[anon5771888]

I honestly think the Blackberry brand is dead here in the USA, none of the young sales people in the stores support the brand anymore. I know folks don't want to hear this, but times have changed here and this is a more tech savvy market now and any product thats introduced here has to be better and/or on par the the competition (Android & IOS) which has set a bar thats cast into stone and is not going to change anytime soon.

With Apple it started back in the 1990's when the schools here purchased Apple computers for their students and that's the brand the young folks now feel comfortable using, when the iPod, iPad and & iPhone came along, it was an easy transition to migrate to the new devices because Apple had built a loyal customer base already.

I applaude any company for looking into the future and taking the initiative to get their products out in the consumer market and build a loyal customer base by having reliable products backed by great customer/warranty service. What is business concept!!!! Thats why they are one of the largest corporations in the world, not by building junk but delivering what the consumer asked for, based off input from their customers.

I remember when Blackberry was the king of the hill here in the USA and everyone of my business clients and most of my friends had one. They where reliable and did what they where suppose to do. Then complacency set in and they lost thier focus and quit listening to what their customers where wanting in the next great device and when it didn't come, they went elsewhere. Folks here and elsewhere are not going to sit around and wait, they expect the new devices to be better and more value added then their predecessors.

One of my business associates told me a slogan that is so true in todays highly competitive smartphone market, you either roll with the competition or get rolled over. Enough said.

[theflew]

+1 The WHOLE market for smartphones is down.

I think this is part of BB's problem. The high end smartphone market is getting saturated. And currently outside of BB7 devices BB doesn't have anything "modern" in that category. Whereas Samsung has a line of phones and so does Nokia. Even Apple is down based on their lack of diversity in phones. The difference is Apple has $100B+ and can easily make a low end phone if they decide to. The only reason they haven't is it will drag down their profit margins potentially by a lot.

[Eskibo]

FFS the two phone have been out for 6 months, and after years of stagnancy. It's bound to take some time to recover. I know my shares are worth jack at the moment, but I'm not too stressed out just yet.

[theflew]

My first post on CB forums so wish me luck:

I'm only posting to draw some attention on a customer niche that has not been covered in the comments so far. I am a 9780 user since 2010 and before that I've been using a countless amount of phones, starting with an ancient bulky Ericsson that weighed more than my daily meals. Three years ago I left a career in journalism to found my very small company and thus I chose BB to always be in touch with my customers. I only use a currency app, a weather app, whatsapp and google maps. I need nothing more and the 9780 is hands down the best phone I have ever used: solid build, decent battery and camera, reliable. As a telephone it works flawlessly, the mails can be read and replied to, the calendar is as good as any.

I can't imagine that I am the only guy who wants the basics to work flawlessly. However, I have lots of friends with Samsungs, HTCs, iPhones who experience problems with the most basic of functions, from signal loss to random freezes or resets. In three years of operation I have NEVER experienced a reset, freeze or dropped call. Now to the bottom line.

There are A LOT of people that only use phones as productivity devices, that do not need large ecosystems, do not need an extra 0.25 inch on screen size or 200mhz on their processors. In my mind, I associate BB with quality of build and reliability. I can buy any phone on the market but I have no need for it and if time comes, I will not jump in the Android boat because my girlfriend's HTC and GS3 (her 4th android since my purchase of BB) experience random resets on wireless couch browsing mode while my ancient 9780 never has.

I am not saying that 9780 is the perfect phone. I just can't find anything against this perfect working tool. But if I ever decide to get an upgrade I will buy the BB because my experience with the device as a productivity tool has been perfect. And as far as the BB10 headlines go, I could write you many stories about how online content needs to be written today in order to draw clicks. But you know it too. BB will be afloat as long as they have patience.

Nokia makes their Asha line that does what you ask and cost a fraction of the Q10. Basically you're saying you don't need need a "true" smart phone. You need a feature rich phone.

