Blackberry boutiques coming soon!!

Hey to all Blackberry fans,

I am a very committed blackberry user. I love the products Rim has to offer. However it drives me crazy that Rim has not jump on the opportunity to provide us valued customers a dedicated blackberry store front similar to that of Apple. A great place to pilot an idea such as this would be in there home town of Waterloo, Ontario. Surely there must be some blackberry users in Waterloo.

Lets get the message out to Rim that this kind of services is demanded by the users of there device.

Simply respond to this thread in the comment section with "AYE". Then our good friends from Crackberry can forward the results to the proper Rim marketing teams.

A petition on CrackBerry wont make RIM change their North American business model

Apple does Direct to consumer sales, and has a following, and sells more than just mobile phones, RIM to have a dedicated Store would need to change their current distribution model, it isn't as simple as opening a store, there would be many contracts to review with distribution and carriers.
in India RIM deals with a single major distributor, who inturn opened up BlackBerry Lifestyle stores because they had the distribution rights, RIM has too many partners to do this in North America without a very detailed plan of how it wont hurt their existing relationships

I have a couple of friends with senior positions at RIM and this is an interesting question to put to them on why they think it would or wouldn't work. One obvious point is RIM doesn't sell laptops, computers or mp3 players so perhaps it would just reinforce that Apple has an advantage at retail grandeur that RIM couldn't achieve. Lets face it, walking into an Apple or Sony store is pretty amazing whereas a typical mobile phone kiosk isn't.

Originally Posted by blackmoe

I have a couple of friends with senior positions at RIM and this is an interesting question to put to them on why they think it would or wouldn't work. One obvious point is RIM doesn't sell laptops, computers or mp3 players so perhaps it would just enforce that Apple has an advantage at retail grandeur that RIM couldn't achieve. Lets face it, walking into an Apple or Sony store is pretty amazing whereas a typical mobile phone kiosk isn't.

Report back what they say, AND I'd LOVE to hash out how to make it work with them, pending carrier negotiations.

While Apple, being the elephant in the marketplace, can seemingly do whatever they want, most retailers have huge issues with manufacturers setting up retail stores. It seems they feel some sort of conflict of interest or something......

RIM would see a significant backlash from retailers if it decided to set-up shop in any major mall, especially if the carriers/retailers are co-located in the same mall. I'm thinking this Best Buy move to drop the Playbook is one such example as I suspect it has something to do with the agreement with RIM and Best Buy looking to leverage the situation in their favor. You have to remember, the carriers and retail stores are really RIM's customers and we the users are secondary to that relationship.

Unfortunately, the retailers have their own agenda and are subject to external influence all in the pursuit of better margins. With RIM's weak position in the market, RIM has to tread carefully with all of them or risk being shut out of the market.

Did RIM open BlackBerry stores a few years ago? In Wikipedia (Blackberry) the author states there is a BlackBerry store in Farmington Hills, Michigan (opened 2007), stores in Toronto, London, and Charlotte folded, and we all know a new store opened in Thailand.

Why would there be a backlash from carriers? Newspaper articles report only 35% of wireless users have smartphones, i.e. every type of store would see customers

It's probably just about the will or desire to have stores. Steve Jobs wanted stores, he wanted the Apple store.

Originally Posted by anthogag

Why would there be a backlash from carriers? Newspaper articles report only 35% of wireless users have smartphones, i.e. every type of store would see customers

Most of the carriers have stores in malls as well as the independent mobile phone stores. A Blackberry store in a mall (most likely place to have a boutique in Waterloo) would hurt their bb business.

Originally Posted by anthogag

Did RIM open BlackBerry stores a few years ago? In Wikipedia (Blackberry) the author states there is a BlackBerry store in Farmington Hills, Michigan (opened 2007), stores in Toronto, London, and Charlotte folded, and we all know a new store opened in Thailand.

Why would there be a backlash from carriers? Newspaper articles report only 35% of wireless users have smartphones, i.e. every type of store would see customers

It's probably just about the will or desire to have stores. Steve Jobs wanted stores, he wanted the Apple store.

The BlackBerry Stores that were opened were not direct RIM ventures, they were opened by distributors selling RIM products, under license agreements,
That is VERY different than RIM selling direct.

Carrier Backlash and retailer backlash would happen because of the expected margins, for every device RIM sells direct the carrier / retailer misses out on a potential sale they would have had, thus eroding their revenue, so the will want higher margins per device to account for this.

