[Denise in Los Angeles]

Ya and I'm talking about those same people. You seem to think that only people who want a pkb device will buy it. I'm saying that's not exactly the case and I'm sure many who weren't waiting for pkb would have still tried it. Those people don't have the patience and won't or didn't wait.

But you keep adding to your post count with your "well I'm willing to wait" . It's pretty clear many aren't and if they don't then that isn't good for the success of the device regardless of how long you will wait. I don't know why it bothers you so much but there may have been some people willing to buy this device when they saw it in January but have moved on since. Heaven forbid right? Again, you willing to wait doesn't matter in the discussion of the success of BlackBerry devices. You dont represent the people BlackBerry Mobile should be trying to go after. The people on the fence. Sorry if it hurts your feelings but that's just the way it is for any business if they want success and growth.

My willingness to wait for the KEYone does actually matter. I show my support on CrackBerry, twitter and FaceBook. All of my FB followers know that I went to Barcelona for the launch, and as soon as I get my KEYone, I will post the GOOD news on my FB page. People who are close to me will get to see me using it in person.

And, my feelings are not hurt at all.

I just don't get how you think your posts help BlackBerry Mobile.

[ray689]

My willingness to wait for the KEYone does actually matter. I show my support on CrackBerry, twitter and FaceBook. All of my FB followers know that I went to Barcelona for the launch, and as soon as I get my KEYone, I will post the GOOD news on my FB page. People who are close to me will get to see me using it in person.

And, my feelings are not hurt at all.

I just don't get how you think your posts help BlackBerry Mobile.

So people should only post things that aren't critical? And it's not my job to help BlackBerry Mobile. They need to help themselves especially after making statements like challenging apple and Samsung in the enterprise space.
Also, it's great that you went to the launch. Seems to be the people who went there are the ones who can't handle any sort of criticism of this process so far.

I'm sorry but it's very unlikely BlackBerry Mobile made this device only hoping to get those customers who only want a pkb device. They obviously want to gain other users as well. And the only criticism is the process likely lost them some of those potential people. People in here constantly reiterating they are willing to wait or the device is only for pkb die hards also doesn't help BlackBerry mobile.

[EndRacism]

This OP is, Should a, would a, could a, Chicken little the sky is falling.......

Posted via CB10

[stlabrat]

OP, marketing, price and delay... here is my take:
(1) marketing, word of mouth is better than the elephant feet, U2 or alicia Key. or Kim. Personally, marketing may have little effect on me, but I do see the importance of it. "How to drive your competitor crazy" is a good book to read about marketing. However, such a caliber of team is hard to come by, BB past included.. I have not seen TCL doing any better. however, the trusted few friends recommendation for Merc enough for me to open my wallet and work extra 13 hours OT to get it for my niece as university entrance gift (better lasting 4 years).
(2) Price. it is willingness to pay value - my upper limit is 600.00, I wish it is priced in 450 (my guestimate that including components, MFG, plus overhead and mark up and 20%ish margin should be around that as ROM- rough order of magnitude estimation if volume is there - means 1 million above... otherwise, your MFG tooling and testing gig will eat your margin totally). Since it is the only KB phone in town, extra $ mark up might be justify. Compare to the iphone, it is not too bad. Compare to the Sony (another handset I was consider), it is compatible, but KB and love of BB (emotional) gets on me to heading the Merc way.
(3) KB and capacitive KB is not every MFG's cup of tea. Delay - I was really angry about TCL yap non stop using tweet, but not be able to deliver. The small batch look like they are still in the learning curve. BB MFG mighty (what ever delay of BB10, it delivered PP, Z30, 9900) and old days QA and engineering knowhow might be over looked by others. Because TCL is a newbie try to play in the different sand box, I cut them a slack. (if they are not be able to deliver at end of May - better be good Quality with a big Q to protect BB brand, I might defect to Sony... still not willing to jump into the Apple ecosystem yet). It is last BB design, that is my soft spot, i am willing to wait limited time to lay my hands on the last BB DNA.
(4) off line: I know in early 90s, there were small group of gurus, that buy laptop, desk top computers, optimize them and over clock, resale after they get sick of it (usually less than 1 month). Due to their reputation, the resale value usually higher than the original due to their magic touch (like a small - few kb software inserted to let the processor running cooler). Price of the computer was not that much of concern to the group, but access to latest technology is the key (some times they mess up it too... occationally, smoke come out). If you want to play with the latest greatest handset, beef up your skill and fat your wallet (by a good job, all those got excellent job at day time - some even got allowance for new "toys" - not much, but helps). you might have fun along the line.... IMHO.
(5) look like many on CB site want BB to be rootable...TCL should consider to make one batch to charge extra - say £100 more or so from the regular price of handset to cover logistic to re-route the production, with minimum embedded chip, no security, prior to OS load (or minimum OS load), no BB brand - make is different form that not mistaken with BB, let those guys to play with it to load any OS their hearts desire as high end of toy. It might add few penny to the bottom line and see what is going to be with all rooting guys... It would be fun to find out all those want rooted guys, what their daily drive will be after 2 years (better be their own creation).

