[bh7171]

So I went into my local AT&T store this afternoon to check out the Classic (in person) and compare the AT&T version of the Passport with my new sexy white unlocked original version. Personally I much prefer the original design. It looks more modern and felt better in my hand. (I realize this is subjective) The Classic felt good and is appropriately sized for Bold users to upgrade. The horrendous part was that neither were on, charged or even appropriately placed next to other another. All other devices were grouped and looping some stupid carrier BS. Whoever represents BlackBerry here in Sacramento, if there is such a person, completely failed. To ANY consumer with any product presentation is vital. In this witnessed case it was a complete failure. I unplugged a couple devices nearby to charge the BlackBerry. I am so disappointed in AT&T and BlackBerry. It was/is the most half assed horrible reflection of two very good devices. Do BETTER BlackBerry.....embrace a growth mentality!!!! And market these new devices...

The White Knight-BlackBerry Passport 10.3.1.2480

[Sulaco757]

With all these observations across the country by Both Verizon and AT&T, one would think that the carriers are doing the bare minimum in their service/sales agreements with BlackBerry.

If it were one or two stores, that's one thing. But I am seeing reports from New York to Australia of displays handicapping BlackBerry devices from being sold.

I have to admit, starting to believe those conspiracy theories that the NSA/Intelligence community wanted to slowly kill BlackBerry from the personal device market and keep it locked to private sector corporate work or Government use. The US Government doesn't like it's citizens having the privacy BlackBerry still provides. BlackBerry made some bad decisions last few years, but not THAT bad. Especially this last year.

 Q10 

[Troy Tiscareno]

The other manufacturers send reps to all corporate stores (and as many authorized retailers as they can) on a regular basis, and among their jobs, they are to train the sales staff (which, being sales, and entry-level, has a high turn-over rate) about their product lines, and also to make sure their brand's displays are properly set up and working.

BB used to have these reps, but they let them all go in 2013. There is no one to check up on carrier stores, or to train sales staff, and few stores still have any 2013 staff that has ever seen a BB rep. They know the other brands exist because they've seen reps from those companies, and gotten training from them.

If there is a conspiracy against BB, then BB is a very involved participant in that conspiracy.

[BBUniq01]

AT&T store in Murfreesboro TN had no Passport. Rep did not know when they will get one and walked away from me. She didn't seem to care. The only Classic was not charged. Sad.

Posted via Classic

[BB_Junky]

Just have to remember that when they changed their focus to the prosumer and online orders, carriers and consumer needs are playing 2nd fiddle.

[dbmalloy]

Lets face facts... BB does not care about the consumer market... makes no effort to train carriers or advertise ... so what do you expect the result to be when you go to any carrier store... It is a fine example of insanity... doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome....

[alternator77]

The other manufacturers send reps to all corporate stores (and as many authorized retailers as they can) on a regular basis, and among their jobs, they are to train the sales staff (which, being sales, and entry-level, has a high turn-over rate) about their product lines, and also to make sure their brand's displays are properly set up and working.

BB used to have these reps, but they let them all go in 2013. There is no one to check up on carrier stores, or to train sales staff, and few stores still have any 2013 staff that has ever seen a BB rep. They know the other brands exist because they've seen reps from those companies, and gotten training from them.

If there is a conspiracy against BB, then BB is a very involved participant in that conspiracy.

Yup how quickly people forget this...

Posted via CB10

[crackberry_geek]

Lets face facts... BB does not care about the consumer market... makes no effort to train carriers or advertise ... so what do you expect the result to be when you go to any carrier store... It is a fine example of insanity... doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome....

Exactly... BlackBerry of today = stealing defeat from the jaws of victory... by not giving a flying fig about advertising.

Posted via CB10

[chrysaurora]

So I went into my local AT&T store this afternoon to check out the Classic (in person) and compare the AT&T version of the Passport with my new sexy white unlocked original version. Personally I much prefer the original design. It looks more modern and felt better in my hand. (I realize this is subjective) The Classic felt good and is appropriately sized for Bold users to upgrade. The horrendous part was that neither were on, charged or even appropriately placed next to other another. All other devices were grouped and looping some stupid carrier BS. Whoever represents BlackBerry here in Sacramento, if there is such a person, completely failed. To ANY consumer with any product presentation is vital. In this witnessed case it was a complete failure. I unplugged a couple devices nearby to charge the BlackBerry. I am so disappointed in AT&T and BlackBerry. It was/is the most half assed horrible reflection of two very good devices. Do BETTER BlackBerry.....embrace a growth mentality!!!! And market these new devices...

The White Knight-BlackBerry Passport 10.3.1.2480

Same **** from several stores even here in Canada! I have conveyed this to my friends in BlackBerry and they basically shrug and raise their hands - it's not in our control. And I find such defeatist attitude from BlackBerry staff (my friends) very disappointing. Of course, it's in their control to send reps or collect such reports and forward them to carrier for action.

No carrier would ignore such reports. I currently work for a carrier and if we get reports from some company - that we did a spot check on 10 stores, and here are the finding:
Store 1 - device wasn't charged
Store 2 - device was locked
Store 3 - device was placed in incorrect location
We take action on such reports. We send a memo to relevant stores.

All BlackBerry needs to do (and other manufacturers already do) is hire a mystery shopping company and asked them to survey 10 or so stores in several important cities. Forward the report to carriers.

Carrier would send a memo/email to store managers. And usually store managers act on such directions very very quickly.

