[zap10]

Posted via CB10

[jaydee5799]

make an all-touch device and pay developers to create more apps.

[zap10]

Yes they can. But the developers are blocking blackberry out like neflix did.

Posted via CB10

[Pcmx]

Release a BBOS sized handset that runs Android with the option of a BBOS or BB10 skin

[Hende Nicolas]

Stop being scared of the consumer space, have a scrap of confidence, and advertise...at least a bit. They need to stop this insanity of releasing phones that no one even hears of even a year after they are out. They'd need to hire someone with a different mindset, though. BlackBerry are absolutely terrible at advertising even when they try it.

Posted via CB10

[zap10]

I think they should keep the blackberry os but make it run all the android apps run perfectly on it.
Perhaps add Google play services?

Posted via CB10

[Dmessenger]

Marketing Marketing and Marketing...

Phones especially Passport deserves some marketing. The customer perception can be changed if the device is properly positioned and marketed

Sent from Passport

[Mike88888]

Create a beastly high-end all-touch super device and properly market the hell out of it. 2 models preferably. 4.7" and 5.5".

Posted via CB10

[1Criz]

In immediate near term? They need to sell products they have now. Period.
We all can have ideas what they can do after, but now it's doesn't matter. They need to sell now, what they have at hand.
Therefore:
1. Go to carriers, hat in hand and beg and cajole them to carry full line of devices, not only Classic. Ask them "do you really want to be on Google and Apple mercy?" Offer them shares, so they can benefit from upswing if any. Do whatever it takes. Sweeten the deal by offering "white label" BBM as VoLTE / Joyn client. (actually licensing revenue here as well)
2. Provide BBM users with direct to consumer offer with attractive prices, which can be cashed with participating carriers. If no carrier in country is willing to participate, deliver direct.
3. Go after old Nokia customers looking for replacing they keyboard Nokias. Also include this in 1. as plenty of developed countries carriers need to move those on LTE.

Afterwards?
Develop $99 cheap Q5 clone with updated BB10 with BIS compression and push mail for developing countries = BIS revenue protection and going after "next billion".

Make sure that slider has Hi- Fi level DAC and excellent photography in addition to BlackBerry strong points of the keyboard and productivity to have real differentiated flagship.

Consumerize secusmart and include in all top BlackBerry models. Maybe in Porsche only, maybe also in slider and Passport. Privacy as a selling point.

And solve, dammit, double typing issues.



Posted via CB10

[KAM1138]

Marketing Marketing and Marketing...

Phones especially Passport deserves some marketing. The customer perception can be changed if the device is properly positioned and marketed

Sent from Passport

Hello,

Yes, great idea. I harped on this a few years back before BB10 hit, emphasizing how important it was to get your product, but more importantly Brand out there and in front of people. But self-styled marketing experts told me I had no idea what I was talking about. So, what happened--their Marketing Leading up to BB10 went nowhere, and BB10 (a great product) had sluggish sales, which continue today.

Blackberry did pretty much what this "expert" said they should...and failed miserably.

Apparently Blackberry still hasn't learned this lesson, because their marketing is still a joke...if you can call something nearly non-existent a joke.

I also really like the idea that someone mentioned above about paying developers to make Apps. Imagine if Blackberry would have used some of their large cash supply to insure that the most popular apps were available to all of their BB10 customers at launch, included in the price.

I am EAGER to buy another BB phone, but nothing they've released since the Z30 (which came too close to Z10 for me) is enough of what I want.

So, here I am at 2+ years of my Z10 (which I do like), and no viable options.

None of this is rocket science at all, and it is really frustrating to be wallowing again with a company that can't seem to get its feet under itself. I'm also a stockholder (of modest level).

Here's a crazy idea: Make great phones and put them in front of people--Blackberry isn't doing that in any way that can be described as effective, and until they do I'm stuck, wanting, waiting and begging for a product that comes close to suiting me.

Side Note: The passport has some stuff that looks cool, but instead of offering those innovations on a phone with broader appeal, they try to sell people on an odd-sized (perhaps unwieldy) phone. I'd love to try it, but I can't afford to experiment and hope I didn't buy a product that just doesn't fit me well.

