The naming of BlackBerry Phones?

So, I was keeping track of the iPad event on live blogs and iMore live cast. Nothing really surprising was announced other than what everyone had already know. The only thing that was stuck in my head, was the name.

It was not iPad 3, iPad 2S or iPad HD. It was just called, "the new iPad". I actually really like that. Sort of what we are seeing in the way Apple are naming their Macs. Just MacBook, MacBook Pro�etc. There is no MacBook 5, MacBook Air 3 or anything of sorts. It is also sort of what you are seeing in certain car makers. The official name for any new Honda Civic Type R, is called Honda Civic Type R. Not Honda Civic Type R 4, 5, 6� etc. Instead it is separated using the year the model was launched, and for petrol heads by their chassis code (EK9, EP3, FD2R� etc). When people ask you which version of iPad do you have? You can answer by the year it was launched. For the tech savvy, they would immediately be able to identify the which generation it is, and what features it has. For the regular consumers, does it really matter which generation it is as long as it is an iPad?

Which brings me to my point.

With BB10 phones coming up soon, RIM has a chance to start anew with their product naming. Instead of using their old naming system of a product line (Bold, Curve, Torch� etc) followed by a number (9900, 9360, 9810� etc). I "boldly" suggest that they simply use the name of the product line, and ditch the numbers. People who really want to classify them, can do it by the year it was launched instead, or for the enthusiast, the code names that they were given during development (London, Nevada, Milan� etc). RIM has repeatedly mentioned that they are striving towards a mobile computing experience on BlackBerry, perhaps they should start naming them like computers as well. Anyway, RIM typically does not put out more than 1 new device for each product line each year, so it really is not that confusing at all. I know there are still bits and pieces of detail that needs to be worked out, but I think this could help to simplify the BlackBerry brand.

Just like when people ask you currently, "what BlackBerry do you have currently?" You say the Bold 9780. They ask "which one is that?". You, "� � �". I mean the number behind the word "Bold" doesn't really tell much about the product for people who have little knowledge of BlackBerry products. On the contrary, if you change the product naming, when people ask, "what BlackBerry do you have currently?" You just reply, "the Bold which was launched in 2010".

Sound logic, or just insane? What do you guys think? :D

I TOTALLY AGREE!!

RIM's problem is Marketing - it ALWAYS has been.

RIM releasing their "product map", having "events" every 3 months, and wayyy too many products is, quite frankly - Stupid.

Poor Marketing.

If RIM wants to win at Apples game, they need to START PLAYING Apples game.

Meaning:
1) 1 ANNUAL EVENT - BlackBerry World. Don't tell me "what your up to", and NOT have a finished product. It SHOULD BE a BAM - Finished product I didn't see coming.

2)Reduce peoples choices. Focus on 4 types of phones; Torch (ahem Scorch), Torch Slider, a Filp (cause people out there still want them, just come up with a better design), and a classic BlackBerry.
Then the whole naming convention. It should basically be a case of A, B, C, D. NOT A12, B22, C45, E44 - You sunk your battleship!
Get rid of the name BB10! It's not marketable.
(you should have researched the name BBX to see if it exists!)

3) Hire Apples Advertising firm!! Get some EFF'ING good commercials out there. Simple ones, like Apple. Not "BlackBerry Bold - Be Bold" WTF?!? Get the BB "Berry logo" in TV, Movies and light it up!


Other things include:
- Updating software more often, and DIRECTLY (screw the carriers). Even the desktop software 6.1 / 7 incident is just pathetic.
- Getting rid of the whole "battery pull reset". Make a reset button, OR even better make the phone reset on its own, like my 1st gen iPod Touch.
- Open up some serious operation in San Fran, and TDOT. Your offices should be in the places people want to work.
- HIRE more developers, MAKE DEALS with "key app firms" (Facebook, Twitter, WHOEVER) BUY some more tech firms to incorporate the technology more and acquire patents. Example: BBM Gist. BlackBerry bought it, and should integrate it MORE. The whole unified PB inbox is based on it.
LIKE THE "TAP TO UNLOCK" (that they just won)
FREAKING BUY OPERA and Nuance! Microsoft beat you to skype (qik, groupme).
Get more involved in app creation, for the purposes of integration, standardization, and reliability. Like Apple.
-CLOUD UP THE SKY -OTA Syncing.


