[app_Developer]

You're wrong. BlackBerry doesn't need to lower the price tag on every phone they sell. They need to have premium phones and they need to have economical phones. The mistake at launch was that everything was premium and there were no economical devices, hence why sales weren't that good. If you're looking for economical, you now have a choice: get a Z3 or Z10. If you want premium, it'll be the Passport.

I really agree with this view. They have to reestablish the high end to be able to stay in the handset business. I don't see a reason to sell the Passport at low margin. It should either sink or swim at around the same price as the new iPhone.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[JulesDB]

I hope it will cost 1.200 € so italian people here will look at it as the new status symbol.

They will forget about the i-fogna,,,

The new square phone? Catch it, if you can !!



(a lower price than i-phone will establish the idea it's a lower quality phone from day one)

[dejanh]

I really agree with this view. They have to reestablish the high end to be able to stay in the handset business. I don't see a reason to sell the Passport at low margin. It should either sink or swim at around the same price as the new iPhone.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Sink it will then. There is no truly compelling value proposition to support such a pricing a scheme. The value proposition for any current smartphone is in the app ecosystem. The Passport is not bringing anything new or revolutionary in this regard, and is in fact handicapped right out of the gate. So what exactly is its sustainable value proposition? Keyboard and screen?

Posted via CrackBerry App

[Gnomesane]

IF THEY PRICE THIS AS HIGH AS AN iPHONE 6, PEOPLE WILL PICK THE iPHONE 6

---vomit---

With every new BlackBerry device upcoming I read exactly this saying and at least this time around I don't agree. Why would anyone who seriously considers a Passport with its keyboard and its weird form factor pick an iPhone 6? Again? Like every year? Which is just like any other phone on the planet an all touch slab?

I just want my boss phone back and am happy for the Passport to make BlackBerrys finally BlackBerrys again opposed to the competition: solid, wide, bold, boss-like. And even a 4.7" iPhone will have a smaller screen.

Very true, the Passport is so different from an iPhone 6 that if price was a factor they'd more likely look to Android, or WP8, or the upcoming Z3 LTE as an alternative. Anyone who's vacillating between an iPhone or BlackBerry is not looking at the price as the determining factor.

[app_Developer]

Sink it will then. There is no truly compelling value proposition to support such a pricing a scheme. The value proposition for any current smartphone is in the app ecosystem. The Passport is not bringing anything new or revolutionary in this regard, and is in fact handicapped right out of the gate. So what exactly is its sustainable value proposition? Keyboard and screen?

Posted via CrackBerry App

I hear what you're saying. For me it is the keyboard and screen.

But the thing is they can't make a high end phone, build it without the benefit of scale that Samsung and Apple enjoy, and then undercut Samsung and Apple on price. I can't see how that works as a business.

If that is the plan, they might as well go services and software only.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Mr4aces]

Not sure what you folks are expecting. I would expect it will be $199 with a contract. Getting your hopes up for anything else will end with disappointment.


Posted via CB10

Just don't do what I did on AT&T Mobil share I upgraded my grandson's phone to a Z10 and they took away my $25 discount on that line. I was not told about taking this away or I would have bought the phone outright for less than the $25 x 24mo= $600.

Thread on General Carrier Discussion ATT

ATT

So if you pay $199 on Mobil share and lose the discount you are actually paying $899 to get "terms"

[dejanh]

I hear what you're saying. For me it is the keyboard and screen.

But the thing is they can't make a high end phone, build it without the benefit of scale that Samsung and Apple enjoy, and then undercut Samsung and Apple on price. I can't see how that works as a business.

If that is the plan, they might as well go services and software only.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I don't think that they need to "undercut" Apple but they do need to position themselves alongside Apple (most Blackberry users migrated to Apple). They are not even in the same market segment truthfully. They just need to have competitive pricing, attractive enough for those who are curious about Blackberry, especially Apple users, to be enticed to try it. They need pricing that is perceived as balancing the shortcomings of the platform. Luckily for Blackberry, Apple's astronomical prices for their devices are hugely inflated. There is lots of wiggle room there. I don't think they should try at all to position themselves against Samsung. They are so vertically integrated they they could easily cut their MSRP pricing in half and probably still make money. Android is a low cost game where Blackberry can't play. Apple will never cut prices. It devalues their brand.

