[Chuck Finley69]

I was recently in the prepaid display area for carriers and MVNOs and saw TCL LX and TCL A1 branded devices along with the usual Alcatel offerings.

Just an FYI post. Not some impending BBMo doom forecast.

[conite]

I was recently in the prepaid display area for carriers and MVNOs and saw TCL LX and TCL A1 branded devices along with the usual Alcatel offerings.

Just an FYI post. Not some impending BBMo doom forecast.

Quite amazing what you can get for $39. And the A1 is $25 !!

[the_boon]

Quite amazing what you can get for $39. And the A1 is $25 !!
[IMG=540x810]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190707/b6a15a827d318f1d8ead012373ad5efe.jpg[/url]

But can it run PUBG

[Chuck Finley69]

But can it run PUBG

Better than any BB10, PRIV or DTEK at least...

[howarmat]

TCL has and will always churn out low end devices for the prepaid market. The Alcatel and BB line are their higher end lines

[TrumpetTiger]

I was recently in the prepaid display area for carriers and MVNOs and saw TCL LX and TCL A1 branded devices along with the usual Alcatel offerings.

Just an FYI post. Not some impending BBMo doom forecast.

Are there impending BBMo doom forecasts somewhere?

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Quite amazing what you can get for $39. And the A1 is $25 !!
[IMG=540x810]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190707/b6a15a827d318f1d8ead012373ad5efe.jpg[/url]

4.1 Stars with 105 "votes" is pretty amazing too. Granted I'm sure no one buying a $40 has high expectations, but it's still pretty good.

Reviews on Amazon go back to December so it's been out for a while.

(only 29.99 on Amazon - 3.8 Stars with only 31 reviews)

[Chuck Finley69]

Are there impending BBMo doom forecasts somewhere?

There’s always impending doom forecasts regarding everything on public forums. I just didn’t want an observation misconstrued as something else.

[Chuck Finley69]

TCL has and will always churn out low end devices for the prepaid market. The Alcatel and BB line are their higher end lines

I’m speculating that paying to license the Alcatel or BBMo names and/or software packages could stop and lead to using TCL instead of Alcatel and Palm instead of BBMo to stop paying for any unnecessary expenses.

[Bla1ze]

I’m speculating that paying to license the Alcatel or BBMo names and/or software packages could stop and lead to using TCL instead of Alcatel and Palm instead of BBMo to stop paying for any unnecessary expenses.

You know, their licensing of Alcatel is coming up soon. Based on the info here, it's up in 2024 - https://nokiamob.net/2017/03/15/noki...pires-in-2024/

[Chuck Finley69]

You know, their licensing of Alcatel is coming up soon. Based on the info here, it's up in 2024 - https://nokiamob.net/2017/03/15/noki...pires-in-2024/

Very interesting read. Thanks for the link.

[the_boon]

You know, their licensing of Alcatel is coming up soon. Based on the info here, it's up in 2024 - https://nokiamob.net/2017/03/15/noki...pires-in-2024/

Wait, Alcatel isn't TCL's own brand? They're paying licensing fees for that too??

[Chuck Finley69]

Wait, Alcatel isn't TCL's own brand? They're paying licensing fees for that too??

Where have you been?

LOL JK

I learned about this when TCL bought the Palm name several years ago. The article link was the best I’ve read and I noticed it’s a couple of years old.

[Invictus0]

Wait, Alcatel isn't TCL's own brand? They're paying licensing fees for that too??

TCL partnered with Alcatel to launch Alcatel Mobile in the early 2000s. Alcatel eventually sold their share of the company to TCL and they've been licensing the brand since then.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Wait, Alcatel isn't TCL's own brand? They're paying licensing fees for that too??

TCL Phone Brand was toxic a few years ago.... mostly in China.

At this point I think most western markets know the TCL (thanks to the TV business) brand and aren't opposed to it, so bringing it back here should work. But I really question how much profit is in a $30 phone... As the PC market consolidated, how many of those cheap brands survived?

At this point I think TCL Ltd is still having to "support" the mobility business... hoping that at some point they can do what Xiaomi, BBK Electronics (Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus) and Huawei have. They just don't want to give up on this market....

[Bla1ze]

At this point I think most western markets know the TCL (thanks to the TV business) brand and aren't opposed to it, so bringing it back here should work. But I really question how much profit is in a $30 phone.

Well, if you choose to believe some of the other rumors around here, they'll move beyond $30 phones and go higher-end eventually. That $30 'TCL' phone is also sold as an Alcatel phone so seems it's just testing the waters without having to put much effort behind it.

Or maybe we're all overthinking it and someone just shipped the TCL box instead of the Alcatel box and it wasn't an error worth correcting lol. Stranger things have happened.

[John Albert]

TCL BlackBerry sounds like Microsoft Lumia

[VictorRight]

I wonder what and when the next new BlackBerry will be announced.

[conite]

I wonder what and when the next new BlackBerry will be announced.

There is no indication that anything has changed. We won't see a device until the end of this year at the earliest.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I wonder what and when the next new BlackBerry will be announced.

I would expect the next device to look just like the existing device. My only question is will the keep the capacitive keyboard.... I could see a single device without it being an option. If they were going to do a Slab, a Slider or a Passport.... 2019 would have been the time to do it.


When..... Maybe MWC next year.

[Platinum_2]

I think BBMo needs to tweak their strategy a bit. They need to really focus on who they want as a customer. The average consumer? The enthusiasts? The business professional? The stay-at-home mom?

