[PhilipDZ]

OK guys I did not write this it came from N4bb and they hit the nail on the head it almost as if I wrote this myself.

3 Reasons the BlackBerry Passport Should Release Immediately in U.S.

The BlackBerry Passport is less than two weeks away from being officially announced to the world, and the buzz for this new device is unlike any I?ve ever seen for the company. People are intrigued by this phone and can?t wait to get their hands on it. Even those who aren?t exactly pleased with the design (including yours truly) are eager to try the phone out and get their hands on that touch sensitive physical keyboard.

However, since the event is happening simultaneously in Tornto, Dubai, and London but not anywhere in the US, there?s a lot of speculation that it will not initially be available here when it is launched. In fact, we have�heared rumors that we won?t see it until February 2015. However, unlikely, as the Passport should hopefully release somewhere between October ? November 2014. Today, I?d like to offer you three reasons why the Passport should release immediately in the US after its initial launch events.

1. America needs to see BlackBerry is still in the fight

There?s a particularly famous morning radio show that I listen to every morning. It?s nationally syndicated and its hosts are somewhat famous in the radio/television/entertainment industry. While listening this morning, they happened to mention the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and how they were obviously very excited about it. The conversation happened to turn to BlackBerry, and one of the hosts mentioned that she loved her old Bold device because it was so easy to type on. Obviously. We all know how amazing the BlackBerry keyboard is.

What bummed me out was when the other hosts chimed in and started talking about what made BlackBerry devices frustrating. They mentioned the app gap, of course, but then they talked about the trackball and how easily it messed up. Trackball! The last devices they had used were BlackBerrys with trackballs! I felt like calling in and letting them know how amazing BlackBerry 10 was and how the company has come so very far since the time of the trackball.

America needs to know that BlackBerry 10 exists and is a great operating system. The old BlackBerry is dead and a new beast has been roaming around for nearly two years now. It?s tragic that so much of the population is even aware that BlackBerry has phones that can compete with what?s available today.

If the company decided to release the Passport at launch in the US, it would make headlines. It?s very ballsy to release a phone around the same time as an Apple product, and the Passport is unlike anything else on the market. Media outlets would be forced to report on it and take a good long look at what BlackBerry 10 is and how it stacks up against the competition.

2. The longer they wait, the less successful it may�be

Okay guys, I know that BlackBerry has a long term plan in mind that is going to turn in to major profits in about two years or so. I know that the focus on consumers and the US has been placed on the back burner a little bit. I don?t doubt that it?s a very good plan, and I trust BlackBerry CEO John Chen implicitly, however you must admit that no matter what long term plans for success that �you may have, selling product will be a good thing.

Should BlackBerry decide to wait until next year, or even the end of this year, to launch the Passport in the US, every day it is not available will be detrimental to sales. I?m no expert in any way, but it makes sense to me that if you have a game-changing product that people are excited to see (more on that in a bit), then you want to get it in their hands as soon as possible.

Here?s how I imagine the conversation going with people when the Passport is launched in other countries but doesn?t hit US shores until next year.

?Yo did you hear about that new BlackBerry Passport? The one that?s shaped like a calculator??

?Yeah man it?s sick! I like how you can use the physical keyboard like a trackpad. No one?s ever done that before!?

?For real doe! And that screen is a beast! And did you see how great the pictures come out??

?Nah man, but I heard about it. Say is that phone out already? I might go get it.?

?I think it?s supposed to come out in February or so. But you can probably get an unlocked version overseas??

?Nah I?m good. Lemme go head and get that new iPhone instead.?

To reiterate, I don?t doubt there?s a plan in mind, and I know that BlackBerry isn?t concerned about only selling devices. However, selling devices is never a bad thing.

3. People are incredibly excited to use it

Earlier today we reported on a poll that The Verge is hosting where they are asking their readers to decide which phone they?re most excited to see released this month. As of me writing this, the Passport has well over 11,000 out of nearly 30,000 votes. That?s unbelievable! I?ve never seen that kind of response for a BlackBerry product, and I?ve been reporting BlackBerry news for years.

Something you should know about The Verge: they are not a BlackBerry news and/or fan site. Chances are if you?re on N4BB, you come here looking for News for BlackBerry (saw what we did there?) because you?re a BlackBerry fan. There are other tech sites out there that cater specifically to BlackBerry fans, many of which I?m sure you?ve heard of and visited. The Verge, on the other hand, is just a plain old tech news site. They report on any and all tech news from all over the globe.

