[bizzarothor]

Alright, FWIW, a quick visit a my local Bell store where a Priv was on display allowed me to find out, as per the sales rep that was on duty, that they had sold quite a few, in fact, the most selling BBRY upon release...

I don't suspect the guy was around for when the bold or earlier versions launched, but in my neck of the woods, it certainly isn't bad news!

Posted via CB10

[TheSignalman]

Oops. Damn auto correct lol

I know what you are saying but does the average person see, read, watch these reviews ? Some do. Many don't. My gf used to think that the iPhone was the only one with certain features because it was advertised everywhere.

I know that it may not be a popular opinion but sometimes you need to spend money in order to make money.

Sometimes we need to step back and see what the average person ( non-fan/ non-investor) sees. I believe that they aren't seeing much about this device. Most have HEARD about it but they don't know anything about it.

Posted via CB10

Well, most people don't care about phones nearly as much as we do. They're more interested in other things. Probably 99% of people know what an iPhone is, and 99% of people have no idea what a Priv is. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of people don't know the difference between BB7 and BB10. I agree. If BlackBerry want to sell devices, they will have to advertise. Perhaps their goal is to scrape by for now, but the problem is that poor sales become bad for brand image and if they aren't going to advertise the cycle goes on. Oh well. I've stopped worrying about it. I'll be sad if my Passport is the last BB10 phone I own, but I'll move on if I have to. Hopefully, I won't have to.

Posted via CB10

[bungaboy]

Eric Johnson leaves and Was Head Of BlackBerry's Enterprise Software And Services Sales

Posted via CB10

11 months ago . . . "BlackBerry confirmed in an e-mail Wednesday that Eric Johnson, formerly president of global sales for BlackBerry, has been replaced by the company’s president of enterprise, John Sims. Mr. Johnson, hired 11 months ago, “will focus on driving enterprise sales, deepening our relationships with enterprise customers and ensuring” the company’s server software and portfolio of services “are meeting expectations” in a new role, a company spokesman said in an e-mail."

[bungaboy]

. . . Oh well. I've stopped worrying about it. I'll be sad if my Passport is the last BB10 phone I own, but I'll move on if I have to. . .
Posted via CB10

Didn't many of your other ~12 aliases say something similar?

[CDM76]

Alright, FWIW, a quick visit a my local Bell store where a Priv was on display allowed me to find out, as per the sales rep that was on duty, that they had sold quite a few, in fact, the most selling BBRY upon release...

I don't suspect the guy was around for when the bold or earlier versions launched, but in my neck of the woods, it certainly isn't bad news!

Posted via CB10

Just having the sales reps talking positively about the Priv is a good start


Posted via CB10

[_dimi_]

PRIV is more and more looking like it's a first iteration of what BlackBerry would be capable of producing hardware/software wise going forward. In one way it reminds me of Nokia... Anyone heard of the new BlackBerry with that latest Samsung chip...? And what's going on with the head of sales leaving right before the quiet period?

Posted via CB10

[zlatno]

Point made.
I believe there's also a timing to consider. Quarter ends in a few days and they may not want to impute significant marketing expenses to the current quarter (i.e weighting it on a few weeks V.S a full quarter). I believe we should monitor actions taken after the 28th.
.

I'm not sure about this marketing expense argument. If I was a marketing company, and BlackBerry asked me for terms where all of the expenses were to be booked in December, it wouldn't make a difference to me.
I really just think that Chen is trying to get the biggest bang for his buck.
Reasons for waiting until December :
1. AT&T - It seems that part of their exclusive period with the PRIV is AT&T marketing the PRIV, at least in their retail locations. I also think that AT&T had a hand in the 40 PRIV giveaway. No reason for BlackBerry to advertise in the USA while AT&T has an exclusive.
2. The PRIV is barely out there. Forget Amazon and ShopBlackBerry. The PRIV will not sell In big numbers over the Internet. Until a lot more countries and a lot more carriers are stocking the PRIV, why spend the marketing $$$?
3. No better time to market a product than the season of giving.