CrackBerry crew forward this post to RIM!

Originally Posted by Searzy

- Open up some serious operation in San Fran, and TDOT. Your offices should be in the places people want to work.

This, whole-heartedly. Waterloo is a depressing place to live. Worst years of my life when I went to university there, wanted to get out so bad

I wouldn't say it's depressing (then again, I've never lived there), but I can imagine the many days wishing "I wish I lived in Toronto". :)

One main issue with RIM is their premature official announcements. Take the PlayBook for example. The first public demonstration of the PlayBook was on October 25, 2010. It was only released for sale on April 19, 2011. Thats half a year. I can understand that RIM might be trying to build up a little hype, and hopefully deter people who are looking to purchase a tablet from Android or iOS. Make them hold off their purchase and consider the PlayBook. But no matter how you look at it, its still half a year.

This is where RIM, or in fact every other major tech company should learn from Apple. Officially announce/launch a product, make it available for pre-order immediately. Then within a few weeks, the products would be available in most stores. Take the iPad launch event just earlier. Launch/announce on 7th March, available in certain major countries on 16th March. Pre-orders start immediately. After a launch event, people are still excited about the products. Which mean the chances of them buying out of impulse would be higher. If you wait a few months before the products is available, some of the hype and excitement might have already wore out. By then, there would probably be new products from other competitors that have been released.

Next, in terms of marketing. I think other than Apple, Nokia is a company that does brilliant marketing as well. Just look at their Lumia 800 launch events in various countries, and the advertising on it. It certainly captured my attention. Where as for RIM, the ads that i have seen in my country, are just traditional print ads. Which frankly is not enough anymore. Take Nokia, recently an article pop up in my country.

Traveller impressed by S'poreans' kindness during social media experiment

It does not explicitly advertise about Nokia's products. In fact it was only mentioned once. But it does stick in people's mind. Also, the article that i first found (Man survives in Singapore through social media | SingaporeScene - Yahoo! News Singapore) doesn't even mention Nokia, it simply said smartphone. But it intrigued me enough to google about it, secretly hoping it was a BlackBerry. I am pretty certain that it wasn't Nokia who sponsored the experiment, just like I'm sure RIM is not paying Barack Obama to use his BlackBerry. But being mentioned like that does show those products in a good light.

RIM seriously needs to improve on their marketing.

There was a joke about marketing/sales i read somewhere that stuck with me.
"The first guy who manage to convince blind people who buy sunglasses, must be a heck of a sales person"

If you can market it right, you can sell almost anything.

Agreed.

I can't believe it's been approx +3 yrs (12qrts) and RIM has not "smartened up" in terms of advertising, and timing.

Another problem RIM faces is LEAKS. Info. (os leak... well, some people sort of like that - though it doesn't work to RIMS benefit)

My point is: Apple runs a very tight ship. They rarely have leaks, and when they do have a "leak" it's STRATEGICALLY timed. think about it...

Start reprimanding employees for "loose lips", maybe to the point of job termination to get the point across.

If RIM wants MORE consumer opinions, open your "beta program" more, and pay some serious attention to the feedback you receive.

Feedback on this site CrackBerry is literally minutes, so there are ample sources to draw from.

HIRE some of the "tinkerers", the people who make "hybrids" / custom roms. Google did it with Cryogen - probably one of the most highly regarded "tinkerer" out there.

Especially since BlackBerry is secure, there shouldn't be so many people able to "play" with their products.

**though, I MAY install a leaked os, but that really because my carrier; Rogers are just being A$$ES.

http://www.imore.com/2012/03/09/ipad-ipad/

Leanna from iMore predicted that Apple might make such a move. Kudos to her. In this article, it clearly explains why such a move is logical. I agree with her completely. Since there are never more than one iphone/ipad released per year. There are plenty of other reasons why Apple should do this.

But the problem with Apple now is with the labeling of accessories as pointed out in one of the comments in that article. The accessories for the 1st Gen iPad (which is called iPad) would not fit the 3rd Gen iPad (which is also called iPad). Not so much of a problem with iPad 2. I'm sure accessories makers will start labeling it as iPad (3rd Gen), something along the lines of the iPod range, but it can still be a little confusing for consumers. But i'm sure after a few generations, people will eventually get used to it.

