[scottaco]

At work the other day, I was putting another manager's number in my contacts. She seen me touch the Contacts icon and was amazed that it was also a touchscreen. She said she loved her old BB and if she knew the "new ones" had touchscreen (with keyboard) she would have never gone with the green robot. I had never really considered that a BB fan could be unaware of the 99xx. Is this just a lack of marketing or is she that one in a million?

[ppeters914]

You -DID- inform her of BB10, right?

[scottaco]

I did. I found myself feeling like a commercial/hype man. She has the same issue I do though, wary of the lack of trackpad. Like me, she plans to try a 10 out and see if she can adjust. Seeing how she already uses full touch, I think she'll be sold.

[Taigatrommel]

There are more people like her out there. Quite some people still think Blackberry is stuck somewhere when those OS5 devices arrived. It is a sad fact you can not only see in the real world, but in the Blogosphere too. I've just recently read comments towards the leaked Nevada picture where people complained this is just another slow Blackberry nobody wants anymore. They didn't know there was a full-touch version, nor could they get in their head this device will use a complete new OS.

I fear RIM has to do quite some marketing work to do to get into quite some peoples minds that Blackberry is reborn and everyone and his dog should just completely delete their experiences with previous Blackberries and restart just like RIM restarts the OS.

[scottaco]

That's the way I've seen it too. Way too many people seen what other OSs were doing and were stuck with their older (usually work) BBs. I'd had people marvel over the trackpad on my old 8530 and now the touch feature of the 9930. In a sense, it may be tied to flooding the market with too many devices. Partly because of contract lengths, people just don't know what's available out there. Regarding my issues with the trackpad, I'm looking at the full touch device as a way to completely embrace the "all new experience." Given that if I ever left BB for any reason, my choices would be limited for me anyway.

[anon(3310921)]

I just think RIM did a poor job marketing OS7. . .especially in the states. . .you don't know how many people ask me about my 9900 having a touchscreen. . .

[RubberChicken76]

There are more people like her out there. Quite some people still think Blackberry is stuck somewhere when those OS5 devices arrived. It is a sad fact you can not only see in the real world, but in the Blogosphere too.

It's true. Not everyone is a tech nerd like us though too! :-) I had a conversation with my GF's cousin this summer when I first switched to iPhone from the 9900. She started going on about how bad BlackBerrys are at browsing and how I must just love the iPhone for that. I said, "meh - it's a little better I guess" and she was astonished.

Turns out her BlackBerry before switching was a Curve 8300, which was corporate issued and somewhat locked down.

She also didn't think there were touchscreens on BlackBerrys. :-)

[Pilot Prop]

i cant count the times i've had people question me about my 9900 being a touch screen device. the reactions are usually like the OP's "i didnt know BB did/could do that".

[magutwit]

I just think RIM did a poor job marketing OS7. . .especially in the states. . .you don't know how many people ask me about my 9900 having a touchscreen. . .

Not only in States.

The other truth is that at least half of the consumers just don't get the difference between the Oses, features and so on. I have a good example in my family of a person who is very oriented on her friends and what they say or do. She used to have Blackberries and everytime I talked to her about it, she used to tell me that it was the best phone (although I doubt that she really used at least a part of the options). Then she changed for an iPhone, "because it's better". When I ask her, what was her issue with BB, she just can't say it, she always says something like "It wasn't good at all, iPhone is so much better". The funniest thing about it is that she just doesn't know how to use her "so much better" iPhone and she asks me sometimes how to do this or that thing on her iPhone (like posting a photo on FB). Can you imagine that?!
And it's not the only person who asks me to help her with an iPhone (although I've never had one) and everytime I ask, why this person would buy an iPhone if doesn't suit her use, there are just no answers! I believe that if tomorrow the wheel turns, these same persons will find a Blackberry, a WP or anything else "so much better" ))
Most of the users just get influenced by what is said and done around them and they are unable to understand what is an OS actually...that's what I see around me.

