[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Naah. You are mostly wrong. I remember you bashing pkb android device aka mercury aka keyone. Telling it won't happen and it won't work.

HMD built the Nokia brand from zero. TCL was already producing phones. That is different. You have to take the phone production assets into account.

OK so you think I'm wrong and that BBMo will start build premium devices at a competitive price... we will see.

HMD... didn't have to build the Nokia brand from Zero... they bought it all. Foxconn was involved and they got the factories with the commitment they get to build the devices. HMD got a whole slew of Nokia management, engineer, developers, sales... it was a whole package.

HMD and TCL should have been on equal footing as far as assets went. BlackBerry gave BBMo the whole design for the KEYone. Big difference between them was HMD had investors backing them with Cash to allow them to do things that financially strapped TCL Communications couldn't (like build phone in volume). And Nokia was still a brand in use by many feature phone users..

But while HMD seems to be VERY successful... we don't know that they are. It's one thing to sell 10's of Million phones, it's another thing to do it and make money. The Foxconn division building the Nokia phones is projecting loses for the year. But I think everyone expect to have to buy marketshare to begin with. It's an investment for all involved.

[DamianWarS]

https://m.mysmartprice.com/mobile/bl...ghost-msp14271

Snapdragon 625 with 6GB Ram.
₹36,999 (Roughly $570)

Don't know how legit is it.

ClassicSQC100-1/10.3.3.2163

So this is in line with first gen specs of BBMo with a boost of memory. KEYone, Motion, Ghost. Why are they sticking with the 625 and not the 660?

[conite]

So this is in line with first gen specs of BBMo with a boost of memory. KEYone, Motion, Ghost. Why are they sticking with the 625 and not the 660?

Who is "they" ?

The Ghost is an Optiemus device, and has nothing to do with BlackBerry Mobile (TCL).

[DamianWarS]

So this is in line with first gen specs of BBMo with a boost of memory. KEYone, Motion, Ghost. Why are they sticking with the 625 and not the 660?

Related or not they all carry the Blackberry name and come with the 625.

[conite]

Related or not they all carry the Blackberry name and come with the 625.

Completely different decision makers.

But as to why Optiemus (allegedly) chose the 625, I don't know. Maybe Qualcomm is selling them at steep discounts.

They are still better than 200 or 400 series SoCs.

[DamianWarS]

Completely different decision makers.

But as to why Optiemus (allegedly) chose the 625, I don't know. Maybe Qualcomm is selling them at steep discounts.

They are still better than 200 or 400 series SoCs.

It's an indirect relationship where the choices of company 'a' trickle down to the choices of company 'b'

It really doesn't matter what the licensees are called in the end they are branded the same and carry the same internals and probably influenced by the same strategies of one company. Call it what you want the 'ghost' fits in the first gen of BBMo

[conite]

It's an indirect relationship where the choices of company 'a' trickle down to the choices of company 'b'

[Citation needed]

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

It's an indirect relationship where the choices of company 'a' trickle down to the choices of company 'b'

It really doesn't matter what the licensees are called in the end they are branded the same and carry the same internals and probably influenced by the same strategies of one company. Call it what you want the 'ghost' fits in the first gen of BBMo

I agree that the actions of one will reflect on the brand overall.... Like the Aurora and updates. But in the end these markets are more isolated. What Optiemus does, may hurt BBMo chances of selling their product through Optiemus in the future. I doubt what Optiemus does affect BBMo sales outside of India that much. Most people simple don't follow what is going on with BlackBerry like some of us do

[Azumarill]

Completely different decision makers.

But as to why Optiemus (allegedly) chose the 625, I don't know. Maybe Qualcomm is selling them at steep discounts.

It's worth making the point that Optiemus has a slightly ambiguous relationship with TCL. An Alex Thurber interview from last year shed more light on BlackBerry encouraging the licensees to collaborate. BB Merah Putih adopted the KEYone, but has maintained a far more individual brand identity overall than BlackBerry Mobile India.

On that note, it's not even inconceivable that the Ghost was designed by TCL under contract from Optiemus. There is little concrete evidence, as yet, that the latter has major interests beyond the distribution side of the process.

[THBW]

So TCL, with its far lower economies of scale, and its licencing fee to BlackBerry, should go head to head with the flagship phones from Apple and Samsung?! That won't last long.

Nah, the current strategy is the best imo. Offer decent performance, in a sturdy design, at a price that won't break the bank.

Yup, I agree. It really isn't rocket science. The premium phone market is pretty much saturated anyways. You might be able to peel off a bit.

Posted via CB10

[aecgda]

Nice looking.

[Munchkinguy]

Yeah because apple invented rounded corners.

Posted via CB10

I think they actually filed for a design patent on rounded corners a decade ago.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

It's worth making the point that Optiemus has a slightly ambiguous relationship with TCL. An Alex Thurber interview from last year shed more light on BlackBerry encouraging the licensees to collaborate. BB Merah Putih adopted the KEYone, but has maintained a far more individual brand identity overall than BlackBerry Mobile India.

On that note, it's not even inconceivable that the Ghost was designed by TCL under contract from Optiemus. There is little concrete evidence, as yet, that the latter has major interests beyond the distribution side of the process.

