[ToniCipriani]

As titled, take this with a HUGE grain of salt. 1.2k+ comments on /r/android, this one caught my eye:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/com...kberry/cw2ila3

Better order them while you can. Less than 500k part ordered with a 22 week lead time for more. No clue why Chen set up this phone to fail hard.

[Alain_A]

Wow, that's too many...Lol

[Joao Oliveira]

As titled, take this with a HUGE grain of salt. 1.2k+ comments on /r/android, this one caught my eye:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/com...kberry/cw2ila3

Doesn't sound right. So Chen wants to sell 5 milion a year, and only ships half million for the first half year? Even the passport sold more than that,

Maybe that guy on reddit is just being sarcastic

[A_Aviator_A]

The first thing you do when bleeding cash is to put direct efforts into inventory management. He may want to sell 5million phones per year, but paying suppliers for millions of phones and then locking them up in a warehouse until they're sold ties up allot of equity, which BB doesn't have.


Assuming this rumor is true, it makes sense.

[Bluenoser63]

Doesn't sound right. So Chen wants to sell 5 milion a year, and only ships half million for the first half year? Even the passport sold more than that,

Maybe that guy on reddit is just being sarcastic

Truth is what I have been saying. Chen does not want to make hardware. He doesn't understand it and wants out. So he will make a half hearted attempt with the Priv and when it fails, he will say. "See. I couldn't make it so I am out". He has done everything in his power to make BB10 fail and now the Priv. When I traveled though the states and showed them my Z30, they had no clue that BlackBerry 1. Still made phones or 2. Make a full touch device.

Now with the limited volume and high price and the Chen saying it's as good as the KNOX, he has setup the Priv to fail to get what he wants.

[Joao Oliveira]

Truth is what I have been saying. Chen does not want to make hardware. He doesn't understand it and wants out. So he will make a half hearted attempt with the Priv and when it fails, he will say. "See. I couldn't make it so I am out". He has done everything in his power to make BB10 fail and now the Priv. When I traveled though the states and showed them my Z30, they had no clue that BlackBerry 1. Still made phones or 2. Make a full touch device.

Now with the limited volume and high price and the Chen saying it's as good as the KNOX, he has setup the Priv to fail to get what he wants.

Remove that tinfoil hat mate.... if he wanted to quit hardware, he would just cut it. Why would he wast his money on hardware to fail on purpose when he could spend it in it's "loved" software as you say... You're saying the CEO is sabotaging the company lol

[anon(679606)]

Maybe they ran out'a horses to make'da glue so they will pack the rest as kits you assemble & tell purchasers to get superglue sticks at the dollar store for that...

Posted via CB10

[Joao Oliveira]

The first thing you do when bleeding cash is to put direct efforts into inventory management. He may want to sell 5million phones per year, but paying suppliers for millions of phones and then locking them up in a warehouse until they're sold ties up allot of equity, which BB doesn't have.


Assuming this rumor is true, it makes sense.

How about the 22 week lead time? that doesn't make sense. Is that lead time, the time for the next batch of phones? Because by 22 weeks, many other cool and newer smartphones came out.

[yessuz]

The first thing you do when bleeding cash is to put direct efforts into inventory management. He may want to sell 5million phones per year, but paying suppliers for millions of phones and then locking them up in a warehouse until they're sold ties up allot of equity, which BB doesn't have.


Assuming this rumor is true, it makes sense.

With 6 consecutive quarters of "positive cash flow" the term "bleeding cash" doesn't sound right to me

Posted via CB10

[A_Aviator_A]

How about the 22 week lead time? that doesn't make sense. Is that lead time, the time for the next batch of phones? Because by 22 weeks, many other cool and newer smartphones came out.

True, you miss the opportunity to go after the euphoric consumers who jump in, but those sales aren't guaranteed to begin with. I'm certain they adopted the same strategy as with the passport, tight inventory controls and an action plan for delivering further units to market if necessary.

Remember, assuming they make 1 million units at a wholesale cost of 300 per unit, they still have to cut check to their suppliers for 300 million without guarantee that the market will take up those phones. Remember the great playbook writeoff of a few years back, pennies on the dollar?
People say that Chen hates hardware, Im pretty sure he just hates the write-downs on it.

[A_Aviator_A]

With 6 consecutive quarters of "positive cash flow" the term "bleeding cash" doesn't sound right to me

Posted via CB10

Then lets go with the 800K BB10 units moved last quarter and what its costing them to stack the remaining BB10 hardware up on their shelves.

[anon(679606)]

Chen hates hardware because he doesn't know how to use it...

Posted via CB10

[anon(679606)]

Playbook went down like Touchpad... great devices, no marketing...

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[wilber1]

The first thing you do when bleeding cash is to put direct efforts into inventory management. He may want to sell 5million phones per year, but paying suppliers for millions of phones and then locking them up in a warehouse until they're sold ties up allot of equity, which BB doesn't have.


