More RIM bashing based on guesses about OS7 sales

[grncherry1]

Originally Posted by Palmless

Today is your day. Get ready to dial Waterloo, I'm going to give you the silver bullet that could get RIMM started on the road to the lofty stock valuations you imagine.

I AM TOTALLY SERIOUS, NOT SARCASTIC

RIMM should open a chain of airport stores.

Boom.

There it is.

Look at it.

It's beautiful.

RIMM employees display, service, and sell the entire line. Hot and ready to roll. They could open stores in the six largest North American airports and have exposure to 40% of the business travelers in the market in the first six months. Given time, open 25 or 30 airport stores. Small footprint, and no one would expect a huge floor plan.

I'll swap your battery for a charged one in two minutes if you have an active service plan. I can upgrade regardless of your carrier. I sell every accessory. You can sign up for a phone with me in Chicago and I'll have it ready for you when you land at LAX. Boom. Amateur hour is over. Our airport stores work the way you work, where you work. We also have a fat internet pipe and wifi for RIMM devices ONLY free all over the airport, SSID is BB_Store. Exchange service for any hardware issues. Plug your phone into my charger and tell me your boarding time and gate, I'll bring it to you five minutes before you board. I'll rent you a playbook, drop it off at the next airport, just play with it while you wait, bridged to your BB, load some media and enjoy it on the plane. No charge if you return it to one of our airport stores within 24 hours, and if you decide to go home with it, I'll bill your credit card. Every employee is wearing black khakis with a black polo and RIMM logo. We'll stamp your virtual Blackberry Store passport every time you visit, tenth visit we'll mail a BB Polo to your house, just tell us the size.

So easy. A very small number of stores hits a VERY large percentage of BB users, and really doesn't hit non-BB core users, so you aren't wasting your time like you would in a mall.

All yours, call it in, get Thor on the phone and tell him you want to see JFK, O'Hare, Dulles, Atlanta, Midway and LAX open by June 30 with 25 total by Christmas.

This is NOT a sarcastic suggestion, I think they could build the stores FAST, inexpensively, train 100 workers in a month. Store management could hit three stores in a day, because you are in a major airport. The RIGHT customers would be IMPRESSED and would be encouraged.



Yep, they committed "Death by Osborne Effect". Can't believe the fell for it.

Brilliant,just jump in the car, drive out to the airport, pay for the parking garage and go in to browse the BB,s. Makes sense to me. "NOT"

[Economist101]

Originally Posted by grncherry1

Brilliant,just jump in the car, drive out to the airport, pay for the parking garage and go in to browse the BB,s. Makes sense to me. "NOT"

Had you actually understood what he wrote you'd note that his idea does not rely upon people coming to airports for any reason other that they have a scheduled flight. You can debate how well it might all work, but you can't debate that his idea is NOT dependent on people coming to the airport to browse BBs.

[BoldPreza]

An airport location at an airport like Pearson would not require traffic from anyone outside. There are millions of travellers each week, not to mention people that come and drop them off or are waiting to pick them up. One location per terminal in a prominent position and this could definitely be a success.

I do think having a mall presence would still be important though, especially somewhere like Eaton Centre and West Edmonton. Traffic is huge there, too much to ignore to be honest.

[grncherry1]

Originally Posted by Economist101

Had you actually understood what he wrote you'd note that his idea does not rely upon people coming to airports for any reason other that they have a scheduled flight. You can debate how well it might all work, but you can't debate that his idea is NOT dependent on people coming to the airport to browse BBs.

I don't understand how that will generate exposure. To most people I know, an airport is the last place they want to be, much less shopping for a cell phone.

[Palmless]

Originally Posted by grncherry1

Brilliant,just jump in the car, drive out to the airport, pay for the parking garage and go in to browse the BB,s. Makes sense to me. "NOT"

How many Blackberry users in the US do NOT visit a commercial airport once per quarter?

Probably five, and four of them have Lears!!!

The non-flyer can still buy from VZW store, ATT store, TMOB store, BB on-line, Amazon.com (surprising how much mobile they sell), 5,000 Radio Shacks, 1,500 Best Buys and Best Buy Mobile kiosks, etc.

Cater to the business traveler. Leapfrog the Apple stores. Issue a BB Visa card that gives double airline miles. Near field communications, when you walk in the associate could greet you "Good morning, Mr. GrnCherry1. I'm Caroline. Welcome to Blackberry."

Walk in with an Android or whatever? Pick out your Blackberry. Get on your plane. While you are flying, I'll upload your data to our cloud, my associate in Miami will download it to a new BB and you can pick it up on your way to baggage claim, ready to use.

[grncherry1]

Originally Posted by Palmless

How many Blackberry users in the US do NOT visit a commercial airport once per quarter?

Probably five, and four of them have Lears!!!

The non-flyer can still buy from VZW store, ATT store, TMOB store, BB on-line, Amazon.com (surprising how much mobile they sell), 5,000 Radio Shacks, 1,500 Best Buys and Best Buy Mobile kiosks, etc.

Cater to the business traveler. Leapfrog the Apple stores. Issue a BB Visa card that gives double airline miles. Near field communications, when you walk in the associate could greet you "Good morning, Mr. GrnCherry1. I'm Caroline. Welcome to Blackberry."

Walk in with an Android or whatever? Pick out your Blackberry. Get on your plane. While you are flying, I'll upload your data to our cloud, my associate in Miami will download it to a new BB and you can pick it up on your way to baggage claim, ready to use.

In that case the people I work for will hand me one before I even arrive at the airport. Lear flyers don't hit the commercial area of the airports anyway.I do understand though,try to make a sale wherever you can.