That means they have a wide variety of readers who like all different kinds of phones. Of that wide variety, 40% of them want to see the Passport more than any other phone being released this month. In case you missed it, that?s the same month that Apple is releasing not one, but two new phones.

I?m not sure if the folks over at BlackBerry saw that article or the results of that poll, but I?m certain if they did they would be overjoyed to learn that one of their products was so highly anticipated.

BlackBerry is really pushing the envelope of innovation with the Passport, and they need to do whatever they can to get this phone into as many hands as possible and as quickly as possible. Provided the phone is everything we all hope it will be, and I?m being more convinced every day that it will be, BlackBerry could see their most successful product launch in history. That?s only if they make the decision to release�the Passport in the US when it is initially launched.

3 Reasons the BlackBerry Passport Should Release Immediately in U.S. written by Chris Esparza on N4BB

Posted on my Z30

[ZeroBarrier]

Let's be 100% completely real here. Your whole argument can be destroyed by one simple reality; no one outside of the circle of BlackBerry fans knows anything about the Passport. I'm absolutely certain that an extremely high percentage (I'm guessing 85%) of consumers don't even know and haven't even heard that BlackBerry is releasing the Passport. In fact I'm guessing vast majority of consumers have heard a least a peep about the classic which is more than they can say about the Passport.

I work in an industry where a large portion of people still use BlackBerry phones, most notably the Bold 9900. And the vast majority of them have at least heard about the classic, but none of them have a damn clue about the Passport. This is just a small example of consumers that USE BlackBerry devices. That being said, you can easily guess how the rest of the consumer world that let go of BlackBerry a long time ago have utterly no idea about the Passport.

Posted via CB10

[keegh]

While I know many of us don't want to wait much longer for the Passport, if they do plan on launching in the US I feel it would be best launched same time as the Classic.

My reasoning is that the Classic will targeted for those who, well want something like their old BlackBerry years ago. I think that message can be pushed out with minimal advertising. The Classic will get people looking at BlackBerry again, and with that they can slowly turn their heads to the side and notice the uniqueness of the Passport.

Posted via CB10

[alternator77]

Let's be 100% completely real here. Your whole argument can be destroyed by one simple reality; no one outside of the circle of BlackBerry fans knows anything about the Passport. I'm absolutely certain that an extremely high percentage (I'm guessing 85%) of consumers don't even know and haven't even heard that BlackBerry is releasing the Passport. In fact I'm guessing vast majority of consumers have heard a least a peep about the classic which is more than they can say about the Passport.

I work in an industry where a large portion of people still use BlackBerry phones, most notably the Bold 9900. And the vast majority of them have at least heard about the classic, but none of them have a damn clue about the Passport. This is just a small example of consumers that USE BlackBerry devices. That being said, you can easily guess how the rest of the consumer world that let go of BlackBerry a long time ago have utterly no idea about the Passport.

Posted via CB10

And by that logic the iPhone should have been an abject failure because it wasn't on ANYONE'S RADAR At the time of its release...

"I love when people boast about their phones...like its a pissing contest"

[AnimalPak200]

You should always post the link to the source, specially if you copy-pasted the whole thing! These sites depend on traffic to stay alive.

http://n4bb.com/3-reasons-blackberry...mediately-u-s/

Posted via CB10

[insandouts]

3. People are incredibly excited to use it

Earlier today we reported on a poll that The Verge is hosting where they are asking their readers to decide which phone they?re most excited to see released this month. As of me writing this, the Passport has well over 11,000 out of nearly 30,000 votes. That?s unbelievable! I?ve never seen that kind of response for a BlackBerry product, and I?ve been reporting BlackBerry news for years.

Something you should know about The Verge: they are not a BlackBerry news and/or fan site. Chances are if you?re on N4BB, you come here looking for News for BlackBerry (saw what we did there?) because you?re a BlackBerry fan. There are other tech sites out there that cater specifically to BlackBerry fans, many of which I?m sure you?ve heard of and visited. The Verge, on the other hand, is just a plain old tech news site. They report on any and all tech news from all over the globe.

