[peteberry12]

Hope it's true and not just PR talk. Also hoping that Beard knows what "magnitudes" means.

Fair point, obviously it was said for PR but I think he get's away with it here by saying magnitudes, which is kind of generic as it could be 1.5x or 2x previous sales, which is still encouraging given no marketing, reviews, 'launch', etc. Now, had he said orders of magnitude, he'd have to clarify a little more since that would be impossible at this stage.

What I actually took away from that article was the general enthusiasm and potential marketing of the device rather than his statement around sales. To me, the sales will have some potential once things get going in terms of carriers and marketing and some momentum can build. It's early days here.

[BThunderW]

Take it as you will but Rogers sent me an update on my Priv reservation on Saturday: Position #25 out of 171
The week before that it was: Position #25 out of 67

From my perspective that's very discouraging.

[_dimi_]

OT:

http://www.citronresearch.com/wp-con...rd-final-e.pdf

Posted via CB10

[W Hoa]

If you can get past the bit of negativity in the article it presents some of the back story as to how PRIV came to be.

Inside BlackBerry's last-ditch plan to win you back with Android - CNET

[Superfly_FR]

Well, that's a wrap for me. No extra hours or I need a new wife
Have a nice evening guys, and keep the BaBe floating over the $7.40 !

[smart548]

"While Beard wouldn't provide presales figures, he said advance orders for the Priv have been "much" better than the Passport, Classic and Leap devices."

From an article already shared. For the lazy ones: ;-)

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/st...164440755.html


Posted via CB10

[Heinz Katchup]

"While Beard wouldn't provide presales figures, he said advance orders for the Priv have been "much" better than the Passport, Classic and Leap devices."

From an article already shared. For the lazy ones: ;-)

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/st...164440755.html


Posted via CB10

So maybe comparable to the Z10 and Q10 releases.

Posted with X10 via CB10

[smart548]

On the completion of the Good acquisition :

""The Good and BlackBerry solutions are very complementary. Combined, BlackBerry solves one of the biggest challenges for CIOs - to securely manage all types of deployment models for any device operating system platform, whether on-premise or in the cloud," said John Chen, BlackBerry Executive Chairman and CEO. "We are creating a higher-value solution with the capability to extend across enterprise mobility management, collaboration and application enablement in order to provide customers with the best and most secure products, services and support to meet their enterprise mobility objectives."

"BlackBerry's completion of the Good acquisition brings two leading companies in the mobile security space together to offer a secure cross-platform EMM solution," said Stacy Crook, Research Director, Enterprise Mobility at IDC. "Good brings additional value to the BlackBerry platform by offering strong application containerization on iOS and Android, and will provide solutions to containerize custom and third-party applications."

BlackBerry and Good have natural platform synergies that will be integrated, offering the best of containerization and enterprise mobility management (EMM), and will leverage BlackBerry's global network infrastructure. Customers and partners can expect easily managed migration options and seamless, uninterrupted integration with the combined platform. "

Always great to read things like that.. Are we climbing high till the end of the year? ;-) Eagerly waiting for nice Priv's reviews to come out!

Posted via CB10

[chrysaurora]

So maybe comparable to the Z10 and Q10 releases.

Posted with X10 via CB10

And Z10/Q10 had much better marketing push behind them (still dismissal but far better than Priv marketing, I think).

[sidhuk]

Priceless.



Posted via CB10

[RigoMonster]

AT&T will sell BlackBerry's Priv starting November 6th for $250 on-contract | The Verge

(hater site: exercise caution)

Worth noting that the $250 contract price also includes an additional monthly charge of $15 over the 24 month period. Apparently "contract" accounts are not eligible for the shared plan discount so you have to pay the additional $15 per month. Given this, I'll likely buy the phone outright and benefit from more timely OS updates directly from BlackBerry.

Passport on AT&T

[TheSignalman]

Does anyone know if BlackBerry have started any advertising push for the Priv yet? I don't mean YouTube videos, or blog posts, but actual, visual advertising - billboards, TV, etc.? I've been looking out but haven't seen anything yet.


Posted via CB10

[W Hoa]

So maybe comparable to the Z10 and Q10 releases.

I would think Marty isn't speaking to the Z10 and Q10 figures because he wasn't with BlackBerry at their release. With the Passport, Classic and Leap he was.