[BergerKing]

I just think RIM did a poor job marketing OS7. . .especially in the states. . .you don't know how many people ask me about my 9900 having a touchscreen. . .

They had a lot of problems on their hands by the time OS 7 came out, and some of the top dogs were too busy trying to keep body parts from being removed. A combination of arrogance and massive swelling of the ego limited the vision, and 7 was kind of an afterthought.

[skyrocket9]

Rofl i too have had people with Torchs and iphone gasp when I was touching my 9900s screen. They thought I was faking it lol until they touched them selves.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[djenkins6]

Rofl i too have had people with Torchs and iphone gasp when I was touching my 9900s screen. They thought I was faking it lol until they touched them selves.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

The Torchs have touch screens, those owners should try touching the screens.

[dakid72]

That has been my issue with BB the whole time, "marketing" it is not a "cool" thing if nobody knows about your device other than the people who go to websites like CrackBerry and such to find out about the newest, latest and greatest BB coming out. If they do not market BB10 heavily in the next month or so, it may end up being the near end for them, but since they are committed to marketing in the near future I just hope they point out functionality, usability and new abilities of the new OS to put all the haters to rest.
After using my PB, I am looking forward to an all touch BB, it has prepped me well. The future looks bright......

[Banco]

Rofl i too have had people with Torchs and iphone gasp when I was touching my 9900s screen. They thought I was faking it lol until they touched them selves.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

With mine, if someone borrows it to look something up, they mess around with it until I say "It is a touchscreen you know" and then get the same kind of reaction as you. Daft really.

[filoinstyle]

Same incident happened to me although it was a while ago when they see me using my bold9900 and touching the screen they thought just by looking at the physical structure of the phone it doesn't have the touch screen capability...moment of them being amazed seen from their eyes lol

[deezy87]

I was out one night with a few co workers and I decided to take transit to meet up with them...on the bus I was texting, sending BBM messages and stuff, this guy said 'Bro! your BlackBerry has a touch screen AND a keyboard? ' I kinda chuckled and said 'yup, just wait til the end of January for an even better BlackBerry to come out' started talking told him about CrackBerry and kind of gave him an education. He stated that he hasn't even seen an ad in regards to OS 7 anywhere....that's a bummer. I hope, beyond hope that RIM will advertise BB10 as a wolf in sheep's clothing type of thing. That's just me though.

[zombie73]

One quick marketing note: I use ubersocial (free ad supported version) for my Twitter needs, and yesterday I got a BB10 ad at the bottom of the screen. It was the one saying something like "re-invented, re-engineered......."etc with a #BB10 for good measure. When I clicked it, the ad when full screen with quite a bit of BB10 goodness such as the Hub, Flow, camera timeshift and so on. It was informative and had great hi-res pics. This was the first time a BB10 ad has found me as I went about my day (not including the NY Times web ad from a few weeks ago)........lets hope the marketing machine ramps up sooner than later

[IAmAmirHasan]

I get it all the time with my 9930. Some people think the only touch screen BlackBerry was the Storm

[Jay Hopkins]

Honestly the loss of the trackpad does sadden me. I was looking at the Z10 and was like meh.....no keyboard. so i looked at the Q10 and thought....... no trackpad. Looks like ima stock up on 99xx phones lol

[Cap_172R]

Honestly the loss of the trackpad does sadden me. I was looking at the Z10 and was like meh.....no keyboard. so i looked at the Q10 and thought....... no trackpad. Looks like ima stock up on 99xx phones lol

Not a big loss on the trackpad...never used it on my 9900, using the touchscreen is much more efficient imo. I was a bit concerned about the lack of the back button and BB button but the OS is pretty well done and fluid on my Z10 and its not necessary. This leads to more screen real estate on the Q10 and larger buttons for the keyboard!

[nnazery]

I would have to say it's the marketing. Unless you are a blackberry user or are "in" with the newest smartphones, you aren't really going to know what kind of blackberries are coming out. I knew of the BB 99xx series before they were coming out but was totally blind to the z10. Also, when the hype is all about apple and android, people tend to not notice the blackberries.