[SAM18]

I've had a Dev Alpha for months (I was actually the 5th person in line to receive one at BlackBerry Jam in Orlando) and since I've had it I've been doing an experiment with random people.

I loaded my Dev Alpha up with apps and the PlayBook HD demo video, then I let total strangers at wireless carrier stores (shoppers, employees and even a VZW store manager) use it. I just got up to random people and I ask them if they would like to try out an unreleased, development smartphone that isn't finished yet. I explain that isn't a retail product and it never will be and that once a version of it is released it will look completely different. All of that good stuff, I just don't say who it is made by. The people have no idea it is a BlackBerry until they have had a chance to play with it and I get their opinion of the device.

Most of the people I have asked have agreed to play with it and the results are pretty funny and depressing at the same time. Each time I have done this experiment the same thing happens. I walk them through how to use it a little bit. I let them play some games, I show them the incredible multitasking, they surf the internet some and watch the PlayBook HD demo video (started by me and skipped to avoid the first few seconds). After they've spent 5 or so minutes with the device I simply ask "What do you think of it and would you buy it?"

The compliments flood in. People have told me that they love the speed it has. That it is the best looking display they have ever seen. They love the browser. One person commented on literally being blown away by the multitasking. Pretty much everyone said they would either buy it or strongly consider buy it if it was released right now. A few mentioned the bugs that do happen on a Dev Alpha, but they were understanding about them because it isn't finished yet. It was universally liked or LOVED by everyone I've ever let play with it.

Then I tell them it's a BlackBerry and remove the skin to show them the BlackBerry logo on the back. Immediately after, they all change their minds about the Dev Alpha. One women simply rolled her eyes at me and said "BlackBerry is worse than a dumb phone, no way would I ever own one". I pointed out to her that she just told me she loved it and she literally walked away from me in disgust without saying another word.

Not everyone I've done that to has been so rude about it, but they've all turned negative as soon as I told them it was a BlackBerry. Every single one of them. One person was kinda nice by saying "that's a really nice phone, but it's a BlackBerry" Most just repeat the same non sense we always here - BlackBerry is about to go bankrupt. They have no apps. Android is better.

I just find it really strange that people really liked a BlackBerry until they found out it was a BlackBerry. This negative sentiment is really going to hurt BlackBerry 10 if RIM doesn't do something to drastically change the opinions of the masses. Thoughts?

Please, please, please, please send this to RIM so they know what they're dealing with.

[Snowman888]

OP what was the age group of the people tried your experiment on? I'm hoping they pretty much fall in the laggard category. They probably aren't the first to try new things and wait till everyone else does before they drink the kool-aid.

[Alex_Hong]

I didnt read through all the comments but I think this could be a great marketing campaign.

A series of commercials showing real people being intrigued with the BB10 platform without ever saying that its a BlackBerry. Not showing the negative side of it of course. This could get the people curious about a product "without a brand". Then when the product is actually announced and release, the next series of commercials shows that the people were interacting and excited about a BlackBerry device - showing that BlackBerry has a product thats REALLY GOOD compared to the competition.

I can see it.

Sent from Bold 9930 #blackberrybychoice

I actually think this might be a great idea. After the launch, show people these devices, saying that "its a brand new OS that is out there already". Show people the apps and games that are already on it, angry birds space, cut the rope, etc. Load as many as possible on the device so that they will be able to just scroll through page after page of apps. Hide BB specific apps like BBM, appworld (i hope BB10 can still do this), and cover the device up. Go around showing people and interview them about what they think about it, show them the multi-tasking, the communication features, the beautiful UI, and how it is more efficient at getting things done, etc.

Towards the end, give them a BB10 device.

Word of mouth is a powerful form of advertising. Show people how good the OS is, give them one, and they're bound to go around showing their friends how awesome it is (provided it really is awesome).

This kinda reminds me of the "Smoked by Windows Phone" campaign that Microsoft is running. Its a great campaign imo. Make more people aware of your product, and how good it is. It also shows the confidence of the company towards their products.