[smart548]

AT&T's video.. Enter into the damn message(mail,twitter,sms..) into the Hub!!!! Apart from that, really nice hands-on! Better (imho) than the CPW's one ;-)

Posted via CB10

[Corbu]

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/1...features/?_r=0

BlackBerry Unveils an Android-Powered Phone With Security Features

While Apple’s iPhone first undermined BlackBerry’s position as the leading maker of smartphones, phones using Google’s Android operating system finally relegated it to also-ran status.

On Monday, after years of marketing that dismissed Android and iPhones as unfit for serious minded business users, BlackBerry raised a white flag and introduced a phone called PRIV that announces it is “powered by Android” when it is switched on.

Unlike the introduction of the BlackBerry 10 operating system and phones in 2013, the launch of the PRIV will not be a pivotal moment for the company. John S. Chen, who became chairman and chief executive after BlackBerry 10 fizzled, has made it clear that the company’s future is now based on selling software and services to corporations and governments.

But after a series of disappointments with BlackBerry 10 models, the PRIV may play a role in determining if BlackBerry continues to make phones in the future.

“I wouldn’t say it’s going to disappear overnight,” James Moar, an analyst with Juniper Research, a mobile phone research company based in Britain, said of BlackBerry’s phone business. “BlackBerry has that security brand image more than anyone else.”

Marty Beard, BlackBerry’s chief marketing officer, said in an interview that while BlackBerry will promote what he described as unique security advantages offered by the PRIV, he acknowledged that its choice of operating systems is intended to overcome the BlackBerry 10’s greatest shortcoming: its relatively small number of apps and, in some cases, their quality.

“We know that the number one complaint of a BlackBerry user is apps,” Mr. Beard said. While using Android resolves that problem, the downside, he said, was that “Android had that reputation for not being secure.”

Samsung, the dominant force in Android phones, tried to overcome that problem with a security system for corporate users known as Knox. BlackBerry was among the many companies Samsung partnered with on the project.

But Christian Kane, an analyst with Forrester Research, said Knox did not overcome Android security doubts at many businesses and governments. As a result, he said, no Android phone maker has firmly established itself with that segment of the market, leaving an opening for BlackBerry.

“I’m kind of cautiously optimistic about it,” Mr. Kane said of the PRIV.

Like all recent BlackBerry phones, regardless of their operating system, getting the maximum in security out of the PRIV involves having the device be connected to an employers’ server, which is running BlackBerry management and security software.

But Mr. Beard said the new phone included several hardware and software security improvements and additions that benefited all users and distinguish it from other Android phones.

Somewhat confusingly, BlackBerry will also continue to sell BlackBerry 10 phones. Mr. Beard said that is because some corporations and government users, presumably law enforcement agencies, have “very high-end security needs” which the Android phones cannot meet. While the company will continue to update that operating system, it is unclear if new phones based around it will be introduced.

Ramon Llamas, an analyst with I.D.C., said BlackBerry 10 will probably linger as there are many corporations and governments that “just want BlackBerry to be BlackBerry.”

When the first BlackBerry 10 phones appeared, the company was criticized for replacing its signature physical keyboards with a touch screen. The PRIV splits that difference with a 5.43 inch touchscreen, which is curved at the edges, as well a slide-out BlackBerry keyboard as an option to type texts and numbers. (The surface of that keyboard is also touch sensitive.) Unlike earlier slide-out keyboards, Mr. Kane said the PRIV’s lightness and thinness means that it isn’t top heavy when using the keyboard.

The phone will sell for $700. AT&T will be the only American wireless carrier offering the PRIV when it goes on sale on Friday. BlackBerry is also selling the phone online.

Widespread success for the PRIV will only come if BlackBerry can gain interest from a broad range of consumers, rather than the company’s comparatively small base of corporate and government users.

Mr. Kane said the phone’s higher than usual quality of design and construction may help with that, though that approach has not made HTC’s flagship Android phone, the HTC One, a runaway success.

Less clear is if the PRIV’s claims of better privacy and security will find an audience outside of corporate and government information technology departments.

“Individuals don’t care about security but they do care about privacy,” said Mr. Kane. “As much as they care about it, are they willing to pay for it?”

“Individuals don’t care about security but they do care about privacy,” said Mr. Kane...

[Corbu]

How about that, for an original, never seen before, title?
BlackBerry's New Android Smartphone Could Be Its Last Device - Bloomberg Business

BlackBerry Ltd.’s new Android phone hitting the market this week could be the company’s last attempt at making its devices profitable before ending production.

