1. mrmartis's Avatar
    BlackBerry z10 is the talk of the town. Here in Toronto, its plastered all across the public transits and malls. Its on TV and Radio, the Big Carriers Bell, Rogers, Fido are all advertising it like crazy.

    Although, my analysis has come to show that most people buying BlackBerry are purchasing them off contract because either they have a BlackBerry and purchased it within the last 2 years and dont want to pay a fee for early upgrade just yet or they had left BlackBerry 1-2 years back when BlackBerry was at their peak and now want to come back but when they left 1-2 years they locked into an Android or iPhone contract. Now, because of sentiment and a once love for this brand they are returning to try it out.

    Here is the problem: Z10 is sold to retailers from BlackBerry for $550-$600 (someone confirm this I am 95% sure), carriers sell for $650-$700 making a mere $100-$150 which is peanuts off contract. Carriers are seeing this around the world so they are jacking up prices of Z10 (London, India) to make more money off these buyers. Some places they have prohibited sales reps from selling Z10 off contract like T-Booth in Canada. Lot of buyers are getting turned away from sales accessibility and higher prices.

    Solution: if BlackBerry had flagship stores in major cities around the world, lot of these people returning to the BlackBerry but still have contract can purchase at a price of $600 from BlackBerry stores. Sales would increase and this is very important for two reasons: one of course sales shows demand and keeps cash flow. Second, I did some psychoanalysis of tech market and brand loyalty has been and is continuing to play a larger factor in the tech industry. So when a BlackBerry fan converts it take 2.5 times the effort to bring them back, so providing the accessibility gives way for retaining loyalty. Also, with the playbook and other blackberry phones and products, they can justify opening retail locations like they did in Indonesia. Guess what, regions with retail stores their Z10 sales off contract:to contract ratio is higher than other places.
    Stephen Cooper and Mecca EL like this.
    02-25-13 10:04 AM
  2. Oscar_E's Avatar
    Yes, but there are probably contract closures with carriers, that prohibit BlackBerry it self to sell on retail !
    1oo1 likes this.
    02-25-13 10:40 AM
  3. mcmolineux's Avatar
    As you noted, the carriers are really pushing the Z10. This will play a large role in its success.

    Do you think that support would still be there if BlackBerry opened stores and started undercutting the carriers?
    ajst222 likes this.
    02-25-13 10:40 AM
  4. trsbbs's Avatar
    Would rather see them not take on that overhead but improve relations with the carriers and keep putting funds into R&D.

    Tim


    Sent from my BlackBerry 9850
    kbz1960 likes this.
    02-25-13 10:45 AM
  5. joe.miller's Avatar
    As you noted, the carriers are really pushing the Z10. This will play a large role in its success.

    Do you think that support would still be there if BlackBerry opened stores and started undercutting the carriers?
    There are a handful of BlackBerry retail stores in southeast asia, but yeah, in general this is the answer.

    Apple can get away with it because they're Apple. BlackBerry needs carrier support.
    02-25-13 10:46 AM
  6. RubberChicken76's Avatar
    This is a huge undertaking. The Apple Stores (I think there are close to 400 worldwide now) have been slowly building over 13 years.

    It has the potential to explode due to the high cost of doing business.

    COMPANY NEWS - Atari Is Selling 26 Federated Stores - NYTimes.com
    02-25-13 10:50 AM
  7. rcab's Avatar
    They do not need to open stores. They could provide direct sells. I am sure many in the US would have bought a phone from them if they had started selling them outright right after the launch. You could indicate which carrier based model you would want. It would come without all the bloatware and we can avoid dealing with the US carriers except for transferring sim cards
    02-25-13 11:15 AM
  8. JasW's Avatar
    They (or the franchisor) just closed all of their stores in the US last year. And if you ever stepped into one (such as at the Atlanta airport), you'll know they were like virtual cemeteries.
    02-25-13 11:27 AM
  9. toujours_frais's Avatar
    Cost too much money, BB should rather spend it on R&D to continue making the best handsets in the world
    02-25-13 01:19 PM
  10. fastpitch_dad's Avatar
    I'm not sure its important to have retail stores but what would be great is if they had BlackBerry employees working in the larger wireless carrier stores !

    All my phones are purchased at a Verizon Corp store and it would be great to walk in there and have a very knowledgable person to talk to regarding BlackBerrys !!
    02-25-13 01:24 PM
  11. anon(375378)'s Avatar
    They (or the franchisor) just closed all of their stores in the US last year. And if you ever stepped into one (such as at the Atlanta airport), you'll know they were like virtual cemeteries.
    If I'm not mistaken, there was a blog post about this very same thing. The attendant in the store was all alone, just sweeping the floor. Zero customers. Until they launch here, get positive (U.S.) public opinion behind them, and sell well, should BB do anything but an advertisement blitz!
    02-25-13 01:55 PM
  12. BBerryPowerUser's Avatar
    Retail stores carrying only 1 major manufacturer of smartphone is generally a very bad business model in the US, unless you have the cult following of Apple type users.

    Nokia had a store in Chicago when they were semi-popular and it was a dismal failure.

    As much as I admire BlackBerry, I'm sure they would NOT benefit from their own retail stores in the U.S.

    It simply would be a bad model here.

    Now, a lower cost and temporary KIOSK location at airports and malls? That would work.