That means they have a wide variety of readers who like all different kinds of phones. Of that wide variety, 40% of them want to see the Passport more than any other phone being released this month. In case you missed it, that?s the same month that Apple is releasing not one, but two new phones.

I?m not sure if the folks over at BlackBerry saw that article or the results of that poll, but I?m certain if they did they would be overjoyed to learn that one of their products was so highly anticipated.



Posted on my Z30

Wrong!
The one who voted for the Passport on that poll were users from this site and other Blackberry fans site not other people interested in that phone.

[AnimalPak200]

Wrong!
The one who voted for the Passport on that poll were users from this site and other Blackberry fans site not other people interested in that phone.

a.k.a. "The BlackBerry Defense Force", as some of the early comments in the verge article pointed out... lol

Posted via CB10

[ZeroBarrier]

And by that logic the iPhone should have been an abject failure because it wasn't on ANYONE'S RADAR At the time of its release...

"I love when people boast about their phones...like its a pissing contest"

Stop comparing Apples and BlackBerries (pun intended). Making this sort of comparison is 100% wrong every single time.

Posted via CB10

[dguy123]

a.k.a. "The BlackBerry Defense Force", as some of the early comments in the verge article pointed out... lol

Posted via CB10

The verge isn't a blackberry fan site. so all kinds of people were voting.

are you saying that there are so many BlackBerry fans that one group can seriously skew the results? if so that's awesome news!

I didn't vote in the survey, but frequent crackberry all the time.

Posted via CB10

[AnimalPak200]

The verge isn't a blackberry fan site. so all kinds of people were voting.

are you saying that there are so many BlackBerry fans that one group can seriously skew the results? if so that's awesome news!

I didn't vote in the survey, but frequent crackberry all the time.

Posted via CB10

I think BlackBerry has the most fervent actively-following fan base. That doesn't mean there are more of us, just that more of us are likely to pay attention to and take part in things like this--- mostly because things aren't "just fine" with BlackBerry, as they are with Android/Apple.

Posted via CB10

[mithrazor]

The verge isn't a blackberry fan site. so all kinds of people were voting.

are you saying that there are so many BlackBerry fans that one group can seriously skew the results? if so that's awesome news!

I didn't vote in the survey, but frequent crackberry all the time.

Posted via CB10

Yeah pretty sure the results are skewed because BlackBerry fans were directed that way.

Only way to know for sure is have multiple polls from other sources and see how they fair.

90% of iPhone users don't frequent any tech websites

Posted via CB10

[Dave Bourque]

Yeah pretty sure the results are skewed because BlackBerry fans were directed that way.

Only way to know for sure is have multiple polls from other sources and see how they fair.

90% of iPhone users don't frequent any tech websites

Posted via CB10

I always think it's funny that android and the apple fanbase aren't able to get together to vote. It's as if BlackBerry users are more effective with social media.

Z10STL100-3/10.2.1.3247

[Kurdis Blough]

Keyboard phones are dead. BlackBerry fans always ignore this crucial point.

Typo for iPhone is not an indicator of consumer HKB demand, sales of BlackBerry devices are. The passport and classic will likely follow the current trend of device sales. They will see limited release and sell to a small subset of users. The hardware keyboard was replaced by the virtual keyboard several years ago.

!

[AnimalPak200]

Keyboard phones are dead. BlackBerry fans always ignore this crucial point.

The hardware keyboard was replaced by the virtual keyboard several years ago.

!

It was forced upon consumers. They wanted something that wasn't as slow as their BlackBerry devices, and the only thing available were glass slabs (or awfully mechanically crummy physical kb alternatives). If BlackBerry wouldn't have dropped the ball with their OS, many would have preferred to stay with the physical kb.

Now... most have become accustomed to the virtual kb, although they would probably still prefer a physical keyboard option as long as they didn't have to sacrifice anything else.

Posted via CB10

[bakron1]

Being from the USA and I pay very close attention to what devices folks use here and why. I still carry my BlackBerry z30 with the 10.3 leak and show off the great features of OS10 to anyone with an open mind.

Here is the main issue, Apple and Android have embedded themselves into the mainstream culture here. Folks both young and old are using iPhones and Galaxies for everything from social media, paying bills, making reservations and their messaging and email needs.