[dant2590]

I really would like to stay with Blackberry, but the Q10 system doesn't support Pandora, and calling them, they say there are no plans to put out a new app for the Q10. I also am disappointed that there is no "back" key, or that we've lost the trackball. That WAS a Blackberry. So far, I haven't bought a phone yet. I'm dragging my feet a little to see what's going to happen. I love the keyboard on the new Q10, but not sure about the smaller display. And the fact that my alarm system isn't supported so that I can pull up cameras is another reason I'm thinking about deserting to a Iphone5. The ONLY smartphones I've used have been Blackberries. I hate switching. Come on Blackberry....fix the OS so that I can call up my security cameras as well as Pandora and I'll stay with yall!

[thekonger]

Actually WP is an utter pile of mess, it took 3 versions of non-upgradable generations to get to a fairly reasonable level aka v8 - and yet despite being practically free (most Lumias are sold with zero money down), UI is very harsh, absolutely annoying for anyone coming from Android, iOS or BBOS and you can see it on the sales, despite MS' BILLIONS sales are still utter ****, nothing better than BB with no money back.

Sent from my LT30p using CB Forums mobile app

Actually, this is utter nonsense. Having used Android and iOS before my Lumia I can tell you WP8 is actually just as good as either of them. I won't try to say one is better than the other, as that's a matter of taste. I just know in my case I can do more quicker on my WP8 than I could on my Android or iPhone.

And WP sales are actually doing 'decent'. Yeah, they won't overtake iOS or Android, but they're doing much better than BB and in some markets they are selling like crazy.. Sorry to be a downer man, I know BB is doing bad but trying to throw a bunch of BS about WP won't make BB look any better.

[thekonger]

Predictive text without flicking proves my point that it is not available on other platforms. Flicking is unique to BlackBerry. Can you visit a dedicated screen next to your app grid to see and switch active apps? My understanding is that you hold the back button and then the active apps icons pop up so you can select the one you want. All you need to do on BlackBerry 10 is just swipe up and out of a app which puts you in the app grid where you can see active apps with the frames displaying information from the app (developer chooses what is displayed here)... my bubble is not busted...

Posted via CB10

Gee, if it's so great you would think they could sell more units versus having their stock drop 25%. Oh well.

[Mister Sir]

If BlackBerry dies, I'm wondering if our devices will be worth more on the resale market. I plan on getting the iPhone 5S but I may not be too hasty in selling the Z10 on eBay just yet.

[niss63]

If BlackBerry dies, I'm wondering if our devices will be worth more on the resale market. I plan on getting the iPhone 5S but I may not be too hasty in selling the Z10 on eBay just yet.

Meh. The phone will still work until it breaks. Have several good back ups and replace it when it breaks.

Posted via CB10

[bbbruva]

The market is panicky... the fact of the matter is that BlackBerry is going to be a profitable company soon enough. People see the phones as the only indicator of their success or failure.. what anyone who can see the forest passed the trees sees is that the phones are allowing them the opportunity to re-enter the market with a solid platform (whether the adoption is slow or not) while also pursuing other revenue streams. There is a reason they are speaking about BlackBerry as a mobile computing platform and not as a mobile phone OS, I don't think people realize the scope of opportunity that will be realized once BBM goes cross-platform. I have my Z10 and i'm happy with it but as a BB investor I would be crazy to base my purchasing decision on strictly the strength of BB10 doing well in the market.

They have already discussed and decided on new revenue streams over and above the phone side of the business so counting them out based on that is short sighted. I'm not saying that there is no risk or that everything is going as planned but i'm saying I can definitely see there is a plan and the potential is almost limitless.

Also, in regards to a buyout, even if that were the case I don't think that would be so cut and dry. I know Lenovo has been discussed multiple times, do you think the Canadian government will let a chinese company buy the most secure platform on the market with that intellectual property and proprietary software? Highly doubtful, any company that attempts to purchase BB (if that's a possibility) will be heavily evaluated and scrutinized before that's even allowed to happen. People forget that one of the main strengths of BlackBerry is that its a Canadian company, with all this prism talk of the NSA viewing private data among companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft etc, you don't hear BlackBerry in that conversation do you? The one common thread those companies have is that they are American.

