[_dimi_]

They don't need to sell 5 million PRIV's.. the target was set for their entire hardware division. I bet they're still selling 700 to 800 thousand BB10 devices per quarter.. for how long is anyones guess, but it will (again) buy them some time to improve their carrier support/marketing/Android security etc...

Posted via CB10

[cbvinh]

Let's be precise about this, there are no carrier sales in the UK, The problem with "well its been on pre-order with Carphone Warehouse" is that CPW have a pretty s**ty rep so some people would have avoided them because of the games they play.

Even if we accept that CPW will have soaked up a lot, I really cannot see how 160 sales on the website in nearly two days can be spun as anything but pretty terrible.

It's getting into pretty desperate stuff to pretend otherwise - in the past because we haven't been able to get these numbers people have been able to say "oh man, I bet the passport sold thousands on its first day!" but here we have numbers - so yeah the carrier sales are obviously going to be higher but if this phone are as hyped as people claimed... 160?

BlackBerry needs carrier sales to exceed ShopBlackBerry online sales, which may have led to the price difference between carriers and ShopBlackBerry. If ShopBlackBerry sales fulfill existing demand, then what incentive does a carrier have to carry BlackBerry devices in-store, which in turn reduces possible consumer sales from people who might buy the PRIV but need to see one in person first? BlackBerry went to direct online sales because carriers were carrying fewer and fewer to no BlackBerry phones. Now, with carriers on board, BlackBerry needs to show that there is demand at carrier stores to keep carriers interested. So, very soft launch for ShopBlackBerry and launch with carriers in various regions...

(What I hope by this is that U.S. carriers will have the PRIV at a much more reasonable $599 USD.)

[cgk]

They don't need to sell 5 million PRIV's.. the target was set for their entire hardware division. I bet they're still selling 700 to 800 thousand BB10 devices per quarter.. for how long is anyones guess, but it will (again) buy them some time to improve their carrier support/marketing/Android security etc...

Posted via CB10

The only thing I'd note is that number used to be 10 million when it was BB10 only - which shows you a) BB10 is dead and b) how much more cost effective Android *could* be for them

BlackBerry needs carrier sales to exceed ShopBlackBerry online sales, which may have led to the price difference between carriers and ShopBlackBerry. If ShopBlackBerry sales fulfill existing demand, then what incentive does a carrier have to carry BlackBerry devices in-store, which in turn reduces possible consumer sales from people who might buy the PRIV but need to see one in person first? BlackBerry went to direct online sales because carriers were carrying fewer and fewer to no BlackBerry phones. Now, with carriers on board, BlackBerry needs to show that there is demand at carrier stores to keep carriers interested. So, very soft launch for ShopBlackBerry and launch with carriers in various regions...

(What I hope by this is that U.S. carriers will have the PRIV at a much more reasonable $599 USD.)

Dude you are talking of about $5000 of revenue - it's a rounding error on the coffee budget.

[FF22]

Oh man that old scam "Wow, demand was so high it sold out in X hours!"





So in six hours they had 206 orders?

Oh, and Apple's newest had, what a 1000 or 10,000 times that! Well, it shall be interesting that's for sure.

[cgk]

Oh, and Apple's newest had, what a 1000 or 10,000 times that! Well, it shall be interesting that's for sure.

Well the problem is (and I didn't anticipate it myself) - even with tiny numbers they didn't em.. sell out.

[_dimi_]

The only thing I'd note is that number used to be 10 million when it was BB10 only - which shows you a) BB10 is dead and b) how much more cost effective Android *could* be for them

As long as BB10 outshines PRIV in security, they should continue developing BB10. I don't know if the 10 million target is valid anymore as I find the difference with a target of 5 million a bit difficult to accept, knowing that it would still be an unknown combination of sales (and thus costs for components) coming from two different platforms . Anyway, I think JC has made clear that he won't follow the race to the bottom for either of the two platforms. Because that's the downside, especially with Android. You can sell tens of millions, but still lose money in the end.

Posted via CB10

[_dimi_]

Well the problem is (and I didn't anticipate it myself) - even with tiny numbers they didn't em.. sell out.

