Expected. There has been absolutely zero advertising from RIM. 'Joe buyer' doesn't even know this device exists at this point unless he's been in a store that has it on demo recently. I keep saying it: this is some sort of soft-launch targeted at BB users and gadget freaks. The rest is yet to come.
I have to admit - the only advertising I've seen has been from Staples on tv in Vancouver and the occasional tech review on the local radio stations. But as for lots of signs and other adverts - nothing. I'm not surprised that there the stores have stock.
I think the slower sales due to the nature of the product - Something totally new from RIM. Once people start seeing the benefit of QNX, they would be willing to buy one.
A few coworkers at the office are looking to buy one now after they've seen mine. This is including some Apple fanboy and some that complained about the 7" screen prior!
I personally think RIM is doing a good job. With the mail client update, more apps roll out in the app store, as well as the integration of Android apps, this will be fun.
I am guessing we'll see a consumer push in 6 months for Christmas. I think these first few months it is like a super beta for people like us, and in 4-6 months time, there will be tons more apps and the pb will be more ready for mainstream buyers.
Rim is using us to beta test so they can get the kinks worked out.
Part of me say WTF and I do feel getting used... however at the same time I download the updates for by blackberry and test the other betas so I do this "testing" anyway.
Rim gambled their release on the core crowd who already has the blackberries and it does look intentional that they halt the advertising until we "tell" them it is ready for the mass consumption.
The only problem with this it may backfire at Rim if this "testing" takes too long.
I like Rim's products and have been using them for a long time now, however the market is moving faster every year now and "The Blackberry" is no longer the only game in town.
Apple ripped old expectation to shreds and Rim has found itself staring at irrelevance if continued on the same path. Desperate times create desperate measures. There is no way Rim can catch up to iPad by doing regular inhouse testing, they gambled hard on its core users to pull them through with this... well ...mess.
The lack of marketing definitely has an impact on the sales no doubt. I just got back from vacation and picked my PB up this morning and had an interesting conversation with the store manager at Staples. He said that corporate is only stocking them with the 16 GB playbooks and that he is selling mostly 32 and 64 GB models from online orders right now. I told him my reasoning for getting the 64 GB version (storage for multimedia in case my BB isn't handy) and he seemed to be hearing that quite a bit. A lot of the extra stock is probably due to the early adopters (those of us on CB and BB loyals) wanting that extra storage. With little to no advertising of the product, that is what I expected. Most of us loyal users knew what we were getting in to with past experiences from RIM, and I have been very happy so far. I know that there is room for improvement and many more features to come and can't wait to see what is in store for us. The PB is a great product and I strongly believe will be a leader in the tablet market in a short period of time.
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Its been reported the Playbook sold 50K on launch, many from preorders,
But it seems it's not selling out since then?
A quick look at Futureshop in Toronto and Calgary shows every store with stock. Also local Costco and Staples had stock remaining from launch day.
Expected or bad sign for sales?
i spoke to a friend who works a staples who said they have steady sales as well as increasing interest, primarily from middle aged consumers. i guess word of mouth is generating interest? Staples is by far the most visible PB retailer, with their nice yellow t-shirts!
Rim is using us to beta test so they can get the kinks worked out.
Well, like it or not... putting into the hands of a few thousand people will find the bugs faster than a few dozen would. Beats waiting months for the bugs to be found and then have the product released. This way, I get to play with the parts that do work well now
considering the amount of marketing they've done, I'd say expected.
This is terrible management again in my opinion. The shareholders pay for everything and management cannot even use their funds to properly bring this product to market successfully. Of course a pb would be more applicable to us BB owners, but not the general market with a smaller screen and price point of an ipad 2.
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I'm sure all of the negative reviews have also had an affect on PB sales. Hopefully RIM has read them all and is working hard to deliver the goodies. I <3 my PB...
As already stated, I also think RIM is letting word of mouth kick off the launch and are using the early adopters to iron out some issues.
This is pretty much a soft launch. When they feel comfortable enough with the performance and have ironed out enough issues, and have more apps available - I'm pretty sure RIM will be marketing this through commercials and more print ads.
I think we'll see a glimpse of the marketing next week at Blackberry World. It would make sense to not do any national advertising until the native email is out as that is the main thing ever review picked on.
I think some people will still be let down once native email is out as I don't see RIM putting in support for Exchange ActiveSync as it negates the need for Bridge / BES and that is one of their pillars. It would be like Apple dropping iTunes and bundling MediaMonkey.
wonder when they will launch in indonesia. so many blackberry here its becoming obnoxious. its retailing around 1000$ for 64gb thru independent importers, people still buying.
I'm sure once they add all the other missing stuff we will start to see some aggressive marketing happening.
Exactly
They wont be pushing it to the non tech savvy consumer until they get some more bugs worked out,
They NEED BBM, and a consistent Bridge to be working before they push it to the consumer, I have a friend who is NOT tech savvy who was excited to PIN me that she got a Playbook, and I have gotten to walk her though a debricking, and a new router set up, over BBM to keep the gadget going.
I suspect once Sprint Releases their Cellradio version you'll start to see TV and consumer advertising, and a increase in sales.
Not selling out IMO is a good thing, means there was enough supply that every consumer who considered wanting one was able to get one without problems. and that remains the case. Word of Mouth will spread among blackberry fans, and people who like shiny things. and sales will continue as they do with Blackberry items, consistent.