Posted via CrackBerry App

[Nemzy]

I see this debate about BlackBerry getting its pricing right everywhere and I appreciate it but a big consideration is the cost of the device for BlackBerry. This is an expensive phone to produce so there is no way you can expect a cheap price tag. Internally, it blows the iPhone out of the water so you cannot expect it to be cheap. At the same time I think it will be unreasonable for it to be more expensive than an iPhone so somewhere around it or under to a reasonable extent should be suitable. There has to be a clear distinction in prices between flagships and cheaper alternatives (e.g. Passport and Z3 LTE). If the prices are too close then it just distorts the market and you pretty much have no sales on the cheaper devices because 2 of them start competing so that is something BlackBerry has to be careful of.

[app_Developer]

I don't think that they need to "undercut" Apple but they do need to position themselves alongside Apple (most Blackberry users migrated to Apple). They are not even in the same market segment truthfully. They just need to have competitive pricing, attractive enough for those who are curious about Blackberry, especially Apple users, to be enticed to try it. They need pricing that is perceived as balancing the shortcomings of the platform. Luckily for Blackberry, Apple's astronomical prices for their devices are hugely inflated. There is lots of wiggle room there. I don't think they should try at all to position themselves against Samsung. They are so vertically integrated they they could easily cut their MSRP pricing in half and probably still make money. Android is a low cost game where Blackberry can't play. Apple will never cut prices. It devalues their brand.

Posted via CrackBerry App

I'm not sure that Apple's gross margin is that far off from what BlackBerry needs to stay in this business. And Apple costs must be quite a bit less than BlackBerry.

Just look at the screen alone. A 1440 square screen must be costing quite a bit more per unit than the iPhone 6 screen when you consider Apple can commit to buying a couple hundred million screens at a time. Likewise Apple most likely pays less for everything else in the phone also.

I think that reality will have to be reflected in the price, right?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[anon(7808135)]

Passport is going to be around 600.

[Dr_Vancouver]

So- urrbody seems to think that pricing it so low they lose money would be a good thing for BlackBerry? Yeah, we've got a few John Chen replacements circling this thread (rolls eyes). BTW, was my sarcasm "sarcasmey" enough- sometimes it doesn't come through y'know?

Posted via CB10 on my Q10

[sbx9900]

Let BlackBerry worry about whether it will fail or not. Just concern yourself with whether the phone will satisfy your needs or not, and whether you can afford it or not. Certainly, BlackBerry has people worrying about the price point of its products.

Posted via CB10

[Gnomesane]

Passport is going to be around 600.

Second time you've said this on this thread. Do you know something the rest of us don't or are you just sh-- disturbing?

[bambinoitaliano]

Is this yet another thread that one hoping BlackBerry will see it and adjust according to your tolerance of pricing, specs, form and so on?

[dejanh]

Is this yet another thread that one hoping BlackBerry will see it and adjust according to your tolerance of pricing, specs, form and so on?

How did you guess???



Posted via CrackBerry App

[Gnomesane]

Is this yet another thread that one hoping BlackBerry will see it and adjust according to your tolerance of pricing, specs, form and so on?

Probably.

[lovedaazn]

I think the higher it is priced, the more it will be valuable/estimated/considered/respected/talked about/praised...
Naturally, it won't be immediately bought... It will be a deception for those who want it but can't afford it...
But prices will drop someday...
I started to put some euros aside... My target is 650 euros, may be in 10 months sim free/unlocked or earlier if my provider supports it!
I/we have to be patient!

