[glassofpinot]

I have to give them a poor grade overall. If it was not for CB, I would know next to nothing about the new Bold or Torch, let alone 7. Advertising is complex today and certainly viral can be as important as more traditional means. But I just finished reviewing web, Sunday papers, my exposure to TV-radio, visits to carrier stores, and other outlets. The verdict - BB is almost invisible. (at least the new Bold 99xx is on display sometimes). Either their own advertising or shared with carriers - almost nonexistent.

[josh3326]

I have to agree with you. People I speak to didn't even know Blackberry 9930 was out. They are terrible when it comes to advertising.

[Cozmik]

Rim advertises?

[brava27]

Not one advertisement regarding the new OS7 devices....

[mssca]

The ads are bad in my opinion. Here in Canada we rarely see an ad for Blackberry compared iPhone4 or HTC.

[josh3326]

you can offer a bold for $1 with no advertising and sell next to nothing at all, but offer an bold for $100 with advertising and sell a lot!

[Laura Knotek]

I have not seen a single ad for the OS7 devices, or any BlackBerry, on TV since last year.

[lnichols]

The only Blackberry advertising I've seen recently is that they have the Blackberry name and logo on the sideline boards that surround the Rugby World Cup fields in New Zealand. While it is the third most watched sporting event in the world, it doesn't get much viewing in North America. The last TV ad I saw was Playbook ads during the NHL playoffs, and none were great. Don't think I've seen a single ad for an OS7 phone. I still think RIM expects the carriers to do all their dirty work for advertising, expects the phones to sell themselves, or the carriers push their stuff in the store, and carriers aren't pushing RIM hardware anymore. RIM is going to have to start advertising on their own, and as we've seen from the Playbook fiasco, they don't know how to do it! Maybe they are doing a better job outside of the US, but in the US it is a joke.

[vx1]

its true if it wasn't for CB no one would have any idea about anything blackberry I know there are other places but CB does it best.

RIM has certainly not done any advertising .. I think they are holding back or just don't want to get in the ad game with apple .. apple is clearly on the high end of the advertising game so its a bad place to pick fight...

[rayzian]

Here on toronto there's a lot of radioplay on the new blackberries but that's about it

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[anon(4113192)]

RIM, you suck at marketing
*not individual advertisements


Numbers Aren't Sexy

- Having product name's followed by a string of numbers is terrible. 9900, 9810, 9000, 9866, blah, blah, blah, Have your eyes begun to roll yet? If you don't already dig BlackBerries, have you found a reason to be confused?

Upgrades Lost

- If a new product launch is a failure (the Storm and Torch were, compared to market expectations), change the upgraded model's name and/or significantly change the visual design. Otherwise, the shinny new model is the same as the old.

Straight Up WTF

- Bold and Tour at the same time, it's the same demographic plus dual sim.

- The Torch 9800/9810 and 9850/9860 aren't the same. It isn't even in the same family. Annoyed by numbered naming yet?

- If there is a Pearl and a Pearl Flip, then the Torch is a Bold Slide, or Bold Shift, or... you get the idea.

- Put the Style back where it was found. How the helI could that aesthetic abomination be call the "Style".

- The carbon fibre look isn't for business. It's not cutting edge. It's immature, and it's on the back of the flagship Bold 9900/9930.


I could write pages on a marketing philosophy shift, but I should stop wasting your time and mine. I'll shut-up now.

This is written from the view point that the majority of marketing is meant to generate new users, and that expecting users to be well informed is a mistake.

[Mamaluka]

ONE618 --- you've nailed it. Ever hear of a droid 7321 or the HTC 564? No, because its stupid. Incredible, bionic, thunderbolt ---- easy. Iphone 1,2,3,4 etc --- easy. Blackberry Bold 9930, who is going to remember that besides us cb addicts?
One of the things I have to laugh about when I see it said here on cb is "do your research". Oh yeah? Well who the eff is going to do research on 50 thousand models with 50 thousand model numbers? Nobody. They walk in the wireless store and listen to the imbecile working there. Or they get what their friend says is "the best". RIM should just point people to cb.com if they want good advertising. As a matter of fact, TV guide purchased a website called jumptheshark.com to expand its advertising-- maybe RIM should purchase this website. Its got to be the most popular site for blackberrys and would enhance RIM's appearance as 'cool' rather than black n white stiffs.
I grade RIM an F in this regard
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[tkcdamar]

That's easy to grade. F.

Luckly for BB users, their devices are just as easy to grade. A.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[BoldtotheMax]

I agree that there advertising sucks and has sucked for some time now. Even when they brought out the 1st Torchthey did probably the most advertising and yet still had mediocre sales, why? Maybe because the commercials sucked! They need cutting edge marketing and something hip. If they would, RIM wouldn't be wherethey are on the stock market and or in the position they are in.

