[Lisa Schwartz]

Since my Priv was plagued with glitches, short battery life, and ridiculous lag time my only other option was to move to the KEYone.
I have never purchased a phone site unseen-but there were none on display anywhere in the NY/NJ/CT metro area. My only option was to order the phone direct from AT&T. The rep was unaware they even sold the phone. When I called AT&T a second time to activate my SIM card the rep told me I was the first person she talked to who had the phone. Why is the largest US carrier not committed to promoting and selling this phone? How is Blackberry ever going to survive in a market that doesn't even know it still exists? All Blackberry users know the phone is an endangered species, and I do plan to go down with the ship- but please don't make your loyal users feel as if the phone is irrelevant and unsupported.

[FF22]

Since my Priv was plagued with glitches, short battery life, and ridiculous lag time my only other option was to move to the KEYone.
I have never purchased a phone site unseen-but there were none on display anywhere in the NY/NJ/CT metro area. My only option was to order the phone direct from AT&T. The rep was unaware they even sold the phone. When I called AT&T a second time to activate my SIM card the rep told me I was the first person she talked to who had the phone. Why is the largest US carrier not committed to promoting and selling this phone? How is Blackberry ever going to survive in a market that doesn't even know it still exists? All Blackberry users know the phone is an endangered species, and I do plan to go down with the ship- but please don't make your loyal users feel as if the phone is irrelevant and unsupported.

At least, AT&T "seems" to sell it. There's a "Verizon" version that Verizon does NOT sell. But accepts on their system and semi-supports it.

[RoseBud68]

WHY!!!! Really.....Who moved the rock?

[genghiskhan-11]

We're special snowflakes.

[Emaderton3]

I think you answered your own question. Last phone sucked. Why would they bother carrying more?

Posted via CB10

[megafan2000]

As of last week, the Best Buy in Union Square and 23rd Street had KEYONEs on display.

[Marcin Dabrowsky]

Im loving my black edition. Works flawlessly on tmo including tethering. Awesome paired with a surface pro.

[Peter_Cincy]

Don't forget Sprint. I'm not sure how well they keep them on display, but I was able to put my hands on a KEYone at my local store the very first day they began selling them.

Posted via CB10

[silentbystander]

Since my Priv was plagued with glitches, short battery life, and ridiculous lag time my only other option was to move to the KEYone.
I have never purchased a phone site unseen-but there were none on display anywhere in the NY/NJ/CT metro area. My only option was to order the phone direct from AT&T. The rep was unaware they even sold the phone. When I called AT&T a second time to activate my SIM card the rep told me I was the first person she talked to who had the phone. Why is the largest US carrier not committed to promoting and selling this phone? How is Blackberry ever going to survive in a market that doesn't even know it still exists? All Blackberry users know the phone is an endangered species, and I do plan to go down with the ship- but please don't make your loyal users feel as if the phone is irrelevant and unsupported.

Because no one is asking Blackberry Mobile the tough questions and keeping them accountable. I honestly have ZERO idea why Blackberry Mobile even exists. The Alcatel brand has as much mind share in the mobile space as Blackberry, so why does TCL need these Blackberry Mobile suits to run up expense accounts to not improve their brand positioning? Just absorb everything into TCL proper and be done with it if BBM is just going to be like a deer in the headlights.

[app_Developer]

Because no one is asking Blackberry Mobile the tough questions and keeping them accountable. I honestly have ZERO idea why Blackberry Mobile even exists. The Alcatel brand has as much mind share in the mobile space as Blackberry, so why does TCL need these Blackberry Mobile suits to run up expense accounts to not improve their brand positioning? Just absorb everything into TCL proper and be done with it if BBM is just going to be like a deer in the headlights.

This is how most companies work. TCL Comm hasn’t done well. They have been passed by other Chinese manufacturers and brands.

Along comes Chen trying to rent his brand. Some executive at TCL decided to give it a shot. They’ve probably put very little money into it and probably have a low minimum commitment to BB, Ltd. As far as we can tell they aren’t even investing in proper customer service. They have modest expectations and they’re basically just testing to see if there is any bounce left in the BB brand.

In a year or two if the idea isn’t making money they’ll shut it down. They are about to try a similar experiment with Palm.

[RK_BB]

This is how most companies work. TCL Comm hasn’t done well. They have been passed by other Chinese manufacturers and brands.

Along comes Chen trying to rent his brand. Some executive at TCL decided to give it a shot. They’ve probably put very little money into it and probably have a low minimum commitment to BB, Ltd. As far as we can tell they aren’t even investing in proper customer service. They have modest expectations and they’re basically just testing to see if there is any bounce left in the BB brand.

