[anon(5818411)]

most highend phones are $700-$800 and $200-$300 on a 2 year term.

Since this phone is $600 which is extreme cheap very high end phone, I can see it being $99-$200 making cheaper then any flagship at launch and just as cheap as those 6month-1year old flagships now.
(only really highend android phones can compare spec wise, example 3gb ram)

Canada Rogers comparisons:
Passport - $600 which will be $99-$150 for a 2 year plan (guestimate), upon release which will drop within a month or 2.

iPhone 5S - $720, $150 2 year (year old)
iphone 6 plus - $1,100, 600$ 2 year
iphone 6 - $750, $270 2 year

Samsung S5 - $700, $100 2 year (6 months old)
Note 3 - $750, $100 2 year (1 year old)
Note 4 with barely any changes but screen is projected to cost $1000 which in almost every way except screen/sensors is equal to Passport (speakers, antenna is better on the passport)

HTC One M8 - $700, $100 2 year ( 6 months old)

The reason why i put how old is because after the first couple of months the price drops and after 6 months the price drops again usually.

If you compare the specs of the Passport to any phones: price and year. This phone is dirt cheap. Since this phone is so cheap I can easily see the Classic being $350-$400 because the specs won't be half as good as the Passports.

The reason why this phone is so cheap for the great specs and quality is because BlackBerry currently has a terrible ecosystem. Hopefully they concentrate a lot on their OS and push a lot of BBOS 7.1 features for 10.3.1 to move those people hanging on to their BBOS phones. http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...10-3-a-957985/ They NEED to be there and marketed by Classic release.

[dejanh]

So I just went to review current smartphone prices in Canada by the three main carriers, and here is my honest assessment based on all top-tier smartphone device prices as they are currently priced with Bell, Telus, and Rogers.

I am really hoping that the Passport launches at $599 CAD outright. This will put it $100 below the cost of all of the other top-tier smartphones, which is a difference significant enough that anybody sitting on the fence and not buying blindly because of brand loyalty will not ignore. Being $100 CAD below other top-tier phones will definitely boost the Passport sales. Having said that, the Passport should also be no more than $149.99 CAD on a 2-year agreement, or ideally it will be only $99 CAD on a 2 year agreement. At that price the phone will sell.

So, based on the current top-tier smartphone pricing in Canada, to move good numbers the Passport should be $599 CAD outright or $99 on a 2-year commitment. Any higher than that and the entire incentive is lost as you can get virtually any top-tier smartphone for about $699. Even the iPhone 6 is "only" $749.

Apologies for quoting myself, but I'd like to add one point in a separate post.

A minor difference like $50 CAD may sway some people on the fence. The problem is however that when they realize how weak the ecosystem is they will see the $50 CAD savings as not having justified the lack of ecosystem. These fence sitters will then turn into disgruntled buyers who will very likely turn into BlackBerry bashers. This will be worse for BlackBerry in the long term than ensuring that they priced the device $100 CAD below competition. The same individuals in my example above will (even if unhappy with the ecosystem), still go back and say that "for $100 CAD less, the phone is excellent value, despite the lack of apps". This will be tremendous for the perception of BlackBerry.

[Thunderbuck]

$599 might be too expensive to make it a success, but it's a great price for what you get. I can'timagine Blackberry being able to sell it for much lower. Hopefully they are able to get the Classic into to $400-450 range.

It depends on how you define "success". I've heard that BlackBerry is only projecting 250k in sales by the end of calendar 2014 and at this price they'll likely exceed that fairly easily.

[dcwbearsaint]

I think $599 is a fair price. I was a little pi$$ed at Bloomberg the other day when the panelist had to correct the host that the iPhone was not $600 but $200. I am so tired of the bait and switch these days from the carriers. Give me the ability to buy the phone without being locked and without contract while keeping me in an aggressive priced plan. In the end you will make money buying the $600 phone than getting the carrier subsidized version. Not to mention you can move it to another compatible carrier if you like.

The biggest thing I hope they do is sell direct or provide the phone to people like gsmnation.com for all carriers. Really do not want to have to do the carrier shuffle and buy through them.

[walt63]

Oh for the love...this community it never satisfied.

Posted via CB10

[Thunderbuck]

I dunno...I think $499 would have been the "sweet spot". But time will tell.

Thoughts?

Not Fours Years But A Lifetime

Be honest, if they'd priced it at $499 would you have started a thread suggesting $399 would have been better?

[samanth]

It's just right!

Addicted to Z30

[neoberry99]

Be honest, if they'd priced it at $499 would you have started a thread suggesting $399 would have been better?

LMAO! You're smart. I'm a BB fanboy for life but yes to get a conversation going about pricing I would have started the thread. When CB posted the article about the 599 price, everyone that chimed in said it was a fair price. I think its fair too but I just wondered what my fellow members thought...

[Bravurag]

Very reasonable priced

Posted via CB10

[Jdane07]

I think it's a good price. I'm not going to get one right away, because I have an iPhone 6 on order *gasp*

I'll definitely want to pick one up soon though, since I like having phones with a different OS (android guy, currently using a OnePlus One).