They need wake up in the PR department!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Aomar7]

D+, but only because I like their commercials.... Otherwise F.

As for the woven glass, I don't see how its "immature"? But I agree with everything else though. Wonderful Rant +1

As for the naming of the devices, when I bought my first blackberry (torch 9800) I thought the 9800 was the serial number. Kidding, but just look at Nokia's early phones
, the 5110 for example. That's just the way things were marketed.

[ekafara]

F-

They need to bring in someone new to head it off. Jim is the head of marketing and is failing miserably right now. If he can't do it find someone who can. If you are proud of your products you should want to show them off, maybe RIM isn't too confident anymore.

I went to double check that the head of marketing is who I thought. "At RIM, Jim is responsible for driving corporate strategy, business development, marketing, sales, and finance." Pulled from: BlackBerry - Executive Team

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[5six]

I used to work for Ericsson in the '90s, and then for an installation contractor for Bell and then for Rogers in the early 2000s. RIM had an advantage that manage to grow but in today's market, they are the last of the old. Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia ... they were all at the top of the their game with their handsets, but they became disconnected from new consumers. RIM is the last one standing, and HTC, Samsung and Apple have popped in a way that knocked the mighty players out of the lime light. Sure, RIM has millions of subscribers, and many business folk like the actual keyboard. Sure lots of people love BBM, but RIM failed to exploit that advantage in the last few years. They should've evolved the BBM greater and earlier. The Playbook was huge mistake. Don't get me wrong, I like the device ... especially since it has Flash. But RIM has failed to have software that links up these things really well. This is where BBM should've really tied everything together. I went from a Bold 9700, to an iPhone 4, and now I have the 9900. I had to tweak the crap out of my phone to get my battery life to last as long as my iPhone. BBM is fun to have back, but the service is still having problems. And I'm disappointed in the screen quality for such a high dollar phone. Sure it is sharp, but when I look at photos from my website (I'm also a photographer) the way it renders tonal change is very poor. Half the people that I work with that had RIMs have all switched to iPhone4 or 3Gs (I'm talk about 40+ people). If Apple every comes out with their own version of BBM, RIM will see a real erosion of that million customer base. And one thing I was really surprised at, my iPhone4 got better reception in my house than my 9900 does (both with Rogers). I would never have believed it if I didn't experience, so much for that past 9700 advantage.

There are 4 cell phone users in my house, and we all have RIMs (now). However, if Apple does create BBM type integration of their own, then 2 of us will move over immediately. One of the other 2 will wait for her upgrade.

[Punjabi007]

In India they are now catching youth with the ads of their BBM service and how you can add people by scanning the bar code. I saw a 9900 ad seriously it did not do justice. They are actually very bad with their ads. I believe even if you market trash well, you can sell it. But here in their case they dont actually bring out the great things you can do with this phone. Look at how Apple is now marketing iOS 5 surely they know a thing about ads.

[Punjabi007]

There are 4 cell phone users in my house, and we all have RIMs (now). However, if Apple does create BBM type integration of their own, then 2 of us will move over immediately.

Its coming my friend.... iMessaging on OS 5 being brought out would have this feature. Even now Samsung is planning the same for their platforms on android phones.

[boldkeyboardholic]

The only Blackberry advertising I've seen recently is that they have the Blackberry name and logo on the sideline boards that surround the Rugby World Cup fields in New Zealand. While it is the third most watched sporting event in the world, it doesn't get much viewing in North America. The last TV ad I saw was Playbook ads during the NHL playoffs, and none were great. Don't think I've seen a single ad for an OS7 phone. I still think RIM expects the carriers to do all their dirty work for advertising, expects the phones to sell themselves, or the carriers push their stuff in the store, and carriers aren't pushing RIM hardware anymore. RIM is going to have to start advertising on their own, and as we've seen from the Playbook fiasco, they don't know how to do it! Maybe they are doing a better job outside of the US, but in the US it is a joke.

nope - at least in Germany it's a joke as well...

it was just luck to get the info that the 9900 is available! (Thanks to Amazon-adds/they know what I want xD). Saw it - bought it.

After having it I saw on youtube (especially when I was on youtube/m with the 9900 ) a few times an ad.

But I was still fast enough to order one/get it 3 weeks ago.

What I have read, at the moment in Germany it is also hard to get one. Even the prices increased again. People are willing to pay 550 Euro for a 9900! (with no carrier brand).

