[Techno-guy]

While there is merit to the arguments made by both sides (one cannot deny the technology and thought that appears to have gone into the making of the PRIV), one thing is true about the PRIV right now. The conversation is all about the price. This is bad because it takes the focus away from the true merits of the device, the added security, the fantastic keyboard, the BlackBerry Experience, and the fact that, heck, it is a BlackBerry running Android! An icon has entered the ring, but nobody can see it because everything and everyone is drowned out by a singular conversation about the price being too high.

It is this fact alone that speaks the truth, the truth that no matter which way you spin it or which side of the fence you sit on, BlackBerry got the price wrong. It is the only thing that anyone is talking about. Sadly, the worst enemy to the PRIV is BlackBerry itself, the commotion that they have created by pricing the PRIV in such a way that they caused it to be drowned out by its own existence.

VERY good analysis, OP. You hit the nail on the head. The Priv looks like a stellar phone but all the talk is about the price (which is not good).

There are now multiple articles about Blackberry pricing itself out of the market - by Fortune ("the Priv's price tag is absurd"), The Verge (price is "too much"), ZDNet ("whopping" price), Motley Fool ("the Priv may be priced entirely out of the consumer market"), Daily Sun Knoxville ("way too expensive"), and of course, this Forum. Many enthusiasts on this Forum seem to dismiss any publication that has anything negative to say about Blackberry, but the reality is that it will take market enthusiasm (starting with good press coverage) for the Priv to have any chance of being successful.

At a minimum, Blackberry has been horrendous at controlling the message, making virtually no effort to get the media focused on the virtues of the phone and selling why the pricing needs to be what it is. This is the problem with their strategy of not getting journalists to "buy in" by hosting a fabulous Launch Event for the phone. Companies need to control their message and, instead, Blackberry is letting the message about the phone ("too expensive") be set for them because of their foolish launch strategy.

I think Blackberry made a fatal (for hardware) error in pricing the Priv incorrectly for the mass market right out of the gate. You can never regain lost momentum after a phone is released - sales decrease pretty substantially after the initial first quarter. Time will tell but it seems so obvious to me at this point - others are clearly slower to come around!

[dejanh]

Give me a week with it at my favorite watering hole and a quarter of the people there will buy one.

I've sold a few Passports just using it there and that's with the app gap. Without it? Oh boy.

Posted via CB10

Maybe you should go work in BlackBerry sales then

You can never regain lost momentum after a phone is released - sales decrease pretty substantially after the initial first quarter. Time will tell but it seems so obvious to me at this point - others are clearly slower to come around!

Hence the reason why I was focusing on something needing to be done now, not in a month, but in the next week or two. The price has to become of secondary focus. Right now it's the only focus.

[TheBirdDog]

The price will be spot on. Someone here said that the fact that most people are only talking [complaining about] is the price and that is not good. I disagree. It is good. Let's not forget that "Priv" is short for not only 'privacy' but 'privilege' also. If people can't afford it, good! I'm one of them, actually. I could buy it but I don't think it's worth the amount of making it up to my wife afterward (I bought her a new laptop when I bought the Passport).

Why is it good that it's expensive? So expensive that some people are saying that this is the main reason they won't buy it even...? Because people want what they can't have all that much more. Why else? Because it's the one thing that BlackBerry can very easily change and, inevitably, they will. The early adopters will pay whatever price they ask because, for them, it doesn't matter about the price - they want it regardless. And the rest of us, if the device lives up to the hype, will want it even more. If it's as solid of a device and software as it looks, then it should be priced high. If it isn't, then it doesn't matter as it would fail regardless.

Again, the price is high RIGHT NOW. The price will come down and then... "Privilege" for all! There isn't anyone who brags about their new iPhone or Galaxy Edge because of how "affordable" it was. They brag because it's awesome. The price will change. If you want it now, you pay a premium. If you want to wait it out, the price will eventually come down. I don't understand the problem here. BlackBerry is being pretty transparent about the fact that you aren't just paying for a phone, you're paying for the Privilege to have said phone. If it doesn't seem fair, then wait until it does. Or don't.