In a year or two if the idea isn’t making money they’ll shut it down. They are about to try a similar experiment with Palm.

Make sense. Thing is that it's a 'chicken & egg' situation; no marketing, no sales...so to expect that the name alone will drive sales to acceptable highs is a long shot IMO.

We can only hope it will last otherwise KEYone, Motion & whatever else in the pipeline is the last we will see of BlackBerry....

Bottom line, if Coca Cola market their brand, who's BlackBerry to not...?

[tnewton3]

I'm curious if the marketing is being spent in other markets. I have no idea what the numbers say but it could show that their marketing budget is better spent in a different market other than the USA.

I'm not a huge fan of seeing zero marketing for the BlackBerry here in the states, but I also can't say much because I live in tiny Boise, Idaho. I don't think it would be too hard to have display devices and educated reps at the carriers that are selling them. My wife, my sister and myself are all rocking the KEYᵒⁿᵉ and it seems we are the marketing team behind showing them off and talking them up.

[app_Developer]

Make sense. Thing is that it's a 'chicken & egg' situation; no marketing, no sales...so to expect that the name alone will drive sales to acceptable highs is a long shot IMO.

We can only hope it will last otherwise KEYone, Motion & whatever else in the pipeline is the last we will see of BlackBerry....

Bottom line, if Coca Cola market their brand, who's BlackBerry to not...?

Of course it’s a long shot.

Coke spends a lot of money maintaining their brand because it is their major asset. No one has the money or will to make that type of investment in BB, including BB Ltd.

[brookie229]

The BlackBerry name in the USA is TOXIC. But not as bad in other parts of the world? Why waste advertising $$ for a market that just will not respond. I think they are advertising elsewhere. Maybe there will be a push in future years IF the brand survives, that is.

[stlabrat]

Blackberry (not TCL) did spend tones of money on marketing, just not handsets... The BB (not TCL) last quarter marketing/sales/admin to R&D spending ratio top 1.83 compare to microsoft yearly ratio of 1.54... results speaks itself... too much marketing/sales/admin look very counter productive (just like BB before chen took over... very little appear to be changed regarding the ratio... focus on yap can only go so far).... as for handset, TCL possibly does not have sales force that can handle handsets, since majority of their repair center are TV, most likely, their prior forcus are TV on sales as well. you need boots in the booth to train carrier guys/gals (like RGB LED, capacitive keyboard swipe, short cut, etc.), doubt any of TV sales man can easily handle that... If TCL truely want to break in NA market, a lot need to be done, not the type Z-hosted party in parkistan style (not alicia key either), but learn from Apple, microsoft, and may be Tesla (show your moon shot...boring company, space X, solar city, etc. but not google...). IMHO. (just to back up before someone ask me questions: last quarter (2nd Q BB quarterly report), operating expenses: R&D 60 million, selling, marketing, admin 110 million; Microsoft annual report 2017, income statement: R&D 13,037 million, sales and marketing, 15,539 million+admin 4,481 million. you can check on line for the % of ROI and margin.. not fair comparison consider BB was at lost...but the ratio showed clearly what is the focus of the company...IMHO).

[silentbystander]

Blackberry (not TCL) did spend tones of money on marketing, just not handsets... The BB (not TCL) last quarter marketing/sales/admin to R&D spending ratio top 1.83 compare to microsoft yearly ratio of 1.54... results speaks itself... too much marketing/sales/admin look very counter productive (just like BB before chen took over... very little appear to be changed regarding the ratio... focus on yap can only go so far).... as for handset, TCL possibly does not have sales force that can handle handsets, since majority of their repair center are TV, most likely, their prior forcus are TV on sales as well. you need boots in the booth to train carrier guys/gals (like RGB LED, capacitive keyboard swipe, short cut, etc.), doubt any of TV sales man can easily handle that... If TCL truely want to break in NA market, a lot need to be done, not the type Z-hosted party in parkistan style (not alicia key either), but learn from Apple, microsoft, and may be Tesla (show your moon shot...boring company, space X, solar city, etc. but not google...). IMHO. (just to back up before someone ask me questions: last quarter (2nd Q BB quarterly report), operating expenses: R&D 60 million, selling, marketing, admin 110 million; Microsoft annual report 2017, income statement: R&D 13,037 million, sales and marketing, 15,539 million+admin 4,481 million. you can check on line for the % of ROI and margin.. not fair comparison consider BB was at lost...but the ratio showed clearly what is the focus of the company...IMHO).

