[kill_9]

I heard Kevin and Amanda discussing BlackBerry Z10 during their show broadcast Wednesday. He said the BlackBerry Z10 US launch has been a failure. If I understood him correctly he means the fragmented release dates and poor advertising. Does anyone know how US sales compare to the UK and Canada?

Posted via CB10 from the BlackBerry Z10

[Kid Vibe]

I heard Kevin and Amanda discussing BlackBerry Z10 during their show broadcast Wednesday. He said the BlackBerry Z10 US launch has been a failure. If I understood him correctly he means the fragmented release dates and poor advertising. Does anyone know how US sales compare to the UK and Canada?

Posted via CB10 from the BlackBerry Z10

That's odd, he just recently praised the company.

[kevinnugent]

That's odd, he just recently praised the company.

You can still praise the product and criticize the company.

[howarmat]

havent seen any real numbers yet. No one has really commented saying it was good or bad. There was vague answer on the call last week about maybe "meeting expectations" but that wasnt very clear either

[Jonesy1966]

He was grumbling about the US launch the other day on CBC News Network although he put the blame squarely on the carriers.

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[aloy12]

I think the US launch was a soft launch until they have the inventory and the Q10. I am sure there is going to be a bigger marketing campaign soon.

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[lnichols]

I would agree with O'Leary's statement. It is a great product that is receiving very little advertising or carrier support (despite Thor's statements to the contrary). Also the delay to the end of March, has put it smack dab against the HTC One, Samsung GS4, and T-Mobile iPhone 5 launch. Had they released in January in the US, then they would have had two full months of being the only new game in town. Look at all the threads of poor US carrier store experiences. That is where most phones in the US are bought (with the exception of the iPhone). Great product, same poor BlackBerry execution in delivering and marketing. They really need to come up with a solution for the US market that either gets the carrier stores (not the CEO's) on board, or bypasses the carrier stores.

[tmurphx5]

Came across this today..

BlackBerry Z10 sell-through at Verizon similar to AT&T, says Jefferies
Jefferies said its channel checks indicate that sell-through rates of BlackBerry's (BBRY) Z10 phone at Verizon (VZ) are in-line with sell-through rates at AT&T (T). The firm's checks indicate that Verizon retail stores and resellers may have sold around 200K Z10 units since launching, averaging around 10 units point of sale. Jefferies says that while sell-through is moderate as expected, it was surprised by the high level of carrier support and enthusiasm at Verizon. The firm continues to see large upside to May and August quarter consensus estimates and keeps a Buy rating on shares of BlackBerry.

[JasW]

I think all but the most delusional fanboys would agree that the US launch has been a disaster. BBRY's marketing department should be fired en masse. On what planet do you not make sure that all AT&T and Best Buy stores have the product front and center? It's not like BBRY doesn't have the cash to buy that kind of placement, and with its acknowledged desperate straits, you'd think it'd be smart enough to do so.

[matt4pack]

I think all but the most delusional fanboys would agree that the US launch has been a disaster. BBRY's marketing department should be fired en masse. On what planet do you not make sure that all AT&T and Best Buy stores have the product front and center? It's not like BBRY doesn't have the cash to buy that kind of placement, and with its acknowledged desperate straits, you'd think it'd be smart enough to do so.

If you do all that and the sales don't match the investment then you have a real disaster. I think it's a soft launch and as has been shown in another thread many stores now have promotion material up and I think that will increase as the Q10 is released. Expecting some huge blitz to start just wasn't going to happen.

The Storm had that but didn't matter in the end.

[sleepngbear]

I think all but the most delusional fanboys would agree that the US launch has been a disaster. BBRY's marketing department should be fired en masse. On what planet do you not make sure that all AT&T and Best Buy stores have the product front and center? It's not like BBRY doesn't have the cash to buy that kind of placement, and with its acknowledged desperate straits, you'd think it'd be smart enough to do so.

