1. John Ransom1's Avatar
    For people like myself, Blackberry is no long an option for me. It's dead. I can't afford the new phones, and even if i could, they don't work on my or any other carrier in the States, and the old phones are or soon will be nothing but door stops.

    It's very upsetting to know that what once were the best phones and OS is now a shell of itself.
    07-24-19 06:46 PM
  2. the_boon's Avatar
    For people like myself, Blackberry is no long an option for me. It's dead. I can't afford the new phones, and even if i could, they don't work on my or any other carrier in the States, and the old phones are or soon will be nothing but door stops.

    It's very upsetting to know that what once were the best phones and OS is now a shell of itself.
    What carrier are you on? And what's your budget?
    07-24-19 06:47 PM
  3. John Ransom1's Avatar
    Sprint and less than $100
    07-24-19 06:52 PM
  4. conite's Avatar
    For people like myself, Blackberry is no long an option for me. It's dead. I can't afford the new phones, and even if i could, they don't work on my or any other carrier in the States, and the old phones are or soon will be nothing but door stops.

    It's very upsetting to know that what once were the best phones and OS is now a shell of itself.
    When was any BlackBerry-branded device anywhere near $100?!

    The cheapest ever BB10 device was the $499 Q5.

    The cheapest ever BlackBerry Android device was the DTEK50 at $299.
    Last edited by conite; 07-24-19 at 07:53 PM.
    07-24-19 07:34 PM
  5. conite's Avatar
    Sprint and less than $100
    Your problem is really with Sprint - the most archaic network with the least number of supported phones in all the Americas.
    Troy Tiscareno and Velocitymj like this.
    07-24-19 07:54 PM
  6. John Ransom1's Avatar
    Exactly. Unless I was financing one through one of the carriers, I could never afford to own one. I had a Keyone not long ago but it didn't work properly most of the time.

    Now none of the American carriers sell the Key2 or any other BB.
    07-24-19 07:55 PM
  7. conite's Avatar
    Exactly. Unless I was financing one through one of the carriers, I could never afford to own one. I had a Keyone not long ago but it didn't work properly most of the time.

    Now none of the American carriers sell the Key2 or any other BB.
    Ah, you're looking for a subsidised phone. You are correct, you won't get much carrier action in the US, apart from Verizon b2b and its KEY² LE.

    Not that BBMo didn't try though.
    07-24-19 08:06 PM
  8. John Ransom1's Avatar
    what if i bought a used q10. would Sprint activate it
    07-24-19 08:12 PM
  9. conite's Avatar
    what if i bought a used q10. would Sprint activate it
    It would have to be a Q10SQN100-4.

    Hard to say if they would still activate it. I don't see why not though, as Sprint is still using CDMA.
    07-24-19 08:19 PM
  10. Troy Tiscareno's Avatar
    I would triple-check before buying, because carriers have been refusing to activate older phones (not just limited to BB phones) due to the GSM/CDMA shutdown and the move to VoLTE. Plus, the T-Mobile merger may change everything in the very near future, which would be another reason not to activate older phones that won't have the proper band support.
    Bbnivende likes this.
    07-24-19 09:05 PM
  11. the_boon's Avatar

    The cheapest ever BB10 device was the $499 Q5.
    That cheapa** Q5 cost a whopping $500 when it launched???

    Wow, BBMo's pricing doesn't seem THAT bad after all
    07-24-19 09:29 PM
  12. conite's Avatar
    That cheapa** Q5 cost a whopping $500 when it launched???

    Wow, BBMo's pricing doesn't seem THAT bad after all
    And that's $549 in 2019 dollars.
    07-24-19 09:39 PM
  13. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    what if i bought a used q10. would Sprint activate it
    I've seen some used SPRINT KEYones for close to $100 on eBay...

    Think that would be a better investment than a Q10 at this point.
    PantherBlitz likes this.
    07-25-19 08:05 AM
  14. the_boon's Avatar
    And that's $549 in 2019 dollars.
    $549 is way way way too steep for that tiny full plastic thing.

    How in the hell can't the KEY phones succeed if this thing did?!?
    07-25-19 11:34 AM
  15. bb10adopter111's Avatar
    I'd pay $550 for a Q5 before I'd spend the same amount for another Android phone if BB10 support wasn't ending.

    ...and I know I'm not typical, so don't bother stating the obvious. ;-)

    Posted with my trusty Z10
    ppeters914 likes this.
    07-25-19 11:42 AM
  16. conite's Avatar
    $549 is way way way too steep for that tiny full plastic thing.

    How in the hell can't the KEY phones succeed if this thing did?!?
    Well, I'm not sure one could say the Q5 was much of a success either.

    But it's a further demonstration of the high costs involved in bringing a niche, low-volume pkb product to market.

    Hardware and software development for BB10 was over $10 billion - which means about $1000 per device sold. Not to mention the resulting $30 billion loss in market cap from the time development on it started.
    Last edited by conite; 07-25-19 at 12:07 PM.
    07-25-19 11:57 AM
  17. the_boon's Avatar
    Well, I'm not sure one could say the Q5 was much of a success either.

    But it's a further demonstration of the high costs involved in bringing a niche, low-volume pkb product to market.