[Saiga]

Please, please, please, please send this to RIM so they know what they're dealing with.

I thought about telling RIM about the experiment, but then I got worried that they would take my Dev Alpha away lol. That's the reason I didn't post about it on my website. According to the paper work I signed, I'm not supposed to be running around showing it to anyone that will look.

OP what was the age group of the people tried your experiment on? I'm hoping they pretty much fall in the laggard category. They probably aren't the first to try new things and wait till everyone else does before they drink the kool-aid.

All ages, the women that rolled her eyes and walked away was at least 50. Most participants were younger than that though. I'd say the majority of people were in their late 20's to early 30's. I've done the test with probably in the neighborhood of 35ish different individuals.

[sleepngbear]

On one hand, I find this reaction a bit disturbing; on the other, it doesn't surprise me, as I've long ago come to the conclusion that American consumers are mostly idiots.

My opinion, as much of a 'fun' exercise as this may have been, your findings should be brought to the attention of Frank Boulben (RIM's new CMO) ASAP. They need to know now what kind of public sentiment is out there regarding the BB brand that they are going to have to contend with, and shape their marketing campaigns around it. It's one thing to try to reverse a generally negative perception of your brand; but this is borderline loathing.

[walt63]

Towards the end, give them a BB10 device.

This could work too.

Sent from Bold 9930 #blackberrybychoice

[ekafara]

I think it would be cool if they did a blind test, like coke and pepsi do, to see what people think. They would need to remove all the device specific apps and such but I think they would impress a lot of people. Tape it and run these for ads.

[sleepngbear]

I thought about telling RIM about the experiment, but then I got worried that they would take my Dev Alpha away lol. That's the reason I didn't post about it on my website. According to the paper work I signed, I'm not supposed to be running around showing it to anyone that will look.

Crap, I hadn't thought of that. Definitely a legitimate concern. There's gotta be some way to inform them anonymously. I'd suggest PM'ing some of CB's brain trust and see if they have any suggestions short of handing yourself over to the Taliban.

[berriac]

Crap, I hadn't thought of that. Definitely a legitimate concern. There's gotta be some way to inform them anonymously. I'd suggest PM'ing some of CB's brain trust and see if they have any suggestions short of handing yourself over to the Taliban.

:thumbup:

Sent from my Playbook using Tapatalk

[Saiga]

Crap, I hadn't thought of that. Definitely a legitimate concern. There's gotta be some way to inform them anonymously. I'd suggest PM'ing some of CB's brain trust and see if they have any suggestions short of handing yourself over to the Taliban.

Lol yeah I haven't heard of anyone having their Dev Alpha taken away yet, but I don't want to be the first. Especially when they didn't want the press to have them in the first place. Who knows though, I've seen other sites (including CrackBerry) break the rules they told me to follow.

Does anyone know how to contact Frank Boulben? Maybe if they see I'm just trying to help they will go easy on me.

[timmy t]

I hope you are in the US because we know that will be a tough nut to crack.
Other countries' citizens will like it just as much and will be more willing to buy it.
What this means is it will take a couple years to chip away at the negativity of the US market but things will stabilize in the rest of the world.

[berriac]

in short.....BB10 has to be groundbreaking, for RIM to survive.

Sent from my Playbook using Tapatalk

[timmy t]

This is a lot like the experiment they did on that talk show where they told people the iPhone 4s was an iPhone 5 and people all said it felt lighter and faster etc.
Many people say complimentary things just to be nice or are influenced by the power of suggestion.

[esk369]

This is a lot like the experiment they did on that talk show where they told people the iPhone 4s was an iPhone 5 and people all said it felt lighter and faster etc.
Many people say complimentary things just to be nice or are influenced by the power of suggestion.

So true they like it then when thet find out its BB then not so much perception vs realities.
To me it just proves ignorance knows no skin color no religion financial position etc.
Ignorance knows no bounds but give them as tim said above a old iphone tell em its new and stand back and watch them gush.

