore and Thailand from what I understand. But especially Indonesia and India.

    The Gif Exchange C001B7B16
    China market is is dependent on price unless you are Apple. Devices with Z3 specs are selling for $75-100 less. Even the long time king Samsung is getting its lunch eaten by upstart Xiaomi who sold 26M phones the first half of 2014 in China and surrounding.
    countries which is more than they sold for all of 2013. Japan is maybe even more carrier controlled than the US market so it will be difficult for BB to make any headway there.

    BBM has been the entry point of BB devices for a long time but in those countries BBM is dominated by other IM/social media apps, like Line/WeChat/Weibo/WhatsApp, so BB handsets have no appeal. In short I don't see why BB would commit resources in those countries given its now enterprise focused.
    09-23-14 03:21 PM
  8. hkkelvinlee's Avatar
    I share your frustration, OP.

    I am in Hong Kong. BlackBerry is known as business phone in this town. You hardly see anyone rocking a BlackBerry in residential areas like Kowloon or New Territories. That explains why you had such difficulty buying a Z30 here. I think I have seen it displayed in some retails for a while but you hardly see any BlackBerry showcased in any major retail chains which are gearing to satisfying demand of Mainland Chinese tourists anyway. You know how weak BlackBerry is in Mainland China.

    On the other hand, BlackBerry is still the gold standard in regulated industries like banks, lawyers etc BYOD notwithstanding. That's why you still see loads of BlackBerry in CBD in Hong Kong. This fleet of phones used to be BBOS until like 4 or 5 months ago when I started seeing BB10 devices regularly in CBD. I reckon 2 to 3 out of 10 BlackBerry devices I see now are BB10. Mostly Q5 followed by Q10. Hardly any Z. I think Hong Kong biz sector will embrace Classic and to lesser extent Passport.

    Just don't expect the consumer market here will. Thx for trying to convert your friend though. I am happy to point him to outlet selling Z30.

    Posted via CB10
    09-24-14 01:10 AM
  9. weiberry's Avatar
    Good point. Some comments on Chinese market. My family own 10 Z10, Z30 ( I have a Q10 and a Z10). No 3G for Chinese SIM card, unless you switch to a new number using different carrier. BBM does not work without Wifi in Guangzhou get province. Everything is blocked. Android apps were not stable before 10.3. Tough love.

    Assuming everybody hates BlackBerry, only 1% stupid guys like our family who want to stick to BlackBerry for numerous reasons. Do the math, that one percent will be 13MM population. But if BlackBerry sees no customers in China, there will be no customers in China, slowly but surely. Sad.

    Posted via CB10
    09-24-14 01:31 AM
  10. RH1Pearl's Avatar
    Blackberry Z30, Z10, and Q10 were featured in displays at Fortress and Broadway stores for several months. The problem is the phones were all dummies. I asked to demo the Z3 at a Fortress shop last year but it was a dummy so what's the use of trying it out? BB10 phones are also sold at Expansys, can easily get the Q10 for US$300 now. BB10 phones were also offered on contract at major providers such as CSL 1010 (which I believe is PCCW), Smartone and China Mobile for several months. I know because I frequent their stores at the Shatin Mall in New Territories. CSL even had prominent Q10 and Z10 live phones on display when they were launched. BB10 phones were offered by the major stores and providers in HK. It's BlackBerry management's fault for not promoting the brand. The stores tried but the displays with dummy phones can only do so much, even with live phones as there were no Ads or commercials to raise attention.
    09-24-14 02:36 AM
  11. hkkelvinlee's Avatar
    Blackberry Z30, Z10, and Q10 were featured in displays at Fortress and Broadway stores for several months. The problem is the phones were all dummies. I asked to demo the Z3 at a Fortress shop last year but it was a dummy so what's the use of trying it out? BB10 phones are also sold at Expansys, can easily get the Q10 for US$300 now. BB10 phones were also offered on contract at major providers such as CSL 1010 (which I believe is PCCW), Smartone and China Mobile for several months. I know because I frequent their stores at the Shatin Mall in New Territories. CSL even had prominent Q10 and Z10 live phones on display when they were launched. BB10 phones were offered by the major stores and providers in HK. It's BlackBerry management's fault for not promoting the brand. The stores tried but the displays with dummy phones can only do so much, even with live phones as there were no Ads or commercials to raise attention.
    All true. But I think there indeed some advertising when PlayBook and Z10 launched. Huge wall display but only in Central Station of subway and also limited TV commercial I think.

    Posted via CB10
    09-24-14 05:19 AM

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