Also going to repeat that Demand is outweighing Supply...

[Corbu]

BlackBerry Executive Eric Johnson Leaves Company - WSJ

Eric Johnson, the executive in charge of BlackBerry Ltd.’s enterprise software and services sales to government and business customers, has left the smartphone maker, as it struggles to reignite revenue growth by targeting its traditional customer base.

Mr. Johnson recently left BlackBerry, a spokeswoman for the Waterloo, Ontario-based company confirmed in an email. She declined to specify the date of his departure or provide a reason.

Mr. Johnson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

His departure comes after BlackBerry named Cisco Systems Inc. sales veteran Carl Wiese as head of global sales in July. BlackBerry has faced continued challenges after a failed attempt to compete against Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in the consumer smartphone market.

Relying on cost-cutting and other moves, BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen has stemmed losses since joining the company in November 2013. Now he is betting on new mobile device-management software, new smartphones—including BlackBerry’s first ever Android-powered device—and acquisitions to bolster revenue.

Still, revenue remains under pressure, falling 47% in the fiscal second quarter ended Aug. 29. BlackBerry reports its third-quarter results on Dec. 18.

Mr. Johnson, a former executive at business-software giant SAP SE, was part of the original executive team assembled by Mr. Chen to help spearhead the company’s turnaround effort. That group also included John Sims, another former SAP executive. He was head of global sales, but left when Mr. Wiese took over that role.

[bungaboy]

PRIV is more and more looking like it's a first iteration of what BlackBerry would be capable of producing hardware/software wise going forward. In one way it reminds me of Nokia... Anyone heard of the new BlackBerry with that latest Samsung chip...? And what's going on with the head of sales leaving right before the quiet period?

Posted via CB10

Wasn't really "head of sales".

He obviously didn't ""ensure” the company’s server software and portfolio of services “are meeting expectations” in the new role""

[morganplus8]

Oops. Damn auto correct lol

I know what you are saying but does the average person see, read, watch these reviews ? Some do. Many don't. My gf used to think that the iPhone was the only one with certain features because it was advertised everywhere.

I know that it may not be a popular opinion but sometimes you need to spend money in order to make money.

Sometimes we need to step back and see what the average person ( non-fan/ non-investor) sees. I believe that they aren't seeing much about this device. Most have HEARD about it but they don't know anything about it.

Posted via CB10

Ha! I think to some extent you are right, BlackBerry needs to get the message out there but the cheap/easy advertising is more than enough to accommodate the number of units available for sale. I met with a friend of mine who is an executive for Rogers, left him a few minutes ago, but we talked phones. I asked him how the demand was for the phone and he said demand is there. The traffic in their stores requesting a look at the Priv far exceeds every other product, so on the surface that sounds good. He then talked about the back orders and how few phones they have handed out. So we know the message is getting out there, security is important and the phone itself is a great product, but, he can't get them. I told him BB has made it clear that all back-orders have been addressed to which he asked if I wanted to see his back-order list. Clearly, there aren't enough phones out there to satisfy the demand today. He says each branch can easily sell 6 - 12 phones a day if they were available. He talked about the BB 10 and how hard it was to sell that operating system to others. He mentioned that security on a BlackBerry along with Android is huge and expects more phones to come. He also mentioned that Apple is finally seeing some backlash for their products as they lock customers into the Apple way of life. It was an interesting talk and he even told me to go over to the competition to look at a real Priv. I went over to the store and they were out! They sold the last unit today and don't know when they will see more .

And so the phone is doing well but there aren't any available as of today with no plan to receive them soon. Now that's bad advertising!

[zlatno]

IMHO, Selling well isn't good enough. Initial reports were that previous BB10 devices were selling well too. They sold out on various sites as well, hence why very little faith is put into reports of online sales now and why some are skeptical about how many retailers have received.

