[crackbrry fan]

Microsoft Retail Store Press Kit

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-may-o...rt-7000032430/


With these stores opening up everywhere, it is why Windows is having a larger market share . BlackBerry needs a similar set up, I'm not saying full out stores as they don't have large product lines nor the resources but a Kiosk in key locations to field customers and interact directly with the public goes a long way. Depending on carriers and third party sales stores isn't good enough.

Posted via CB10

[Bla1ze]

Where exactly do you want them to set up? They have stores already in what BlackBerry considers key markets. Just so happens, US and Canada aren't considered key markets. Lots of people say they want to see this but never explain where they'd like to see it. Singapore, Jakarta, Indonesia, Africa, Malaysia, Dubai, and several other regions all have retail locations.

[Ment]

Those stores are losing money but MS is using a loss leader strategy to get its phones and Surface products in the hands of consumers. Read a news bite the other day that MS has losed 1.7B on the Surface product line thus far. BB is not in a situation to employ anything similar.

If they wanted to hire more manpower, rehire the reps that went store to store, setup displays and educated the in-store sales reps.

[Bla1ze]

MS has losed 1.7B on the Surface product line thus far

Pocket change to them, really.

[crackbrry fan]

Where exactly do you want them to set up? They have stores already in what BlackBerry considers key markets. Just so happens, US and Canada aren't considered key markets. Lots of people say they want to see this but never explain where they'd like to see it. Singapore, Jakarta, Indonesia, Africa, Malaysia, Dubai, and several other regions all have retail locations.

Bla1ze, those stores should be even in N.A. UK. Etc. The usual key locations would be where there is population density and disposable income. demographics Canada, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary. New York , Los Angeles, Miami . Houston, Washington. UK, London. France Paris. Italy Milan. Russia Moscow. . In South America, Argentina, Brazil , Chile. Kiosks in those countries in the Larger Malls. It will go a long way to let people know BlackBerry is alive. Virtual Stores are all well and good but seeing carriers aren't pushing they need the presence. Its a whole lot better than spending millions on a celebrity endorsement.

Posted via CB10

[Bla1ze]

Bla1ze, those stores should be even in N.A. UK. Etc

They've tried them and failed. You might as well take $100 bills and light it on fire. It'd likely attract more attention. I'm not disagreeing with your sentiment, they need to do something. But renting out a ton of space and burning up a bunch of cash isn't it. They're better off sticking to sponsoring events and such as they already do.

[crackbrry fan]

They've tried them and failed. You might as well take $100 bills and light it on fire. It'd likely attract more attention. I'm not disagreeing with your sentiment, they need to do something. But renting out a ton of space and burning up a bunch of cash isn't it.

The costs in relation to building customers interest and presence is needed. Especially as the Carriers have more or less written them off, unless as Ment said they rehire staff to go into the carriers, which would also create cash burn, at least with the Kiosks they can attend to warranty issues, questions and actually promote the Brand Exclusively.

Posted via CB10

[bambinoitaliano]

Microsoft Retail Store Press Kit

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-may-o...rt-7000032430/


With these stores opening up everywhere, it is why Windows is having a larger market share . BlackBerry needs a similar set up, I'm not saying full out stores as they don't have large product lines nor the resources but a Kiosk in key locations to field customers and interact directly with the public goes a long way. Depending on carriers and third party sales stores isn't good enough.

Posted via CB10

One does not change it's business plan on a whim because someone else is doing something different. You do not go out and purchase a BMW because your neighbor just acquired one. You have to check your bank account and also ask yourself if you are buying for yourself or merely trying to keep up with the Jones. If it's the later, you need to see a therapy and get your life straighten out before you ruined it for good.

Posted via CB10

[sentimentGX4]

With these stores opening up everywhere, it is why Windows is having a larger market share .

I'm not sure what exactly people buy at these stores.

Aside from the Surface tablet line, none of the products stick out to me as something that I would want to go to the Microsoft Store to purchase. Windows Phone I would get from my carrier. XBox / videogames is Gamestop or BestBuy. Laptops are BestBuy. Software you purchase online or from Staples. The only thing I like about the stores are their periodic, amazing promotions.

I don't think Microsoft Stores is a "success story" that Blackberry should be copying. Anyway, Blackberry has kind of been there and done that.

[crackbrry fan]

One does not change it's business plan on a whim because someone else is doing something different. You do not go out and purchase a BMW because your neighbor just acquired one. You have to check your bank account and also ask yourself if you are buying for yourself or merely trying to keep up with the Jones. If it's the later, you need to see a therapy and get your life straighten out before you ruined it for good.