[SAM18]

I thought about telling RIM about the experiment, but then I got worried that they would take my Dev Alpha away lol. That's the reason I didn't post about it on my website. According to the paper work I signed, I'm not supposed to be running around showing it to anyone that will look.

Tell them near the end of the Dev Alpha life time. , I'll even tell them without using your name.

[esk369]

Lol yeah I haven't heard of anyone having their Dev Alpha taken away yet, but I don't want to be the first. Especially when they didn't want the press to have them in the first place. Who knows though, I've seen other sites (including CrackBerry) break the rules they told me to follow.

Does anyone know how to contact Frank Boulben? Maybe if they see I'm just trying to help they will go easy on me.

They should have a small army of people doing this you remember the cola wars coke v Pepsi blind taste test.
You shouldn't get in trouble you should get a job offer.

[black.rhino]

Tell people it's the iPhone 5, let them play with it, note reactions before and after.

"Sooo much better than my 4S"

"Surprise! It's BlackBerry"

"Oh, wait, noooooooo"

[richardat]

I hope you are in the US because we know that will be a tough nut to crack.
Other countries' citizens will like it just as much and will be more willing to buy it.
What this means is it will take a couple years to chip away at the negativity of the US market but things will stabilize in the rest of the world.

Bang on. BB didn't JUST Get a bad reputation....it's been coming on for a long time. It started at least as early as 2008 with the Storm. Every bungle has compounded it. The Playbook was huge....that was an absolute critical moment, the chance to enter a new market, the chance to show off the new OS, the chance to release a brand new, modern, much-hyped product, and they could not have blown it worse. :-(

The absolute best scenario now is: they release a POLISHED, trouble-free platform (at least as trouble free as a modern android phone, let alone the iphone). It gets good reviews, the faithful switch over. Most people do not switch over, why would they? Best case scenario: it's as stable, it has a few features other OS do not, but fewer apps. Nobody will have a compelling reason to jump on board other than fanboyism.

After a year, they release a new version, it too is polished, trouble-free, and replete with substantial upgrades. Now, the release gets some attention, because reviewers were impressed with the last version. Now the public says "oh, I hear BB is good now". They win some non-fans over. Marketshare grows slightly.

After another year, they release another version, again, polished. Finally now, they are seen as a viable legitimate/equal choice.

That's the way I see it. They need to execute, WELL, at least twice, if not three times, to overcome the sins of their past.

PS. I'm not just talking about 'mindless masses" as some here like to characterize anybody who would not buy a BB. Sure, a lot of people don't put a lot of thought into a cell phone. (I just had to sit through a maddening passionate sales pitch by a self-proclaimed "nerd" girl, to her friend....who proclaimed herself "sold!" on a Samsung S2....even though her friend was CLUELESS. The amount of bad info/rhetoric flowing out of her mouth.....ACK!), however, even if BB10 was flawless, a thoughtful person would have to weigh: OK, should I switch platforms, the new OS is good, but it's coming from a troubled company, there aren't nearly as many apps, it's a company that may be bought/tank, it's an unproven commodity in terms of long-term value, the company has a history of bad products......what exactly does BB10 offer that android/ios don't that compensates for that risk?

[geoffsdad]

Carriers, and specifically sales reps, have played a large part in trashing blackberry and creating negativity. They will be somewhat curious and will be some of the first to get a hands on bb10. If it can wow them out of the box, they will see the opportunity to sell it.

[cgk]

Other countries' citizens will like it just as much and will be more willing to buy it.

This is a bit of a myth isn't it? In the first world countries where the BB10 is being launched, the majority of sales (according to quarterly reports) are low-end - curves sold at cost to teenagers - that says nothing or very little about their ability to sell a premium device at the top of the market. In the UK, five years ago if you asked someone to describe the typical blackberry user - they would have described someone corporate, now they are more likely to describe a crack-dealer, a rioter or a teenaged girl.