Either way, BlackBerry isn't listening to you anymore. They just have to hold the course at this point.

[sportline]

No its high end device. Can't be priced as moto x or any other generic slabs.

Posted via CB10

[howarmat]

Great so we agree that the price come down quickly in like a month....and headlines like "BB android phone selling poorly, price cut by $150!"

[dejanh]

Great so we agree that the price come down quickly in like a month....and headlines like "BB android phone selling poorly, price cut by $150!"

Haha, I guess so

[Cynycl]

Clearly they aren't expensive enough if this is the enterprise prosumer they're so clearly focused on.

[Cynycl]

Chen's kid is in charge of marketing.

Nothing says prosumer like a Walmart tank top

[Gadget Fann]

I'll be honest - the price hurts a little. Seeing that $699+tax charge on my credit card statement stings a lot, but I look at it this way... I need a new phone, my other options are either very close to the Priv's price (Nexus 6P), significantly more expensive (Galaxy S6 Edge+) or not even on the market yet (Yotaphone 3) AND I desperately wanted an Android phone with a PKB and there aren't ANY other Android phones with a PKB being released now or in the foreseeable future.

I would have been a LOT happier paying $499 or $399 or whatever, but I was already prepared to pay more for a Samsung phone that I would have been less satisfied with, so Blackberry's price is fair IMO.

[islandp]

Price is not high! Average!. If you can't afford it, move to the side quietly and let those who can pay move forward.

[bb4ty]

Yes and no.

No. There is really nothing like the Priv in the market. Its specs, design and features are outstanding and industry-leading even if it does not run the latest iteration of Android. Imagine the security that BlackBerry brings to Android, slide-out keyboard and 2TB of external microSD storage! I thought there was a misprint when I read that it would support a 2TB card. Then there is Google Play apps at last. No more app-deficiency. Some folks would gladly pay more for such a phone. In a perfect marketplace where great products command great (read high) prices and consumers make rational rather than emotional choices when spending their currency, it would be well worth it. The Priv then would not be overpriced.

However, it is not a perfect marketplace and it is 2015, not 2006-2008 when BlackBerry was the supreme leader in such electronic devices. BlackBerry has fallen from its perch as industry leader and I want nothing more than for it to regain respectability and influence in the (hardware) industry, even if not being the industry supremo. Furthermore, times have changed and the person who builds the better mousetrap does not necessarily sell more mousetraps. It is not what it is but what people perceive it to be.

Apple (there, I said the name which I avoided saying for so long here in CrackBerry Forum) could release a new model for a phone which merely contains inconsequential technological improvement if at all and folks will clamor for it at almost any price. Apple can do no wrong according to such folks. BlackBerry does not have such luxury. It can release the greatest and most technologically advanced smartphone the planet has seen but the marketplace will ignore it and that is not entirely consumers� fault. BlackBerry does a lousy job marketing its products.

Yes, the Priv is overpriced considering BlackBerry�s current position in the industry and the challenges it faces. Yes, BlackBerry is a premium brand. However, there is nothing that says that premium brands cannot price their products super-competitively, especially a premium brand that is trying to regain its foothold in the industry. I disagree with those that say doing so will cheapen BlackBerry and that it would never recover from such assumed damage to its brand and image.

Despite it being an outstanding product, I would not now pay $699.00 for the Priv. I would definitely consider it if it was $549.00 or even $599.00. If I had not just bought the Passport SE a couple of months ago, I would definitely go for it at $599.00. At $699.00, I would consider other phones first before making a final decision. Yes, I know I would be giving up the security and productivity of a BlackBerry product if I went with another brand. I am starting to think that the security and productivity of a BlackBerry may be overrated among fans of its products. I count myself as a fan of BlackBerry. All the people I know who do not use BlackBerry products have not suffered any online calamity with their devices. Besides several PlayBooks, I own some Android tablets and Amazon Kindle tablets and none of them have been compromised by any virus or malware. At least, not that I am aware of.

