[a1s2d3f4g5]

So I feel like writing a story tonight about when I bought my z10. This was in March in the U.S. I went to AT&T and checked on my upgrade status. Yes I could upgrade. So I started looking at phones ( i knew I was going to get the BlackBerry but wanted to see what the salesperson said). Immediately a saleswoman came up to me near the z10. What phone do you have now? She asked. A blackberry. (i had a bold at the time). She said "ugh" I'm not kidding. Then she saw I didn't laugh when she said that so she backtracked. Oh that's a good phone. What do you want now? Well I've heard good things about the BlackBerry z10 was my response.

She had no idea what the z10 did. So I went though it with her some of the features. She was kind of impressed. But everything I said, she would always say "that's like the iphone". It must have been some kind of sales training. I said oh this phone is light and elegant. Yes it is kind of designed like the iPhone. I said it has a good notification center called the hub. She said yes it does, and the iPhone has good notifications too. I showed her the keyboard and she said great. Then mentioned iPhone again. It was very subtle but she used the word iPhone at least 4 times while we were talking about the z10. Finally I got a little annoyed and said, yes I used to have an iPhone but I didn't get notified properly when I got an email, and I would miss some emails. Then she said oh well I like my iPhone because i don't care about whether I miss an email.

I almost lost it on here there and said something condescending. But didn't, just smiled and said oh that's interesting. Then got the z10.

That night was when i first realized the z10 was not going to be a top seller in the U.S. It has always bugged me how that saleswoman went out of her way to promote the iphone. I'm sure they are trained to do it so it's not her fault. But the average customer will walk out with an iPhone 90% of the time in that situation.

So that's my story. It has been on my mind recently as an anecdote that demonstrates BlackBerrys fall from the top. I never told anyone because no one would understand except the CrackBerry community. thanks for listening.

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[katiepea]

The person you are describing is a typical American consumer. She's also stupid. That being said, BlackBerry should be able to market to this sort of person, they can't. The simple truth is if the platform (BB10) had the ability it is about to have when the OS was released, things may be slightly different. If sales reps could have sold the devices saying "these run the full suite of google play store apps, it could have appealed to 80% of the market instead of less than 5% who don't care about apps. The fault lies with BlackBerry and nobody else.

[a1s2d3f4g5]

That's a great point. Thor did not prioritize very well in terms of device functionality. I have not been keeping up with BlackBerry news recently - is google play store access officially confirmed on BlackBerry phones from now on? Or is that still a rumor

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[katiepea]

That's a great point. Thor did not prioritize very well in terms of device functionality. I have not been keeping up with BlackBerry news recently - is google play store access officially confirmed on BlackBerry phones from now on? Or is that still a rumor

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No, it's not confirmed, but we have the ability to install android .apk files directly on the device. This led to some people making front end bb10 apps that could access google play unofficially. So we have unofficial access to install apps from google play directly on the device without sideloading them. it works tremendously well also.

[BKA22]

The person you are describing is a typical American consumer. She's also stupid. That being said, BlackBerry should be able to market to this sort of person, they can't. The simple truth is if the platform (BB10) had the ability it is about to have when the OS was released, things may be slightly different. If sales reps could have sold the devices saying "these run the full suite of google play store apps, it could have appealed to 80% of the market instead of less than 5% who don't care about apps. The fault lies with BlackBerry and nobody else.

Yea girl. This is pretty much right on point. And consider this...where would BlackBerry be now a full year into BB10 had it initially been released as you suggested. The entire direction and focus of BB going forward as prescribed by Chen might be considerably different on the heals of a more commercially successful BB10.

Z10

[bakron1]

Yep, I have also written in my latest post about my experience at the Verizon store when I was checking out the z30 to see if it was something I wanted to buy.

The salesperson asked me if he could help me and I asked about the demo z30 unit I was playing with. His response was nobody ask for BlackBerry products anymore and couldn't tell me anything about the device.

I actually had to show him the great features like the hub, Peek and Gesturing. WTF!!!! Where are the corporate folks from BlackBerry at???

They should have folks visiting these carriers here to make sure their products are being supported by the carriers? Instead of worrying about paying some rich celebrity to endorse them?

Have some hands on workshops and promote the **** out of 10.2.1.** here. Show folks how OS10 can improve their daily task? Just an opinion from a former iPhone 5s user who came back to BlackBerry and the z30 because of 10.2.1.195.

Sent from my z30 with 10.2.1.195

[Mike88888]

I was actually a bit surprised that when I went into a WIND Mobile store to buy my Z10 about 4-5 months ago that the salesperson there also had a Z10.

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[BBUniq01]

My rep at T-mobile knew better than to diss BlackBerry when I came in for my reserved Z10, in March, since I was a loyal BlackBerry user. This was in Jacksonville FL. She had been out sick for two weeks but had informed me that they did have an in house training in regards to the BB10. They had the phones prominently displayed with video clips. The biggest problem she said was BlackBerry. They hardly ever saw the rep from BlackBerry. My sis-in-law had a good experience too when she looked at phones in a T mobile store in Miami. She learned a lot about the Z10 then, even thought she went with the HTC One.

BlackBerry had the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot then but dropped the ball. It is hard to blame the carriers when Management at BlackBerry failed in the marketing and education of the then new BB10.

BB Uniq BB Bold -Z10 with 1925

[darkehawke]

I don't think that is training op. I think that was her personal biased views interfering with her job

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