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

| agree. A high pricing strategy will let businesses and consumers know that BlackBerry values their devices and as a lot to offer due to high pricing. Apple markets their iphone at top dollar. However, is there really much of a value proposition? Iphones have been the same since 2007. Oh wait! Touch ID, I forgot.....A gimmick.

[divyan]

I heard that the Passport is going to be highly radioactive, the back will be made from asbestos, and it will shout profanity at children. Whilst I don't have any actual EVIDENCE or basis for these conclusions, I think this is a massive fail and I can't believe that BlackBerry would betray their users like this, even in a manner that exists completely in my imagination. The Passport will therefore be a massive commercial failure, and we should discuss accordingly.

Posted via CB10

You forgot to mention the gene mutating feature and satanic summoning ability of this evil phone as well. I think 'fail' should be written in all caps and a full stop in between.

Posted via CB10 from my Z30

[dejanh]

| agree. A high pricing strategy will let businesses and consumers know that BlackBerry values their devices and as a lot to offer due to high pricing. Apple markets their iphone at top dollar. However, is there really much of a value proposition? Iphones have been the same since 2007. Oh wait! Touch ID, I forgot.....A gimmick.

*cough* ecosystem *cough*

Posted via CrackBerry App

[joshua_sx1]

There is a logical and business-oriented reasoning for pricing and it starts with production costs. Every business company goal is to go for higher profit. BlackBerry is not exceptional - they'll go for higher profit (as much as possible).

If the BlackBerry Passport production costs is already high, they will surely go for premium pricing.

On the process, there are only two reasons why BlackBerry will lower the price of Passport, in spite of the fact that it has higher production costs. First, if, even at lower volume of production and the sales is not good, they'll lower the pricing. Second, even, let say that sales is good but they made wrong assumption on their target consumer and produce so many inventory and that they are sitting on their warehouses, they'll lower the pricing.

As consumers, we can do two things too. If we want to support the company all the way, we will buy their products even at premium price. But if we are only interested to get a premium device at lower price, we don't buy at launch... and wait for the company to execute Plan B - which is lowering the price.

Posted via CB10

[wincyUt]

I'm not price sensitive. I buy all of my phones outright and generally change them every 6 months or so. Every device I've owned so far has been a top-tier device. I'm still not going to pay top-dollar for a Blackberry. I gave them a chance with the Z10. They are not getting another one from me. There will be many people with the same sentiment.

Craigslist will have some nice discounts on this device if Blackberry does not price it right

Posted via CrackBerry App

If you buy phones contingent on the resale value of the phones, then IMHO you are price sensitive. I buy phones on the assumption that at the EOL they will have "scrap value ".
Nevertheless, it's everyone's free choice how they spend their hard earned money .
Finally just because you may have had bad experience with your Z10, which coincidentally was the first BB10, does not mean we all had similar experience. The BB10 OS has come quite a long way since last year's launch. To top that of the Passport will be running on OS 10.3.
Again, Only those who can afford to spend whatever Passport is priced at should buy it.

Posted via CB10

[Resilience]

People on this forum are just complainers all these threads I read complain complain and complain..

When passport comes out, it will be available through carriers with contract and without. If you can't afford one without contract then buy one with. If you still can't afford one then make more money or save up and quit bitchin

Posted via CB10

[wincyUt]

People on this forum are just complainers all these threads I read complain complain and complain..

When passport comes out, it will be available through carriers with contract and without. If you can't afford one without contract then buy one with. If you still can't afford one then make more money or save up and quit bitchin

Posted via CB10

Hahaha very blunt but true.

Posted via CB10

[Kennedy.L]

blah blah blah.

No $h!t sherlock.

[app_Developer]

People on this forum are just complainers all these threads I read complain complain and complain..

When passport comes out, it will be available through carriers with contract and without. If you can't afford one without contract then buy one with. If you still can't afford one then make more money or save up and quit bitchin

Posted via CB10

The question isn't whether the posters in this thread can afford the phone.

You have a bunch of people interested in the future of BlackBerry who are discussing pricing strategy. Is that such a bad thing?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk