[paul360]

"Hundreds of BlackBerry employees are visiting retail stores in Canada, U.S. and the UK to help answer customer questions about our new PRIV smartphone."

"Besides Bell, TELUS and Rogers stores in Canada, and AT&T in the U.S., look for our ambassadors at Carphone Warehouse retail stores in the U.K."

BlackBerry Head of Product and Field Marketing David Wiseman will be visiting AT&T stores in Washington D.C. at the Chinatown (785 7th St. NW) and Dupont Circle (1518 Connecticut Ave. NW) this afternoon.


CFO James Yersh and Sales VP Jaime Leverton, pictured here visiting a Rogers retail store in Toronto�s Yorkdale Mall last weekend (Source: BlackBerry Blog)

[ToniCipriani]

Is John Chen going to make an appeareance?

[wilber1]

This tells us Prev is selling like hell I remember when the Bold 9900 first came out I was at a best buy and there was a post set up just inside the door with a BlackBerry rep. answering questions and demoing the new device . Back to the Future .

[laid-back]

this can only be good

[squintter]

Maybe they all should be sitting at their desks figuring out how to ramp up production so people that ordered on Oct 23 have their Priv before Thanksgiving

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[tickerguy]

I freaking loooove my Priv...

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[AnimalPak200]

Ugh... today is my day of not subjecting myself to the torture that is commuting down to DC. Sorry BlackBerry guy,.. not gonna happen.

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[o4liberty]

This is the kind of marketing Chen needs out there to get the Priv launch off to a great start.

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[Joao Oliveira]

Meanwhile in Europe we don't even have the devices to buy...

[Bonsaibo]

We don't have them to buy on the biggest carrier in the US either.

[Lobwedgephil]

Maybe they should visit Shop BB and help them out.

[qwerty4ever]

So the marketing geniuses at BlackBerry decided to make appearances at carrier stores AFTER the launch date. Brilliant! Not.

BlackBerry Priv with CrackBerry App for Android

[Akamali]

Meanwhile in Canada, we didn't get our PRIV from shop BlackBerry still, ordered the device on October 23rd and just today they sent an email saying you will get it no later than November 24th. Very good BlackBerry, very good, only one month later.

Posted via CB10

[tvst28]

So the marketing geniuses at BlackBerry decided to make appearances at carrier stores AFTER the launch date. Brilliant! Not.

BlackBerry Priv with CrackBerry App for Android

The ShopBB page still says "pre-order". So by that point of reference, they're actually ahead of the curve!

[Theicecreamman]

People can BlackBerry do anything right for you? Wow you ask for better phones with tons of apps, the Priv is released. And you complain.

You want the Priv to be popular and bang it is. And you complain that they are slow and don't know what they are doing.

You want BlackBerry to market themselves better and they go out to visit carriers, in person, which I think is a great idea. And you complain they don't know what they are doing.

All I can say is hats off to BlackBerry for not giving up and putting up a fight to survive.

Post dates and times of locations


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[dcwbearsaint]

Ugh... today is my day of not subjecting myself to the torture that is commuting down to DC. Sorry BlackBerry guy,.. not gonna happen.

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Being from Atlanta I thought traffic was bad, but heading to bwi from DC at 5pm on a Friday was the worst normal traffic I had ever seen.

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[app_Developer]

Being from Atlanta I thought traffic was bad, but heading to bwi from DC at 5pm on a Friday was the worst normal traffic I had ever seen.

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That's not even the worst we have to offer. Try heading out of the city at that time.

For that matter, I don't head in or out of the city and my 7 mile commute still take a good 45 min!

[laid-back]

That's not even the worst we have to offer. Try heading out of the city at that time.

For that matter, I don't head in or out of the city and my 7 mile commute still take a good 45 min!

gotta love the beltway...and the BW parkway...and the i95 and ..and...ah souvenirs souvenirs

[qwerty4ever]

Meanwhile in Canada, we didn't get our PRIV from shop BlackBerry still, ordered the device on October 23rd and just today they sent an email saying you will get it no later than November 24th. Very good BlackBerry, very good, only one month later.