I think all is not lost for BlackBerry and its hardware business if it is serious about saving it. One wonders, considering the apparent lack of good marketing for the Priv. Whatever marketing I have seen, I saw here at CrackBerry and I have not been impressed. One gave the impression of a pervert in the forest shadowing a target. Oh my, �Perv� or �Priv�?

I think BlackBerry can maintain its premium brand and image even if it prices its Priv very aggressively and makes little or no profit initially. Profits can come later. First and foremost, it needs to let the market know it still means business and that its hardware is still relevant and more importantly, superior to anything out there. It needs to tell the marketplace how it is still relevant and why its products are superior. It needs to get people excited about its products, not just aware. Excited people act. Aware people just say, �Oh, okay� and do nothing. The marketing I have seen so far for the Priv make people aware but it does not get them excited.

Get them excited. Invite those that left to come back home to BlackBerry. Invite those who have never tried BlackBerry to do so. Tell the world that Google Play apps are now available. Tell the world about its 18-megapixel rear camera and the 2TB storage card it can support. Tell them they can have a more secure Android phone under the BlackBerry name. Tell them they can have the virtual keyboard and an actual one. Tell them they can have the big 5.4 inch screen. Sell them on the heritage and reputation of BlackBerry, even if it faltered. People can be forgiving if they see that you are trying hard. Audi comes to mind. For a time, it was reputed to have faltered and made unreliable cars but today, it is a high-end brand with a great and prestigious reputation.

It is not enough to just have a superior product. Everybody likes a good deal. Therefore offer them a great deal! Great deals excite. BlackBerry missed the boat at launch but Thanksgiving and Christmas is coming up. A good excuse to offer deals. BlackBerry must give folks an incentive to come back or to try it for the first time. Lower the price during the festive season. $549.00? $499.00 maybe? So what if you don�t make money. The aim now should not be to make money but to get your devices into the hands of at least 5 million people (per John Chen�s goal of hardware sales). I believe vast benefits can be reaped from that if it is achieved. Nothing beats word of mouth promotion and that will happen if you get enough of these devices into people�s hands and they are excited about them.

Those sitting on the fence and those in a generous festive gift-giving mood may very well be coaxed to do so with a well-orchestrated and publicized promotion. At the current price, I do not believe the 5 million target can be reached. Mainly hardcore BlackBerry fans would buy them at this price. There are not enough rabid �CrackBerrians� who will come out to buy it in the next two months. If BlackBerry loses the opportunity now to get the market excited about the Priv, it might as well announce its departure from the hardware business.

I do not want that to happen but if it does, then I will have no qualms about taking advantage of the situation and getting a Priv at the then possibly bargain-basement price.

I know BlackBerry says its target market is not the mass consumer market but business, industry and government. That may be so but keep an open mind. With the introduction of Android into its product line and the elimination of the app gap, BlackBerry can now target mass consumers too. Perhaps it is already thinking that, considering the 18 megapixel camera it has on the Priv. Businesspersons, executives, industry leaders and government personnel have family and their families more likely than not are using Apple, Samsung or a host of other Android phones.

Hence, they may seek compatibility or uniformity and move away from BlackBerry despite the added security and productivity that BlackBerry offers. The security threat to non-BlackBerry devices may not be such a big concern and even if it is of some concern, more and more are willing to take the risk for the convenience and perception of better phones on platforms other than BlackBerry. Apple has partnered with IBM to target business, industry and government and Samsung has its Knox platform to sell to those concerned about security. There will inevitably be a smaller slice of enterprise and government for BlackBerry so it has to look to other avenues for growth of its hardware business. Android allows it to now go after the mass consumer market too and this should be seriously considered if it wants to remain in the hardware business. Enterprise and government will not be sufficient.

Good luck, BlackBerry. Go show them.