[DrBoomBotz]

Anything is possible.

I can't help thinking your life is gonna be full of surprises.

[kvndoom]

So.....this would lead me to believe; if you have a dream of creating anything new, with respect to smartphones...don't. You have missed your window of opportunity...forever....so dismal. If you want to believe that, is your choice. Anything is possible. BlackBerry is competing against a computer company, that decided to make smartphones, wait.... competing against two computer companies who decided to make phones (well, Windows had some type of mobile OS, even before 2008). Wait....BlackBerry is also competing against a search engine company, who decided to make smartphones.....how in the world, do they continue to exist. Seem like a bunch of masochists. They made it this far.....why stop. There is always time. There are people who are always willing to try new things.....even a BlackBerry. It is up to BlackBerry to find there way...it always was.

Blackberry is doing new things... those things just don't involve phones. They aren't closing their doors, they aren't giving up, they are slowly changing the core of their operation.

I think the general tone of Crackberry is "the only way to save Blackberry is to make a product *I* want." It just doesn't work that way. The only way to save Blackberry is to make profits, and phones aren't bringing profits.

[BKbehave]

...if there they stop making phones (hardware), I will act accordingly. I will be using BlackBerry Passport until I can't.

[cribble2k]

I think in order to justify spending money on advertising, you must first come up with a product people actually want.

Playbook? Nope
BB10 (OS and devices) ? Nope
Physical keyboard on an Android phone? Nope

Would any advertising at all turn these into successful products?

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[TgeekB]

No, you cannot do anything of the sort.

Some people on here think they have magical powers.

[TgeekB]

Microsoft are releasing another feature phone soon ... and it won't even command a niche price ... just how do they do it?!

Their Surface line.

[TgeekB]

You seem to be forgetting who is in control of their destiny here. The fans don't control BlackBerry. If BlackBerry doesn't want to step up in major way to get the ads or whatever other marketing out there, then that's on them. Not anyone here. Pretty much everyone here who cares about BlackBerry has called for them to step to the plate and put some marketing muscle behind their devices and they're just not that into it.

You say it's sad the people have no vision while a lot of folks now believe it's sad that BlackBerry doesn't have the vision to put together a few 30 sec spots to sell their own devices. Again, it's not about the users. It's about BlackBerry. Ball is and always has been, in their court.

Exactly. Many of us stuck with them through the great downfall, continuing to purchase devices (at extremely high prices) while they did little to stop the bleeding. About 6 months ago I sold my Blackberry devices and bounce passed the ball to them to see if they would drive to the basket or lose the ball out of bounds. Still waiting....

[Bla1ze]

Blackberry is doing new things... those things just don't involve phones. They aren't closing their doors, they aren't giving up, they are slowly changing the core of their operation.

I think the general tone of Crackberry is "the only way to save Blackberry is to make a product *I* want." It just doesn't work that way. The only way to save Blackberry is to make profits, and phones aren't bringing profits.

^^

Exactly. The stuff they are doing just isn't that exciting to what their core base is.

[Ian Logan1]

Maybe BlackBerry should consider revising their price structure with OS10. Hardly anyone has heard of it, let alone had hands- on experience. There are several mid to lower price smartphones starting to appear on the market. In the top six reviewed are the Moto G 3 (�159) and Wileyfox Swift (�129) and Storm (�199). These have great specs and performance for the money. Moto is standard Android and Wileyfox have Cyanogen - a stripped down version of Android to which you can add your own apps without the preloaded bloatware of standard Android. I would suggest BlackBerry go for this sector of the market, rebranding OS10 with a more zappy title and introduce a Z30 based handset with better screen, camera and basic app base (with Google Playstore add-ability?) to match others in the sector. Go for multiple and extended press advertising in both the paid for and free newspapers ( Metro and Evening Standard in the UK) together with bus stop billboards. I reckon OS10 is a success story in waiting but needs the combination outlined above to capture public imagination and spend desirability. Comments anyone?

Posted via CB10

[MDoza]

I usually get a chuckle that I have a BB like wow what is this 1999? but then I show them some of it's bells and whistles and they are like "holy crap that is pretty cool"... People were so let down and disillusioned with products like the storm that I really think they nearly killed their brand with that. But people like my brother who had a Bold was completely surprised the company is still around and was excited to see my classic. There is 100% a brand placement and advertising issue. they have screwed the pooch in terms of marketing. no idea how they could fix it but they have a touch road to hoe a this point.

[Emaderton3]

It's such a damaged brand. I was at Best Buy 2 days ago. I noticed they had all 4 big US carriers, so I figured I could perhaps see a Priv in person for the first time. I asked the sales rep if they had a BlackBerry Priv, and he just started laughing and said they had no BlackBerry phones. I said it was their new Android phone, but he just turned away with a smile shaking his head like I had asked for a Commodore 64.