If reports are from multiple cities, email would go to everyone. But if only a few stores, email would go to select stores only.

So, when my BlackBerry friends say 'oh, it's not in our control', I get very pissed.



Posted via CB10

[taveesh]

I was in a Vodafone store in India recently and they had several BBOS 7 devices on display!!! They were all charged though and working but no BBOS 10 devices. The response from the rep was that no one buys them that's why they don't have them on display although they had queries for the Passport and that's it.

To be fair they had lots of iPhone 6 ads but no iPhones on display as well or any Android devices except for a couple of cheap ones. They did have a couple of Windows 8.1 phones on display.

CB10 on Q10 with OS 10.3.1.1581

[RH1Pearl]

AT&T has about 2,300 stores. Maybe send reps to the busiest 1,000 stores? 20 energetic guys handling 50 stores each.I mean do something, anything. Hire new graduates

[RH1Pearl]

Phil Knight had a better chance of selling his Nike shoes from the trunk of his car than BlackBerry selling its phones via AT&T

[crackberry_geek]

Same **** from several stores even here in Canada! I have conveyed this to my friends in BlackBerry and they basically shrug and raise their hands - it's not in our control. And I find such defeatist attitude from BlackBerry staff (my friends) very disappointing. Of course, it's in their control to send reps or collect such reports and forward them to carrier for action.

No carrier would ignore such reports. I currently work for a carrier and if we get reports from some company - that we did a spot check on 10 stores, and here are the finding:
Store 1 - device wasn't charged
Store 2 - device was locked
Store 3 - device was placed in incorrect location
We take action on such reports. We send a memo to relevant stores.

All BlackBerry needs to do (and other manufacturers already do) is hire a mystery shopping company and asked them to survey 10 or so stores in several important cities. Forward the report to carriers.

Carrier would send a memo/email to store managers. And usually store managers act on such directions very very quickly.

If reports are from multiple cities, email would go to everyone. But if only a few stores, email would go to select stores only.

So, when my BlackBerry friends say 'oh, it's not in our control', I get very pissed.



Posted via CB10

I wouldn't be too hard on your friends working at BlackBerry. It is the arrogance of their CEO Mr Chen that is preventing proper carrier relations.

He is the one who has very purposefully created a culture of "I don't care about the end user who is actually using my product".

Posted via CB10

[edwinsberry]

This has been the status quo in the US for a few years now. We are usually surprised we even see a BB in a store. Right now there are still no Passports anywhere near Columbus, Ohio. There are a few classics but similar experience. I think we are a niche consumer group and we have to live with that now. BB is still feeling their way through their problems and I think still deciding whether they should spend time on hardware despite what has been said. They keep waiting for a magic bullet. Until they see some uptick in BB sales on some level I don't think they will improve their presence with carriers or hire reps. In the meantime we have to track down our BlackBerry fix.

[bakron1]

I recently went into a AT&T corporate store in my area and asked if they had the classic or the new passport on display and the salesperson pulled out a classic and said he had the only one in the store and had no idea when they might have them in stock to buy, WTF??? I asked him how he liked it and he said he was trying to get used to it being an iPhone user his entire smartphone life! To me this is a major marketing issue, the folks in these stores are all young folks who know NOTHING about the Blackberry brand and are only going to show folks what they have been weened on which is either Android or IOS!

To me this is a Blackberry problem, they need to have reps and/or someone to help get the folks in the stores up to speed on all the new features of Blackberry and let folks know that this is not your old Blackberry. Sales people should be trained to be able to help a customer who is looking for a great messaging and email device who does not like what Android and Apple has to offer and not what some out of touch salesperson thinks is the right choice because all they have seen is Android and Apple products.

You might be surprised how many folks are looking for a viable alternative to IOS and Android because of the recent iCloud hacks and Android app malware issues that have occurred in the past few months. But, if no one in the store has been brought up the speed about new Blackberry products, OS10 and its great features, I am afraid the newer Blackberry demo units will be put in a non exposure area and will just sit and collect dust.

Here we are with new Blackberry devices finally here in the USA in quite a while and NO promotional support from the company who build the device or the carriers who are going to sell it, WTF!!! I would gladly be a Blackberry ambassador or rep if they where to pay me a salary and let me put on some clinics to help promote the brand here again. To me this not just beneficial to the consumer sector, but also the enterprise sector who might like someone to go into their company and show the the great features of OS 10 and help get their folks up to speed with using it?

Oh well, it's just an idea, something that will probably never become a reality, I still have to bring the promotional issue up because I really believe in the brand here in the USA, its a shame no one up there in Waterloo does????

[Sulaco757]

If there is a conspiracy against BB, then BB is a very involved participant in that conspiracy.

I think most believers of that conspiracy theory would support that statement. Sometimes it's easier to believe that powerful people would rather conspire for personal gain than run a good business. And we all know BlackBerry has made some questionable business decisions.

Personally I think BlackBerry is just trying to dig themselves out of the bad decisions and arrogance that were made under Thor and earlier. Chen has a big hole to dig out of.

But every time a theory is submitted that the US government "encouraged" BlackBerry to leave the consumer sector, I have to admit, it really does fit historical data. These BlackBerry 10 phones are really too good to be ignored on the scale they are.

That and the carriers are used to a certain level of payoffs to push certain products. There really is no excuse to not plug in the damn devices. They are supposed to activate the devices in store yet they need to be "coached" on how to plug them in? Please.



 Q10 