[Vorkosigan]

I dont understand why people are telling BB doesnt want normal people to buy their phone and especially their passport! They started Advertising on the front page of the newspapers and putting huge billboards on Malls about it and that device is going to their COMEBACK! What do u get from this? Does this mean that they are targetting only a quarter of a million people as someone above me just said? Is BB mad to waste money on advertisements for just a quarter of a million people? They didnt even make a single ad for the Z30! Why is that?
BB wants to sell millions and millions of Passport and they know it, but they cannot with this price tag!
You guys are blindingly supporting BB, on whatever they are doing no matter what!

Posted via CB10

Comeback means a comeback to their business roots. The first BlackBerry phones only incidentally became a consumer product and actually caught them a bit off guard. I'm sure in their heart of hearts they're hoping that if they focus back on the business market and security that it may happen again, but I don't think they are counting on it.

For that reason and due to small production run leading to higher prices for parts, specs, and r&d costs for the amazing keyboard , I don't see why anyone thinks the Passport should be priced below the $600-$700 range.

Posted via CB10

[evodevo69]

So Oct.1st the day we get to play around with it in stores? Yay.

#CB10 #Q10 #Darkhorse

[CTU2fan]

Not buying that we will get it in the US anytime soon. It will be another round of sitting here watching the rest of the world enjoying the newest BlackBerry device(s) while we wait.

Price (if true) doesn't bother me as much. Its a high end device and it's priced accordingly.

Posted via CB10

[dejanh]

JAACEO

Jacksonville International Airport CEO? What?!

Posted via CB10

[AnimalPak200]

This is what's going to happen.

1) They will launch the Passport with a high price.

2) Spend what they can in marketing (not enough to move a needle, but too much for their own balance sheet).

3) There will be no line ups, or sell outs or massive demand for it,.. as the general public and media have come to expect, and invariable rely as a barometer of a product's "success".

4) The usual "main stream" tech media (and CNN probably) will copy and paste the same articles they wrote about the Z10/Q10,.. basically saying "the once dominant phone maker was betting the farm on this one last hope,.. and it doesn't seem to be working".

5) All that "free" negative press will instantly erase any consumer awareness gains made by the mediocre marketing spending.

6) Passport price will have to be dropped by whoever is left holding the bag. Price drop is reported negatively as "desperate" by media.

7) BlackBerry takes another set of losses.

8) Media again reports on losses, "due to unsold inventory"



OR... they could instead cut most marketing, and divert the savings to a per-device price subsidy in order to offer it at a $400-500 range.

3) device will have surprisingly luke warm and steady sales, as reviews will say "for the price--- it's a great deal!"

4) Media might not report about it, BUT at least they won't report the lack of sales.

5) N/A: No marketing but not negative press

6) No need to drop Passport price. No appearance of "desperation".

7) No losses due to lower price: Already paid for with savings in marketing

8) No negative media about the losses since they didn't happen.

****


We know which way they took for the Z10... let's hope Chen has gotten a chance to read the early draft of the "BlackBerry: How not to run a business" sophomore level Business class text book.


Posted via CB10

[dejanh]

This is what's going to happen.

1) They will launch the Passport with a high price.

2) Spend what they can in marketing (not enough to move a needle, but too much for their own balance sheet).

3) There will be no line ups, or sell outs or massive demand for it,.. as the general public and media have come to expect, and invariable rely as a barometer of a product's "success".

4) The usual "main stream" tech media (and CNN probably) will copy and paste the same articles they wrote about the Z10/Q10,.. basically saying "the once dominant phone maker was betting the farm on this one last hope,.. and it doesn't seem to be working".

5) All that "free" negative press will instantly erase any consumer awareness gains made by the mediocre marketing spending.

6) Passport price will have to be dropped by whoever is left holding the bag. Price drop is reported negatively as "desperate" by media.

7) BlackBerry takes another set of losses.

8) Media again reports on losses, "due to unsold inventory"



OR... they could instead cut most marketing, and divert the savings to a per-device price subsidy in order to offer it at a $400-500 range.

3) device will have surprisingly luke warm and steady sales, as reviews will say "for the price--- it's a great deal!"

4) Media might not report about it, BUT at least they won't report the lack of sales.

5) N/A: No marketing but not negative press

6) No need to drop Passport price. No appearance of "desperation".

7) No losses due to lower price: Already paid for with savings in marketing

8) No negative media about the losses since they didn't happen.

****


We know which way they took for the Z10... let's hope Chen has gotten a chance to read the early draft of the "BlackBerry: How not to run a business" sophomore level Business class text book.


Posted via CB10

Comical, yet bang on. I'm very concerned that the current management has not learned from past mistakes or possibly learned the wrong lessons, foolishly thinking that the current team will do better when all along price was the issue.

Posted via CB10

[TeaBoy]

Source is reliable?
Yahoo souce to Blackberryos source but the souce of blackberryos is the tipline unreliable?