Just so frustrated,
KAM

[pttptppt]

make an all-touch device and pay developers to create more apps.

Amen

Posted via CB10

[Troy Tiscareno]

make an all-touch device and pay developers to create more apps.

BB did both of those things back in 2013. The former wasn't especially successful, but the latter was almost a total failure. BB offered bounties for many big apps (Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Instagram, etc.) and were rejected, all for the same reason: lack of marketshare/userbase. Big companies want USERS, because users will make them tons of money in the long run, but the other platforms can provide them users by the hundreds of millions, while BB10 probably has less than 10M unique users today (many BB10 owners own more than one device, and total BB10 device sales are only about 12M, plus you have to consider all of the broken/retired/returned devices). Those companies don't support Tizen, Sailfish, FireFox, or Ubuntu either, and many don't support Win Phone. It has nothing to do with BB bias and everything to do with marketshare and return-on-investment.

And as for smaller/indie developers, BB had big programs targeting them too, including a "guarantee" that their "Made for BB10" apps would make them more than $10,000 in sales in the first year or BB would make up the difference. BB then changed the rules and a number of devs got screwed out of their money, which of course was talked about loudly on the dev forums. Others have seen their iOS and Android apps make them 100x more than their BB10 apps, and decided BB10 wasn't worth it. BB has also failed to update the development tools, making it more and more difficult for devs to keep up with the latest trends and abilities from other platforms.

The fact is, BB has dozens, maybe hundreds of HUGE problems to solve, and solving one or two on their own isn't going to be enough to make much difference if the others aren't fixed as well. That's the reality of owning your own platform, including hardware, software, and ecosystem. BB simply doesn't have the resources to be competitive - they bit off way more than they could chew, and now after laying off nearly half the company, they have even fewer resources to do an even bigger job. No one should be surprised that they continue to fall further behind.

And, so, it should also be no surprise that BB is likely to drop BB10 in favor of Android. That will remove dozens of these problems from BB's plate and give them more resources to throw at the problems that remain. Solving the ecosystem problem will remove one of BB's biggest obstacles.

[ikalinin]

they should hire John Chen....
oh wait.. they already did.. this means they are on a come back already!

on top of this though, they should invest some money in advertisements! can't speak for other regions, but there are ZERO ads in USA!

[adam_h]

Create a unique Blackberry Android phone that combines the best features of BB10 OS with Blackberry's well regarded security. It's the only play they have, given that Android and iOS have won the market share.

Posted via CB10

[Bluenoser63]

make an all-touch device and pay developers to create more apps.

Paying developers hasn't worked. What they should have done from the start is to offer to write the apps themselves for the main ones. A small team of developers inside BlackBerry working with all the main apps at the beginning could have solved the main "app gap". Once the main apps are there, then sales would have increased and other developers would want to write for the platform. They blew it at the launch and I don't think anything will solve the impression of an "app gap" even with Android runtime and Amazon Apps.

[Hende Nicolas]

It's not the only play they have, but every day they waste not marketing their own phones the more they fulfil their own defeatist views. They need users, as all have mentioned. If they had prioritised selling devices over making profit on them that would have helped. Also, the BBM situation is inexplicable. There was a chance to really push the brand and logo through an app, and they've gone and killed the momentum once again with these far too expensive subscriptions. Loads of people in here will say over and over than it's all about enterprise and that they are focusing on that, but that doesn't mean they are right. BlackBerry need the enterprise space, but they've really needed the consumer space too. The Passport was a great opportunity to push a device with some decent marketing without trying to match the level of Apple and Samsung...just let people know the phone even exists for gods sake.

Anyway, we can rest assured that BlackBerry have none of this stuff in mind that we have been talking about. We need to accept that they really haven't a clue about marketing and have no idea about the general public. Just look at the awful facebook ads they have done...ridiculous dad jokes. It's been embarrassing. All we can do is cross our fingers and hope they survive in spite of themselves.

Posted via CB10

[bakron1]

As I have stated in some of my previous post, I think the Blackberry brand has lost its credibility here in the USA.

