[ToniCipriani]

I'm amazed how some of you can hold two incommensurable ideas in your head at the same time:

"BB10 was great it failed due to lack of marketing"

"Its the right thing to do to launch the Priv with no marketing"

Because some really want the Priv to fail just so they can say "Android sucks, I told you BB10 was better".

[MO3iusONE]

Because some really want the Priv to fail just so they can say "Android sucks, I told you BB10 was better".

Well let's hope those fools are wrong.

[tomsobon]

This, budget is their reason not to do an event. They saving every penny

I understand Budget might be a concern, but, ONE video, with someone showing the device other than Chen, would have been nice, and wouldn't have cost much... my view...

[bluelights]

They are probably going to wait for the sales/promo from the carriers and if it seems to be taking off after the first few weeks they will then kick in more marketing and a launch event, probably going down the road of a soft launch at first.

[Uzi]

I understand Budget might be a concern, but, ONE video, with someone showing the device other than Chen, would have been nice, and wouldn't have cost much... my view...

Maybe today we gonna see video out

[ToniCipriani]

I understand Budget might be a concern, but, ONE video, with someone showing the device other than Chen, would have been nice, and wouldn't have cost much... my view...

[cgk]

Can anyone confirm for me - I've heard a rumour that John Chen told BBRY staff if they wanted to tweet to announce the launch they would have to pay for the data charges themselves?

[tomsobon]

yes thanks, but i was was referring to a video with someone talking maybe?

[bakron1]

It's 8AM EST and just checked the website and nothing for pre orders? I have sent at least 15 registration request and haven't had one official email telling me the Priv is ready for pre order???

For a company who wants to sell 5 million devices a year, I sure as hell don't see any effort to make it happen????

[bighap]

It's 8AM EST and just checked the website and nothing for pre orders? I have sent at least 15 registration request and haven't had one official email telling me the Priv is ready for pre order???

For a company who wants to sell 5 million devices a year, I sure as hell don't see any effort to make it happen????

Because it isn't ready to preorder. The only thing they have sent to those who registered, is a link to the hands on video from a week or so ago.

Posted via CB10

[cgk]

Because it isn't ready to preorder. The only thing they have sent to those who registered, is a link to the hands on video from a week or so ago.

Posted via CB10

So why does the COO think orders will go live today?

[6stringriffs]

I'm tired of waiting. I've already moved on. I ordered the Nexus 6P last night direct from Huawei's website.
$650 128GB, no tax, free shipping, Latest Android 6.0 & hell even bigger battery.

I can always get the BlackBerry Suites later.

[nomi1978]

I didn't even get the video sent to me and I did register on the site. Lacklustre effort for sure.

[bighap]

So why does the COO think orders will go live today?

They will. I'm just saying that no notification has been sent to those who registered for updates. You should never depend on those for real news anyway, as they are always late and or never send anything.

You can preorder today at some point from blackberry.com/privacyon

That is all that is known.

[totaldynamic]

I registered on that site in the UK too and Carphone Warehouse have had the phone up for a pre-order for a week now and I haven't been told by BlackBerry so I wouldn't hold out much hope elsewhere either!

[wilber1]

Why would BB hold a launch event? There's no point.

For one, they likely don't have the budget; for two, I keep reading posts here on CB from people happy to pay (seemingly) any amount for a Priv - sight unseen!

So why bother with a launch event?

BB don't need no stinkin' marketing... Never have, never will.

Maybe to introduce people to a new way for BlackBerry to get back in the market that does not read these forums at least Chen could have a short news clip even if its from a McDonald's somewhere .

[anon(5217564)]

What a mess, from management to marketing to logistic, nothing work smoothly.
Look at how Microsoft promote Lumia 950/XL compares to Blackberry, Windows 10 mobile is not even ready for market and still in beta. I suggest them to go hired some talents and put some budget to market their products.
From my view Blackberry phone represent super messaging device, security, productivity, they can promote the hub integrate with all social messenger, linkedin, facebook, instagram and email, make it a trend, a new business trend. I want everyone can their ads on TV, subway, etc...
Either they are thinking their products are not for consumers, or they are closing out this hardware business soon.

[Omnitech]

Money cannot be an excuse as they have bunch of it. Either someone wants it to fail or someone is clueless how these things work. Considering whole marketing department has been laid off you come up with your own conclusions.