Then, craft a unique and compelling device for that market and build the brand around it. Right now, BlackBerry phones are a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none. The PKB makes them a mobile typewriter for sure. But, more is needed. They aren't particularly affordable relative to other offerings and are a rather strange combination of nostalgia, software and hardware that seems to appeal to very few.

I'm not convinced BBMo has really decided what they want BlackBerry to be in terms of a mobile device. I feel they just ran with what BlackBerry Ltd. had done and tried to polish it a bit with varying degrees of success.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

I think BBMo needs to tweak their strategy a bit. They need to really focus on who they want as a customer. The average consumer? The enthusiasts? The business professional? The stay-at-home mom?

Then, craft a unique and compelling device for that market and build the brand around it. Right now, BlackBerry phones are a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none. The PKB makes them a mobile typewriter for sure. But, more is needed. They aren't particularly affordable relative to other offerings and are a rather strange combination of nostalgia, software and hardware that seems to appeal to very few.

I'm not convinced BBMo has really decided what they want BlackBerry to be in terms of a mobile device. I feel they just ran with what BlackBerry Ltd. had done and tried to polish it a bit with varying degrees of success.

I think clearly BlackBerry and TCL were hoping for the enterprise market. Really don't know what BB Merah Putih or Optiemus were chasing... other than hoping the past could be used to caputure the future. Sadly those market aren't really interested in paying a premium for hardware, a name and some additional security.

In the end I expect we are down to just the one licensee with maybe a new device ever two years. If both BlackBerry and TCL can make that viable...

[Platinum_2]

I think clearly BlackBerry and TCL were hoping for the enterprise market. Really don't know what BB Merah Putih or Optiemus were chasing... other than hoping the past could be used to caputure the future. Sadly those market aren't really interested in paying a premium for hardware, a name and some additional security.

In the end I expect we are down to just the one licensee with maybe a new device ever two years. If both BlackBerry and TCL can make that viable...

Well, I'm not a techie, per se. But, I am an entrepreneur. As such, I'm naturally inclined to try and find ways to make things work for the benefit of others that is profitable for me. It takes a lot of work, and not every project is successful. But, it's interesting how determined people somehow find a way. Anyway, I feel like no one is even trying. I don't believe for a minute that there is only room for two mobile OS's. Consumers love choice. Can never have too many options as a consumer.

The biggest issue has always been ecosystem. Break that apart and the game is over for the duopoly at the top. They control the software and hardware (Google being more flexible with the latter) and pay off the carriers like mobsters. That's why they succeed.

The next big move will be an independent app store/ecosystem that can run on any OS and be supported on hardware from $100 -$2000 and beyond. Maybe an f-droid of sorts. Developers will love this and consumers will pay. Carriers will want to sell these devices. If Apple and Google don't want to go along for the ride then they can watch their market share erode and be the next BlackBerry. The problem so far has been that everybody wants to own everything. So consumers have fewer choices, not more. Then, the corporation can secure the highest profits.

Just thinking out loud here, but seriously, everyone is chasing devices as if that's where the money is these days. Ask Apple about phone revenues if your unsure. Fewer upgrades mean fewer sales. Apple's response....raise prices. There is an end game to that eventually.

[the_boon]

Consumers love choice. Can never have too many options as a consumer.

I really believe that maybe, consumers don't want to be overwhelmed by too much choice and would rather someone else choose for them (to a varying degree).
This is part of the reason why Apple was so successful in my opinion.
They kept their OS and services simple and dumbed down for the average consumer.

We may have thought people would leave the brand since basically all iPhones up until the 8/8+ had abysmal battery life (due to small size mostly).
Wrong, they stayed.

We may have thought people would be outraged at having so little on-board storage on their base model iPhones that they would leave the brand for an Android that has MicroSD expansion.
Wrong, they stayed.

We may have thought people would be turned off by them getting rid of the 3.5mm Jack and having to use dongles or Bluetooth airpods that cost $ 160.
Wrong, they stayed.

Apple makes their product seem very attractive, simple and approachable. And it worked for them.

Other Android OEM's such as Samsung that tried to cram every feature possible didn't necessarily pull away iOS users, because to them, maybe less is more.

[Platinum_2]

I really believe that maybe, consumers don't want to be overwhelmed by too much choice and would rather someone else choose for them (to a varying degree).
This is part of the reason why Apple was so successful in my opinion.
They kept their OS and services simple and dumbed down for the average consumer.

We may have thought people would leave the brand since basically all iPhones up until the 8/8+ had abysmal battery life (due to small size mostly).
Wrong, they stayed.

We may have thought people would be outraged at having so little on-board storage on their base model iPhones that they would leave the brand for an Android that has MicroSD expansion.
Wrong, they stayed.

We may have thought people would be turned off by them getting rid of the 3.5mm Jack and having to use dongles or Bluetooth airpods that cost $ 160.
Wrong, they stayed.

Apple makes their product seem very attractive, simple and approachable. And it worked for them.

Other Android OEM's such as Samsung that tried to cram every feature possible didn't necessarily pull away iOS users, because to them, maybe less is more.

Maybe. I think Apple has a certain appeal that has developed over nearly 40 years of selling consumer technology products. They are doing to Google what they did to Microsoft. That is, make their products have more consumer appeal by way of specific design, features and benefits that a closed ecosystem can produce.

Gotta stop trying to compete with Apple and forge your own path at some point. But, no one seems to want to step up to the bat and swing if it won't result in a home run. More games have been won with consistent base hits and doubles than home runs, however.