If I put 100 privs for sale and sell out they sold well (from my perspective) , but not well enough for BlackBerry to make profit.

BlackBerry has a history of not promoting it's products. SO FAR the Priv looks no different. However, I have seen a few online adds for the passport lately.

Edit : didn't BlackBerry claim to market the Z10 and other BB10 devices as well ?
Posted via CB10

Your comment doesn't make sense. Your saying that it doesn't matter that the PRIV is apparently sold out because we don't know how many were made. Yet you still want BlackBerry to spend money to advertise the devices that are sold out.
Why would BlackBerry 'waste' money advertising a device that they can't even keep on shelves since they are selling out with minimal marketing?
BlackBerry can't predict the response to the priv ahead of the launch. They also didn't just whip up a marketing plan on the fly. I'm sure everything was planned o in advance and now they are adjusting their plans based on sales and demand to date.

[Bacon Munchers]

... Just a fly by to drop some MRE's to the troops:

http://wsbreakingnews.com/news-alert...report/525229/


Oh, and in case anyone doesn't know how the Priv gets its proprietary BlackBerry security:




Cheers guys.

[zlatno]

I don't see the problem as not enough advertising -- although that is a small concern I have right now and I do understand if they want to push spend into December qtr -- but not having enough units to meet demand at launch is a big problem. This is a very very slow roll-out, and they don't have enough units even for NA / UK.

Part of me thinks they put the build run on hold to fix some small issues (will they fix that bubbly back plate?), part of me thinks they already had a build plan in place and they aren't changing it even with more initial demand than expected.

I don't think they have taken other considerations into account as much as they should -- you can get an S6 / Note 5 at a great price now with Black Friday deals as they ready the S7 launch. The Nexus 6P is already a strong competitor. They need to sell as many units as they can ASAP before competitor flagship prices move lower and lower....and that is not going to happen by building 25-50K units a week at Wistron and extrapolating out.

If they slowed the builds to fix issues, then I'm ok with that and rev will take a bit of a hit and the positive will be less complaints and higher reviews to benefit the product long term.

If it's a poor rollout and JIT orders that are seriously under meeting demand....in the name of making the earnings for this quarter look good....I don't agree with that.

EDIT: Put me down for armchair COO. I need to have beers with Marty.

Where did you get your 25-50k per week build rate? Did Chen mention this? Was this number published somewhere?

[CDM76]

Ha! I think to some extent you are right, BlackBerry needs to get the message out there but the cheap/easy advertising is more than enough to accommodate the number of units available for sale. I met with a friend of mine who is an executive for Rogers, left him a few minutes ago, but we talked phones. I asked him how the demand was for the phone and he said demand is there. The traffic in their stores requesting a look at the Priv far exceeds every other product, so on the surface that sounds good. He then talked about the back orders and how few phones they have handed out. So we know the message is getting out there, security is important and the phone itself is a great product, but, he can't get them. I told him BB has made it clear that all back-orders have been addressed to which he asked if I wanted to see his back-order list. Clearly, there aren't enough phones out there to satisfy the demand today. He says each branch can easily sell 6 - 12 phones a day if they were available. He talked about the BB 10 and how hard it was to sell that operating system to others. He mentioned that security on a BlackBerry along with Android is huge and expects more phones to come. He also mentioned that Apple is finally seeing some backlash for their products as they lock customers into the Apple way of life. It was an interesting talk and he even told me to go over to the competition to look at a real Priv. I went over to the store and they were out! They sold the last unit today and don't know when they will see more .

And so the phone is doing well but there aren't any available as of today with no plan to receive them soon. Now that's bad advertising!

That's REALLY bad. It's a nightmare and a wet dream all in one. Keep selling out is good. Not being able to get stock is bad.

As I said a couple years ago, BlackBerry really needs to have marketing guys at the table every step of the way because everything these days is about perception and marketing helps control someone's perception of your product.