[Brianflys]

Originally Posted by Economist101

But remember, he has to blame the staff, because if salespeople aren't the problem, the product has to be.

How about sticking to the topic and not picking on people? Really getting tired of your badgering people and deriding their opinions or suggestions. Your comments are not welcome here.

If this gets me 20 points, it was worth it....

[Brianflys]

Originally Posted by Palmless

How many Blackberry users in the US do NOT visit a commercial airport once per quarter?

Probably five, and four of them have Lears!!!

The non-flyer can still buy from VZW store, ATT store, TMOB store, BB on-line, Amazon.com (surprising how much mobile they sell), 5,000 Radio Shacks, 1,500 Best Buys and Best Buy Mobile kiosks, etc.

Cater to the business traveler. Leapfrog the Apple stores. Issue a BB Visa card that gives double airline miles. Near field communications, when you walk in the associate could greet you "Good morning, Mr. GrnCherry1. I'm Caroline. Welcome to Blackberry."

Walk in with an Android or whatever? Pick out your Blackberry. Get on your plane. While you are flying, I'll upload your data to our cloud, my associate in Miami will download it to a new BB and you can pick it up on your way to baggage claim, ready to use.

Palmless, I was suspicious of your posts, but have to admit I like the idea.

This could actually work very well. A network of stores at airports.

If you fly much, the airports in the US have been working hard to upgrade their traveler experience with food and shopping. There are lots of high-end stores in the busier airports, not sure how they do sales-wise, but the demographic is very well aligned to Blackberry. And access to non-travelers can be addressed with a credit or validation of an hour for the airport parking lot with a $XX purchase.

Upgrade while you fly? Priceless!

Hey Kevin, how about a chain of Crackberry stores at the major airports? You already have the retail element for phones and accessories.

[Palmless]

Originally Posted by Brianflys

Palmless, I was suspicious of your posts, but have to admit I like the idea.

This could actually work very well. A network of stores at airports.

I gotta tell ya, I was laughing out loud as I typed it. Saying things like "This could WORK!". Others in the office looked at me quite suspiciously.

A *REAL* network of Blackberry stores at major airports is like when Starbucks put stores in the Barnes & Nobles. You don't have to like Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, books or coffee
to realize that it would just WORK.

I'd also have fifty fifteen minute classes, you could take them in any sequence free at any airport. Someone could get a new Blackberry May 1 in Phoenix, and by June 1, they've taken ten quick courses during their wait time at airports. In one month, they learned ten things they might have never discovered on the device. The courseware could be setup so that the staff need only get you started and help if you were stuck.

And you accelerate the positive feedback loop of affection between the customer and the brand. Every time I use one of the Blackberry airport stores, I believe in the brand more. Why, even when I *don't* use the store, I would feel good walking past it. You'd start keeping track of which airports have a store, and which ones don't "yet". It would be fun to tell a friend that the Midway store is a dump but the lady really helped you when you spilled a drink on your phone.

Anyway. Call 'em up, they really should do this. I'll bet they could run it for six months with what the Times Square digital billboards cost over New Years.

[AlienSlacker]

Originally Posted by Palmless

I gotta tell ya, I was laughing out loud as I typed it. Saying things like "This could WORK!". Others in the office looked at me quite suspiciously.

A *REAL* network of Blackberry stores at major airports is like when Starbucks put stores in the Barnes & Nobles. You don't have to like Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, books or coffee
to realize that it would just WORK.

I'd also have fifty fifteen minute classes, you could take them in any sequence free at any airport. Someone could get a new Blackberry May 1 in Phoenix, and by June 1, they've taken ten quick courses during their wait time at airports. In one month, they learned ten things they might have never discovered on the device. The courseware could be setup so that the staff need only get you started and help if you were stuck.

And you accelerate the positive feedback loop of affection between the customer and the brand. Every time I use one of the Blackberry airport stores, I believe in the brand more. Why, even when I *don't* use the store, I would feel good walking past it. You'd start keeping track of which airports have a store, and which ones don't "yet". It would be fun to tell a friend that the Midway store is a dump but the lady really helped you when you spilled a drink on your phone.

Anyway. Call 'em up, they really should do this. I'll bet they could run it for six months with what the Times Square digital billboards cost over New Years.

It's actually a really good idea. I used to be a ramper for an airline and a BB store at an airport would be a welcome sight to alot of weary travelers. Also if set up correctly you would definitely gain more than a few converts to BB.

[traffic56]

I have experienced retailers not showing or downgrading Blackberry phones. Hard to find accessories for new Blackberry phones. To ensure phones are showcased, why not have a Blackberry specialty store. Maybe already done prior to my interest but that way RIM is guaranteed their product is highlighted. Just a thought.

[phoreoneone]

its not bashing if the numbers can prove it. but why doesnt he report it for all platforms? nokia, windows?

android and ios are untouchable

[the_sleuth]

Palmless, idea is brilliant!

[Blacklatino]

In it's current state, RIM has added "fuel-for-the-fire" based on their numbers and not just out of thin air from the critics. Granted, the consistent, repetitive negative reviews seem to be "overkill", but, it is what it is until RIM moves up from it's current status.

[BlendIcier]

For what it's worth, Sony has its own stores and has buckets invested in R&D and manufacturing... worth mentioning because they have one last try to reinvent their TV and Cell Phone lines, or get out of the business altogether they've been losing money so many years

Sony considers prospect of Vita OS on smartphones and tablets by VR-Zone.com

they're considering using Vita OS from their handheld game device, which is a bit of a flop, instead of Android because them and so many others are losing money that way