RIM now has the perfect opportunity to start afresh with BB10 lineup. Since i doubt they will released more than one device of each type per year, it is entirely possible for them to adopt such a naming scheme.

Although Apple does a great job of marketing I think its built on a lot of hype thats not sustainable and its reached its peak. From an american perspective its obvious that right now Apple is seen as superior to RIM but apple's brand recognition has been something that has been building for decades by the marketing genius Steve Jobs. Globally RIM has a good brand but right now they have the added difficulty of battling against a negative marketing campaign against them in north america.

Love a thread that is an actual conversation LOL.

i agree with the number dropping idea. the numbers are only really used by hardcore BB users that actually memorize them all and know the difference between them. in RIMs "Be Bold" campaign they hardly use the number anyway so might as well drop it.

I like the names they have out now. there has been a few posts where people are throwing the name "Phoenix" for the new touch screen. it makes sense the whole rise from the ashes bit, and they cant use the name torch for all touch screen devices (why didn't they for the Curve 9380 then).

apple has done a great job at making its presence known and making them seperate from everything else. if you shop online anywhere iPods have their own category next to "MP3 players", when in essence that's all they are. same thing with tablets. you have "tablets" then iPads.

I don't think it's just the advertising. people like when things are working "nice and easy" and automatically... apple is not just advertising.. RIM should not only advertise correctly, they should also make it easy for use.

for example, the Bold 9900 was designed to be like "up to date" bold 9000 (which was a great device back then when it was released)... maybe by using a different name (if OP is right) would make it sell more.. but seems like they tried to do something else - to fix the mistakes of the past in order to be a success again with the same products (thats why they called the new Torch - Torch and not Storm because storm was kind of a fail)...

So i don't know which way is really the best, both strategies can work fine if the company has a good name... look at SONY for example.. RIM's problems is that people remember bad things... so if people will remember that BLACKBERRY BOLD is crap, they don't know if it's the Bold 9650 9900 or 9930... they will stay away from anything with the BOLD branding... so i agree with some of what the OP says but the key is to bring something really good to the market and make it right ALL THE WAY.... from the factory to the client.. it means good workers, good ideas, good advertising and especially good products (with support, servers, apps and such)...

They will need to make more changes (and i'm sure they will do) if they will want to be one of the best once again but first they must give the clients a product that works great for everything. (and for everyone)

Originally Posted by Alex_Hong

So, I was keeping track of the iPad event on live blogs and iMore live cast. Nothing really surprising was announced other than what everyone had already know. The only thing that was stuck in my head, was the name.

It was not iPad 3, iPad 2S or iPad HD. It was just called, "the new iPad". I actually really like that. Sort of what we are seeing in the way Apple are naming their Macs. Just MacBook, MacBook Pro�etc. There is no MacBook 5, MacBook Air 3 or anything of sorts. It is also sort of what you are seeing in certain car makers. The official name for any new Honda Civic Type R, is called Honda Civic Type R. Not Honda Civic Type R 4, 5, 6� etc. Instead it is separated using the year the model was launched, and for petrol heads by their chassis code (EK9, EP3, FD2R� etc). When people ask you which version of iPad do you have? You can answer by the year it was launched. For the tech savvy, they would immediately be able to identify the which generation it is, and what features it has. For the regular consumers, does it really matter which generation it is as long as it is an iPad?

Which brings me to my point.

With BB10 phones coming up soon, RIM has a chance to start anew with their product naming. Instead of using their old naming system of a product line (Bold, Curve, Torch� etc) followed by a number (9900, 9360, 9810� etc). I "boldly" suggest that they simply use the name of the product line, and ditch the numbers. People who really want to classify them, can do it by the year it was launched instead, or for the enthusiast, the code names that they were given during development (London, Nevada, Milan� etc). RIM has repeatedly mentioned that they are striving towards a mobile computing experience on BlackBerry, perhaps they should start naming them like computers as well. Anyway, RIM typically does not put out more than 1 new device for each product line each year, so it really is not that confusing at all. I know there are still bits and pieces of detail that needs to be worked out, but I think this could help to simplify the BlackBerry brand.

