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I was in the South Reno AT&T store today adding my niece to the family plan and the rep spotted my Passport and asked what it was. Told him and demonstrated a few of the new, cool features and he then called over all of the other staff members. Each was duly impressed and like the form factor. One of them went so far as to say "I bet they sell a [boat]load of those things. I hope he is right.
Posted via CB10
You know how you'd know if they were sincere about it? If they forgot to pitch you the new iPhone.
Nice! Now if only AT&T would sell it already!!
Posted via CB10 using my Passport
Same here outside of DC. Guy was helpful in moving me over from Verizon. Then wanted to see it, but was kinda afraid to handle it... lol. So I gave him a little demo, and left the touch keyboard feature for last. He was like... what in the world?!
Then he said,.. yeah we're supposed to get a new BlackBerry sometime, but right now we don't sell a single one. Then he kept turning the Passport around admiring the build and said, "this is probably one of the best built phones out there,.. the things that BlackBerry does, they do them well. It's too bad they just don't seem to do any marketing",.. and looked around at his walls splattered with Amazon Fire and iPhone 6 posters... lol
Ah well... it is what it is.
Posted via CB10
Well at least the customers are educating the carrier staffs about the Passport.
Posted via CB10 on BlackBerry Passport
Yeah I really must go and actually pick up one and see what it feels like. I've been lining up a Z30 as a replacement for my Z10, but now I really need to see how the Passport feels, because it could suit me better :-) I'm more excited about the prospect of a 16:9 screen passport though.
By the time AT&T sells the phone all of the excitement will have died out
Everyone keeps saying they're waiting for a 16:9 Passport, but that will never happen :/ it's not a candybar design so it won't have that dimension!
It would be more similar to say, 4:3 or 5:3, maybe even better, but not 16:9 without black bars :P
Praise be unto our Lord Squircle | Passport SQW100-1/10.3.0.1154
Unless they stretch the length to fit the 16:9 ratio and becomes biggest phablet out there... lol
Posted via CB10
Seems like that is the plan..
Each of the staff members had an Android phone and all seemed nonplussed about the new iPhones when I made a few comparisons. One guy pulled out his Note3 for comparison and said he liked the form factor and that it really did not seem that big as some pundits have claimed.
This is the unfortunate truth.
Posted via CB10
Yep. It's F**king unbelievable at this point that not one major US carrier can offer it at a contract price.
I want my goddamn passport but I don't have 6-800 dollars to lay out right now.
It's unfortunately a self-fulfilling prophecy - there is little US carrier support, so AT&T will be the only carrier, and delayed at that. By the time they sell them (i.e. Load with bloatware and redesign the box) the buzz around the device will have decreased, and AT&T will sell few of them - leading to continued poor US carrier support.
Blackberry should continue pushing devices like Apple, directly into customers hands, but without DR.
Posted via CB10
Lol... please, without DR!!!! Why can't they let shopCrackberry deal with US and Canada orders? It'd be blazing fast, and the windfall would probably pay to remove all ads from CrackBerry.com. Or buy a few more Teslas and Florida homes for Mobile Nations top execs.
Posted via CB10
I was back in my local Reno AT&T store on Friday to get a nano SIM for my wife's Christmas present (a red Passport). The guys there remembered me and this is the exchange that followed:
AT&T Store Manager: Dude! You got another Passport! I am so jealous. I want one SO bad. Have you heard when we might get it?
Me: I heard a rumor of February.
AT&T: I cannot wait until this phone comes out. My wife and I still use BBM on our Samsungs. We have had a lot of people come in and ask us when we are going to get it. I hope [AT&T] hurries up.
This was nice to hear and was amazed that he asked me if I had heard anything meaning that AT&T must not be talking about it internally much yet.
One other nice note is that when they scanned the bar code on the new PP, their system recognized it as a BB so at least this means that AT&T is doing something with the device in the background.
Finally, given the great pub BB received on 60 Minutes, it is a real shame no carrier officially carries it yet as I am sure there is interest. At this rate, the buzz will likely die down by the time AT&T or any other carrier has it. Such a shame.
When I got my phone last month, I went to AT&T to get a nano sim and the AT&T guy who helped me had an old Blackberry phone, I think it was 9900. He liked my passport so much that he gave me the nano sim for free and told me the only thing I had to do was give him a good review when they text me about the service. Saved me $25.
An AT&T rep (that too a manager) asking the customer for news. That's just too funny :laughing:
(For the record, I don't doubt this conversation happened. I just find it hilarious.)
We can't save Blackberry with buzz. Not at this point. Maybe back when they were driving consumer innovation, but those days are long gone. So now they either designed a crucial business tool which their target market will respond to, or they did not. Professionals will purchase based on insider information without a slick campaign falling on their heads.
That's who we need on board. I don't blame AT&T, or any US carrier, for being hesitant. They've been burned before. But I CAN blame them for holding back until they hack the operating system to the point of bloated uselessness. Hopefully they're just waiting to see if it catches fire domestically before becoming invested, rather than waiting until their tech department can ruin it.
But then that's why I jumped on an unlocked version. With no indication of how cheap it'll be on contract, when it'll become subsidized, and how much bloat will be present, I didn't think it was worth the wait.
I don't show anyone my passport. Why? Because it's mine, all mine (my preciousssss)
PassportSQW100-1/10.3.0.1418 O2 UK
Lol. How ironic and how true.
" I do not think that word means what you think it means. "
I went to get the nano SIM at ATT. Switching from z10 to the passport.
The person helping me didn't know anything about Passport. She asked me 'what is different?'
I showed her my Z10, thinking it should be self explaining. She said 'no, from other physical keys BlackBerry. ' ugh.
The manager heard us and came over,new about the passport and was happy to see one.
FYI. The SIM was free. Switched over to new phone easily.
Passport
Raino,
I swear it did. I was caught totally off-guard by his question. Frankly, given the general knowledge of the staff at this store (read "lack of"), I guess I should not be that surprised. Plus, I think he was the "manager on duty" on not truly the Store Manager.
Kurt
I have to disagree. I actually think BlackBerry is doing some gorilla marketing at home grassroots level. Actually I think it is clever and a nice way of building long term momentum for the device.
Posted via CB10
AT&T wants to and probably needs to sell iPhones as fast and as many as possible.
Their profit on the iPhones has dropped because apple has played hardball with all the carriers by demanding less revenue to them.
So, they are not so interested in blackberries since the volume factor is not high for them.
Unfortunately, they will treat the passport like the second tier phones or go-phones. Not much interest unless someone wants one specifically.
Keep up the good work with the word of mouth!!