[BBBHonest]

This is more of an open question. I would very much like to know how other people feel about the negative culture surrounding BlackBerry, resulting both from the media hate campaign, the high percentage of shorted company stock, as well as the fact that BlackBerry let itself go before releasing BB10.

Owning the Z10 myself, I feel confident in saying that BlackBerry got the hardware and software side of things absolutely right. They definitely misjudged the cultural conception of BlackBerry though, and foolishly thought that they could expect people to care when BB10 was released. They seem to have got the point now, and are making some effort, but the major operation to be undertaken now is clearly to change the way people view BlackBerry. It just isn't super cool to own a BlackBerry right now, and it is much easier to join the anti BlackBerry bandwagon. So, how to fix this? I have my own views but would like to hear from others...

How can BlackBerry get people to take the leap back?

How can BlackBerry address the awful sales work they are getting from in store staff who are actively discouraging people from buying BlackBerry?

How can BlackBerry capitalise on the cross platform release of BBM in the run up to the Christmas season?

Any other thoughts are very welcome!

Posted via CB10

[vgorous]

Downtown Toronto. Its become quite big here in the business sector. Which is how it should be. No kids allowed... BlackBerry users are money makers.

Posted via CB10

[njblackberry]

No kids allowed. Perfect answer.
Isn't that what got them into this predicament in the first place? Who needs apps. "Money makers" don't want them.

Please don't suggest this to Frank.

[anon(5624621)]

I agree OP. It makes me sad.

Posted via CB10

[illlya]

No kids, no sales

Posted via White Z10

[BBBHonest]

Yes, I do agree. BlackBerry must look beyond the business crowd, who have clearly started looking beyond BlackBerry. Like many of you, I would be quite happy if I were the only one who owned a Z10. I'm not really a bandwagon person like many of the Apple iPhone folks, but in order to survive, BlackBerry must be able to hit both targets. I think they can do this, and have done the hard part already. The phones are brilliant.

I think the best move for now is to price the phones just below the Iphones and Galaxys, market them well, and let BMM win people back to the brand. Nothing beats BBM, and there is huge potential for the upcoming release to bring people back to the brand, while the reputation of the phones spreads by word of mouth.

Posted via CB10

[SK122387]

"Cool" is relative. What's cool to me might not be cool to you..

I never bought a BlackBerry because I thought it would make me look cool. During the years where everyone got an iPhone, I continued to buy BlackBerrys.

While it seems that everyone has an iPhone now, I think this has taken away it's "cool" factor. Do young people want the same phone their parents and grandparents have? I was 19 when I got my first BlackBerry, and at the time, I only saw older people with them. That changed with the Curve 83xx, which was the phone that everyone seemed to have. It worked the opposite of iPhone, where young people had them first, then the "old" people caught on.

There hasn't been a phone that I can think of since the BlackBerry that worked like that, where something older people had became cool for young people, and I don't see it ever happening again.

I still think BlackBerry should enlist some celebrities in different fields of business, sports, entertainment, and have commercials showing how they use some BB10 features. Maybe the athlete hands their Q10 to their trainer while they do a lap, being timed on the timer.

Maybe a group of famous friends, or a famous family, is always in a BBM Chat, or an actor uses BBM Voice whenever they're in some weird far away location with bad cell service but great WiFi.

There are lots of cool features on BlackBerry 10, they just have to find some people that appeal to all kinds of people to show them off.

Posted via CB10

[BBBHonest]

I think you make some good points. I think Apple are due for a shock over the next two years, and people get bored with the iPhone. They are a great company though, and will probably recover quickly by releasing something slightly different. In this respect, I think BlackBerry have the greatest growth potential, being as near to the gutter as they could be at this point. Still, their financials are good, and their products are good. If they get the marketing and pricing right, they will claim their slice of the pie. I don't think any one company is likely to completely dominated like in the past, not for a while anyway.

What do you think about the in store issue? Even though neither of us is a bandwagon person, the fact remains that the company cannot survive by selling only to die hard BlackBerry fans.

Posted via CB10

[jupiter8]

Here in the US the negative culture is huge. I'm not convinced that BlackBerry can change that from marketing alone. They need to continue to innovate the OS and devices they sell to be better than the competition. That will lead to boots on the ground, grass roots movement of people like you and me, to get the word out to friends and family. That's how the negative culture changes, one person at a time. I came from Android. I won't be alone, there will me more converts based on me showing the phone off.

[BBBHonest]

I think that will happen, so long as shareholders have a tiny bit of patience and don't force anything stupid. It will take a year for the cultural change to take place. That's why the pricing has to be right. The phones MUST be slightly cheaper than the iPhone and Galaxy, as I've said. I'm interested in seeing how the cut in prices in the US affects sales.

Also, BlackBerry still has a core of serious supporters. If we can spread the word, and BlackBerry can stop making stupid marketing decisions, BlackBerry will be back in a huge way 2-3 years from now.

Posted via CB10

[vgorous]

Well I honestly think BlackBerry got big when it really shouldn't have. People only got it because if you have one then you must be someone important.

Posted via CB10

[Nanker Phelge]

When 4g came to be other manufacturers had devices ready. When social networking blew up they had apps on board and devs to write more.

To try to make a dent in the US will be very difficult in these times when all brands are seeing sales decline.

Mom and Dad are finally seeing the the kids don't need a new cell phone when a newer version rolls out.

BBRY is behind in many areas and have to market better. The Super Bowl ad way before the release was wasted money.

