[rambo47]

$749 and a 2MP camera?? Sounds just the other side of insane to me.

Given the issues with new releases by BlackBerry (double-typing, etc), are folks really willing to spend this kind of money on a first gen device? Especially one that is such a radical departure from all previous BlackBerrys. At $500 it was a sketchy "maybe." At $750 it's a firm "no way in h3ll."

[rambo47]

The 6S + is $750 for 16 GB

Posted via CB10

I got my iPhone 6s Plus 128GB through Verizon (with a 2-year contract) for $499. At least in the U.S., over 90% of phones are bought at carrier-subsidized prices.

$750 for a 16GB iPhone is just as ludicrous as a $750 Priv. But few people pay full retail for iPhones.

[ToniCipriani]

I suggest everyone start tweeting, posting on Reddit, and make it loud and clear that we think the price is high. BlackBerry apparently uses this as marketing. Especially this is what they are using as their primary marketing channel instead of launch events.

Here?s What People Are Saying about PRIV by BlackBerry (Updated) | Inside BlackBerry

I did my part:

https://twitter.com/ToniCipriani5/st...22391684583424

[playpen007]

Well, seems like the company and its designer stuck in deep coma with 2mp front camera. Since this is its high end device, the company should've upgraded to 5mp instead. Well, mistake after mistake. When you bring out a new device or brand to compete with a zillion brands the same OS, you must bring out best of the best, not the same others. Doesn't seem the company, marketing and designers know what they are doing I believe?

Lol, we'll, 2mp camera is confirmed.

Posted via BlackBerry Passport

[Rasheed White]

you guys have to understand that BlackBerry is what i would compare role royce to a ford. BlackBerry is a a roles royce, Samsung and others are the fords, Chevys, etc. So stop ******** about the price. BlackBerry is a premium device.

Posted via CB10

[Bluenoser63]

What I don't understand is why BlackBerry hasn't just moved to a BlackPhone or KNOX type distribution system, instead of still trying to play in the consumer market. Just go full direct to customer, allow for sales to consumers that want them... but don't make it appear like you are really trying to compete in the consumer market.

Hardware makes up ~40% of revenue. They are stalling to deal with hardware until software revenue replaces hardware revenue. If software revenue had replaced hardware revenue, they would have dropped hardware by now. They will continue with hardware until that happens. If revenue was dropped by 40% in a quarter, the stock price would go through the floor.

[totaldynamic]

Am I the only one who doesn't think the price is too high?

Compared to other brand's flagships phones the price is around the same, if not slightly less and in return you are getting a truly unique piece of hardware, not just another irrelevant slab.

[Section ThirtyOne]

I will not be purchasing this phone at the $949 price point. (just in case BB is reading)

And this is coming from someone who has had a BB device in every generation since the 950.

[Al moon]

you guys have to understand that BlackBerry is what i would compare role royce to a ford. BlackBerry is a a roles royce, Samsung and others are the fords, Chevys, etc. So stop ******** about the price. BlackBerry is a premium device.

Posted via CB10

Are you kidding me they have terrible quality control issues their repair policy is ridiculous and they don't even service their own products if you got it thru some other means even if your well below the 1 year warranty they only ones who harm blackberry are blackberry themselves

[crucial bbq]

You know, Chen never said he wanted to leave the handset business. That is just some meme created by some jokers around these parts.

Chen has been advised to leave the handset business for a long time, and has stated that Wall St. would cheer if he did, but yet here he is still having BlackBerry make phones.

What Chen has said is that he believes making handsets (BlackBerry) to be an integral part of end-to-end security and that if BlackBerry did exit they could still offer solutions to other vendors and OEMs.

Also of note (though not surprising): Not compatible with Verizon, Sprint, or US Cellular.

Shop BlackBerry is for global sales and globally nearly everyone is GSM. As far as I know only Verizon, Sprint, and one or two others are CDMA.

But the Priv is coming to Verizon for sure.

IMHO.