[mvsalvino]

My opinion is that TCL expects KEYone sales to be low. I also think TCL knows the price is a bit high, but still just high enough to be reasonable. They are leaving a margin for when prices inevitably drop 6-9 months after release. If you want to sell the phone for $400, charge $550 out the gate so that you can milk a little extra from those excited and lining up to buy it. Then you won't take a bath when the firesales start.

KEYone is a tester device to gauge market interest in a keyboard, and for TCL to also practice building the keyboard. If they meet or exceed their already conservative sales projections, then we can all expect an amazing KEYtwo. If not, then at least TCL/BB will not be writing off stock or selling the remaining stock at cost.

 C L A S S I C

[Pinot2015]

My opinion is that TCL expects KEYone sales to be low. I also think TCL knows the price is a bit high, but still just high enough to be reasonable. They are leaving a margin for when prices inevitably drop 6-9 months after release. If you want to sell the phone for $400, charge $550 out the gate so that you can milk a little extra from those excited and lining up to buy it. Then you won't take a bath when the firesales start.

KEYone is a tester device to gauge market interest in a keyboard, and for TCL to also practice building the keyboard. If they meet or exceed their already conservative sales projections, then we can all expect an amazing KEYtwo. If not, then at least TCL/BB will not be writing off stock or selling the remaining stock at cost.

 C L A S S I C

BlackBerry wants the PKB crowd and attract those that want to come back to PKB from slabs. Regardless, PKB matters.
There is no data yet that shows the KEYone is priced too high. (Slab supporters that think specs are not good enough will think this way)
Nobody should undervalue the only phone in the world with a PKB that can do anything a iPhone or S8 can do. Maybe slower for games but faster for Productivity.
Market will determine value which = price

[i_plod_an_dr_void]

If you want to root your phone....really go elsewhere, don't even ask BlackBerry, it isn't going to happen with a BlackBerry, that's one reason they are functionally reliable and secureable.
Most people in fact do not want to root their phone.....just like other things, there is always a small group that does (but unlike elsewhere they aren't shouting about it in all the BlackBerry forums, but what can you do?)
Most people don't go to the chop shop to soup up or down their cars, they have other proirities....and that's okay if you are an enthusiast, knock yourself out.
Most people don't want you or anyone else to root your phone.
If you want your greasy marks all over a slab, then go buy a slab, go buy a DTEK 50.

The pkb keeps my phone cleaner throughout the day, so that I don't have to look through annoying sweaty greasy streaks, and the capacitive touch handles a lot of the scrolling, so that I can look and scroll at the same time.

If you have no use for KEYboard short-cuts, maybe you just aren't the power user that you like to brag you are, at all.

If you want a honda civic, chevy spark, or dodge dart then by all means go get one, but don't go to the Chevy Silverado forum and complain a Silverado isn't a Dart, that would be rediculous.

[krazyatom]

If things doesn't work with TCL, I hope Samsung collaborate with BlackBerry

Posted via CB10

[BigBadWulf]

I don't think BlackBerry Mobile or TCL expect high volume sales. It's a niche market product. Anyone who doesn't understand that is naive.

There is no phone with the same specs, at a lesser or higher price. I fail to follow how this keeps getting repeated, especially since it's almost always stated with the caveat "except for" .

[ChrisLeNeve]

Jesus, this is the best BlackBerry there's ever been and still people are looking for bad things to say about it. You can always buy a dodgy phone from some unknown Chinese company with double the specs and half the price, but if you want to pay for a well established brand (BlackBerry, Apple, Samsung) you're going to pay that little bit extra. As CBK said in his review "for the first time ever, I'm having a BlackBerry with no compromises". What more can be said? I mean, just look at the reviews. The worst thing they've had to say about it was "could have an extra gig of ram", "could have a 64gb version" or "could be dual sim". Author, read your post again. Did you really say "this would have been good for a phone in late 2016, early 2017"? Who are you ******* kidding? Go buy the g-d phone if you want, don't buy it if you don't want but don't come ******** about the phone on the forums with bs arguments

Posted via CB10

[yujinn]

Except the people who are critical of those things actually want success for BlackBerry devices so they can keep seeing more devices going forward. They aren't criticizing those things just to spam the forum saying they don't want to buy BlackBerry devices. On the contrary, they badly want to buy BlackBerry devices hence why they are critical of this process so far. The fact that you don't care about those things and will buy anyway is actually irrelevant.