Someone is going to leap up and say "well what about South Africa, India etc" - well what about them? BB10 is highly unlikely to be launched in those markets in the inital stages.

[westcoastit]

Flipping around the UI and being impressed by the screen is only half of it. You still need to attract apps and convince users they can have the full smartphone experience and that's probably why you were seeing people recoil when they found out it was a BlackBerry. Can you stream BBC's iPlayer, GlobalTV, CityTV, Hulu Plus, the other dozens of TV channel specific players, or Netflix? Access your entire iTunes library from anywhere? Play stupid Games with Friends?

No. Then what are you multitasking between? What are you watching on the great screen?

That's why the average consumer is going to walk away when they hear BlackBerry, because as good as the technology is it still isn't used for their purposes. It doesn't interface with their lives in a meaningful way.

[bdguru]

wonder what the results would be be if after having folks view it and you told them it was an Apple device.....listen to their responses and then said it's actually a BlackBerry. Just a thought. Sorry if someone already mentioned this.

[timmy t]

This is a bit of a myth isn't it? In the first world countries where the BB10 is being launched, the majority of sales (according to quarterly reports) are low-end - curves sold at cost to teenagers - that says nothing or very little about their ability to sell a premium device at the top of the market. In the UK, five years ago if you asked someone to describe the typical blackberry user - they would have described someone corporate, now they are more likely to describe a crack-dealer, a rioter or a teenaged girl.

Someone is going to leap up and say "well what about South Africa, India etc" - well what about them? BB10 is highly unlikely to be launched in those markets in the inital stages.

I think the BB brand is still well respected in Canada, the UK and Europe, even if they are not selling high end phones there.
It is mainly the US where people think so little of them.

[Saiga]

Flipping around the UI and being impressed by the screen is only half of it. You still need to attract apps and convince users they can have the full smartphone experience and that's probably why you were seeing people recoil when they found out it was a BlackBerry. Can you stream BBC's iPlayer, GlobalTV, CityTV, Hulu Plus, the other dozens of TV channel specific players, or Netflix? Access your entire iTunes library from anywhere? Play stupid Games with Friends?

No. Then what are you multitasking between? What are you watching on the great screen?

That's why the average consumer is going to walk away when they hear BlackBerry, because as good as the technology is it still isn't used for their purposes. It doesn't interface with their lives in a meaningful way.

I agree, that is why I posted about it. I'm not saying the BlackBerry Dev Alpha is anything special. It is missing a ton of things. My Dev Alpha has plenty of games, all the famous ones, but that isn't enough. Also, I'm pretty sure BlackBerry 10 will launch missing a ton of things as well.

What is troubling is the fact that the people who used it knew it was missing things, they were told it was unfinished and just a development device of something completely new. They knew it was a prototype. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

Yet they loved what they did see the Dev Alpha do and they were open to the idea of buying it. Even though they knew it needed more work. If I had told them it was the iPhone 6 or a new Android device they would have been fine with it. But once they found out it was a BlackBerry, they were no longer opened to it. These people have never even heard of BlackBerry 10 and they were already opposed to it just because of RIM's previous failures. It's not like they know if BlackBerry 10 will suck or not. They just assumed it would. That is what RIM is going to have a very hard time fixing.

Again, I'm not at all surprised with the results. I'm just sharing my experience.

[timmy t]

Flipping around the UI and being impressed by the screen is only half of it. You still need to attract apps and convince users they can have the full smartphone experience and that's probably why you were seeing people recoil when they found out it was a BlackBerry. Can you stream BBC's iPlayer, GlobalTV, CityTV, Hulu Plus, the other dozens of TV channel specific players, or Netflix? Access your entire iTunes library from anywhere? Play stupid Games with Friends?

No. Then what are you multitasking between? What are you watching on the great screen?

That's why the average consumer is going to walk away when they hear BlackBerry, because as good as the technology is it still isn't used for their purposes. It doesn't interface with their lives in a meaningful way.

I'm sure you can play stupid games with friends. Not sure about the other stuff since the OS hasn't been released yet.