[joshualebowitz]

It's due to be available on May 31st, so hopefully you mean the next two weeks.

[Chris_R]

Patience everyone..... I think most will be surprised. Nothing like a Apple or Samsung launch but next 3-4 weeks could be surprising to all here.

A guess, (=' I think..') or inside information? Alternative facts? :-)

Posted via CB10

[joshualebowitz]

They held yet another launch party last night, seemingly to celebrate the 81 day anniversary of the first launch party on February 25th. Phone still not available.

[crucial bbq]

Funny; I didn't even register to receive KEYone updates with BlackBerry Mobile and yet just received one in my inbox. Like true marketers, they likely "bought" my email address from BlackBerry.

[anon(3732391)]

You should take a long walk on a pier, take a floating device with you

Now, where's that damn pier???

[hxh145]

Hollywood's Chinese Theatre will now be known as the TCL Chinese Theatre!!
Hollywood's Chinese Theatre Naming Rights Bought by Chinese TV Manufacturer | Hollywood Reporter

Obviously TCL does have budget for marketing. I guess either KeyOne is not important to TCL or it is not the time to spend that money yet. Maybe a KeyOne promotion event at the Chinese Theatre??

[Chuck Finley69]

Hollywood's Chinese Theatre will now be known as the TCL Chinese Theatre!!
Hollywood's Chinese Theatre Naming Rights Bought by Chinese TV Manufacturer | Hollywood Reporter

Obviously TCL does have budget for marketing. I guess either KeyOne is not important to TCL or it is not the time to spend that money yet. Maybe a KeyOne promotion event at the Chinese Theatre??

Still early. KEYone is the first device and very niche. Once they get US carriers on board.

[anon(3732391)]

Really??? Still looking for everything that's wrong with the world???

[AnimalPak200]

Didn't they hire James from berry flow?

They're also paying for CrackBerry for all the ads you're not seeing.

I'd say they have a pretty targeted strategy, and will probably expand as they piggyback on (hopefully some) carrier exposure.

Posted via CB10

[u4ria]

It looks like all James is doing is appearing at these meet ups and some Instagram posts. People who show up at the meet ups already know about the device.

Why aren't they trying to get the message out to the general public?

[joshualebowitz]

James does an excellent job with the BlackBerry Mobile social media and Kevin and the team at CrackBerry have consistently been amazing. The issue lies with the folks at TCL. They showed off the phone on January 4th at CES and then held a countdown to the February 25th "launch" (which implied that the device would be available either on that date or shortly thereafter). Then, on February 25th, they announced availability for "April." If John Chen hadn't mentioned that the phone would be available after May during an earnings call, then TCL would have just stayed silent. Feeling the need to clarify, Steve Cistulli, on March 31st, declared that the phone would be available at the end of May. Subsequently, they set a date for the VERY LAST DAY OF MAY. Even after giving themselves so much lead time, with the last day in May quickly approaching, TCL is now trying to turn the last day of May into another "launch" date, meaning that they'll take orders on the last day of May, but won't actually promise delivery on that date. Appreciate that TCL teamed up with CrackBerry to get the message out to the loyal BlackBerry community, and if not for CrackBerry, this device would have been an absolute bust, but TCL very much needs to start acting like a real company, communicate, honor deadlines, etc.

[u4ria]

James does an excellent job with the BlackBerry Mobile social media and Kevin and the team at CrackBerry have consistently been amazing. The issue lies with the folks at TCL. They showed off the phone on January 4th at CES and then held a countdown to the February 25th "launch" (which implied that the device would be available either on that date or shortly thereafter). Then, on February 25th, they announced availability for "April." If John Chen hadn't mentioned that the phone would be available after May during an earnings call, then TCL would have just stayed silent. Feeling the need to clarify, Steve Cistulli, on March 31st, declared that the phone would be available at the end of May. Subsequently, they set a date for the VERY LAST DAY OF MAY. Even after giving themselves so much lead time, with the last day in May quickly approaching, TCL is now trying to turn the last day of May into another "launch" date, meaning that they'll take orders on the last day of May, but won't actually promise delivery on that date. Appreciate that TCL teamed up with CrackBerry to get the message out to the loyal BlackBerry community, and if not for CrackBerry, this device would have been an absolute bust, but TCL very much needs to start acting like a real company, communicate, honor deadlines, etc.

Very true. We have very limited information on what he's doing. All we see is him at the meetups and posting on Instagram. Going off of that, I think they're using him in a manner that isn't going to produce much result. CBK is already hosting the meet ups and such. Users here already know about the product and when people attend the meet ups, they post as much as possible about them.

So, what value does James bring to the non-CrackBerry audience? The meet ups are by invite, so it's not like Joe Public is going to walk in and be wowed by James's presentation. They should have him out doing events like pop up kiosks at concerts or events so that his true talent can shine and non-CrackBerry/BlackBerry people will appreciate the new device and he can educate them.

That's just my thoughts though. TCL's marketing is like a page out of BlackBerry's book. It's like BlackBerry Marketing 2.0

[RK_BB]

....Radio silence, to any group of potentially interested customers (especially those that signed up months ago to receive updates), seems rather short-sighted.

What changed? Seemingly nothing....