[boldkeyboardholic]

I used to work for Ericsson in the '90s, and then for an installation contractor for Bell and then for Rogers in the early 2000s. RIM had an advantage that manage to grow but in today's market, they are the last of the old. Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia ... they were all at the top of the their game with their handsets, but they became disconnected from new consumers. RIM is the last one standing, and HTC, Samsung and Apple have popped in a way that knocked the mighty players out of the lime light. Sure, RIM has millions of subscribers, and many business folk like the actual keyboard. Sure lots of people love BBM, but RIM failed to exploit that advantage in the last few years. They should've evolved the BBM greater and earlier. The Playbook was huge mistake. Don't get me wrong, I like the device ... especially since it has Flash. But RIM has failed to have software that links up these things really well. This is where BBM should've really tied everything together. I went from a Bold 9700, to an iPhone 4, and now I have the 9900. I had to tweak the crap out of my phone to get my battery life to last as long as my iPhone. BBM is fun to have back, but the service is still having problems. And I'm disappointed in the screen quality for such a high dollar phone. Sure it is sharp, but when I look at photos from my website (I'm also a photographer) the way it renders tonal change is very poor. Half the people that I work with that had RIMs have all switched to iPhone4 or 3Gs (I'm talk about 40+ people). If Apple every comes out with their own version of BBM, RIM will see a real erosion of that million customer base. And one thing I was really surprised at, my iPhone4 got better reception in my house than my 9900 does (both with Rogers). I would never have believed it if I didn't experience, so much for that past 9700 advantage.

There are 4 cell phone users in my house, and we all have RIMs (now). However, if Apple does create BBM type integration of their own, then 2 of us will move over immediately. One of the other 2 will wait for her upgrade.

you are disappointed in the display? You mean you are disappointed in the browser/renderer, right?

My 9900 has a little bet better reception compared to my old 9000 - at least on the few places I really can compare this. ****, even a stormy or sunny day can change the reception quality. I hope you not just looked at the display but looked on the real db or compared the quality when you actually called someone.

Poor battery is true. I get through one day but I have no reserve. Even my old 9000 was better (and it had the first/crappy 3G-module ever).

IPhone5 will probably get the A5+bigger battery.

On the other hand I will never buy a Iphone for me. I am more a linux guy so if - it would be android.

[FuzzyB]

This right here is spot on!

RIM, you suck at marketing
*not individual advertisements


Numbers Aren't Sexy

- Having product name's followed by a string of numbers is terrible. 9900, 9810, 9000, 9866, blah, blah, blah, Have your eyes begun to roll yet? If you don't already dig BlackBerries, have you found a reason to be confused?

Upgrades Lost

- If a new product launch is a failure (the Storm and Torch were, compared to market expectations), change the upgraded model's name and/or significantly change the visual design. Otherwise, the shinny new model is the same as the old.

Straight Up WTF

- Bold and Tour at the same time, it's the same demographic plus dual sim.

- The Torch 9800/9810 and 9850/9860 aren't the same. It isn't even in the same family. Annoyed by numbered naming yet?

- If there is a Pearl and a Pearl Flip, then the Torch is a Bold Slide, or Bold Shift, or... you get the idea.

- Put the Style back where it was found. How the helI could that aesthetic abomination be call the "Style".

- The carbon fibre look isn't for business. It's not cutting edge. It's immature, and it's on the back of the flagship Bold 9900/9930.


I could write pages on a marketing philosophy shift, but I should stop wasting your time and mine. I'll shut-up now.

This is written from the view point that the majority of marketing is meant to generate new users, and that expecting users to be well informed is a mistake.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[kevinnugent]

What? Haven't you ever seen their BIG truck?? Whatever genius thought of that should have been promoted.

[10-Dee-Q]

for me their advertising is suprisinglly good
i know that their launching new OS7 devices 9900,9930,9810,9850,9860 etc
and i know that it supposed to have "wi fi hot spot" capabilities cause i swear i read about it somewhere and as for the 9900/9930 special case i remember that i also read that eventhough their battery is lower capacity then previous devices due to the phone being slimmer which btw still doesn't make sense since there are lot of other brand that have bigger batttery in slimmer phones, anyway they said that we need not worry about the battery life because os7 is so efficient in managing the power consumptions.

so i took the plunge buy the new 9900
and im so sorry this is my honest opinion only, you may or may not disagree, thats up to you but for me:
-No wifi hotspot WTH ??? they say its carrier services. They must make it clear when the told us before ! btw my iphone 4 can be used as wifi Hotspot on almost every GSM carrier out there.
-Battery life - you have to be kidding me.
yes the phone has bigger screen, better res screen, faster proccesor, touch screen, etc , but it all are useless without decent battery life !

the only thing that make me happy about owning it is the heavenly keyboard, and beautifull big screen, thats it.
oh i forgot something, the "carbon" back door.

[anon(3488839)]

RIM advertises? lol
-They spam useless, off topic information sprinkled with the occasional announcement over twitter and facebook, filled with tags and handles to the point that its difficult to read
-They've had product placement in several movies, most recent and blatant example was "Red" with Bruce Willis the obsolete agent using some old ghetto flip phone and his young, high tech replacement rocking a Bold 9000