The Canadian company has unveiled several new phones in the two years since Chief Executive Officer John Chen took over, but none has managed to stop hardware sales from falling. Chen has repeatedly said he will exit the device business if he can’t make it profitable.

The BlackBerry “Priv” -- named for its emphasis on privacy -- runs a full version of Google’s Android operating system but features some of BlackBerry’s highly respected security and productivity features. It comes preloaded with an application that tracks how much other applications on your phone are accessing your personal data and location. It also has BlackBerry’s signature physical keyboard, which slides down from under the touch screen.

“Perhaps there’s something else in the pipeline, but this device does seem like a last stand,” Brian Colello, a Chicago-based analyst at Morningstar Investment Services, said in an interview. “We’ve seen new products come out for the last couple years, BlackBerry’s trying to get a hit with any form factor, any price point and now it’s with a different operating system.”

With its share of the global smartphone market at less than 1 percent, BlackBerry has been working to shift its focus to higher-margin software sales. As he tries to turn around the company’s fortunes, Chen has held onto the phone business, which still accounts for about 40 percent of revenue. Blackberry could stop producing phones within the next year if it doesn’t begin turning a profit, he said at a conference in October.

Software Target

Chen is working to reach $500 million in software revenue by March 2016 by acquiring security-focused software companies and building up new products like secure teleconferencing. BlackBerry completed its $425 million acquisition of Good Technology Corp. on Monday, a deal the company said will contribute about $160 million in revenue in the first year.

Ron Louks, BlackBerry’s head of devices, said the company will make announcements about its product “road map” in the beginning of 2016, but declined to say whether it would announce a new phone. Chen has said the company is going ahead with software updates to its BlackBerry operating system.

By running Android for its new device, the Priv sidesteps one of the biggest problems BlackBerry has had in persuading people to use its phones: a lack of applications. As the company’s operating system waned in popularity, developers stopped making applications that were compatible with it, prompting even more people to ditch its devices.

If the Priv sells better than BlackBerry’s two most recent major releases, the Passport and the Classic, it may keep the phone business going, Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Financial LP, said in an interview.

Declining Shipments

BlackBerry shipped 800,000 smartphones in the quarter that ended Aug. 29, it’s lowest since at least 2007.

“It doesn’t take a lot of phones to really move the needle for this company,” said Gillis, who has a buy rating on the stock.

The company’s shares gained 2.2 percent to $7.45 at 2:22 p.m. in New York. The stock declined 34 percent this year through the close on Friday.

The Priv, with a retail price of $699, is targeted at a “very, very competitive market,” of high-end Android phones, Colello said, including those made by HTC Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. The new device is BlackBerry’s latest effort to find a phone that can stabilize sales as the company transitions toward Chen’s software revenue target, he said.

“They’ve done a good job of continuing to lower their break-even level for the hardware side to stay in business, but even though the bar’s going lower and lower, the sales still aren’t keeping up,” he said. “I think BlackBerry’s still searching for a hit phone.”

[Corbu]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/lianeyvk...-it-should-be/
King Of Car Infotainment, BlackBerrry's QNX Isn't Afraid Of Google. It Should Be.

[Corbu]

PRIV Secure Smartphone Powered by Android Coming to AT&T Nov. 6 | Inside BlackBerry

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Yes you did.

From above:

FYI....

They edited their article...

AT&T will sell Priv, but not Verizon, Sprint Corp. and U.S. Cellular Corp., at least for now, limiting the potential number of customers for the device. By comparison, Samsung had support of AT&T, Verizon and U.S. Cellular among others when it launched its Galaxy S6 Edge device earlier this year.

So they don't have any inside sources as to who will or will not be carrying the PRIV.... eventually.

[bungaboy]

Does anyone know if BlackBerry have started any advertising push for the Priv yet? I don't mean YouTube videos, or blog posts, but actual, visual advertising - billboards, TV, etc.? I've been looking out but haven't seen anything yet.


Posted via CB10

Yes. Saw a Billboard and dude had Savile Row suit AND brown shoes too! Couldn't believe it!

[_dimi_]

Good Technology CEO Christy Wyatt leaves BlackBerry - Modern Mobility

[_dimi_]

OT

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sierra...174900700.html

[_dimi_]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CS1riqJUEAAQWAt.jpg

[kadakn01]

Good Technology CEO Christy Wyatt leaves BlackBerry - Modern Mobility

I can confirm this was expected.

Posted via CB10

[bungaboy]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CS1riqJUEAAQWAt.jpg

Thanks Dimi. Had to post the pic.