Original plan for BBMo was for that 3rd device to be a higher end all touch - not sure when they changed that, but maybe they had already done most the work? And Optiemus isn't a manufacture, only a distributor. Maybe Optiemus has partnered with another local manufacture and the Ghost is their reference design. Or maybe Optiemus is helping TCL to setup some local manufacturing.... as of yet are the Optiemus KEYones being made in India or are they still importing them? Any idea on how updates are handled?

It is clear the BlackBerry name has some builtin marketing value... as people are talking about this leaked device.

[Bbnivende]

I agree with you about the brand value but not so much in the USA. BlackBerry does make the news to a degree that far exceeds its sales. BlackBerry was a premium brand here in NA but in the UK, Nigeria and South Africa the Curve was quite popular even in 2012. A cheaper BlackBerry might do very well in those regions where BBM was very popular.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I agree with you about the brand value but not so much in the USA. BlackBerry does make the news to a degree that far exceeds its sales. BlackBerry was a premium brand here in NA but in the UK, Nigeria and South Africa the Curve was quite popular even in 2012. A cheaper BlackBerry might do very well in those regions where BBM was very popular.

"was" in the operative word... https://www.similarweb.com/blog/mobi...g-app-map-2018

Once your marketshare starts declining with a messenger... it's not really that useful anymore.


Article last week showed that in Africa, smartphones were declining in sales while feature phones were once again climbing... reason for the most part is cost, but some feature phones have enough features for the average user. Facebook and WhatsApp is available on some.

[hunnyraheja]

http://indianexpress.com/article/tec...mpression=true


More blackberry phones headed to India.

[AmritD]

http://indianexpress.com/article/tec...mpression=true


More blackberry phones headed to India.

Big talk.
But they have been extremely slow on their implementation.
At the launch of KEYᴼᴺᴱ he had even said expect to hear very soon from us.
I am sure that is not supposed to mean a year.
Surprisingly the strategy seems very similar to TCL's leaked plan: multiple keyboard devices across price points.
Still excited to see what lies ahead and how much of this do they actually do.

ClassicSQC100-1/10.3.3.2163

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Big talk.
But they have been extremely slow on their implementation.
At the launch of KEYᴼᴺᴱ he had even said expect to hear very soon from us.
I am sure that is not supposed to mean a year.
Surprisingly the strategy seems very similar to TCL's leaked plan: multiple keyboard devices across price points.
Still excited to see what lies ahead and how much of this do they actually do.

ClassicSQC100-1/10.3.3.2163

Had to check the date, as another article like that ran last year... heck they were a month out from launching their 1st phone back in June, and then went quite.

"For Singh, the BlackBerry brand is much more relevant in 2018 than what it was five years back." WHY? Are the Aurora and KEYone breaking sales records there....

But then what else is the guy in charge of Optiemus Infracom going to do... but be a salesman.

[RLeeSimon]

Rounded corners--looks like an iPhone!

Rounded corners were seen in the ATT version of the passport and people were dropping them like they were slippery pieces of soak while the original OEM passport from blackberry had a square feeling to it and barely was able to slip out of your hand even if you tried to drop it

[Vignesh Thamburaj]

We have received official information about ghost today by @bbmobileIndia via Twitter....

 Z10 STL -2 ™

[aecgda]

Great looking phone. I'll always go for a high end slab. The battery in the Motion has really spoiled me and I don't think I could go back to a smaller one again. even if that meant compromising performance.

[AmritD]

Great looking phone. I'll always go for a high end slab. The battery in the Motion has really spoiled me and I don't think I could go back to a smaller one again. even if that meant compromising performance.

Depends on what you call flagship level.
The Ghost most definitely won't have a Flagship grade processor. The build looks high end though. Just what TCL did with the KEYᴼᴺᴱ - High end build quality with mid tier specs.

ClassicSQC100-1/10.3.3.2163

[Vignesh Thamburaj]

Depends on what you call flagship level.
The Ghost most definitely won't have a Flagship grade processor. The build looks high end though. Just what TCL did with the KEYᴼᴺᴱ - High end build quality with mid tier specs.

ClassicSQC100-1/10.3.3.2163

But I don't want to see the same spec with 40k budget which won't work in 2018.

 Z10 STL -2 ™

[AmritD]

But I don't want to see the same spec with 40k budget which won't work in 2018.

 Z10 STL -2 ™

It most definitely won't be the same spec.
Expect a processor upgrade (630 or 636 maybe?)
And probably dual rear cameras as well.
Wouldn't bet on RAM upgrade but can't be ruled out either.
And the price will probably not be 40. Maybe a little less.
All this is again a BIG maybe.

ClassicSQC100-1/10.3.3.2163

[Vignesh Thamburaj]

It most definitely won't be the same spec.
Expect a processor upgrade (630 or 636 maybe?)
And probably dual rear cameras as well.
Wouldn't bet on RAM upgrade but can't be ruled out either.
And the price will probably not be 40. Maybe a little less.
All this is again a BIG maybe.

ClassicSQC100-1/10.3.3.2163

Even the same processor or an little updated one with dual cam. It should be priced at 20k. As u know redmi and honor phones price at 15k.

 Z10 STL -2 ™