[adrenaline_x]

I just got back from the apple store.. I was in there getting out of warranty replacements for 2 ipad minis and an ipod touch with broken screens. Part of the process of swapping out the devices, i needed to apple id logins and passwords to disable the the find my phone app. so i whipped out my passport and emailed and bbmed the end users so i could get this done asap who emailed/bbm me back within seconds.

So my suprise the apple tech asks me if that is the passport or passbook, and i say yes.. He wanted to try it out and hold it. I'm like sure, no problem.. He said he really likes it but was worried about the apps.. I explained the android runtime stuff and showed him how fluid the android apps worked on it and used the nhl gamecenter app i installed last week.. I showed him the amazon app world, the one market place and snap (which i explained that is needed to be sideloaded). He said to stop tempting him with it, and i was replied" as if you like this phone" . He replied something that he really liked how high end their new phones felt and were doing something different then all other phones out there. I thought he was just being nice.

Then another tech walks by, and another and both see it in his hand and ask about it and want to hold and feel.. I was flabergasted and was like sure.. So i should them spread sheets, pdfs and ofcourse the hub which blew them away.. Their reservation was apps and the other tech told them about the android runtime. The 2nd and 3rd guy also said that they liked how it was different how it felt and had been contemplating getting one. WHAT? One of the techs said that he needed to use the phone with one hand so that one was a bit big but was thinking of overlooking it.

Needless to say i walked out of the store shocked that three techs (in their twenties) knew about it, but were excited to see i had one and really wanted to hold it and try it and actually said they were really interested in the latest blackberry phones.

The original tech i was working with said that ofcourse they have apple phones while at work, but him and his friends were pretty interested in a passport.

WTF?

Crazy.

edit : i also told him the most of the android apps work unless they rely on google core services like google maps etc.

[masterful]

Great stuff, thanks for sharing

#BBFactCheck

[Double_De]

Lol that's good

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[timmy95]

Nice! I've also found those guys to be very friendly!

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[SunshineStateFlyer]

I just got back from the apple store.. I was in there getting out of warranty replacements for 2 ipad minis and an ipod touch with broken screens. Part of the process of swapping out the devices, i needed to apple id logins and passwords to disable the the find my phone app. so i whipped out my passport and emailed and bbmed the end users so i could get this done asap who emailed/bbm me back within seconds.

So my suprise the apple tech asks me if that is the passport or passbook, and i say yes.. He wanted to try it out and hold it. I'm like sure, no problem.. He said he really likes it but was worried about the apps.. I explained the android runtime stuff and showed him how fluid the android apps worked on it and used the nhl gamecenter app i installed last week.. I showed him the amazon app world, the one market place and snap (which i explained that is needed to be sideloaded). He said to stop tempting him with it, and i was replied" as if you like this phone" . He replied something that he really liked how highen their new phones felt and were doing something different then all other phones out there. I thought he was just being nice.

Then another tech walks by, and another and both see it in his hand and ask about it and want to hold and feel.. I was flabergasted and was like sure.. So i should them spread sheets, pdfs and ofcourse the hub which blew them away.. Their reservation was apps and the other tech told them about the android runtime. The 2nd and 3rd guy also said that they liked how it was different how it felt and had been contemplating getting one. WHAT? One of the techs said that he needed to use the phone with one hand so that one was a bit big but was thinking of overlooking it.

Needless to say i walked out of the store shocked that three techs (in their twenties) knew about it, but were excited to see i had one and really wanted to hold it and try it and actually said they were really interested in the latest blackberry phones.

The original tech i was working with said that ofcourse they have apple phones while at work, but him and his friends were pretty interested in a passport.

WTF?

Crazy.

I know a couple of guys who worked at apple stores while studying at the university. One of them even used a 9900 while he worked there.
It's not a must to carry an apple phone at work and there's no company policy about it, even though a lot of people do.

[sentimentGX4]

Why should this be surprising? The Genius Bar employees are actual people with their own thoughts and opinions like you and I. They are not Apple installed robots.

[anon(2313227)]

That won't happen in the US. I know I was at a store a while back and nothing. Had to get a customer's out of warranty MBP fixed. Pretty nauseating experience.

[last_attempt]

Just shows that blackberry should have more readily available demo models (with all the bells and whistles installed) for people to try out at kiosks in malls or wherever people congregate

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[Bungalow_Bill]

Sounds like there's more enthusiasm for the Passport at an Apple store than some of the more generalized retailers.

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[adrenaline_x]

Why should this be surprising? The Genius Bar employees are actual people with their own thoughts and opinions like you and I. They are not Apple installed robots.