    Sent from my BlackBerry 9780 using Tapatalk
    02-25-13 03:12 PM
  13. ajst222's Avatar
    It might be cool to see a BlackBerry store, but it could also be more costly. All BlackBerry has to do is sell the to the retailers and they take care of the rest. If BlackBerry opens its own stores, they would have to pay for the upkeep of the stores which includes rent and maintenance. Then they would have to pay extra employees and all that. All of this is assuming that it isn't a franchise (which it sounds like the OP isn't thinking franchise here). So in the end, it might not be the best idea also considering that carriers might not push the BlackBerry brand if BlackBerry themselves were selling the phones (not just exclusive retailers) at lower prices.
    02-25-13 03:41 PM
  14. Crowezine's Avatar
    Basically.... do an Apple?
    02-25-13 04:39 PM
  15. 312Lorden's Avatar
    Airport kiosks, yes. Blackberry stores probably not a good idea. But Blackberry needs to put more ads out there. Samsung's ads run in the billions a year, so no wonder they are #1 selling of smartphones. By the way, I found that the latest iPad ad during the Academy awards was quite compelling. You can't show much in a 30 second commercial but Apple's ad had a log of whiz-bang to it. Can BBRY do the same?

    Four more days to U.S. launch.
    02-25-13 05:27 PM
  16. mrmartis's Avatar
    I guess what I was referring to what having multiple operations at the retail stores. Now, if you have a problem you have to send it to blackberry which can take 2-6 weeks to fix and come back. Having a retail store similar to Apple stores will allow for repairs and customer problems. Also with the learning curve for BB10, they could have tutorials and workshops on how to make maximum use of BB10. I know a few people who could use this.

    You guys bring a good point of cost and carrier relations. I think in terms of cost opening atleast one in 7 major cities: New York, Toronto, London, Dubai, Jakarta, Paris, and Mumbai. I think cost wise it will be relatively low and still serve importance purposes.

    Carrier relations is also a good point, i think if they had some of the employees from and trained by carriers to sell plans will give carriers a presence. Something Apple doesn't have, I am not sure, maybe similar to Best Buy Mobile expect hardware is only BlackBerries.

    What do you guys think?
    02-25-13 06:45 PM
  17. rcab's Avatar
    [

    Four more days to U.S. launch.[/QUOTE]

    Where do you get your information that it will be launched in the US in 4 days
    02-25-13 07:01 PM
  18. bambinoitaliano's Avatar
    Do you know that most major retail stores are cutting back? Why does BlackBerry need to pay premium rent and staff all over the world? There's a reason why online retailers are thriving. Just does not make business sense for a company with only two billion in the bank should take such a risk.
    02-25-13 07:30 PM
  19. distributor1's Avatar
    I have to respectfully disagree. There is a trend where the manufacturers are piloting chains of stores, Sony Stores, LG stores, and most of all Samsung stores. Just not in the US yet. The idea is to free themselves from dealing with the carrier and try to control the end consumer. Sell their ecosystem. They are going to get alot of heartburn from the carriers in the process, but lets see who wins. In an ideal world the carrier just sells sim packs and the market finds its own levels on phones. The problem for the US is that the majority of folks are on postpaid plans and get a nice fat subsidy.

    Not always the truth in other markets, in a significant markets like Brazil , Mexico, postpaid is only 15%, so the subsidy issue become less relevant and with carriers marking up phones to sell to consumers, the manufacturers are motivated to step around the carriers.

    I also acknowledge that this website is heavily influenced by US residents who will have a different view of the world, but try to have a global vision......
    Mecca EL likes this.
    02-25-13 08:06 PM
  20. playbookster's Avatar
    They dont want to damage the relationship they have with carriers. They are playing a huge part in the marketing of BB10 and Z10.
    02-25-13 08:11 PM
  21. dbmalloy's Avatar
    BB seems to have a focused plan for the BB 10 launch... with past history of RIM retails stores and the accompanying overhead and logistics would just take away form BB current focus...besides... it is not the BB is lacking sales channels....
    02-25-13 08:15 PM
  22. Stephen Cooper's Avatar
    This is the way for the Brand to move forward. The BlackBerry store would be the best for sales associates to demo and talk and explain the BlackBerry brand versus relying solely on carrier retail folks. The BlackBerry store would still sell carrier plans, just use their own to sell the product.
    02-25-13 10:18 PM
  23. Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes's Avatar
    I have been to a blackberry store in Jakarta. Sad that we do not have one here in Waterloo yet we have a massive apple store.
    02-25-13 10:20 PM
  24. BBerryPowerUser's Avatar
    I've spent 20 plus years studying marketing and retail success. Apple broke the mold with their stores with a strategy of being a tech appliance company, not a mobile phone company. Trying to duplicate this with smartphones and 1 meager Playbook from BlackBerry in the U.S. would be devastating to BlackBerry. Again, Nokia tried this in Chicago. Fail. Blackberry, if they followed this model would most certainly fail. And retail failure of brick and mortar locations is devastating to the bottom line.

    In Europe, Canada or other global locations, it may work. US? No.

    Again, go Kiosk at Mall, airport or similar. Low cost. Short lease. Limited risk.

    Sent from my BlackBerry 9780 using Tapatalk
    02-26-13 12:03 AM
  25. Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes's Avatar
    I've spent 20 plus years studying marketing and retail success. Apple broke the mold with their stores with a strategy of being a tech appliance company, not a mobile phone company. Trying to duplicate this with smartphones and 1 meager Playbook from BlackBerry in the U.S. would be devastating to BlackBerry. Again, Nokia tried this in Chicago. Fail. Blackberry, if they followed this model would most certainly fail. And retail failure of brick and mortar locations is devastating to the bottom line.

    In Europe, Canada or other global locations, it may work. US? No.

    Again, go Kiosk at Mall, airport or similar. Low cost. Short lease. Limited risk.

    Sent from my BlackBerry 9780 using Tapatalk
    I agree -

    Kiosk at Mall, airport or similar. Low cost. Short lease. Limited risk.
    02-26-13 12:09 AM
30 12

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