Think about it. There are a lot of reasons BB should survive, can survive and I hope they would be reasons the public would want them to.

[smoothrunnings]

The stock is already down 2% more today.

[themapster]

Keep buying into the media hype and count BB out. This time last year they were saying the company cannot survive then they put a number to meet then they keep changing the numbers. BB is one of the few companies where every one had a different opinion on and they are on both sides pos and neg.My view last year they lost >500m this year it less. We all drive different cars for a reason. Therefore there is a place for more than one type of phone/smart computing phone. New ideas will lead as long as no one steals and go after success like they did with the track ball

[grover5]

The stock is already down 2% more today.

Did you find a link yet for that 600,000 lost BB10 customers claim you made earlier? I couldn't find any reference to it on BNN.

[russworman]

Gee, if it's so great you would think they could sell more units versus having their stock drop 25%. Oh well.

My point still stands... as far as your point, one would think so if the customer really knew more about the product.

The problem is that not as many people know about the new BlackBerry OS or even what it can do. I have converted several people to true believers including one on my second day of ownership. They are all surprised to learn that the new OS is so different and all touch. I've even convinced a die hard Windows pc and iPhone user that this one device can replace both during a discussion about the pain involved with taking a laptop on a flight. She was blown away with the screen resolution, Peak, Flow, Hub, multitasking with eight apps and the simplicity of switching because of swiping gestures, the ability to save and retrieve from a standalone wireless hard drive, the keyboard with flicking, great camera, and the microHDMI output which combined with a wireless keyboard and flat screen TV allows for the phone to function like a pc.

The stock drop is really a sign of the volatility of BlackBerry stock right now. It went up right before the January 31st launch event for BlackBerry 10 and then back down after as some felt unimpressed by the launch event and information on the rollout. As evidence of strong first week demand came in the stock went up again and promptly back down as private firms did channel checks. This volatility has been on going depending on what the channel checks show that day. Then you have the events that the SEC is investigating and that likely influenced the stock. I would expect the stock to remain volatile for the next year probably.

Posted via CB10

[russworman]

Did you find a link yet for that 600,000 lost BB10 customers claim you made earlier? I couldn't find any reference to it on BNN.

The real answer is easy to get...

BlackBerry 10 is a new platform with a starting value of zero customer devices sold on the day before it is released.

BlackBerry 10 devices sale in the amount of 2.7 million total customers devices.

Initial BlackBerry 10 customer devices plus 2.7 million BlackBerry 10 customer devices sold in quarter one equals 2.7 million new customers/devices sold for the quarter.

The 600,000 customers lost does not compute...

Posted via CB10

[thekonger]

My point still stands... as far as your point, one would think so if the customer really knew more about the product.

The problem is that not as many people know about the new BlackBerry OS or even what it can do. I have converted several people to true believers including one on my second day of ownership. They are all surprised to learn that the new OS is so different and all touch. I've even convinced a die hard Windows pc and iPhone user that this one device can replace both during a discussion about the pain involved with taking a laptop on a flight. She was blown away with the screen resolution, Peak, Flow, Hub, multitasking with eight apps and the simplicity of switching because of swiping gestures, the ability to save and retrieve from a standalone wireless hard drive, the keyboard with flicking, great camera, and the microHDMI output which combined with a wireless keyboard and flat screen TV allows for the phone to function like a pc.

The stock drop is really a sign of the volatility of BlackBerry stock right now. It went up right before the January 31st launch event for BlackBerry 10 and then back down after as some felt unimpressed by the launch event and information on the rollout. As evidence of strong first week demand came in the stock went up again and promptly back down as private firms did channel checks. This volatility has been on going depending on what the channel checks show that day. Then you have the events that the SEC is investigating and that likely influenced the stock. I would expect the stock to remain volatile for the next year probably.