This. Thank you!
If there's one thing detrimental to the success of this phone, it's the fanatics. They definitely would not grasp what you just said.

[Troy Tiscareno]

I know its been said, but it my opinion its all about marketing.
A few tweets will not get the job done.

The kind of paid marketing you envision is for flagship devices with high profit margins that will sell in the tens of millions. The K1 will be lucky to sell half a million over the next 2 years. That simply doesn't leave enough profit left over for marketing spend beyond some nearly-free social media, sending out some review phones (which they've done), and whatever interviews/free press they can get.

Nothing anyone can do is going to make the K1 a mainstream device, so don't expect mainstream marketing.

[krazyatom]

Jesus, this is the best BlackBerry there's ever been and still people are looking for bad things to say about it. You can always buy a dodgy phone from some unknown Chinese company with double the specs and half the price, but if you want to pay for a well established brand (BlackBerry, Apple, Samsung) you're going to pay that little bit extra. As CBK said in his review "for the first time ever, I'm having a BlackBerry with no compromises". What more can be said? I mean, just look at the reviews. The worst thing they've had to say about it was "could have an extra gig of ram", "could have a 64gb version" or "could be dual sim". Author, read your post again. Did you really say "this would have been good for a phone in late 2016, early 2017"? Who are you ******* kidding? Go buy the g-d phone if you want, don't buy it if you don't want but don't come ******** about the phone on the forums with bs arguments

Posted via CB10

You do know that TCL used to be that “unknown Chinese company”. Chinese phones are now well made. Look at oneplus 3t for example.

[SK122387]

I think they'll be lower than the expected low, due to the staggered release and price point that puts it out of reach for many customers.

Also, at this point, it's been years since BlackBerry released a new device with a keyboard, so even diehards like myself have moved on. I'm probably a rare case because I have T-Mobile and am in the Digits beta program, so while I did get the iPhone 7Plus, I have a sim card in my Classic, so it rings when the iPhone rings, etc. This program began a couple months after I got my iPhone, so for those months I only used my iPhone. I have to say, as nice as the iPhone is, there's STILL something about typing on a real keyboard that can't be replaced (for me).

I just hope the KEYone isn't too little too, too late, which seems to be the story of BlackBerry's life the last few years.

Posted via CB10

[cbvinh]

Fair enough but there was also people who would have been willing to give it a shot even if the sole reason wasn't for the pkb. The initial hype is lost on those people. And they are the ones that need to be capitalized on not the ones who are going to buy it no matter how long it's deleted or how much it costs otherwise growing the user base will never happen and it will continue to fall even.
This whole only people who want a pkb will buy it and those are willing to wait is ridiculous and frankly not a very good business strategy if that's what it is.

A business strategy where you sell a lot of product and then get a lot of returns because people are just "trying" the product doesn't work. Your inventory goes from "new" to "used/refurb" to gain how many customers?

[ray689]

A business strategy where you sell a lot of product and then get a lot of returns because people are just "trying" the product doesn't work. Your inventory goes from "new" to "used/refurb" to gain how many customers?

I didn't mean willing to try and return. I meant willing to come back to a PKB after years of not using one. Call it nostalgia or whatever you want, there is no doubt there was those people available for them to capitalize on. But if the consensus is to simply go after the shrinking hard core pkb users who will wait as long as it takes then that surely is a failing strategy. Much more chance of failure then the alternative.
Remeber, it was BlackBerry mobile themselves who said they are going to take on Apple and Samsung in enterprise. If that's the case it will take more then the hardcore pkb device lovers.

[Dieter Esslinger]

well, lets see how it is doing.
Its apparently produced in high numbers due high demand and without any marketing.
Like the priv which was very sucessful and brought BlackBerry back in the game.

[ray689]

well, lets see how it is doing.
Its apparently produced in high numbers due high demand and without any marketing.
Like the priv which was very sucessful and brought BlackBerry back in the game.

lol I'm assuming this is either sarcasm or you live in an alternate universe.

[BB_PP]

The negativity surrounding this device is absolutely crazy! For a site like CrackBerry, I'm honestly surprised at all the whining going on.

Look, people are free to discuss their opinions as to why or why not this is a good device, but do we really need all these threads discussing the exact same thing?