[tinochiko]

This is what's going to happen.

1) They will launch the Passport with a high price.

2) Spend what they can in marketing (not enough to move a needle, but too much for their own balance sheet).

3) There will be no line ups, or sell outs or massive demand for it,.. as the general public and media have come to expect, and invariable rely as a barometer of a product's "success".

4) The usual "main stream" tech media (and CNN probably) will copy and paste the same articles they wrote about the Z10/Q10,.. basically saying "the once dominant phone maker was betting the farm on this one last hope,.. and it doesn't seem to be working".

5) All that "free" negative press will instantly erase any consumer awareness gains made by the mediocre marketing spending.

6) Passport price will have to be dropped by whoever is left holding the bag. Price drop is reported negatively as "desperate" by media.

7) BlackBerry takes another set of losses.

8) Media again reports on losses, "due to unsold inventory"



OR... they could instead cut most marketing, and divert the savings to a per-device price subsidy in order to offer it at a $400-500 range.

3) device will have surprisingly luke warm and steady sales, as reviews will say "for the price--- it's a great deal!"

4) Media might not report about it, BUT at least they won't report the lack of sales.

5) N/A: No marketing but not negative press

6) No need to drop Passport price. No appearance of "desperation".

7) No losses due to lower price: Already paid for with savings in marketing

8) No negative media about the losses since they didn't happen.

****


We know which way they took for the Z10... let's hope Chen has gotten a chance to read the early draft of the "BlackBerry: How not to run a business" sophomore level Business class text book.


Posted via CB10

Third Option

1) They release it at whatever unknown price (around ?649)

2) Spend what they can in promotion having already spent loads in making the product , preparing the places and coming up with a complimentary price (which together define marketing)

3) there will be some craziness on the locations and maybe one or two line ups here or there, and one or two articles here and there

4) more controlled distribution and more calculated stock will mean it holds its price, which the media may take as a sign that the device is selling steadily well, though BlackBerry refuses to reveal any numbers, and the press looks more positively towards the unveiling of the classic

5) some marketing so people who what the heck the Passport is (One Plus One could do without marketing because they pushed exclusivity which BlackBerry wont/can't do even though if it could, the Passport would be the best to so it with but it's too late now)

6) no losses because the stock was closely controlled, leading to some increased anticipation as stocks run out and people have to wait a little for more orders to come in

7) little negative media except to compare it to the millions of sales of other manufacturers, bit when the next quarters figures come will show BlackBerry is on track if not ahead of track in profitability because of its effective strategies

Z10 was a different story, they may have had a lot of promotions, but in my opinion they weren't thought out, super bowl ad was a waste of money, at that stage they should have done some creative marketing using social media etc. Low cost high effectiveness.. general population might have known BlackBerry was releasing a new phone, but not what made it different.. not in the UK anyway

Posted via CB10

[anon(3993749)]

Enough with this nonsense. It's not going to be $800 in the US, that's how much it will cost in Europe. Remember, all prices listed here already include 20-24% VAT. Expect to pay somewhere around $650 for the Passport in the US.

Posted via CB10

[bickerin1]

Iphone is the better buy because its $950 US dollars unlocked and is selling for over $2000 in Asia. So... buy the Iphone.. then sell it.. and buy the Passport... Win Win situation...

[bakron1]

Enough with this nonsense. It's not going to be $800 in the US, that's how much it will cost in Europe. Remember, all prices listed here already include 20-24% VAT. Expect to pay somewhere around $650 for the Passport in the US.

Posted via CB10

At 650.00 US I will buy it, after that BS with the Apple store servers crashing during the pre order launch has me really pissed off. A company who has made 10's of billions of dollars and can't update third servers to accommodate the heavy traffic, WTF!!!

I think all these companies haven't learned anything from their previous mistakes except how to increase their stock prices so the executives can increase their wealth. I just don't understand it.

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

[tinochiko]

Iphone is the better buy because its $950 US dollars unlocked and is selling for over $2000 in Asia. So... buy the Iphone.. then sell it.. and buy the Passport... Win Win situation...

-shipping cost
- time it takes to find a buyer
- effort

Posted via CB10

[UKAsh]

I doubt BES users will be paying that price... normally their handsets will automatically be discounted by Blackberry for using their other services.

The question is if there will be incentives in place for the non-BES business/professional user - this type of consumer will be price adverse - so either Blackberry will need to be price competitive or give some other services away as free. If you notice, Samsung does a lot of the later by providing $100 - $300 worth of software/subscriptions/hardware as free or at discount price.

I personally do not believe this product will be marketed to the general consumer until Christmas season (if at all), by this time there will probably be more consumer related apps developed etc... These types of consumers tend to buy on contract, so they will get a price/gift combo incentive.

[rwestiv]

UKash, that is one of the more cogent posts I've seen on Crackberry.com, especially as it relates to the Passport.