Posted via CB10

Sorry, but I just don't see the flicking thing as that revolutionary or great. I type and my phone displays words it thinks I want to use which is pretty much the same thing to me. And again, many phones multitask. If you like BB that's fine, but pointing out a few things from BB that operate slightly differently doesn't mean BB is bringing anything new or revolutionary to the table. If you like your phone, that's fine, but ultimately BB don't offer much of a compelling reason for people to switch. Hence the reason they are losing users; they are getting very few people switching from other platforms.

[Savior4Life]

BB has set their course and now they must err in its gale. They have once again told their faithful consumers what they want instead of listening to what they want, also with no hopes of drawing others from time-tested, superior platforms. Their maketing campaign is atrocious combined with over priced devices which dare to compare to the mediocre. I'm not saying BB is dead or "near the end" but TH better turn this ship around because at this time, I'm not prepared to go down with it.

[grover5]

The real answer is easy to get...

BlackBerry 10 is a new platform with a starting value of zero customer devices sold on the day before it is released.

BlackBerry 10 devices sale in the amount of 2.7 million total customers devices.

Initial BlackBerry 10 customer devices plus 2.7 million BlackBerry 10 customer devices sold in quarter one equals 2.7 million new customers/devices sold for the quarter.

The 600,000 customers lost does not compute...

Posted via CB10

I agree.

[BoldBigWorm]

No wonder Jim jumped ship. Blackberry hurry up and sell before its worth jack ish. Its been failing since the storm flop over and over again.

Posted via CB Q-10

[jcarlos100]

Blackberry won't die

Posted via CB10

[banned_from_japan]

Well all I can say is me being a Note II user is that I think BB only appeals to a certain niche of people, mostly Canada. BB just cant seem to get consumers excited about these things and mainly the devs who feel that the rewards wont outweigh the work. I been on the fence about wanting to try BB10 for a while but Blackberry cant keep up and then the bad news that playbook wont even get the update to OS 10 has let down many of its loyal owners. The rate that iOS, Android, WP8 has grown is on steroids. I honestly don't know what they could do to save themselves other than lower their phones cause their just not in $199.99 category anymore should be $49.99-$99.99 they may take a loss but get them in consumer hands atleast, give devs like a 98/2 split or heck even 99/1 split up to a certain dollar amount, license BB10 out, no clue. Just my 2 cents.

[LordDraco]

The key to Blackberry survival is simple. Let US company / investor buy it.

Posted via CB10

[qbnkelt]

2.7 million BlackBerry users in the first quarter is not an accurate number when BlackBerry has lost 600,000 BB10 users in the last month or two. They now refuse to provide anyone with the exact number of BB10 users which is sign they likely have fudged the number to begin with.

As for how much money they have be it 3.1 billion or million they would have had a lot more if they didn't spend it foolishly on advertising their name and logo on F1 cars. It costs MILLIONS to advertise and tens of millions to slap your name and logo onto F1 cars. I doubt they have sold a single device due to their name being in the Formula One sport itself.

source for the bolded/highlighted?

[qbnkelt]

Blackberry won't die

Posted via CB10

why?

[russworman]

Well all I can say is me being a Note II user is that I think BB only appeals to a certain niche of people, mostly Canada. BB just cant seem to get consumers excited about these things and mainly the devs who feel that the rewards wont outweigh the work. I been on the fence about wanting to try BB10 for a while but Blackberry cant keep up and then the bad news that playbook wont even get the update to OS 10 has let down many of its loyal owners. The rate that iOS, Android, WP8 has grown is on steroids. I honestly don't know what they could do to save themselves other than lower their phones cause their just not in $199.99 category anymore should be $49.99-$99.99 they may take a loss but get them in consumer hands atleast, give devs like a 98/2 split or heck even 99/1 split up to a certain dollar amount, license BB10 out, no clue. Just my 2 cents.

If you have been on the fence about trying BlackBerry 10 then I would wait until 10.2 and the A10. The A10 will be closer to Note 3 specs and 10.2 should bring some great new features. There is a reason why BlackBerry cracked down on leaks of 10.2 going as far as firing people. The dev 10.2 is severely crippled to hide new features, but, allow development of new apps for the new features coming.

Posted via CB10