Posted via CB10

Hey Bambi, I agree however in order to maintain a presence even more so in BlackBerry 's case they need to look at this again. Not talking a large scale store I am talking Kiosk, that will also serve as a learning / warranty store. Which is needed.

Posted via CB10

[mphillips828]

As much as I would love to see stores or kiosks around everywhere. BlackBerry would be a lot better off spending that money marketing their products and offerings. Advertising and additional sponsorships is where they should be spending money now! Start building the brand back into the consumers minds. You don't build brands by just popping up stores.

Your idea is great but if people aren't asking about BlackBerry in carrier stores, sadly a kiosk will be easily overlooked. The people who stop to look at a kiosk will probably be just as inclined to go to Rogers and ask to see a BlackBerry.

Advertising!!!! Spread the word about BlackBerry through various media outlets (mainly well thought out TV commercials) and hope they bring about interest. 10.3 would be a great time to really ramp up the ads with the passport. What they need to do is promote the Passport but ALSO promote the OS just as much if not more!

Posted via CB10

[bambinoitaliano]

Hey Bambi, I agree however in order to maintain a presence even more so in BlackBerry 's case they need to look at this again. Not talking a large scale store I am talking Kiosk, that will also serve as a learning / warranty store. Which is needed.

Posted via CB10

My take on current BlackBerry health is, the company can afford very little in terms of reclaiming it's consumers market. I dont think it has change since Thor was trying to launch BB10 on time back in 2013. The company was lucky to have some assets to sell off plus a tons of layoff and write off to stop the bleeding. BlackBerry is just beginning to court back some enterprise business. The change of the landscape on how corporations manage their account slowly shifted to BYOD or to other companies does not help BlackBerry either. Despite some of us who are excited on the release of Passport or Classic or whatever is on the road map, BlackBerry financial situation remains critical. What they can afford to spend will not make a lot of impact on the consumers front in my opinion. Where would they choose to focus if they choose to do so? US with almost zero percent of market? UK or Europe to stop the bleeding? Or Asia and South Africa where the competition of low cost phones are the most competitive? Z3 was launched in Indonesia and India two of the most populous countries in Asia barely make a dent. If the company has the financial health of Samsung or Apple, it can be easily overcome. Time and money have always been the issues since the company was working on the OS10 a few years back. The cell phone technology keeps evolving, the competitors are not sitting on their pot of gold doing nothing. BlackBerry is in a very tough position making sure every dollar they have are well spend and bring in more revenues. On top of that, they are investing on future technology and development to keep up with the rest of the competitors. $3 billions in the bank is very little for all the things that the company should, could and would be doing. I'm just an outsider looking in base on very little that I know off from the media. I cannot imagine the complication BlackBerry as a company has to face in it's current situation. It's easy for armchair critic such as myself and many others questioning why BlackBerry is not doing this or that. Some seems so obvious to the outsiders. But I'm willing to accept that, the numbers that the company is looking at does not encourage to focus on consumers hardware at this juncture.

[Aljean Thein]

This won't help at all. BlackBerry has a huge bad reputation in the US. Even in their own homeland, I don't believe they're doing great either. They're just wasting their money. The stores will probably close down in 3 months.

Posted via CB10

[nyplaya610]

No one is ever at the windows stores in NY, it's always empty lol.

Posted via CB10

[Bla1ze]

The costs in relation to building customers interest and presence is needed. Especially as the Carriers have more or less written them off, unless as Ment said they rehire staff to go into the carriers, which would also create cash burn, at least with the Kiosks they can attend to warranty issues, questions and actually promote the Brand Exclusively.

Posted via CB10

BlackBerry isn't going to go out of their way for the consumer market. It's just not their focus at this point. Sure they'll do events here and there and they'll still push in some areas but it's going to be minimal man, especially in areas that have shown to not really care anymore. Personally, I don't want them dumping cash where they shouldn't be. Put it in smart places where the wins are guaranteed and there is good return.

[bakron1]

I remember when Gateway computer tried the country store theme and failed miserably and lost a boat load of money.

Opening a store does not guarantee success, it does give exposure to your products which is a huge benefit for folks who want to try the hands on approach.

I remember when I use to see BlackBerry stores in all the major airports. The airport store is still a good idea if your going to promote a business type device, that would give you exposure to the business clientele.

I would be against opening one in a major mall and trying to go head to head with Apple.