Posted via CB10

[early2bed]

Its easy to say that BlackBerry should spend money to get back into the smartphone race. If things don't work out as a customer then people here will shrug and get a different phone at upgrade time. It's the investors who will lose the billions.

[Bbnivende]

The time is ripe to advertise being different. They need to have a more competitive price though.

[DrBoomBotz]

The time is ripe to advertise being different. They need to have a more competitive price though.

Why is the time "ripe" now?
When did it become "ripe"?
When will it be rotten?

[Bbnivende]

So few have used a PKB that the are now open to hear about the benefits. The PKB and capacitive keyboard are the only selling points.

[bh7171]

Lack of effective advertising. Always has been. Always imagined an Apple campaign for a Passport (nothing like it) and the Classic (again nothing like the functionality of the track pad and tool belt) Apple and Samsung advertise mainstream and make youth believe their products are "cool" as my kids attest. When my kids see the capabilities of my BlackBerry they marvel and ask why don't we see BlackBerry ads? They did point out a bus sized BlackBerry print PRIV ad to me while crossing the Golden Gate last week.

The newest member....Cobalt Classic

[artvandalay]

BlackBerry Marketing is an oxymoron.. I repeat from a previous post. Chen does not want hardware he and his team do not understand the hardware business. It is too late to build an earth shattering phone now, now when I say hardware I mean phones. Be careful Chen is smart, he covers his ***. He said as long as he can make money in phones he will. When he says "we are remaining in the hardware business", everyone assumes phones. This however could be connectivity items like thermostats, etc etc (insert imagination) . The Priv is to show that they can secure Android so they can just licenses to anyone who wants to make a secure phone or device. It is a smart move to software, as things become more connected security will by important including Cyber-security. Aviation, Automobile, etc are all becoming more IoT so focus there, screw hardware.. they are the best at security, with the Good technology acquisition they are probably the absolute best. I know BB very well, for many years the marketing department and product department were and continues to be the yeast infection of the company. They fired all of their sales staff and rumor has it that Chen was not aware of how many people got laid off. It seem that he was caught off guard, It appears that head of sales I believe Weiss is his name is the official hatchet man of the company now. No sales staff, no support for customers. Oh well, we don't get paid to do their jobs and it seems they too are way too arrogant to listen to the customer.

[Troy Tiscareno]

I would suggest BlackBerry go for this sector of the market, rebranding OS10 with a more zappy title and introduce a Z30 based handset with better screen, camera and basic app base (with Google Playstore add-ability?) to match others in the sector. Go for multiple and extended press advertising in both the paid for and free newspapers ( Metro and Evening Standard in the UK) together with bus stop billboards. I reckon OS10 is a success story in waiting but needs the combination outlined above to capture public imagination and spend desirability. Comments anyone?

BB10 is done and buried. BB's license for Android prevents any new BB10 phones from having an Android Runtime at all, much less having Google Play capability. If they could have legally added Google Play to BB10, they'd have done that from the beginning. But Google Play is owned by Google, and Google's license comes with rules that licensees have to follow - the main one of which is that the phone/device has to be running Android and only Android. Another one is that any company that licenses Google Play, as BB did for the Priv and future Android devices, is then prohibited from making any devices that contain Android code that isn't Google-certified. This is what prevents an Android Runtime on any future BB10 devices.

So, in order to make a new BB10 device, they'd have to remove the Runtime, which means that only native BB10 apps would run - and that means that even many apps in BB World wouldn't run, because they are just converted Android apps that require the Runtime to actually run. If you hadn't noticed, developers have been fleeing the BB10 platform for years already, and even the bigger guys are pulling the plug. Soon BB10 will have a handful of native apps and an outdated browser, and not much more.

How are you going to sell new devices with no apps, and no prospect for apps? How is that a "success story in waiting?"

The smartphone business is incredibly complicated, and has tons of dependencies, and if you can't provide ALL of the functions people expect, then you aren't going to sell your phones - EVEN with a ton of advertising. Advertising only helps when you have a product that will actually appeal to the mass market, and they just don't know it exists. BB10 simply doesn't appeal to the market, and never will, because it lacks apps, services, third-party accessories and devices, and much more.

BB and Chen know this - they knew it before they hired Chen, which is why they hired a software guy (Chen) and not a hardware guy.

[anon(9721108)]

As much as I HATE Sammy Phones, has everyone seen this new S7 commercial? This is "innovation" like BB needs and definately not "boring"...they even have some sort of Virtual Reality type goggles you put your phone in.....



I'm still a BB and ios fan before this but I wish BB would come up with something truly innovative. AND they are going "smaller" in one offering and they make a point about talking how it plays games better than anything else......

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