This whole debate of public prices is useless.
What matters is the ASP and the margins they have to reach to obtain profitability with a 5mil. target (hey, BTW, is that Priv alone ?). What I mean here is that it's not a marketing plan to shine the brand name buy acquiring customers, whatever the cost.

It's a final (?) attempt to sell an original (KB/Security) and high specs device aimed to a segment of users who don't really care about +/- $50 (a $100 swing).
Chen has been clear : it's high end device and price. So, take the high end price in your country (IP6S+ ?), apply it to the device: You're set with a reasonable expectation.

BUT he also understated that BlackBerry will help making it affordable for most. How ? We don't know.
THIS information might be the one which really matters.
(edit/added : and you won't see that during the pre-order round)

Obviously, only a few weeks (days ?) before we know.

Yup. Considering that many on here are not bothering to get their news from other outlets or to actually listen to what Chen has been saying (instead of relying on soundbites), it's no wonder they cannot put 2 and 2 together.

Sorry but even if he comes up with some kinda affordable payment plan.... there are BETTER Speced and CHEAPER devices on the market that have name brand recognition and superior customer support. And don't require payment plans to buy them.....

Okay then, offer up some solid comparisons.

The 808 Processor..... 2MP Front Facing Camera..... Older Wi-Fi specs.... Older USB specs... lack of standard features like Fingerprint (I know not real security). These would get overlooked if the PRIV was $599 US or lower. But from a consumer standpoint they will make the $749 US PRIV seem like a bad joke. Where as if BlackBerry had release the PRIV to go against the BlackPhone.... there would be little said about the price.

Okay, here we go:

1. The 810s have an issue with overheating at stock speed. Unless the issue has been resolved very recently currently the only way to keep them cool is either liquid cooling or to under clock them. It's all about spec's and not performance, right.

2. Research digital cameras and megapixels. Megapixels at the end of the day don't mean doodle in and of themselves. Apple caught flak when they released the iPhone 4 with a paltry 5 mp rear camera at a time when others were doing higher mp's. But guess what, that cruddy iPhone 4 camera still took the better pics. Why? Because it's not about the number of megapixels that matters but the size of the pixels that matter more. What Apple did was to enlarge the size of each sensor (pixel), allowing for each individual sensor to capture more light. What the competition did was to cram more sensors into the same space, and thus, used smaller smaller sensors. But hey, it's all about spec's, right.

That 2 mp front facing camera has large sensors plus a few other pieces of tech that will put it in line with a basic 5 mp camera if not beyond.

3. 2.0 USB. Yeah, okay, this is old school tech but if I remember correctly USB 3.0 cannot be used to charge a phone and carry data at the same time. I could be wrong on that, though. However, a quick inspection of other flagship Androids indicates they are all using USB 2.0, too.

4. Fingerprint scanner. This is a tough one but one that really cannot be considered at this point in time, or perhaps ever with a BlackBerry. Many people do not want finger print scanners and many more see them as taking us one step closer to 1984. And I am fairly certain that if we were to survey BlackBerry diehards and BlackBerry diehards alone (meaning, none of the Android crowd that have been popping out of the woodwork lately) the overwhelming majority would not want a fingerprint scanner.

[Superfly_FR]

They can't throw in the towel outright as hardware makes up a large portion of the revenue. ~40%. If revenue fell by that much, the stock price would be a blood bath. They have to take a controlled out approach.

I'd like to be more specific about my (me, myself and I) view [multiple posts answer]
Exactly.
1/ "Throwing the towel" equals no more devices built by BlackBerry. Chen hinted other alternatives like "going OEM-like" I mentionned before, with the clear target to avoid customers asking "where do I go from here". Those OEM-ed devices could be branded and sold by BlackBerry.
2/ 40% of revenues at loss is weaker than 60% of revenues with (high margin) profits. That's the debate. Balance point to be found wherever the "end to end" (device to back end) option is mandatory (fits with /1).