You mean they didn't require someone to virtually 'recharge' with another 1000 devices available for pre-order....? Come on, you should know better than that. Go to Google trends and compare the BlackBerry Priv to HTC One M8, HTC One M9 , Google Nexus 6, Microsoft Lumia 640 etc.. Priv will get the carrier support that the Passport never really got. Concluding weak sales based on direct pre-order sales numbers that you believe to be seeing.... Good luck.

Posted via CB10

[cbvinh]

Dude you are talking of about $5000 of revenue - it's a rounding error on the coffee budget.

It's a soft launch for fans who have no problem trusting that the PRIV will be of the quality they're expecting. There aren't many people buying on blind faith like that. Everyone is waiting for reviews...

[guygardner73]

Sure the fact that in the UK, they are selling about 5 an hour on a pre-order means nothing... nothing at all. It demonstrates the strength of the loyal fanbase.

I predict sales in their millions.

Since most UK customers will be grabbing it from CPW on contract and most UK customers don't know that shopblackberry even exists, it's quite impressive.

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2639 O2 UK

[DetritalGeo]

Not a week sooner. Nov 6 looks to be the official date for all carriers.

Well, as the 6th is a Friday, it would be likely a local purchase would be 3-4 days sooner than waiting for the delivery from ShopBB..

Posted via CB10

[nward2010]

Interesting article from Android Headlines :

http://www.androidheadlines.com/2015...medium=twitter

RED  Q5 SQR100-2/10.3.2.2789 on Telus

[cbvinh]

Interesting article from Android Headlines :

Android Headliner: BlackBerry Priv Set Up to Fail, Already | Androidheadlines.com

Article says the PRIV is *cheaper* than other flagships but will fail because the other flagships have carrier financing available to make them affordable. This is where BlackBerry, hopefully, has fixed things: carrier relationships. They need to do the launch with carrier 2/3 year contract pricing like Apple does. The iPhone 6s is "only" $199 USD according to Apple, not the $679 USD to buy outright. Priced to fail without financing, but priced competitively according to an Android site. Why are CrackBerrians so off on what's competitively priced?

[Chuck Finley69]

Article says the PRIV is *cheaper* than other flagships but will fail because the other flagships have carrier financing available to make them affordable. This is where BlackBerry, hopefully, has fixed things: carrier relationships. They need to do the launch with carrier 2/3 year contract pricing like Apple does. The iPhone 6s is "only" $199 USD according to Apple, not the $679 USD to buy outright. Priced to fail without financing, but priced competitively according to an Android site. Why are CrackBerrians so off on what's competitively priced?

That's on BS carrier subsidized pricing which is a ripoff compared to new carrier pricing based on time payments.

Posted via CB10

[cgk]

Since most UK customers will be grabbing it from CPW on contract and most UK customers don't know that shopblackberry even exists, it's quite impressive.

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2639 O2 UK

As mentioned above - we will know either way after the first full quarter.

[Benjamin Black]

Both PC World and the Verge issued articles about the Priv's availability. Fortune magazine released an 'article' that was critical of the launch pricing.

So, it's not just people who subscribe to Marty Beard's Twitter feed that know the Priv is available for order. There will be plenty of people waiting for comprehensive unbiased (not CrackBerry or other BlackBerry fan sites) reviews, so when those start coming out, if they're positive there will probably be an uptick in sales.

If they're not positive, well, patience is a virtue that will pay off with clearance prices on the Slider, within a few months.

I think it's really foreboding sign that they went live with the preorder prior to lifting the media blackout. Whenever a movie comes out with a media blackout until after the release date, what does that usually mean? This coupled with the fact that we have seen virtually nothing demonstrated regarding the software makes me very worried about this device.

Posted via BlackBerry Passport Silver Edition

[guygardner73]

As mentioned above - we will know either way after the first full quarter.

Will we? We'll know how well it sold but not whether UK customers bought it from CPW, clove, or shopbb or carriers. You'd have to dig pretty deep for that info.

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2639 O2 UK

[cbvinh]

I think it's really foreboding sign that they went live with the preorder prior to lifting the media blackout. Whenever a movie comes out with a media blackout until after the release date, what does that usually mean? This coupled with the fact that we have seen virtually nothing demonstrated regarding the software makes me very worried about this device.

You've never seen Android? Or BB10? 'cause it'll most likely be a mash-up of the two. If you're worried, don't pre-order. How many people do you think they'll "trick" into buying it before reviews anyway? Enough to make any significance?