Could have been handled better? Absolutely. But a disaster? Not quite. The phone are still selling, though admittedly not in the numbers they COULD be selling.

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[rthonpm]

I'd say the launch has been disappointing from a marketing standpoint. It's kind of a chicken or the egg situation though: is it BlackBerry's marketing department that's failed, or the carriers who haven't drummed up enough support? By now I expected to see much more in terms of TV advertising from BlackBerry, as well as more carrier branded ads for the devices. Hopefully, the demand from BlackBerry fans has been strong enough to encourage the carriers to give the device a little more love.

I'm also curious to see whether there's been any marketing research done by either BlackBerry or the carriers that's led them to believe they'd get a little more bang for their buck in waiting for the Q10 release to really unleash the US marketing dollars???

[berries_good]

Marketing...I remember when I bought two z10 in tmobile. I was disappointed because the rep said that was the only Z10 they have and that was already mid afternoon. Imagine those people who are interested to look and buy after office hours? Looks like the people from the corporate of all the carriers are getting a bigger piece of pie everytime they sold an S3?

[DINGSTER1]

Hopefully there is a better commercial coming soon. The one that I've been repeatedly seeing is getting stale quick

[Charles Martin1]

That's odd, he just recently praised the company.

Perhaps he is bipolar. IDK

[Rooster99]

Hopefully there is a better commercial coming soon. The one that I've been repeatedly seeing is getting stale quick

It's not just about commercials. It's about sales rep enthusiasm - spiffs, training sessions with free pizza, having Blackberry personnel in-store to support sales, etc.

Good lord, missing this stuff is ridiculous.

- R.

[Rooster99]

Perhaps he is bipolar. IDK

As has been noted, he praised the phone. The launch of said phone obviously didn't do it justice. Now Blackberry is hearing about it.

- R.

[lcjr]

Agreed. BB's marketing team is way off but can't see the forest because of all the trees. They need to take some constructive criticism and think long and hard about what's being said.

[FSeverino]

That's odd, he just recently praised the company.

You can have a great phone, and great company, and have ONE bad launch.

Lets be realistic. The phones are selling and people are loving them. Is this worse than when Apple advertised and SOLD ipads as 4G capable in Australia which was a blatant lie?
iPad 3 refunds for Australian buyers after Apple admits no 4G service | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Yes there has bad/no advertising and a staggered launch... but did the phones sell, and do the people that bought them like them?

[venious]

I'm sure they have limited cash left for advertising at this point.

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[FSeverino]

I'm sure they have limited cash left for advertising at this point.

Posted via CB10

they had over 2 billion, and didnt lose much of that... so to say that they are limited is pretty wrong

[pr627]

As many of you have seen, each day there seems to be someone new backing BlackBerry. yesterday Delta Airlines, today Barclays Center, its coming people....they are about to really heat up the advertising. They wont get back to where they were overnight, it will come slow and steady which is probably best.

[k8bushlover]

I'm sure they have limited cash left for advertising at this point.

Posted via CB10

Many people are sure of a lot of things that simply aren't true.

[FSeverino]

Many people are sure of a lot of things that simply aren't true.

welcome to the internetz

[Wiki Cydia]

You can have a great phone, and great company, and have ONE bad launch.

Lets be realistic. The phones are selling and people are loving them. Is this worse than when Apple advertised and SOLD ipads as 4G capable in Australia which was a blatant lie?
iPad 3 refunds for Australian buyers after Apple admits no 4G service | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Yes there has bad/no advertising and a staggered launch... but did the phones sell, and do the people that bought them like them?

Two things. One, your comparison doesn't really work, as Apple wasn't counting on the iPad 3 to launch a new platform and/or "save" the company. BBRY is asking BB10 devices to do both. Also, Apple doesn't really have to worry about people not knowing their devices are available. Most other companies, BBRY included, aren't in that position.

Two, I don't think O'Leary would be criticizing the launch if the evidence available to him suggested the Z10 was selling as well as he thnks it should.