Now about "better speced" and so on ...
We know, for a vast majority of users, specs is a word that describes a candy bar or a sweater. They don't care. At all. Especially those whith deeper pockets. They want to be able to do what they have to do and do it fast. That matters. Tell me there's lags, no matter the number of cores or RAM size, then I'd be very, very anxious.

So far I can tell, Priv specs are high grade and I'll wait for the IRL test of front camera (they seem to inject some goodies here) before anything negative. Fingerprint ... you know what I think about it. And (if confirmed) I'm so glad they kept picture password as your privacy/security guardian.
I fear they offer fingerprint as a convinience, TBH I really hope they'll accept thrid party SW with a disclaimer (seems some people could kill for that).

Edit
Some extra "info" [salt it !], props to Sidhuk in another thread.
In the "specs" section, don't forget what made our BB10 devices so sexy, like Natural sound, that we'll more likely find on the Priv ...

More complete list. Sorry for almost doubling this post. But looking the specks in details, I would pay for this phone. Haters gonna hate regardless.

BlackBerry Priv Specs

Baseline Software Support: Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
Size (LxWxD): 147 (184 opened) x 77.2 x 9.4mm
Weight (w/battery): 192g
Model Number: STV100-1
Processor:

Qualcomm 8992 with 64 bit Dual-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A57 and Quad-core 1.44 GHz CortexA53 (Snapdragon 808 Hexa-Core, 64 bit)
Adreno 418, 600MHz GPU
Memory:

3GB Low Power RAM
32GB Flash
Hot-swappable MicroSD slot (up to 2TB)
Expandable Memory:

MicroSD slot located on top of device, accessible via pin-eject tray
Display:

Curved 5.43”
2560 x 1440 resolution
540 DPI
WQHD Plastic AMOLED
High Brightness Mode for Outdoor Readability
24-bit color depth
16:9 aspect ratio
Corning Gorilla Glass 4
Rear Facing Camera:

18MP Auto-Focus
Optical Image Stabilization (OIS)
Phase Detect Auto Focus (PDAF), Fast focus lock
HDR
6-element f2.2 lens
Back Side Illumination (BSI2) Stacked Sensor
Dual Colour, Dual 2 mm2 LED Flash – Enhanced photo color balance/
4k Video Recording: 30 fps, 1080p HD video recording at 60 fps, 6DOF video stabilization combined with OIS for incredibly smooth video
4x digital zoom
Continuous & touch to focus, face detection, image stabilization
Panorama, Burst, Live Filters
Multi-Frame Low Light Enhancement
Front Facing Camera:

2MP Fixed-Focus, f2.8
Large 1.75um pixel size
Image & video stabilization
720p HD video recording
2x digital zoom
Wide Selfie Mode (also known as Selfie Panorama)
Multi-Frame Low Light Enhancement
Dedicated Keys: Volume Up/Down, Mute, Lock(Power On/Off)
Notification: Tone, vibrate, on-screen or LED indicator; notification options are user configurable
Touch Capabilities:

10-point multi-touch
Supports Passive Stylus
Glove Mode
Capacitive Touch Keyboard: Allows navigation gestures, fine cursor control, swipe to select word predictions, swipe back for word deletion
Navigation: Capacitive Touch, capacitive 4-row keyboard (slider)
User Interface:*Gesture control plus touch sensitive physical keyboard with gesture support
Keyboard:

Physical Sliding Keyboard, with support for:
Contextual auto-correction
Contextual next word prediction
Personalized learning engine
Keyboard Security:
Password protection, Screen lock, and Sleep mode
Voice Input/output:

Integrated speaker and 3 microphones
BlackBerry Natural Sound enabled: Receiver cavity microphone monitors what the user hears and adjusts in real time for best performance. The system monitors speaker motion in real time to ensure maximum loudness without distortion
Virtual Back Volume Speaker – high surface area material in the speaker cavity provides higher loudness in a more compact space
Hands-free headset capable
Bluetooth headset capable
Integrated Hands-Free Speakerphone
Headset : 3.5 mm stereo
Ports and Connectivity:

USB 2.0 Connector with SlimPort enabled
USB 2.0 fully supported with standard microUSB 2.0 cable (included in box)
Cabled-Video Out, 4k @30 fps, supported with standard SlimPort adaptor (not included in box). SlimPort adaptor cables exist to support the following video protocols: HDMI, VGA, DisplayPort 1.1, DisplayPort 1.2, DVI
NFC
Power Adapter

+5V DC / 1.3A AC power adapter, OMTP Compliant
QC2.0 Enabled – Compatible with QC2 Chargers
Dual mode Wireless Charging capable for Powermat (PMA) and Qi
Battery:

3410 (typ) 3360 (min) mAh 4.4V 680 Wh/L integrated non-removable battery
Fast charge enabled
Battery Life:

Mixed Usage: Up to 22.5 hours
22.5 hours battery life is based on mixed usage scenario. Many factors affect battery life including but not limited to network, transmission environment, battery age, usage, location software and feature configuration.

Network

FD-LTE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 17, 20, 29,30
HSPA+ 1, 2, 4, 5/6, 8
Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE

Wi-Fi:

802.11 b/g/n for 2.4GHz
802.11 a/n for 5GHz
802.11 ac for 5GHz
4G Mobile Hotspot
Wi-Fi Direct 2�2 MIMO
Bluetooth Support: Bluetooth 4.1 Low Energy (LE)
GPS

Assisted, Autonomous and Simultaneous GPS
Pre-loaded Google Maps
E911 supported
Advanced Sensors : Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Gyroscope, Time of Flight (ToF) Proximity, Ambient Light, Altimeter, Activity Monitor
SIM Interface

Nano SIM card (4FF)
Supports 1.8V and 3.0V cards
Recommended Temperature Parameters

Handheld – Operating: 0 to 35�C / 32 to 95�F
Handheld – Storage: -20 to 35�C / -4 to 95�F
Travel charger – Operating: 0 to 35�C / 32 to 95�F
Accessibility: HAC Rating: M3 T4

Posted via CB10

[muciumbe]

In Europe at 750 EUR +VAT, ouch! End of story.

[Superfly_FR]

Price in € tax included ~= Price in USD w/o (local) taxes.
In Europe, you must include taxes on consumers' displayed prices (only enterprises see "out of tax" price, because they only collect them)

[bobshine]

You're forgetting that the vast majority of people would rather buy the iPhone than the Priv at that price.

For $650? Now it looks more enticing.

Yeah but I was referring to a post that said it's the same pricing as the iPhone 6+

Posted via CB10

[Superfly_FR]

You're forgetting that the vast majority of people would rather buy the iPhone than the Priv at that price.

For $650? Now it looks more enticing.

Currently, people in desire of an iPhone ... buy an iPhone (current or N-1 gen).
No matter what the others do. No matter what the specs are. No matter what the price is.
If any segment, these people are simply not in the scope right now.

"Everyone" (not) seems to expect the Priv to be a IP killer or a Galaxy competitor.
Hello, world ! it's a 5 mil. segment in a 1Bil. target !!!

edit : As an easy reference, that's roughly 1 year IP sales for ... 1 U.S State. Alone.

[Kurdis Blough]

750 price is way out of wack with competitive products using the 808 SOC.

The MS 950, Moto pure and play, G4, and 5X can all be had for hundreds of dollars cheaper. 810 devices like the 6P and 950XL also beat it with respect to value/ price

Not looking good for BlackBerry.

!

[pkcable]

I got my iPhone 6s Plus 128GB through Verizon (with a 2-year contract) for $499. At least in the U.S., over 90% of phones are bought at carrier-subsidized prices.

$750 for a 16GB iPhone is just as ludicrous as a $750 Priv. But few people pay full retail for iPhones.