Which begs the question, what the hell are you smokin'?! LOL

GBA

[Blacklatino]

Agree. As much as I would like to own this phone, I won't even think about spending that kind of money for it. I'll either stick with my Q10 or look at other platforms.

Yeah, just purchased another Q10 on here - which will be my daily driver and will retire my Z10.

[Blacklatino]

.

****
We know which way they took for the Z10... let's hope Chen has gotten a chance to read the early draft of the "BlackBerry: How not to run a business" sophomore level Business class text book.
Posted via CB10

LOL. Ouch!

[ubizmo]

No one is saying it's either the Passport or nothing. The Classic is coming out soon thereafter and all rumors indicate it will be priced lower.

That's true, and if the Passport really is priced as high as some of the rumors here have it, I'll definitely give the Classic a look. I'm personally not interested in the tool belt, but the bump in screen size, though not overwhelming, is worth a look.

My point was simply that even though I like BB10 a lot, I'm not a "BlackBerry or death" kind of person. If the Passport, which I really am interested in, is too expensive for me, and I decide that I really do need a bigger screen than what I have on the Q10 (I'm thinking I do), I'll certainly consider other platforms. I've used Android before, and it was fine, even if not my favorite. I've used WP 7.5 and really enjoyed some aspects of it, others not so much. For me, the price is part of what determines what I buy next.

[PantherBlitz]

BlackBerry isn't trying to establish a "bigger user base" with the Passport. Even under the most optimistic scenario I can think of, they're not going to move more than a million by the end of calendar 2014. This is an "executive" device, not an Enterprise one.

That would be unfortunate, because the Passport is the only handset that has a prayer of generating any type of public interest or positive media attention for BlackBerry.

[ubizmo]

That would be unfortunate, because the Passport is the only handset that has a prayer of generating any type of public interest or positive media attention for BlackBerry.

Much will depend on the launch being carefully controlled, so they don't end up having to write down inventory again. If the Passport actually makes a profit for BlackBerry, even though the absolute numbers are small, that will generate some positive attention for them. They really need to show that they can make a handset that doesn't lose money. If they can do that, they can think about growing the user base.

[Tim Heard]

Thanks for the input! I have relatives scattered all over the globe. ... Would be a nice way to stay connected a bit more.

I play WWF every day with an old high school friend, on my Q10. It's not the most stable Android app on BB10, but it's playable. I just thought I'd mention it if you haven't tried it.

[Stomps01]

I am willing to pay 650-700, never 800.... if this is true my Z30 will do for now.....

Posted via CB10

[ubizmo]

Thanks for the input! I have relatives scattered all over the globe. ... Would be a nice way to stay connected a bit more.

Yes, there are some people here on CB who fail to understand that the line between games and communication is not absolute.

As I say, the WWF Android app works on BB10, but it's not the smoothest running Android app by a long shot. Sometimes it hangs and needs to be closed and reopened. No big deal for me. On the Q10 the board is pretty small when zoomed out, but zoomed in is fine. As you'd expect, it looks better on the Z10 and no doubt even better on the Z30, but I imagine performance is similar on all of them. I was getting move notifications on 10.3.0.296 but I'm not getting them anymore on 10.3.0.1154; not sure why.

[Tim Heard]

Interesting feedback.
I know Zynga is in a tight spot financially these days. Hopefully one of these days they'll release a version that runs more smoothly on the BlackBerry.

Yes, there are some people here on CB who fail to understand that the line between games and communication is not absolute.

As I say, the WWF Android app works on BB10, but it's not the smoothest running Android app by a long shot. Sometimes it hangs and needs to be closed and reopened. No big deal for me. On the Q10 the board is pretty small when zoomed out, but zoomed in is fine. As you'd expect, it looks better on the Z10 and no doubt even better on the Z30, but I imagine performance is similar on all of them. I was getting move notifications on 10.3.0.296 but I'm not getting them anymore on 10.3.0.1154; not sure why.

[Acuratl]

You guys are pretty funny....retreat! Everyone want's bigger better faster out of Blackberry but you don't want to pay for it! You can't buy a Dodge and expect it to run like an Audi. You probably pi$$ out the difference every month that it would cost to pay a few bucks more for a new revolutionary device. We've all been asking for it so how can you complain?

DB

[Kennedy.L]

And why did they had to write down a billion on Z10's? Cuz Z10 was priced crazily! And nobody bought it! So their only chance to clear those extra Z10's was to reduce its price! And people bought it! And how can this not be a profitable option? No-one bought it in the beginning,and what profit BB got from it?later millions of Z10's were sold because of the price reduction and am sure they got some profit out of it! So its better than nothing!

Posted via CB10

Once again I disagree with you. I think people didn't buy the Z10 because it was never "cool" not because of the price. A buzz was never created buy it. You think it's all about price but that isn't it.