Sent from my lovely z30 on T Mobile USA

[early2bed]

Bla1ze, those stores should be even in N.A. UK. Etc. The usual key locations would be where there is population density and disposable income. demographics Canada, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary. New York , Los Angeles, Miami . Houston, Washington. UK, London. France Paris. Italy Milan. Russia Moscow. . In South America, Argentina, Brazil , Chile.

LOL. Who were your retail store selection consultants? Mick Jagger and David Bowie?

OK, Tokyo
South America, Australia, France, Germany, UK, Africa

Calling out around the world
Are you ready for a brand new beat
Summer's here and the time is right
For dancing in the streets
They're dancing in Chicago
Down in New Orleans
In New York City

[Prem WatsApp]

I remember when Gateway computer tried the country store theme and failed miserably and lost a boat load of money.

Opening a store does not guarantee success, it does give exposure to your products which is a huge benefit for folks who want to try the hands on approach.

I remember when I use to see BlackBerry stores in all the major airports. The airport store is still a good idea if your going to promote a business type device, that would give you exposure to the business clientele.

I would be against opening one in a major mall and trying to go head to head with Apple.

Sent from my lovely z30 on T Mobile USA

Good idea.

Small store with helpdesk at every major airport, with quick no fuss exchange in case of failure for business pros. "BerryCare Plan Pro".

I believe there's a market for that once the company gets traction again...

? BlackBerry? I premdict the future's gonna be chenomenal! ?

[eddy_berry]

I remember when Gateway computer tried the country store theme and failed miserably and lost a boat load of money.

Opening a store does not guarantee success, it does give exposure to your products which is a huge benefit for folks who want to try the hands on approach.

I remember when I use to see BlackBerry stores in all the major airports. The airport store is still a good idea if your going to promote a business type device, that would give you exposure to the business clientele.

I would be against opening one in a major mall and trying to go head to head with Apple.

Sent from my lovely z30 on T Mobile USA

Yes. Airport kiosks would be nice. Catch the business travelers. I was also thinking in financial/business districts they should keep a small setup with access to stock and BES experts. They could just set one up in any one of the major cell phone shops and share rent. I don't know. Does BlackBerry have BES support techs that are available to clients on short notice? Or would that be a big waste? Something like that would be nice though. Totally a pipe dream, but I think we should dare to dream a little. I like the airport kiosks idea.

Posted via CB10

[Jas00555]

I'm not sure what exactly people buy at these stores.

Aside from the Surface tablet line, none of the products stick out to me as something that I would want to go to the Microsoft Store to purchase. Windows Phone I would get from my carrier. XBox / videogames is Gamestop or BestBuy. Laptops are BestBuy. Software you purchase online or from Staples. The only thing I like about the stores are their periodic, amazing promotions.

I don't think Microsoft Stores is a "success story" that Blackberry should be copying. Anyway, Blackberry has kind of been there and done that.

There are a lot of reasons to buy products from the Microsoft Store. It's something that I continually recommend if possible. Several reasons are, but not limited to:

A) all of the OEM's computers that are sold at the Microsoft Store are "signature edition" meaning that it's straight, pure Windows. No free crappy McAfee/Norton trials, no bloatware from Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc... They give a much better and faster experience
B) premium 1-on-1 time with the Surface tablets. In other places like Best Buy, they're usually hooked to something so you really can't do much with it. At the Microsoft Store, you can walk all around the store and do pretty much what you want with it.
C) For phones, you get expert experience where the store reps actually know what they're talking about unlike the carrier store where they know/push 1 or 2 phones that they're use to. They also have almost every model for you to look at unlike the carrier stores that usually only stock the 635 and either the 1020 or the 1520, or MAYBE the 925.
D) To the best of my knowledge, you can't play with the Xboxes at Gamestop. There are 3 local Gamestops in my area and you there's no way to demo them. They've also got more games to demo (clarification: demo as in practice playing the game. You can play the full game) unlike Best Buy where there's only about 2 or 3.
E) This may only be for the day, but when they open, there are typically amazing sales. Like, a Dell Venue Pro for $100 amazing. They usually have good sales afterwards though.
F) At the full retail stores (unlike the small kiosks) they have their "Answerdesk", which will fix any PC you have (desktops, laptops, tablets, Surface) for FREE. Yes, if your computer is still under warranty, they will almost always honor the OEM's warranty and fix it there for you.
G) Most importantly, the reps actually know what they're talking about. Unlike carrier stores, best buys, tech media, their reps will know what they're talking about and don't just try to sell you something to get a sale. If you don't understand something, they'll tell you exactly the pros and cons.