[cgk]

Will we? We'll know how well it sold but not whether UK customers bought it from CPW, clove, or shopbb or carriers. You'd have to dig pretty deep for that info.

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2639 O2 UK

No I mean the more general argument of "is there any real interest in this phone?" - we'll never know the actual breakdown but if in its first full quarter we see say less than 500,000... well that will be it. Because with no new BB10 devices, declining sales of the aging BB10 devices left on the market, the Priv has to hit about 1.1 million to hit that five million target.

Now someone might say "ah but other devices might arrive" - they might but they don't currently exist and Chen gave broadly a year time scale to decide to pull the plug (although I don't think its really a year) and so it all rests on Priv.

I'm actually more undecided on if it will be a flop or not than some of my posts might appear - on the one hand, we have the usual inept BBRY marketing and promotional activity that is in line with previous flops and also given Blackberry's very low brand equity with consumers the price (even on contract) is a problem.

On the other, maybe some of you are right and there is this untapped demand for a slider keyboard android phone that some of us aren't seeing. However I think that is also an unknown to BBRY as well - this is simply a gamble based on repositioning and re-purposing a design that was clearly meant to be a BB10 handset before they pulled the plug on BB10 as going concern rather than a security update only zombie.

[guygardner73]

No I mean the more general argument of "is there any real interest in this phone?" - we'll never know the actual breakdown but if in its first full quarter we see say less than 500,000... well that will be it. Because with no new BB10 devices, declining sales of the aging BB10 devices left on the market, the Priv has to hit about 1.1 million to hit that five million target.

Now someone might say "ah but other devices might arrive" - they might but they don't currently exist and Chen gave broadly a year time scale to decide to pull the plug (although I don't think its really a year) and so it all rests on Priv.

I agree. Unfortunately, by indicating that BlackBerry 10 is done, there won't be many of those sales. It literally does all rest on the Priv. Hopefully, the 5 million figure is a little flexible. If they sell 4.5 million for example, will that be good enough to ensure continued hardware? I've given up trying to figure out the reasons behind a lot of the things they say or do. I do think there's a lot of people who are delaying their purchase to see if it drops in price or comes in a different colour or an all touch version etc.

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2639 O2 UK

[cgk]

Might be actually useful if they committed to a 6.0 update - which people are guessing will happen but the certainty would be reassuring.

[JeepBB]

Well the problem is (and I didn't anticipate it myself) - even with tiny numbers they didn't em.. sell out.

Yes, I'm surprised at how sluggish it all is too.

I was pretty sure that the "buy at any price" posters I've seen hereabouts, plus the "hmm, interesting form-factor" Android high-rollers would make the Priv a relatively good seller for BB.

I'm guessing the high price is acting as more of a deterrent than I initially thought.

Starting to doubt that first quarters "good" sales figures made up of Priv + BB10 last gasp sales + BBOS holdouts are going to happen.

[sorinv]

It's makes no sense for Canadians to order it from ShopBB. They can get it a week sooner and $100 less from their carriers

Posted via CB10

But it is locked to the carrier.
That's not worth the 50 dollars you save. I can lose that in one day of travelling abroad on a Rogers travel pack instead of buying a local simcard and having unlimited data for a month for that price.

[RubenDM]

To bad for them.
They can't expect to sell big time if only die hards know it's available...

Posted via CB10

[ToniCipriani]

But it is locked to the carrier.
That's not worth the 50 dollars you save. I can lose that in one day of travelling abroad on a Rogers travel pack instead of buying a local simcard and having unlimited data for a month for that price.

It's $100 less, $50 (at most) to unlock it. Rogers has to unlock it the day you buy it if you pay outright. So you're still saving $50 and have an unlocked phone.

Only possible downside is carrier-locked system updates.

[sorinv]

But it is locked to the carrier.
That's not worth the 50 dollars you save. I can lose that in one day of travelling abroad on a Rogers travel pack instead of buying a local simcard and having unlimited data for a month for that price.

There was a lot more excitement on Crackberry when the Passport came out and certainly it was sold out in the first day on shopblackberry.com. Supposedly the batch was 200k Passports.
Bb10 is NOT why BlackBerry phones do not sell. It's the marketing of the brand and the uncertainty that some of the CEO's statements, Heins' and Chen's have created.