First of all, their cash position might sound luxurious to you, but for a company their size in their situation, it's not much really. A large-scale smartphone advertising/marketing campaign could burn through the whole thing in a matter of months.

Which would be a really, really stupid move at this point.

The problem with the perspective of so many of the traditional BlackBerry fans is that they almost always assume it's all about the handsets. Well it hasn't been all about the handsets since BlackBerry announced a nearly $1 Billion dollar loss for the 3rd quarter of 2013 and laid off 4500 people. (And many more after that.)

The Priv at this point is a big gamble, and if BlackBerry tries to "shoot the moon" and fails (a very distinct possibility), it would quite likely cause the almost immediate demise of the company as anything remotely resembling the former entity. I don't blame Chen or the rest of the company's management a bit for not making such a dumb gamble.

If they get lucky (and they might), word of mouth and industry coverage will drive sales to the point of moderate success. And the media *will* cover it - they are still interested in what BlackBerry is doing, and this product has a particular draw because of what it represents to the company and because it is a truly unique product - rare in the Android world.

[wilber1]

I finally get what PREV stands for- Private Launch .

[Iggy City]

Think about this:

Even Amazon was able to CLEARY announce, price, and release their Fire phone (although it inevitably failed).

Guess where they failed at? Price. It was too expensive for what it offered.

Yeah I think I'll wait for the Priv fire sale very soon here haha.

[Omnitech]

I suggest them to go hired some talents and put some budget to market their products.
From my view Blackberry phone represent super messaging device, security, productivity, they can promote the hub integrate with all social messenger, linkedin, facebook, instagram and email, make it a trend, a new business trend. I want everyone can their ads on TV, subway, etc...

Take a look around here on the forums, there are threads discussing how BlackBerry apparently recently launched a bunch of social media accounts, apparently for that exact purpose.

As for blanketing ads all over the physical world and television, I wouldn't get your hopes up on that, especially in costly advertising markets like US/Europe. That costs a ridiculous amount of money to do, money that BlackBerry either doesn't have or cannot afford to spend.

[dejanh]

I'm amazed how some of you can hold two incommensurable ideas in your head at the same time:

"BB10 was great it failed due to lack of marketing"

"Its the right thing to do to launch the Priv with no marketing"

They are suffering from cognitive dissonance.

[Techno-guy]

I'm confused by a number of posters saying Blackberry doesn't have the financial resources to accomplish a launch. They are sitting on $3 billion in cash. Other than renting the room and having some snacks for the press and fans, what major launch event cost is everyone talking about which is not more than a rounding error in their $3 billion in cash?

They could do it in Waterloo and save employee travel costs or spend a few bucks on airfare to send their senior team to New York to get a much bigger bang for the buck. I can't imagine costs exceeding $100,000 for a Launch Event to introduce the Priv and to get the tech press excited about writing about it. It would pay off in spades. If they sell 5 million Privs in year one like their goal, that's $3.5 billion in revenue against an immensely small cost to get people excited about the phone.

Perplexing, to say the least. Seems like more excuses if you ask me.

[ToniCipriani]

I'm confused by a number of posters saying Blackberry doesn't have the financial resources to accomplish a launch. They are sitting on $3 billion in cash. Other than renting the room and having some snacks for the press and fans, what major launch event cost is everyone talking about which is not more than a rounding error in their $3 billion in cash?

They could do it in Waterloo and save employee travel costs or spend a few bucks on airfare to send their senior team to New York to get a much bigger bang for the buck. I can't imagine costs exceeding $100,000 for a Launch Event to introduce the Priv and to get the tech press excited about writing about it. It would pay off in spades. If they sell 5 million Privs in year one like their goal, that's $3.5 billion in revenue against an immensely small cost to get people excited about the phone.

Perplexing, to say the least. Seems like more excuses if you ask me.

They have the money as a company, but not necessarily budgeted for the hardware division.

[chardz3]

My biggest concern is the lack of any actual hands on reviews of the Priv given the stigma that BlackBerry is trying to shake. This could be the biggest reason for if this phone doesn't succeed. Not price. Not specs. But the fact that none of the big tech websites have had an actual hands on with the phone yet to let people know that this phone is in fact worth dropping that much money on it.