Let's hope BlackBerry figures out a way to fill the demand while demand is still there !!!

Posted via CB10

[morganplus8]

Disregard my last post about Eric Johnson, (I quickly copied and pasted without really looking at it!)
It may be an attempt to stop the rally, OK a bit of a conspiracy theory here, but why else would the WSJ pick up a 11 month old story!

Posted via CB10

You are forgiven!! That is strange isn't it? I was thinking something wasn't right when I saw your message. The stock is firm and we are taking a run at the $ 8.00/shr mark today and that is a technical breakout point if we can clear it and move to July highs. Thanks for your stock ownership data, that is some very important stuff for investors to know.

[_dimi_]

Could we see a take over bid for BlackBerry before next earnings release ... ? Just making conversation :-)

Posted via CB10

[_dimi_]

MOBL up 6 percent..

Posted via CB10

[peteberry12]

Disregard my last post about Eric Johnson, (I quickly copied and pasted without really looking at it!)
It may be an attempt to stop the rally, OK a bit of a conspiracy theory here, but why else would the WSJ pick up a 11 month old story!

Posted via CB10

I don't think there's any issue with your post or the article. It appears that he indeed changed positions 11 months ago.
Head of Sales Eric Johnson replaced by John Sims, Johnson to focus on enterprise sales instead - TechGreatest

But, him leaving the company now is current news.

Agree with others that marketing needs to to increase, but they need to solve the supply issue first and foremost. And then start more marketing. I'm glad to hear the many positive stories from you guys about carriers and customer interest, etc. It's all quite encouraging. I think one thing to keep in mind is that the image of BB in Canada is quite different than it is in the US. They need to get this phone on other carriers (esp. Verizon) and get supply up, and then start some more mainstream targeted marketing.

[bbjdog]

Let me try and get the rally back in place. Lol


http://blogs.blackberry.com/2015/11/...-on-the-money/

Posted via my BlackBerry Passport

[morganplus8]

That's REALLY bad. It's a nightmare and a wet dream all in one. Keep selling out is good. Not being able to get stock is bad.

As I said a couple years ago, BlackBerry really needs to have marketing guys at the table every step of the way because everything these days is about perception and marketing helps control someone's perception of your product.

Let's hope BlackBerry figures out a way to fill the demand while demand is still there !!!

Posted via CB10

I don't think it is bad at all, they need to finesse the launch of a new product that carries so many unique features that aren't in their previous offerings. The good news is that they calculated what a sound launch should look like and surpassed those benchmarks. Nothing wrong with that! Now they need to work the system to add more product to the launch and that's a nice problem to have. My Rogers friend didn't think any of the events are negative for BlackBerry and was very sincere and wanting to work with BlackBerry to develop sales. I was more surprised about the comments he made regarding iPhone, that was a negative for sure. He seemed to think BlackBerry will have everything sorted out in the next couple of weeks and hoped to have phones available for walk-in customers soon. He also knew a great deal about the product while declaring that he is an Android fan. I like that he has a backlog of phones sold too.

[cjcampbell]

Trading much nicer today. Kind of like I thought yesterday should have.

Posted via CB10

[smart548]

Smart phone of the year finalists at German website. Priv sitting at #5

Umfrage: Euer Smartphone des Jahres 2015 Das Finale! Vote!

You mean #4 ;-)

Posted via CB10

[Corbu]

Published on Nov 24, 2015
WorkLife by BlackBerry� enables Mobile Carriers and Enterprises to have the missing piece of the BYOD puzzle: it brings corporate identities to privately owned devices and automates bill split between private and business use.

[kadakn01]

Short interest unchanged (down about 180K shares) to 73.9M as of Nov 13

Posted via CB10

[spiller]

Where did you get your 25-50k per week build rate? Did Chen mention this? Was this number published somewhere?

Nope it's a guess based on the 'rumour' that they could build 20-25K passports per week out of Mexico.