Assuming this rumor is true, it makes sense.

You are right Heinz made this mistake with the Z produced way too many .Do people Really think Chen wants hand sets to fail ? he wants/has to make money on them .

[Xadion]

Remove that tinfoil hat mate.... if he wanted to quit hardware, he would just cut it. Why would he wast his money on hardware to fail on purpose when he could spend it in it's "loved" software as you say... You're saying the CEO is sabotaging the company lol

It's not tinfoil..its truth... look at Leo @ HP- he learned that you just can "up and cut" something like this. He has to "try" and then say "oh well..." because of many politic reasons.

It's a huge multi year plan, back office deals... he is there to essentially she'd BlackBerry to software while also tanking the stock to a deal for buyout. You can't just do that quickly without getting into regulatory trouble...

All for our SAP overlords.

Posted via CB10

[lawguyman]

Inventory risk is no longer on BlackBerry. It is on the manufacturer, whoever that may be.

BlackBerry had shopped the phone to the carriers. Carriers have placed orders. BlackBerry will manufacture enough to fill the orders.

Who knows how many were ordered by the carriers? Who knows if the carriers underestimated or overestimated the demand? Big questions.


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[Bluenoser63]

Remove that tinfoil hat mate.... if he wanted to quit hardware, he would just cut it. Why would he wast his money on hardware to fail on purpose when he could spend it in it's "loved" software as you say... You're saying the CEO is sabotaging the company lol

No. He can't just quit like that. That would be suicide for the company. He is transitioning BlackBerry to no phones buy getting people comfortable with BlackBerry Android phones like the equal as he says Android. Then he thinks he can just stop production after 12-18 months and just sell software and tell people to buy other companies phones and put BlackBerry stuff on them.

[muhlan]

As titled, take this with a HUGE grain of salt. 1.2k+ comments on /r/android, this one caught my eye:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/com...kberry/cw2ila3

22 weeks lead time? Really? Hard to believe that any phone would take 22 weeks to be produced in huge numbers. So just another BS rumor

Posted via CB10

[A_Aviator_A]

Inventory risk is no longer on BlackBerry. It is on the manufacturer, whoever that may be.
Posted via CB10

Do you have a source on this? It doesn't make sense to me, BB orders the phones and attempts to market them but if they don't sell, the supplier will pay for the cost of the write-offs?

[lawguyman]

No. He can't just quit like that. That would be suicide for the company. He is transitioning BlackBerry to no phones buy getting people comfortable with BlackBerry Android phones like the equal as he says Android. Then he thinks he can just stop production after 12-18 months and just sell software and tell people to buy other companies phones and put BlackBerry stuff on them.

BlackBerry still gets over 40% of its revenue from smartphones. Get real.

Posted via CB10

[conite]

No. He can't just quit like that. That would be suicide for the company. He is transitioning BlackBerry to no phones buy getting people comfortable with BlackBerry Android phones like the equal as he says Android. Then he thinks he can just stop production after 12-18 months and just sell software and tell people to buy other companies phones and put BlackBerry stuff on them.

While I agree that Chen would probably be OK with licensing the keyboard and selling the BlackBerry Experience Suite after he can establish value for it, I'm sure he'd be very happy if the Priv does well in its own right. He would not walk away from a potential revenue source like that. There is a real opportunity here for his handset business - unlike anything he ever had with BB10 devices.

PassportSQW100-4/10.3.2.2789

[lawguyman]

Do you have a source on this? It doesn't make sense to me, BB orders the phones and attempts to market them but if they don't sell, the supplier will pay for the cost of the write-offs?

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9BN02Q20131224

Posted via CB10

[Joao Oliveira]

True, you miss the opportunity to go after the euphoric consumers who jump in, but those sales aren't guaranteed to begin with. I'm certain they adopted the same strategy as with the passport, tight inventory controls and an action plan for delivering further units to market if necessary.

Remember, assuming they make 1 million units at a wholesale cost of 300 per unit, they still have to cut check to their suppliers for 300 million without guarantee that the market will take up those phones. Remember the great playbook writeoff of a few years back, pennies on the dollar?
People say that Chen hates hardware, Im pretty sure he just hates the write-downs on it.

I don't know if you know it, but 22 weeks it's almost half an year. So you want to sell 5million in 1 year, you only make 500k for the first half, then you expect to sell 4.5 million for the rest of the year when the phone isn't novelty anymore.

I don't buy this rumour.

[Bluenoser63]

BlackBerry still gets over 40% of its revenue from smartphones. Get real.

Posted via CB10

It may get 40% of it's revenue, but they are losing money on them. This is also why Chen is doing this strategy and can't just cut and run. He has to do a controlled failure to accomplish what he wants. In two years, BlackBerry will no longer be making hardware.

[anon(679606)]

Do you have a source on this? It doesn't make sense to me, BB orders the phones and attempts to market them but if they don't sell, the supplier will pay for the cost of the write-offs?

No wonder they use cheap glue...

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