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[anischab]

Quality has its price!

BlackBerry*Q10, T-Mobile Germany - SQN100-3, Running OS 10.2.1.2941

[lawguyman]

The nexus 5 has expandable storage and a touch sensitive keyboard???
Who knew (rolls eyes)

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

That's why I say $500 or less and not $400.

Posted via CB10

[buwee]

I dunno...I think $499 would have been the "sweet spot". But time will tell.

Thoughts?

Not Fours Years But A Lifetime

I think $599 is a great price for this phone - but I have a feeling if it was priced at $499 some people here would say "should have priced it at $399" LOL - You just can't seem to satisfy everyone around here.

[boeingrules]

I agree that it's about right when compared to other flagships and considering the specs. But I had hoped that supply and demand statistics would've led to a little more tweaking...

Posted via CB10

[Thunderbuck]

LMAO! You're smart. I'm a BB fanboy for life but yes to get a conversation going about pricing I would have started the thread. When CB posted the article about the 599 price, everyone that chimed in said it was a fair price. I think its fair too but I just wondered what my fellow members thought...

I appreciate your honesty

[rajbir01]

$599 is the perfect price. Please don't complain about it.

[KingOfQwerty]

Pricing it just below the IPhone 6 flagship should turn some heads, especially considering its a far superior product and infinitely more innovative IMO.

This, I know, You know, We know. Will the consumer know about this??

[dbmalloy]

To all those who think that 599 US is too much... go look up the word "margin"... as this is a business BB is trying to run... the lower the margin.. the less profit per device... the more they need to sell to be successful right now... A big issue they face currently... if you think 599 is too much .. let them sell all thier devices at close to cost... and have no handset business in a year or two... then what will they talk about????? vI do think sometimes people think BB simply grows these things on trees at little or no cost.....

[lawguyman]

$599 is the perfect price. Please don't complain about it.

Why is it perfect?

Chen says that it is a $700 phone sold for $600.

But really, maybe it's a $500 phone being sold for $600.

I'm buying it either way.

Posted via CB10

[The Big Picture]

LMAO! You're smart. I'm a BB fanboy for life but yes to get a conversation going about pricing I would have started the thread. When CB posted the article about the 599 price, everyone that chimed in said it was a fair price. I think its fair too but I just wondered what my fellow members thought...

Thank god! =)

[Blacklatino]

CrackBerry members aside, let's hope that the marketing is on par to move units by enticing others to come/come back to BlackBerry.

[vinniesworld]

The price is fair. Unlike some other manufacturers <INSERT NAME HERE> BlackBerry seem to believe in going beyond expectations for the price you are paying for the device. In a way hampering themselves as they future proof their devices rather than making the device good for one to two years and then forcing you to upgrade due to limited support for Apps and Software that are beyond the hardware the phone has.

The passport has specifications even some mainstream laptops will struggle to keep up with so $599 is worth it. The question would be is BB10 fully Quad Core optimised yet as I don't like manufacturers that highly advertise Quad Core processors (BlackBerry hasn't which is good) yet the OS their are running is not Quad Core optimised, let alone Apps however that's just a technicality and a personal gripe.

I could be persuaded to buy one

[Mihal Shopofolives]

Did anyone already write shut up and take my money? Features with which we were teased for the last couple of months seem to heavily outweigh the announced price in terms of benefits gained, however, I'd still love to hold it and play a little bit around before any further statements can be made. If the device really behaves the way rumors have spread it, than the price is no doubt more than reasonable. You get a mature OS with such goodies as Blend and Assistant. Add an absolutely crazy capacitive keyboard and spice it with amazing hardware specs, display resolution, expandable memory, huge battery and other what not. Simply great!

[anon(5828343)]

$599 is high and the rationale for pricing it at $599 ("comparable devices") is silly.

You can call the Passport anything you want ("premium", "flagship", "high end", "top notch", "best", "revolutionary", "magical", "beautiful") but you can't compare it to other devices that are selling at $650+ because BBRY simply doesn't have the track record of sales that those devices do.

The iPhone 6 and 6-Plus sold 10 million units on its first weekend of sales. BBRY has never seen numbers like that. At the Apple Store in Manhattan, there were queues that were huge even for Apple standards. And if you go on eBay, you'll see that unlocked iPhone 6 units are being sold for over $1,000 and they are selling. Apple has placed its tremendous marketing and promotions heft behind iPhone 6. BBRY simply doesn't have the money nor the ability or expertise to even compete or compare on that basis. For anyone, Chen included, to pretend that the Passport is comparable to other successful, flagship devices currently in the market is foolish.

So, sure, Passport could well be the most exciting BBRY device ever made (who really knows) but without a robust, proven marketing and promotions plan, pricing it a paltry $50 below the least expensive iPhone 6 is non-sensical IF BBRY's objective is to generate sales, excitement and momentum to relaunch BBRY as a serious player in the hardware game.

[imcurved]

I'm okay with $599. The Z10 was priced as $530 when I bought it. So this seems fair.

Using Z10, wanting Z30, eyeing Windermere