Is it really fair to compare a carrier subsidized price to a full retail price? We don't know yet what the carrier subsidized Priv prices will be in the US. HOWEVER there are some more attractive subsidized prices already being reported for Canada, SO they are out there. Most likely in the US we will get the latest fad "carrier financing" and you will get a monthly additional fee added to your bill.

[DJBS4LIFE]

The price is about right for all that it's packing. I don't have an issue here at all.

BBM Channel: C0001F285

[koool1]

The price is about right for all that it's packing. I don't have an issue here at all.

BBM Channel: C0001F285

I agree. I'm not surprised by the $749 price tag at all. Premium device and they were going to start with a premium price. Just because it says BlackBerry on the front doesn't mean it will be $499.

Posted via  BlackBerry Z30

[ToniCipriani]

HOWEVER there are some more attractive subsidized prices already being reported for Canada

The only reported subsidized price is Rogers at $399 on a 2YR Share Everything plan. Which is NOT attractive at all. Do you know how much the Share Everything plan costs?

[DJBS4LIFE]

I agree. I'm not surprised by the $749 price tag at all. Premium device and they were going to start with a premium price. Just because it says BlackBerry on the front doesn't mean it will be $499.

Posted via  BlackBerry Z30

Exactly! You're getting a lot that this device is packing compared to new iPhone models and those are limited. PRIV is my next device. She'll look sexy next to my Passports .

BBM Channel: C0001F285

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Currently, people in desire of an iPhone ... buy an iPhone. No matter what the others do. No matter what the specs are. No matter what the price is.
If any segment, these people are simply not in the scope right now.

"Everyone" (not) seems to expect the Priv to be a IP killer or a Galaxy competitor.
Hello, world ! it's a 5 mil. segment in a 1Bil. target !!!

No they don't.... lot's of people desire an iPhone, but their budget forces them to settle for an Android (with an average retail price of $254).

The problem Samsung is having right now is that for a device priced anywhere near the iPhone, most (not all) consumers are going with the iPhone. Once Apple brought the larger screen to the iPhone, there wasn't much the Android's had to offer anymore.... other than cheaper prices.

Thus they have had to recently drop pricing on their current flagship devices, with a Galaxy Note 5 being $100 cheaper than the PRIV and an LG G4 being almost $350 cheaper than the PRIV....(Amazon prices) BlackBerry has less of a shot hitting that 5 Million target with the PRIV (if it is $750 US), than the whole BB10 line up had at 10 Million.

The PRIV is a GREAT BlackPhone competitor! But it isn't going to be able to compete in the consumer market at that price! And if the consumer negative spills over, I'm not sure Enterprise will touch another BlackBerry beta product.

THEY SHOULD HAVE STAYED AWAY FROM THE CONSUMER MARKET WITH THE PRIV! Let a few fans that want one, buy one... but don't put it out there like it just another consumer device.

[ubizmo]

1. The 810s have an issue with overheating at stock speed. Unless the issue has been resolved very recently currently the only way to keep them cool is either liquid cooling or to under clock them. It's all about spec's and not performance, right.

To my knowledge, it hasn't been resolved. The 810 is the problem child and most are simply hoping the 820 will correct the problem.

That 2 mp front facing camera has large sensors plus a few other pieces of tech that will put it in line with a basic 5 mp camera if not beyond.

It remains to be seen whether the camera will perform well, but you're absolutely right. MP is a meaningless spec unless taken in conjunction with the rest of the components. 2 MP can do a fine job if the pieces are put together right. If anything, I'd be concerned about 18 MP on the rear camera being too high, but I gather the whole camera system is built to match, so it should be quite good.

4. Fingerprint scanner. This is a tough one but one that really cannot be considered at this point in time, or perhaps ever with a BlackBerry.

That's my guess. I don't think moving in that direction is in line with their security philosophy.

[cbreze]

At this price I wouldn't want my Priv to fall in the Privy.

[hellomoto921]

Bad name...Bad Pricing...and Bad marketing...Slides on blackberry homepage look awful!!!!!