If you were BlackBerry,.. what 'size' order would you place for the Venice?

Seems like there's a fair amount of hype and actual acceptance towards BlackBerry's swing at the Android world. It would be painful to sour any of it by having supply issues that could drag on for weeks,.. but at the same time you don't want to risk a huge unsold inventory.

I imagine it's easy for Apple and Samsung,.. they probably just max out their manufacturing partners for a few months... but BlackBerry has been burned badly in the past with terrible miscalculations of demand for their first gen products (i.e. The Z10).

I know there are commitments from carriers that set some of the numbers, but at the end of the day the company is the one that makes the overall call.

So... how would you approach the Venice? And... is the general consensus here that they will most likely screw it up?

Posted via CB10

That's going to be key.
I have no idea, but I hope they play it right.

How was the "inventory game" with the Passport and Classic?
Did the over produce relative to the demand, or are they ok?

 Frosty White Q10/10.3.2.2639 CB10 

Yeah... this is a hard decision. I hope they get it right!

Honestly, they should swing for the fences with this one. They can't pull a Passport Launch and have people waiting for a month to get the device because it is back-ordered.

What would be smart is to announce the damn thing and start some sort of pre-order bundle. It's going to be difficult to guess how much stock the carriers are going to move but having some sort of pre-order bundle would just make too much sense. Then they could at least manufacture an 'X' number of extra units for the launch to cover everyone's advanced purchases.

I also feel like pre-sales have some sort of psychological boost to hype up products even more. This thing already has a great deal of hype with people who know about it but in the real-world, this device doesn't even exist yet.

Originally Posted by TheBirdDog

Honestly, they should swing for the fences with this one. They can't pull a Passport Launch and have people waiting for a month to get the device because it is back-ordered.

What would be smart is to announce the damn thing and start some sort of pre-order bundle. It's going to be difficult to guess how much stock the carriers are going to move but having some sort of pre-order bundle would just make too much sense. Then they could at least manufacture an 'X' number of extra units for the launch to cover everyone's advanced purchases.

I also feel like pre-sales have some sort of psychological boost to hype up products even more. This thing already has a great deal of hype with people who know about it but in the real-world, this device doesn't even exist yet.

Some devices in Canada get a preorder page. iPhones sometimes have it, and other devices got the same treatment.

Would be a good way to gauge how many they'll need.

Dealers in my locality said that the first batch of Passport silver edition (supplied by the end of August) could cover only 10% demand (pre-ordered quantity).

Posted via CB10/BB PP SE.

I would go with about 2 million the first month and see the reception.

It's not uncommon for iphones not to be available on release. Not sure if they do this as a marketing ploy. A lot of must have gadgets especially around Christmas time seem to have if you don't get one now you might not get one thing going on even though I feel sure there are warehouses full of them. Makes people buy at top dollar.

Posted by Passport on bb10 but not sure for how much longer!

Just call every order a pre-order so that there's never really a back-order...

It's fine to make people wait and keep production steady, just as long as shipping estimates are upfront and correct or with times that can be beat.

A couple of years ago, I bought a Macbook Air with 8 GB of RAM. 8 GB of RAM was a "custom order". None in stock and the estimate they gave me was something like 6-8 weeks. They delivered in one week, probably because it was just a matter of moving stock. If I wanted it, what choice do I have?

All the other manufacturers have released their flagships so there's nothing that's going to sweep in and capture sales. Those that want the Slider have already seen the other options.

I'd start with 1 million.

At worst, I think BlackBerry could expect sales approximately on a par with the Passport. At best, the 1m will shift in a month or less which would probably give them about enough time to ramp up production.

Posted via CB10

350K minimum, with option for another 300K

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by dusanvn

Dealers in my locality said that the first batch of Passport silver edition (supplied by the end of August) could cover only 10% demand (pre-ordered quantity).

Posted via CB10/BB PP SE.

That's good to hear, one way. Sad the other.

A more cashed-up BBRY would probably be able to make more, sell more and therefore earn more. Needs money to make money... :-)

�   Leakers' gonna leak... :-)   �

Originally Posted by AWB70

It's not uncommon for iphones not to be available on release. Not sure if they do this as a marketing ploy. A lot of must have gadgets especially around Christmas time seem to have if you don't get one now you might not get one thing going on even though I feel sure there are warehouses full of them. Makes people buy at top dollar.

Posted by Passport on bb10 but not sure for how much longer!

Yeah, but... people seem to be willing to wait for iPhones for an unusual amount of time. I don't know if those that, after finally convincing themselves to give the Slider a shot despite their skepticism, would be willing to wait for it too long. Most would probably just shrug their shoulders and say something like 'Eh, I was kinda worried about it anyway, it's probably a sign that I shouldn't get it,.. so I got the S6 Edge + instead'.

Posted via CB10

Whatever the amount I hope we don't run into a situation where its out of stock after 24 hours and people have to wait a month to order one. I would think at least 1 million would be a safe number.

Originally Posted by TheBirdDog

Honestly, they should swing for the fences with this one. They can't pull a Passport Launch and have people waiting for a month to get the device because it is back-ordered.

What would be smart is to announce the damn thing and start some sort of pre-order bundle. It's going to be difficult to guess how much stock the carriers are going to move but having some sort of pre-order bundle would just make too much sense. Then they could at least manufacture an 'X' number of extra units for the launch to cover everyone's advanced purchases.

I also feel like pre-sales have some sort of psychological boost to hype up products even more. This thing already has a great deal of hype with people who know about it but in the real-world, this device doesn't even exist yet.

Might be a good idea, but don't turn it into the OnePlus fiasco.

I would set up a pre-order with a small discount, then use that number (and their in-house algorithms) to estimate the numbers of units required. I think this is a massively interesting question. And I'm sure manufacturers employ a lot of resources to make that gustimate BUT i do recall the Z10 fiasco, however was that not because people simply didn't like or appreciate the product? I really hope we dont see a big wait-list !!!

Originally Posted by mmmmm127

I would set up a pre-order with a small discount, then use that number (and their in-house algorithms) to estimate the numbers of units required. I think this is a massively interesting question. And I'm sure manufacturers employ a lot of resources to make that gustimate BUT i do recall the Z10 fiasco, however was that not because people simply didn't like or appreciate the product? I really hope we dont see a big wait-list !!!

A pre order sounds good in theory, but... how quickly can they respond to it? Or conversely, how far ahead of an expected ship date can they start a pre order without turning off people from pre ordering?

Posted via CB10

Would be great if they can come up with just one model that can work on all carriers like the Moto X did.

Then that can help them with inventory in case they need to move stock from one place to another if it's working out better in one place.

 Frosty White Q10/10.3.2.2639 CB10 

Originally Posted by TheBirdDog

Honestly, they should swing for the fences with this one. They can't pull a Passport Launch and have people waiting for a month to get the device because it is back-ordered.

What would be smart is to announce the damn thing and start some sort of pre-order bundle. It's going to be difficult to guess how much stock the carriers are going to move but having some sort of pre-order bundle would just make too much sense. Then they could at least manufacture an 'X' number of extra units for the launch to cover everyone's advanced purchases.

I also feel like pre-sales have some sort of psychological boost to hype up products even more. This thing already has a great deal of hype with people who know about it but in the real-world, this device doesn't even exist yet.

Awesome $200 sliders in about 4 months after launch!

Posted via Z30

One million dollars. Oh wait, you mean quantity. Then I'd say one million dollars.

Brought to you by...My sweet Passport