    Hardware and software development for BB10 was over $10 billion - which means about $1000 per device sold. Not to mention the resulting $30 billion loss in market cap from the time development on it started.
    Any way to get Q5 sales numbers?

    I'm very curious to know.

    It's beyond my understanding that such a cheap looking and underpowered device could outsell a KEYone/LE.

    The only difference between then and now is the brand name wasn't as damaged when Q5 launched?
    07-25-19 01:03 PM
  18. conite's Avatar
    Any way to get Q5 sales numbers?

    I'm very curious to know.

    It's beyond my understanding that such a cheap looking and underpowered device could outsell a KEYone/LE.

    The only difference between then and now is the brand name wasn't as damaged when Q5 launched?
    BB10 sales numbers were never released by device - but certainly, about half of the 13 million sold were Z10s.

    My guess is 3 million Q10s, and the last 4 million shared between the other 6 devices.
    Last edited by conite; 07-25-19 at 01:50 PM.
    07-25-19 01:36 PM
  19. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    Any way to get Q5 sales numbers?

    I'm very curious to know.

    It's beyond my understanding that such a cheap looking and underpowered device could outsell a KEYone/LE.

    The only difference between then and now is the brand name wasn't as damaged when Q5 launched?
    You might ask a BB10 native app developer (if you can find one)....

    At one time developers could see downloads by device type.... I know at some point someone had posted stats for their popular app.
    07-25-19 02:01 PM
  20. Troy Tiscareno's Avatar
    The Q5 and Z3 were both relatively small production runs, with small sales to match. They were intended to make BB10 more affordable for emerging markets where BBOS was (at the time) still big, but of course, those prices were still way out of the reach of most of those customers, so they mostly sold as entry level devices in Western markets. I'd be shocked if 300k devices were produced between the two - likely closer to half that.

    But it has to be remembered that BB *lost* about $100 every time they sold a BB10 phone, because total sales volume was so much lower than planned that they couldn't even recoup development costs.

    Chen stated that break even for BB10 devices was 10M devices annually - and the best year the barely broke 6M, and that's with the fire sale (and $1B write down) on the overproduced Z10s.

    So when comparing to BB10, it needs to be remembered that, financially, BB10 was a colossal failure. (That's not a judgment of the technical merits of the OS, just the financials.)
    ppeters914 likes this.
    07-25-19 03:36 PM
  21. bb10adopter111's Avatar
    The Q5 and Z3 were both relatively small production runs, with small sales to match. They were intended to make BB10 more affordable for emerging markets where BBOS was (at the time) still big, but of course, those prices were still way out of the reach of most of those customers, so they mostly sold as entry level devices in Western markets. I'd be shocked if 300k devices were produced between the two - likely closer to half that.

    But it has to be remembered that BB *lost* about $100 every time they sold a BB10 phone, because total sales volume was so much lower than planned that they couldn't even recoup development costs.

    Chen stated that break even for BB10 devices was 10M devices annually - and the best year the barely broke 6M, and that's with the fire sale (and $1B write down) on the overproduced Z10s.

    So when comparing to BB10, it needs to be remembered that, financially, BB10 was a colossal failure. (That's not a judgment of the technical merits of the OS, just the financials.)
    Yes, the financials were truly awful and would have killed the company completely but for some heroic financial and operational gymnastics by the board and new management.

    I've never seen a company take a nosedive like that in a single product before or since!

    Having said all that, I'm grateful as an end user that I have gotten almost seven glorious years of use out of that multi-billuon dollar strategic blunder, though. But I'm flat I never owned the stock until a couple of years ago!

    Posted with my trusty Z10
    07-25-19 06:54 PM
  22. SteinwayTransitCorp's Avatar
    Ah, you're looking for a subsidised phone. You are correct, you won't get much carrier action in the US, apart from Verizon b2b and its KEY² LE.

    Not that BBMo didn't try though.
    AT&T still does support the one and two, you can get both but only on request and with a call to sales. But 100 bucks................sign me up...

    On another note my BlackBerry Silver Passport is finally on life support. My APP for Simplysafe shows and update but does not................yes I fear the end is here.........sad but I knew it would happen one day.


    Well looked and some of Conite's old posts and went with APK pure and it loaded!! Thanks for your old posts and Crackberry !!
    07-25-19 08:50 PM
  23. PantherBlitz's Avatar
    AT&T still does support the one and two, you can get both but only on request and with a call to sales. But 100 bucks................sign me up...
    AT&T has the KeyOne available on their device page.
    https://www.att.com/buy/phones/blackberry-keyone-32gb-space-black.html
    07-26-19 09:09 AM
  24. Denise in Los Angeles's Avatar
    AT&T has the KeyOne available on their device page.
    https://www.att.com/buy/phones/blackberry-keyone-32gb-space-black.html
    That is a deal, $11 a month.
    07-26-19 05:20 PM
  25. SteinwayTransitCorp's Avatar
    AT&T has the KeyOne available on their device page.
    https://www.att.com/buy/phones/blackberry-keyone-32gb-space-black.html
    must be looking to move them out...........a few weeks ago nothing on the page.
    07-26-19 05:24 PM
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