[abwan11]

I'm happy to report that down here in South Africa, blackberry is the best selling phone.

I read an article today about how blackberry was voted the number one brand in South African and sales have increase 750% over last year. I believe they said it was from 2.5 million units so that brings the total unit sales to 18 million. That's impressive.

[f0xx386]

I read an article today about how blackberry was voted the number one brand in South African and sales have increase 750% over last year. I believe they said it was from 2.5 million units so that brings the total unit sales to 18 million. That's impressive.

If RIM crashes invest in PROZAC, South Africans will raise share prices of that aswell.

[Moonbase0ne]

Sales people push what sales. It's how they make money. Sure you may want a red jacket, but if they are selling blue like hotcakes and making a ton of money off of them, why wouldn't the salesman try to steer you towards the Blue jackets? Especially when he probably doesn't even have the red ones in stock, and he knows that, so he figures, while your there asking, why not see how red looks on you.

It's nothing personal, it's simply business.

[CairnsRock]

Those sales people probably think that they are honestly trying to do their best for you.

Unfortunately the hugely widespread "perception" on the street is that BB phones are outdated and that RIM is going out of business.

Ask anyone, they'll tell you.

Like it or not, perception is reality.

[jthep]

I think RIM taking too long to catch up to other platforms is a bigger reason than some snotty salespeople.

I mean if you speak to people who are ex-Blackberry users and now use something else, they likely were using an older BB that constantly froze, had a stuck trackball, had to do resets like pulling the battery out, wait forever to load a web page, stare at an hour glass rotating, and it put a bad taste in their mouth and their current phones just work better.

RIM did a poor job of damage control and took too long to offer up BB's that didn't suffer from those things above. RIM constantly released BB's that were well behind the curve in tech specs before they even came out.

RIM did a poor job of marketing too and took too long to really integrate apps and multimedia into their phones where it actually worked well enough.

So yea, some salespeople might even be ex-BB users and know nothing of say a BB7 phone which works really well and dismiss it as another slow frustrating BB from 2008.

RIM needs to do a better job of damage control, marketing, multimedia integration, handling the media, and just getting a better buzz about Blackberries.

[W Hoa]

You go into any Future Shop (just like BestBuy) around here and its all iphone and android demo units front and center but the Bold 9900 is around behind a pole with playbooks with no batt charger.

OK I'm no fan of Futureshop but...yesterday I went with my brother to get a new monitor and I saw....TWO seperate displays, one highlighting Blackberry Playbook AND Blackberry 9900 together and the other displaying TWO PlayBooks together. One was actually lit up.

These were modest displays but they were standalone and professionally done, one in the phone section and one in the computer section.

[W Hoa]

I read an article today about how blackberry was voted the number one brand in South African and sales have increase 750% over last year. I believe they said it was from 2.5 million units so that brings the total unit sales to 18 million. That's impressive.

The 2.5 million is current for SA. The 750% figure is for all of Africa.

It's worth noting that Nigerians have the same fixation for Blackberry that SA does. Nigeria has over 100 million phone users (it has the 7th largest population in the world) but only 5 million are smart phone users.

Blackberry has 65% of the Nigerian smart phone market and is poised to make it big as people move from feature to smart phones.

[tjseaman]

I think the real shame in all of this as that aside from phones, wherever you go and whatever you are looking at buying sales people should be providing a service to you to sell you a product that is right for you! Instead of selling a product that makes the customer happy and want to trust and continue doing future business, they opt for the quick buck in their pocket and worry about retention later.

[shaleem]

When I upgraded to the Bold 9900, the salesperson started to try to get me to go with either an iPhone or Samsung. I cut him off quickly and said to just give me what I want. He was smart enough to know that I was in no mood to discuss any of his "options." He did ask me why I wanted a BlackBerry and I told thet I'd used them for years and that they were perfect for my needs. Fortunately, he did not go into the RIM is floundering nonsense. He just gave me what I wanted and even helped me set it up.

[Blackberry_Boy]

One can only hope...

[bigbadben10]

When I upgraded to the Bold 9900, the salesperson started to try to get me to go with either an iPhone or Samsung. I cut him off quickly and said to just give me what I want. He was smart enough to know that I was in no mood to discuss any of his "options." He did ask me why I wanted a BlackBerry and I told thet I'd used them for years and that they were perfect for my needs. Fortunately, he did not go into the RIM is floundering nonsense. He just gave me what I wanted and even helped me set it up.

This is it in a nutshell....and playing out at every retailer in NA! Lets hope BB has a very good plan in store to deal with this major issue.

[jrohland]

I understand most people don't want to get involved. However, if a sales representative said that to me I would tell them to get the manager. I would ask the manager if that is the company's official position. Because that statement could be libel unless they have proof.

Defamation�also called calumny, vilification, traducement, slander (for transitory statements), and libel (for written, broadcast, or otherwise published words)�is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image. This can be also any disparaging statement made by one person about another, which is communicated or published, whether true or false, depending on legal state. In Common Law it is usually a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed (the claimant)

[Tre Lawrence]

The 2.5 million is current for SA. The 750% figure is for all of Africa.

It's worth noting that Nigerians have the same fixation for Blackberry that SA does. Nigeria has over 100 million phone users (it has the 7th largest population in the world) but only 5 million are smart phone users.

Blackberry has 65% of the Nigerian smart phone market and is poised to make it big as people move from feature to smart phones.

I believe this stat. Doesn't matter what generation BB, either; as long as it is GSM, it is in demand.

Cell phones pretty much bridged the tech gap. Landlines never really were mainstream (due to cost); cell phones were a bit more affordable. It is common to see people with multiple BlackBerry devices.

[atuarre]

Well when they try to talk you out of getting a Blackberry, you should explain to them that you asked for a Blackberry, not the Android phones, and not the iPhones. If there is another retail location in your city, just tell them you are taking your business elsewhere and go. I cannot see them paying cash incentives on Android and iPhone to employees unless (besides the standard new activation commission) unless the data plans for those phones pricier then the Blackberry dataplan.

You just need to be very vocal and explain to them that you asked for a Blackberry and not some toy.