Apple doesn't need to make major changes to their software and/or hardware because the consumer likes the simplicity of the interface just the way it is. They have carried this across their iPhone and IPad products to minimize the learning curve when switching back and forth and this principle has paid off for them in terms of tens of billions in profits.

You don't need to over engineer a product to make it successful, you just need to make something the consumer likes and update it from time to time which Apple has done very well. Give credit to where credit is do. You don't sell 10's of millions of devices a year because all you customers are all iSheep and/or Fanboy's.

These customers are doctors, lawyers, professionals, working class and folks from every walk if life. They buy the products because it gives them what they ask for time and time again and the last time I checked, that's the general business principles of any consumer products company in the world.

Sent from my Lovely z30 on T Mobile USA (10.3.0.1154)

[Kurdis Blough]

It was forced upon consumers. They wanted something that wasn't as slow as their BlackBerry devices, and the only thing available were glass slabs (or awfully mechanically crummy physical kb alternatives). If BlackBerry wouldn't have dropped the ball with their OS, many would have preferred to stay with the physical kb.

Now... most have become accustomed to the virtual kb, although they would probably still prefer a physical keyboard option as long as they didn't have to sacrifice anything else.

Posted via CB10

I disagree with consumers being forced. Reasons why are irrelevant at this point.

I doubt any manufacturers outside of BlackBerry are willing to gamble on the assertion that a keyboard device could be a big seller if there were no other compromises. Unfortunately BlackBerrys weak ecosystem, high prices, relatively cumbersome devices, unavailability in carrier stores, and requirement for expensive enterprise services to offer full functionality are all compromises for the average consumer.

!

[FalkirkEagle]

Well, just for fun I thought I would draw up a 'BlackBerry Defence Force' badge. Defending the virtue of BlackBerry products everywhere!

'In Hoc Signum Vincimus' - 'Under this sign we conquer'.

[stefman722]

LOL!

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[keegh]

I disagree with consumers being forced. Reasons why are irrelevant at this point.

I doubt any manufacturers outside of BlackBerry are willing to gamble on the assertion that a keyboard device could be a big seller if there were no other compromises. Unfortunately BlackBerrys weak ecosystem, high prices, relatively cumbersome devices, unavailability in carrier stores, and requirement for expensive enterprise services to offer full functionality are all compromises for the average consumer.

!

That is the reason BlackBerry does gamble on the physical keyboard.

As much as I love my BlackBerry, I can't see them standing out if they just release devices like the z10/z30. Releasing phones like the Q and Passport keep atleast a few people's interests peaked.

Posted via CB10

[Moopusmaximus]

BlackBerry Passport honestly only won that Verge poll from ballot stuffing from Crackberry, N4BB, and every other BlackBerry news source. You can't deny the threads ushering everyone to vote for the Passport haven't skewed the polls.

[Dave Bourque]

BlackBerry Passport honestly only won that Verge poll from ballot stuffing from Crackberry, N4BB, and every other BlackBerry news source. You can't deny the threads ushering everyone to vote for the Passport haven't skewed the polls.

Nothing stops the opposition from doing the same.

Z10STL100-3/10.2.1.3247

[arlene_t]

The US they're happy with their iphones and perhaps one day BlackBerry will get some more of their market from there again but not today. I think Passport should be released in a country where there is still demand for their devices before anywhere else.

via Q10

[deadcowboy]

Reason 4 (and the most important one): I just dropped my Q10 in water yesterday, and a night with rice didn't fix it. I'm going to Verizon today to pick up a dumb phone in anticipation of the Passport. But if the Passport doesn't launch come October, I'll be forced to switch to a different handset maker, unfortunately. I hate being on Verizon because you can't bring your own device, can you?

[tp2386]

Reason 4 (and the most important one): I just dropped my Q10 in water yesterday, and a night with rice didn't fix it. I'm going to Verizon today to pick up a dumb phone in anticipation of the Passport. But if the Passport doesn't launch come October, I'll be forced to switch to a different handset maker, unfortunately. I hate being on Verizon because you can't bring your own device, can you?

You are correct. You cannot bring your own device.

Posted via CB10

[Moopusmaximus]

Nothing stops the opposition from doing the same.

Z10STL100-3/10.2.1.3247

Sure, but none of them did that. It was very clear to me the BB community had skewed the polls. No one except the BB community really knows the Passport exists.