Most of their previous loyal users have gone to either Android and/or iOS long ago and are not looking back.

I think if they really want to reintroduce the brand here, it's needs to be a all touch device that's Android based with a OS10 skin that offers some security advantages over the competition.

This will allow folks who already have a huge investment in Google apps to be able to cross over and keep their current google accounts and the app gap will be solved once and for all.

For the faithful who still think apps are not important and the browser is the answer, your dead wrong and haven't been paying attention to how folks use their smartphones in 2015.

This is reality now whether you choose to accept it or not. I would rather Blackberry develop a Android based device that just might get folks to cross over and ensure their survival, then continue on their current path and go the way of the dodo bird.

[TgeekB]

Drop the hardware business and become software only.

[adam_h]

It's not the only play they have, but every day they waste not marketing their own phones the more they fulfil their own defeatist views. They need users, as all have mentioned. If they had prioritised selling devices over making profit on them that would have helped. Also, the BBM situation is inexplicable. There was a chance to really push the brand and logo through an app, and they've gone and killed the momentum once again with these far too expensive subscriptions. Loads of people in here will say over and over than it's all about enterprise and that they are focusing on that, but that doesn't mean they are right. BlackBerry need the enterprise space, but they've really needed the consumer space too. The Passport was a great opportunity to push a device with some decent marketing without trying to match the level of Apple and Samsung...just let people know the phone even exists for gods sake.

Anyway, we can rest assured that BlackBerry have none of this stuff in mind that we have been talking about. We need to accept that they really haven't a clue about marketing and have no idea about the general public. Just look at the awful facebook ads they have done...ridiculous dad jokes. It's been embarrassing. All we can do is cross our fingers and hope they survive in spite of themselves.

Posted via CB10

They can market BB10 all they want, but the reality is that it doesn't offer anything substantial to the consumer. In the big picture, the nice features of BB10 OS are minor considerations to most consumers and they'll choose IOS or Android based phones due to app availability and widespread brand recognition. If BlackBerry sticks with BB10, all they can hope for is to more or less break even in their hardware business. However if they build a 'secure' Android phone that plays to BB's strengths (such as QNX integration and nice BB10 features like the hub), they may be able to turn the tide. It's too bad they didn't try this a few years back.

Posted via CB10

[calicocat2010]

Hmmm...come up with a brand new name? BB name to most of the market share is tarnished. A LOT of users are still deeply bruised from the Storm generation.

[KNEBB]

Listening to the BlackBerry faithful and make the type of devices they're asking for. There have been request after request of BlackBerry users with specific details of devices they are willing to purchase.

Yet their more rumors of manufacturing device for different OS's, but little talk of when a new Flagship device running BlackBerry 10.3 will be released.

So you have tons of folks asking for a new device and BlackBerry seems hell bend on manufacturing a new phone for consumers who don't support BlackBerry.

Posted via CB10

[andrej24-29]

I think BlackBerry should determine their potential clients and focus all attention on them. For example Russia is a great market where it's easy to get a customer. But we need something different. No BBM, no BlackBerry Protect but a good camera and great battery and that's all! The majority of people don't need millions of applications. Different markets-different devices.

Posted via CB10

[Brewer James]

Bottom line Blackberry has to get their phones in the hands of consumers. If I was Blackberry's Marketing Dept I ask for a 100 of their newest phones and give them away on college campuses coast to coast and let people see first hand how good they are and others will see them and want them. I also believe Blackberry needs a $99 phone, when you can get an Android phone for as little as $29 or a Windows phone for $49 guess which phone a consumer is going to.choose?
I think price is one of the biggest factors hindering blackberry right now.

[thymaster]

Advertise more because people's perception is that the brand is dead.

[Hende Nicolas]

Most people indeed - and this is hard for a lot of Crackberry people to believe - do not know that BlackBerry 10 EXISTS. Honestly, I think it would make a telling study. I'd love to see a properly researched public survey asking people all over the US and Europe whether they are aware that BlackBerry have a 'new' operating system. Those of us with BlackBerry 10 phones know how often you come across someone who STILL has not heard of BlackBerry 10. That is a problem, and there is no excuse for it.

Posted via CB10