Because the last few times i have been there with a z10 or z30 it was meh.. but when i had a passport three of them were interested.

Gives me hope for BB as younger generations are taking notices. That and most of the apple / creative people we have at work thought it was ugly or that blackberry was dead.

nope.

[adrenaline_x]

yes.. I was shocked.

[smis]

Last night my wife and I were at a sprint store, I asked the csr if she knew if they are getting any new Blackberrys and she said she didn't know if they were. The other sales rep said that blackberry stopped making phones a few months ago and soon to be out of business. I told the sales rep that it is totally wrong and with salesman like him wit the lack of knowledge is hurting them. My wife told them that Blackberry is on the rise. The first sales rep said she was thinking about Blackberrys a few days ago.

[DocDRM]

Why should this be surprising? The Genius Bar employees are actual people with their own thoughts and opinions like you and I. They are not Apple installed robots.

Or . . . . ARE THEY??????

[SunshineStateFlyer]

Last night my wife and I were at a sprint store, I asked the csr if she knew if they are getting any new Blackberrys and she said she didn't know if they were. The other sales rep said that blackberry stopped making phones a few months ago and soon to be out of business. I told the sales rep that it is totally wrong and with salesman like him wit the lack of knowledge is hurting them. My wife told them that Blackberry is on the rise. The first sales rep said she was thinking about Blackberrys a few days ago.

Seriously... how can people working in the telco industry STILL think that BlackBerry went out of business?

[nhanken]

From their financial report posted, it looks Like Sprint might be out of business long before BlackBerry.

Last night my wife and I were at a sprint store, I asked the csr if she knew if they are getting any new Blackberrys and she said she didn't know if they were. The other sales rep said that blackberry stopped making phones a few months ago and soon to be out of business. I told the sales rep that it is totally wrong and with salesman like him wit the lack of knowledge is hurting them. My wife told them that Blackberry is on the rise. The first sales rep said she was thinking about Blackberrys a few days ago.

Once you go black, you can't turn back! Posted via CB10

[Tornado99]

Well, well,....seems the OP has awakened the Matrix occupants from their slumber! Which pill will they take, blue or red?
:-)


Flicked out via Zed30

[johnnyuk]

In my experience the Passport has really turned heads and put BlackBerry back on the map in terms of people who are interested in smartphones.

I'm even finding that teenagers in the UK know about the phone and like it and would like to buy it if they could afford it! That is surprising as BlackBerry is/was dead to most teenagers here now.

Posted from my BlackBerry Z30 STA100-2 /10.2.1.3247 on O2 UK - Activated on BES10.2.4

[Playbook007]

Though BlackBerry doesn't advertise much, everyone knows my passport. They don't say "WHAT'S THAT?". Surprising they say "Oh wow you have the passport"! Then they want to see it. BlackBerry is getting a new found respect.

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[nbaliga]

Of all people, I think the folks at Apple stores are the most sick of seeing iPhones because they are surrounded by them all day.
They are also the ones who get to see all the problems with the iPhones, so it seems kind of natural that they wouldn't think as highly of it as other fanboys.

Twenty somethings are all about standing out of the crowd, and this phone does exactly that!

[adrenaline_x]

For sure. The tech spent three hours Turing to fix and apple I'd login issue. Poor guy. As network admin I used to get frustrated by end users "stupid" issues so I probably couldn't work as a apple genius. I have a Jr guy dealing with end users.

The apple techs are normally pretty cool to talk to. I might be a change of pace for the normal untech wavy people they deal with.

I enjoyed talking to the tech about phones and tablets etc.

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[WArcher]

Very similar experience with Apple fanbois in Best Buy here in Vancouver: They knew about the device and were sincerely interested in it.

Thanks for sharing OP.

[Banco]

I would have thought at least some of the Apple Genius staff are genuinely interested in technology, so it shouldn't be that much of a surprise when they're aware of the Passport and interested. The level of knowledge they need to do their jobs is a bit more than that of a mobile phone shop employee, so to do it you'd expect them to have some kind of curiosity about the whole sector.

But it's a job, it doesn't necessarily mean they are brainwashed about the company.



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[1guitarguy]

That's awesome

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[Tre Lawrence]

Why should this be surprising? The Genius Bar employees are actual people with their own thoughts and opinions like you and I. They are not Apple installed robots.

...and are generally well-versed in tech matters, in my limited experience.

[Tre Lawrence]

Seriously... how can people working in the telco industry STILL think that BlackBerry went out of business?

True, but ultimately, what entity is most responsible for ensuring they don't think that?