Apple Got Apple Stores because they offer so much more than just the phones, they had their computer business, and REALLY if you look at their Computer business before their retail stores it was barely enough to blink at by the major distribution channels as Apple got established with their higher pricepoint products into distribution the contracts all had been written knowing Apple sells direct, with the Marketing power behind Apple and the iPhone the Carriers really had no choice but to accept the terms that Apple would sell direct.

as a manufacturer when I go looking for a new distributor the FIRST question is always "who else sells your product" the very next question is "Do you sell direct" has not failed in 4 years, that is always the case, I win business because I DON'T sell direct.

I think that for RIM to successfully open a Blackberry store they would need a greatly expanded ecosystem. Right now it is just phones and Playbook. I think they would need to have some different sized Playbooks, Blackberry TV, phones and ton's of accessories, plus be able to sell carrier plans to make it successful. They may have it in a year or so, but they are not there yet.

Originally Posted by lnichols

I think that for RIM to successfully open a Blackberry store they would need a greatly expanded ecosystem. Right now it is just phones and Playbook. I think they would need to have some different sized Playbooks, Blackberry TV, phones and ton's of accessories, plus be able to sell carrier plans to make it successful. They may have it in a year or so, but they are not there yet.

I have a Vision of HOW I would extend the ecosystem and Bring major value to the BlackBerry Brick and mortars.


In MY vision of the RIM store you would have

BlackBerry Device displays
BlackBerry PlayBook displays
Clothing and accessories (hats, ties, belts, holsters, wallets, money clips, cuff links, tshirts, dress shirts)
Hardware accessories (charging cables/pods, ear phones, keyboards, Cases, etc)

Now the "innovative thing"
Direct download Movie/Music many users in Canada have less than a 60GB/month data cap, high quality Digital movies can be 4GB, and can take a day to download, if you could walk into the RIM store and purchase your content formatted for PlayBack on your RIM device, you'd purchase the content and have it on you when you purchased it, THIS model could be used by RIM at concerts allowing a user to purchase music from the concert right after leaving the concert, keeping data plans low.

it would be like going into an HMV and looking around at DVD's and CD's listening to sample tracks, and selecting which ones you want in the Store, transfer them to your BlackBerry device and away you go! by having the content digital the space requirements for all the content such as HMV would have is just a simple Qiosk, so 3-4 Qiosks in the store you have much of the revenue generating power of an HMV.

in addition to having front line repair and training staff, and places to launch products like BlackBerry presenter, BlackBerry Projectors, BlackBerry TV(?) BlackBerry Integrated Car mounts, etc....

Originally Posted by deRusett

I have a Vision of HOW I would extend the ecosystem and Bring major value to the BlackBerry Brick and mortars.


In MY vision of the RIM store you would have

BlackBerry Device displays
BlackBerry PlayBook displays
Clothing and accessories (hats, ties, belts, holsters, wallets, money clips, cuff links, tshirts, dress shirts)
Hardware accessories (charging cables/pods, ear phones, keyboards, Cases, etc)

Now the "innovative thing"
Direct download Movie/Music many users in Canada have less than a 60GB/month data cap, high quality Digital movies can be 4GB, and can take a day to download, if you could walk into the RIM store and purchase your content formatted for PlayBack on your RIM device, you'd purchase the content and have it on you when you purchased it, THIS model could be used by RIM at concerts allowing a user to purchase music from the concert right after leaving the concert, keeping data plans low.

it would be like going into an HMV and looking around at DVD's and CD's listening to sample tracks, and selecting which ones you want in the Store, transfer them to your BlackBerry device and away you go! by having the content digital the space requirements for all the content such as HMV would have is just a simple Qiosk, so 3-4 Qiosks in the store you have much of the revenue generating power of an HMV.

in addition to having front line repair and training staff, and places to launch products like BlackBerry presenter, BlackBerry Projectors, BlackBerry TV(?) BlackBerry Integrated Car mounts, etc....

Where are you downloading 4 GB movies :confused: Movies I download are typically around 1.5-2 GB.

How would you 'direct download' movies and music when a customer is in the store, when many customers are in the store? Wireless download is too slow, using a cable would take at least 15 minutes :eek: I think, in general, people don't like to go to stores to buy movies and music. It's been a few years since I bought music CDs or DVDs in a store. I like to do it at home.

I see a BlackBerry store being a lifestyle store where the latest BB products and accessories are available, a free wi-fi zone, a place to answer technical questions and set-up products, training seminars, a coffee bar...you could pick your carrier in the store.

People want to know why they should choose BlackBerry and they could learn that in a BlackBerry store.