Posted via CB10

I feel bad for those who pre-ordered the BlackBerry Priv. You were betrayed by BlackBerry regardless of the involvement by ShopBlackBerry and Digital River.

BlackBerry Priv with CrackBerry App for Android

[qwerty4ever]

gotta love the beltway...and the BW parkway...and the i95 and ..and...ah souvenirs souvenirs

A good argument favouring staggered work hours.

BlackBerry Priv with CrackBerry App for Android

[joeldf]

If they come down to South Louisiana, then I'll be impressed.

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[baldy3577]

Today I went to try to buy a PRIV outright to 2 stores (since my carrier Fido, doesnt carry it for some reason...which is unfortunate since I'm eligible for an upgrade and BlackBerry should be supported by all Canadian carriers) and then went with my girlfriend so she could replace her old iPhone (with a PRIV).

At the local Telus store, the PRIV wasn't on display and when I asked if they had it, they said they have a demo somewhere but asked me why do I want a crappy phone when an iPhone is much better or even a Motorola or LG. I said I'm loyal to Blackberry and want a PRIV. The sales guy went out back and came back and said he can't find the phone. Meanwhile, while I was waiting another customer came in wanting to buy a PRIV since his contract is up for renewal and he wants a Blackberry again because he hates his iPhone. The other sales guy proceeded to say "why would you buy a phone from a company that's going bankrupt. If you hate your iPhone, buy a MOTO X. It's made by Motorola....they've been around forever...they aren't going bankrupt...Much better build quality...". I chuckled and even my girlfriend laughed out loud a little as she knows BlackBerry isn't going anywhere and loved my Z10 and now my Z30. The customer said he wants the PRIV. That sales guy told him they don't have any and probably won't because it's up to the individual stores (official Telus store) which phones they carry and BlackBerry isn't a really a brand they carry because it's going under... meanwhile they had a LEAP, passport and classic on display, in the corner, with dead batteries.

Same sentiment was shared with me at the other 2 stores we went to. BlackBerry is going bankrupt and the phones suck, etc.

So the issue in regards to sales of BlackBerry devices isn't fully BlackBerry's fault, it's nourished by the vast majority of the uneducated and ignorant, sales staff that pushes iPhones and other brands and slanders BlackBerry, mainly, in my opinion, because of all the media propaganda and apple paying off reviewers online.

BlackBerry, You have a competitive device, but somehow need to convert the quite a bit of sheeple at the retail level if you want to grow (in my opinion). As a former Electronics retail manager, and former Best Buy Buyer Analyst at head office in Canada, and now director of a company I helped found, may I suggest that you offer sales spiffs (monetary incentives) to the retail sales staff (these are the people you need to convince and win over initially in order to be successful, not the end user). Whether $10 or more per device, plus a discount for staff on devices, and some actual training and HYPE so the staff feel excited about the product (from the original smartphone pioneer).

I apologise for the rant, but as a loyal customer since the first color screen BlackBerry device, it's frustrating to see BlackBerry losing ground to greedy corporations due to retail staff that are drinking the koolaid.

[sorinv]

This tells us Prev is selling like hell I remember when the Bold 9900 first came out I was at a best buy and there was a post set up just inside the door with a BlackBerry rep. answering questions and demoing the new device . Back to the Future .

Or that BlackBerry really wants an android BlackBerry phone to be successful, unlike what they did with z30 or the passport.
Wonder why?

[johnlen7]

We were blaming BlackBerry for not pulling out any Marketing. Atleast now they are trying, guess we should start appreciating em

[anon(9158709)]

We were blaming BlackBerry for not pulling out any Marketing. Atleast now they are trying, guess we should start appreciating em

True. They still need to launch TV ads and commercials.

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