As for price, anyone who didn't expect this to come at a premium price was simply kidding themselves. BlackBerry has never priced their "premium" devices very well, and there was really nothing to suggest this would change with the KEYone. If you want affordable, go with the DTEK50/60. If you want a phone with awesome battery life and is designed as a productivity machine, get the KEYone.

No, it won't sell as well as a lot of other smartphones, but that's also why BlackBerry isn't making their own handsets anymore. They realize it's a niche market and the KEYone isn't going to change that.

This

[Dieter Esslinger]

sarcasm..
sorry just ranting a bit as I got a delay messagem

[cbvinh]

I didn't mean willing to try and return. I meant willing to come back to a PKB after years of not using one. Call it nostalgia or whatever you want, there is no doubt there was those people available for them to capitalize on. But if the consensus is to simply go after the shrinking hard core pkb users who will wait as long as it takes then that surely is a failing strategy. Much more chance of failure then the alternative.
Remeber, it was BlackBerry mobile themselves who said they are going to take on Apple and Samsung in enterprise. If that's the case it will take more then the hardcore pkb device lovers.

TCL/BlackBerry Mobile is offering a PKB for those users that want it, but they grabbed the BlackBerry brand for both PKB and slabs for the enterprise market. Their strategy isn't limited to PKB phones, if that wasn't obvious.

[anon(9742832)]

I'm a big fan since BlackBerry invite me for a preview on the Z10 and BlackBerry OS 10 and i love the os and had the same feeling how it could grow like I had testing Android 1 .x in the past . I started with Android 1.4.

I also started quick some BBM groups international and region with BlackBerry users, fans and fanatics and I run a blogspot with BlackBerry newsand filled forums with threads about BB10 devices.

but oke. my thread.

The Keyone is a nice and impressing device in battery and camera but missing that extra storage, ram and stereo speakers and still they announced the device for 599,00 euro and that should be fine if the device was sold late 2016 or early 2017. I can live without these extra's and yes I like to pay some more.

Now there are more and more device that came out in march,april and future device with same or better specs with half the price. It's possible only because hardware prices are lesser then before and still the price for the KEYoneis € 599,00 euro. Also the difference between DTEK50/60 compared with alcatel brothers was around 100 euro at launch, so this confuss me and other people also it seems.

So why this threat.

I find out that lot of bbm chat,forums and on my blogspot are willing to buy the device when it was announced but the waiting and the ongoing lower prices of new devices sharing the same specs with the KEYone breaks up. I see more and more people buying new devices and are done with BlackBerry and the KEYone. I also read positve stuff from old bb users are suprised to see this device ,so new users?

I really wanted this device and my wife almost bought me one, but at the moment the excitment is not there anymore and thinking to wait for the next device, but I also thinking to buy another device for the time being. I also find the price after almost 6 months not right and with all other people buying an another device I feel the device sales could be a disapointment for TCL.

what I hear and follow are summed up here under

first : to early announcement and excitment seems to fade away
second : long wait and no word from TCL/BlackBerryMobile.com
thirth : stock and delivery problems
fourth : New devices with same specs /better specs going cheaper and cheaper
fifth : price
sitxh : prospects ,old bb users find the device intresting

What is your opinion reading all message's in this forum from people to think to buy another device then the KEYone or your bbm group. Will the KEYone will have low sales at the end and what should TCL do to make a succes.

p.s. I hope for some great sales and lots of new users and old bb users finding there way back to this device. I also love the great positve reviews.

I see as the major issue as this, if the big players don't get on board in the United States the phone will be still born.

[whatsever]

I know Canadian operators will going to sell the KEYone , how is that with the US operators.

I know the pre-orders and sales in Germanny was all sold out. A week a go delivery time was between 8-10 days and now it's 3 weeks. You can order it in Germanny .

[i_plod_an_dr_void]

Aside from the great functionality, productivity, fun and security, don't underestimate the stylishness of the BlackBerry PKB's.

They just look elegant compared to the slabs, that too is worth something.
The PASSPORT wasn't available years ago...it only stopped selling a short while back ,and its a real beauty.
The PRIV, the last iteration of a BlackBerry PKB is sleek, and it just stopped selling.
The KEYone inherits this style factor, it should do quite well.

[JAS0NB0URNE]

Another thought.... anyone who changed their mind about buying the KEYone, probably was looking for reasons to not buy it.

When it gets released here in the US, we will see how many excited KEYone owners waited for it.

Or were impatient and already do or soon will regret getting a different phone

Posted with my  Classic