We are talking about Android here. Specifically Blackberry Android and Blackberry Mobile handsets. Show me the spend figures on those specific operations and we can have a discussion. Global figures that include their QNX efforts and salary base doesn't help clear the muddy waters.

[A Noise Annoys]

It's amazing what carrier CSRs will admit to on the phone. I've never had a CSR relate that kind of info to me or espoused a personal opinion on a device or its relative worth except to tow the company line. How come everyone else with a chip on their shoulder seems to get talked to like this but I don't???

[Troy Tiscareno]

It needs to be remembered that the BB line of phones has cost TCL a ton of money already, in trying to set up a more traditional sales and support infrastructure while previously most of their sales were either direct over the Internet or direct-to-carriers. Also, TCL hasn't been super successful with smartphones overall (including Alcatel and other brands) over the last couple of years. Finally, it's clear that TCL's production volumes were very low, and spending money to advertise something that's already in short supply is just throwing money away.

None of us knows every aspect of the situation, but OF COURSE we understand that TCL would LOVE to have Apple/Samsung-level marketing worldwide, but so would every company. The vast majority have nothing close to that because it's incredibly expensive to do and only makes sense if you are selling tons of phones at a decent-or-better margin - and only Apple and Samsung are really doing that.

It's the same reason BB's advertising was limited as well: it's EXPENSIVE and when you're already losing money with each phone sold, you don't want to increase those losses with more advertising costs.

[C_McD]

Of course it’s a long shot.

Coke spends a lot of money maintaining their brand because it is their major asset. No one has the money or will to make that type of investment in BB, including BB Ltd.

And soda and beer companies have a ton of profit to do the marketing - soda is worth a nickle and the bottle about the same, advertising is about a quarter +/-, so do the math $$$$$

[Nicksydney348]

Folks we can go on and on about TCL. The reality is that they produce Android handsets with a BlackBerry skin. A good part of that skin can be overlaid on other Android devices. It's a case of choosing the Android device that is most appropriate to your needs. If you need a PKB then K1. If a VKB then take your pick. TCL will spend money where it will see a ROI. K1 is a specialist device. Motion is more mainstream but up against some very heavy hitters. So expect minimal marketing as the BlackBerry name has little impact these days. The company we loved so much is really no more. I type this with my Priv which is likely my last BB as I cannot see the heritage and legacy being continued in any meaningful way by TCL

[silentbystander]

It needs to be remembered that the BB line of phones has cost TCL a ton of money already, in trying to set up a more traditional sales and support infrastructure while previously most of their sales were either direct over the Internet or direct-to-carriers. Also, TCL hasn't been super successful with smartphones overall (including Alcatel and other brands) over the last couple of years. Finally, it's clear that TCL's production volumes were very low, and spending money to advertise something that's already in short supply is just throwing money away.

None of us knows every aspect of the situation, but OF COURSE we understand that TCL would LOVE to have Apple/Samsung-level marketing worldwide, but so would every company. The vast majority have nothing close to that because it's incredibly expensive to do and only makes sense if you are selling tons of phones at a decent-or-better margin - and only Apple and Samsung are really doing that.

It's the same reason BB's advertising was limited as well: it's EXPENSIVE and when you're already losing money with each phone sold, you don't want to increase those losses with more advertising costs.

Who would have thought that when you have 5 layers of profit bloat (Blackberry Proper > TCL > Blackberry Mobile > Distribution Partner > Store Front / Carrier) the niche limited run handset business might be a losing proposition?

[nucks26]

I don't think I've seen 1 TV commercial here in Canada. Not sure about in-store displays because I've never actually walked into a carrier store in years now. No need.

[qwerty4ever]

John Chen wants BlackBerry branded hardware to die. He has made no secret about his lack of appreciation of the smartphones and the many loyal BlackBerry users.

[AhabSnake]

It baffles me. There is huge potential for this phone and there is a market for the keyboard and features. Not just USA but every country, blackberry can be put back on the map. Chen gave up on the device and not sure how big enough TLC are to make a difference.

[the_boon]

It baffles me. There is huge potential for this phone and there is a market for the keyboard and features. Not just USA but every country, blackberry can be put back on the map. Chen gave up on the device and not sure how big enough TLC are to make a difference.

They're working on the BBF100 device. There is hope for a comeback. Not a take down Apple and Samsung one, but just decently profitable sales in a niche market that stays consistent. Things are looking fairly positive for the BBMo brand so far I hope