Just like when people ask you currently, "what BlackBerry do you have currently?" You say the Bold 9780. They ask "which one is that?". You, "� � �". I mean the number behind the word "Bold" doesn't really tell much about the product for people who have little knowledge of BlackBerry products. On the contrary, if you change the product naming, when people ask, "what BlackBerry do you have currently?" You just reply, "the Bold which was launched in 2010".

Sound logic, or just insane? What do you guys think? :D

Cool ideas. In another post I mentioned not understanding the purpose of the numbers and someone said the numbers represent the carries... CDMA etc..

I don't think the average consumer cares and only leads to pointless conversations as opposed to actual sales.

I think RIM working to rebrand itself. I think the humor campaign they're launching is a great place to start.

Somehow until today I still think "Playbook" is still the worst name RIM could give their first tablet. "play" and "book" seriously ....c'mon? How can ppl give a serious thought about the tablet if it has such a name. Even it's damn hard to snatch a nice name to make it "trade mark", I still blame them for that name lol. I nearly cried when they lost the name "BBX" ...it was such an awsome name for an OS :(. "BB10" will just make ppl who don't know much about Blackberry will think it's a 2010 version of something.
I think they will ditch all the numbers name since they all reached the 10000 mark anyway.

OK, since everyone agreed that their naming sux, let's hear some of your creative naming system. Remember:

- food names (already taken by Google Android)
- alphabet (already taken by the cars industry)
- numbers (we trying to get away from that :D)
- animals (almost all of them are taken....maybe some fishes are left)
....everything else that are rational (taken by Apple)

I thought apple was getting joked a lot for their new ipad not being the ipad 3 and just being, new ipad. i think it seems kinda silly to not have anything after it, and it being the same name. i think the year would make sense. i do get that having a bold 10300 or somethin would be stupid, but idk what would be the right move here. i mean like stated earlier if there was nothing after it it would get confusing with buying cases and other accessories. maybe come up with new names for each phone? idk.

Completely agree. The names "Bold" and "Curve" have gotten really old and I never liked the "Torch" name.

Originally Posted by kittencounter

Somehow until today I still think "Playbook" is still the worst name RIM could give their first tablet. "play" and "book" seriously ....c'mon? How can ppl give a serious thought about the tablet if it has such a name. Even it's damn hard to snatch a nice name to make it "trade mark", I still blame them for that name lol. I nearly cried when they lost the name "BBX" ...it was such an awsome name for an OS :(. "BB10" will just make ppl who don't know much about Blackberry will think it's a 2010 version of something.
I think they will ditch all the numbers name since they all reached the 10000 mark anyway.

OK, since everyone agreed that their naming sux, let's hear some of your creative naming system. Remember:

- food names (already taken by Google Android)
- alphabet (already taken by the cars industry)
- numbers (we trying to get away from that :D)
- animals (almost all of them are taken....maybe some fishes are left)
....everything else that are rational (taken by Apple)

One member said Phoenix and i really like that...ummm...hmmmm... the name Ace was used when we did the 'design your dream berry' thing. LOL how about The Zombie and the slogan can be "Bringing RIM back from the dead!" IDK im not a creative mind let someone else think of these LOL

Originally Posted by JAGWIRE

One member said Phoenix and i really like that...ummm...hmmmm... the name Ace was used when we did the 'design your dream berry' thing. LOL how about The Zombie and the slogan can be "Bringing RIM back from the dead!" IDK im not a creative mind let someone else think of these LOL

LOL, Zombie doesn't really have a nice connotation. The words dead and rotting, but still alive comes to mind. hahaha.

I think the car manufacturers have the right idea. You can use names (ie. Honda Civic) or numeric designations (BMW 328), and that'll create some easy to remember brand and product recognition.

People tend to know that a Civic is an entry level Honda and falls below the more expensive and larger Accord in Hondas lineup. Likewise the differences between a 3 series and 5 series. Problem with the RIM naming convention is they've combined the two and it creates confusion.

I quite like the current names for different Blackberry models.

They could do with some updating to freshen things up however.