Overall, it's just so much nicer buying from a Microsoft Store than buying a Microsoft product from a 3rd party store like Best Buy, staples, carrier stores. Sure, they're not the kind of success stories that Windows, Azure, and Office are, but they definitely do make money. Microsoft has a very slow, precise rollout to make sure that each store can turn a profit as there's massive amounts of research that goes into each location. Anyone that thinks otherwise is foolish. The only thing that I don't think they'll make their money back on is the upcoming store on 5th Street, NY lol. I think they estimated the rent for that place at 30 million a year.

Really, I don't think Blackberry should open a retail store. Even if they had money to blow (which they don't), I still think it's a bad idea. They don't have enough products to sell to the average consumer to open a store. I think, at best, they can do what Samsung and Microsoft do in my local Best Buy and have a "Blackberry experience" section, or maybe just a booth.

[bambinoitaliano]

Yes. Airport kiosks would be nice. Catch the business travelers. I was also thinking in financial/business districts they should keep a small setup with access to stock and BES experts. They could just set one up in any one of the major cell phone shops and share rent. I don't know. Does BlackBerry have BES support techs that are available to clients on short notice? Or would that be a big waste? Something like that would be nice though. Totally a pipe dream, but I think we should dare to dream a little. I like the airport kiosks idea.

Posted via CB10

A prime space in a Toronto area cost from 30K to 50K a month rent. Space could be varies in square footage of 2 to 5 thousand square footage. To put a kiosk in say Toronto International airport would at least cost about 15K a month. That's about $180K a year. 3 employees a week plus a manager to cover 12 hours per day shift 7 days a week. That's close to another $150K in wages conservatively. $330K a year in expenses alone. To break even the kiosk has to sell 3 phones or more that can net at least $300 in profit 365 days a year. How many airport can BlackBerry afford to install a kiosk in the world? The operating cost I assume in London, New York, L.A, Vancouver, Tokyo, France, Germany, Hong Kong or any major airport in the world would be the same.

[early2bed]

Lets attack it from a unit sales perspective. Let's say you decide to open kiosks in 30 major airports, 2 per airport. You anticipate selling 20 phones per day at each kiosk 365 days per year. How much will you increase your sales? By 438,000 units. Is that going to keep you in the smartphone business?

The Apple stores work because they have over 400 of them serving a million customers a day. They probably make just as much on the accessories than they do the hardware. You've got to have something more to sell than a few smartphones to make it work.

[eddy_berry]

A prime space in a Toronto area cost from 30K to 50K a month rent. Space could be varies in square footage of 2 to 5 thousand square footage. To put a kiosk in say Toronto International airport would at least cost about 15K a month. That's about $180K a year. 3 employees a week plus a manager to cover 12 hours per day shift 7 days a week. That's close to another $150K in wages conservatively. $330K a year in expenses alone. To break even the kiosk has to sell 3 phones or more that can net at least $300 in profit 365 days a year. How many airport can BlackBerry afford to install a kiosk in the world? The operating cost I assume in London, New York, L.A, Vancouver, Tokyo, France, Germany, Hong Kong or any major airport in the world would be the same.

I did say share rent right? Oh come on.

I guess this is why I see Best Buy express vending machines at Toronto Pearson International.

Let me dream!

[eddy_berry]

Lets attack it from a unit sales perspective. Let's say you decide to open kiosks in 30 major airports, 2 per airport. You anticipate selling 20 phones per day at each kiosk 365 days per year. How much will you increase your sales? By 438,000 units. Is that going to keep you in the smartphone business?

The Apple stores work because they have over 400 of them serving a million customers a day. They probably make just as much on the accessories than they do the hardware. You've got to have something more to sell than a few smartphones to make it work.

They have accessories too! lol.

[insandouts]

Bla1ze, those stores should be even in N.A. UK. Etc. The usual key locations would be where there is population density and disposable income. demographics Canada, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary. New York , Los Angeles, Miami . Houston, Washington. UK, London. France Paris. Italy Milan. Russia Moscow. . In South America, Argentina, Brazil , Chile. Kiosks in those countries in the Larger Malls. It will go a long way to let people know BlackBerry is alive. Virtual Stores are all well and good but seeing carriers aren't pushing they need the presence. Its a whole lot better than spending millions on a celebrity endorsement.

Posted via CB10

I thought that BB is no longer interested in the consumer market like most users here claim, if so what would be the point of opening stores?