BBRY needs a reality check. By this I mean having someone visit many stores as a buyer and get first hand experience. In addition they need to pay attention to how the carriers roll out updates.

Without dealing with what is out there you can never "move forward".

[BBBHonest]

I found it astonishing that BlackBerry seemingly had no idea what was going on at the point of sale, but I did contact them, and they said they were going to look into it. Hopefully, they have done that, and are more aware of the situation.

Posted via CB10

[R Field]

In Africa, North African countries specifically they are crazy about BlackBerry. In the US clearly not. I seems almost like the in thing to do is hate on BlackBerry. There needs to be big changes to the approach there because it clearly isn't working to alter perceptions.

CB10- BlackBerry Z10

[BBBHonest]

There is a strong herd mentality present in the US right now, and no amount of advertising will change it immediately. That is part of the reason I think BlackBerry should be spending more energy on the UK, where strong marketing will have more of an immediate effect, but I can see their reasoning. BlackBerry just need to make sure they the products are priced right, and continue to be great. I think the Q5 was a good idea, badly executed. It is uglier than the Bold, and not cheap enough.

I think they should keep the Z10 and Q10 priced quite low in the US, and just get the phones into people's hands. With time, the negative bandwagonism will fade.

Posted via CB10

[Bdot-1]

If you've been following the threads over the last 48hrs. BlackBerry is digging their own grave with the latest update, and after the playbook debacle it's apparent I probably won't be staying. I do really like the crackberry community though.

Posted via CB10

[BBBHonest]

Well, you are a perfect example of what many of us are talking about in these threads...this obsession with saying BlackBerry is dead. It's a strange sort of death, really. A brand new OS, and two brilliant new phones since the new year. If you are referring to the update glitch, that will be sorted out. It hasn't affected me, but these things are bound to happen when dealing with a brand new OS. Leave if you like, of course, but why? Because of a tiny text saving glitch that will be sorted out?

Posted via CB10

[QWKSNKE]

Here in the US the negative culture is huge. I'm not convinced that BlackBerry can change that from marketing alone. They need to continue to innovate the OS and devices they sell to be better than the competition. That will lead to boots on the ground, grass roots movement of people like you and me, to get the word out to friends and family. That's how the negative culture changes, one person at a time. I came from Android. I won't be alone, there will me more converts based on me showing the phone off.

Agreed. I think in the US they need to offer some type of incentive to leave another platform and switch to BB. Something like you get addtional $100 off for those that switch over from ios/android platforms or maybe a free data for 6 months.

[Bdot-1]

Well, you are a perfect example of what many of us are talking about in these threads...this obsession with saying BlackBerry is dead. It's a strange sort of death, really. A brand new OS, and two brilliant new phones since the new year. If you are referring to the update glitch, that will be sorted out. It hasn't affected me, but these things are bound to happen when dealing with a brand new OS. Leave if you like, of course, but why? Because of a tiny text saving glitch that will be sorted out?

Posted via CB10

Dude.. I can't even send or receive a text anymore and my other issues have not resolved in 6 months http://forums.crackberry.com/showthread.php?t=811614

How long is it normal to wait for a phone that works

Posted via CB10

[angieberry10]

Yesterday at Verizon ( was there bec my kid's iPhone wasn't working) my favorite sales person came up to me and said here you are waiting with the blackberries. I was playing with the Q10. She told me I was the only person she knows that wants one

I live in a all coastal town in Georgia.

Z10

[BBBHonest]

I haven't had a single problem with my Z10. Apple has whole teams dedicated to dealing with iPhone problems. These things do happen. The difference is that when BlackBerry has a problem, the whole world is watching, and when other companies have issues no one cares. That is the way things are right now. HTC just announced a massive drop is sales. No one is going to make a big deal about it, but when BlackBerry posts results that don't match unrealistic expectations, even when their year on year is a huge improvement, the shorter and the bandwagon folk who themselves into a frenzy.

I'm not saying you don't have a problem, but you are suffering from confirmation bias. I'm buying more stock in BlackBerry next month. I think this is a rare opportunity to make a lot of money. The whole world is making an obvious error in judgement, based on emotional herd behaviour.

Posted via CB10

[ibpluto]

I would like to see a shift in the marketing campaign. Something that focuses on thegesture based OS. Something that focuses on the very basic of using the phone …..starting it up

Something that drives the "swipe up" paradigm
Start the phone: swipe up
Close the app swipe up
Check your messages: swipe
Next message swipe
Previous message swipe

etc etc etc

Swipe,swipe swipe. Provide something funny,memorable yet educate consumers in the most basics sense how to start the phone up and get them curious to “swipe up” and wake the device up ….just to see.

Something that mocks pressing a button in a friendly sense and jokingly provides tutorialon how the phone works in its basic function
Think back to the I’m a mac, I’m a PC commercials. Basic, memorable, but every commercial was the same and drove the pointhome of things that differentiated Mac’s over PC’s. The campaign was a success. BB needs to catch that in a bottle with BB10.

Use the commercials to show the swipe up, drive that point home. I would almost guarantee the next time someone is looking at phones that has been exposed to that campaign will just out of a point of curiosity see a BB phone and ….swipe up

Once you have them in, who knows what can happen. If they can't even start the phone ....good luck

Would love to sit down for a beer with a BB marketing guy and talk, I think I have at least a half dozen “swipe” campaign ideas that I could see being catchy

so SWIPE ....pass it on