[eshropshire]

The vicious circle, how can you sell the product if the customer does not even know about it? How can you sell a product when (a) the display model doesn't even work, and (b) if the customer asks you about it anyway, you tell the customer they don't want to buy that brand?! I am still put out with my experience with that, especially since I DIDN'T know if I wanted a BlackBerry, I just wanted a phone that worked that I could understand how to use, and so down the android rabbit-hole I went for another year or so, before I decided to try BlackBerry for better or for worse since I hated android and knew I would also hate Apple (after what I went through with their operating system update fiasco with my computer.)

The reason BlackBerrys don't sell is because the phone companies hide them under the table and don't WANT them to sell!

The challenge is that it is the phone manufactures job to provide the training and marketing support to drive retail sales for their products. BB gets buried at the retail level because BB does not have reps calling on stores. In addition, manufactures are expected to provide marketing to drive business for their phones. Also most of these companies provide co-op marketing funds to drive business (for example in the USA Verizon is running iPhone adds) Plus you will see in store displays from different companies.

Selling in the retail space is expensive. Just getting a company like AT&T to stock your phones is not enough. If AT&T does not sell enough BBs, they pull them from the shelf put something else in its place and move on. The job of building a market for BB phones is not AT&T's, Verizon's or T-Mobile's, the job is BBs. All other phone manufactures take on this responsibility.

[TgeekB]

The vicious circle, how can you sell the product if the customer does not even know about it? How can you sell a product when (a) the display model doesn't even work, and (b) if the customer asks you about it anyway, you tell the customer they don't want to buy that brand?! I am still put out with my experience with that, especially since I DIDN'T know if I wanted a BlackBerry, I just wanted a phone that worked that I could understand how to use, and so down the android rabbit-hole I went for another year or so, before I decided to try BlackBerry for better or for worse since I hated android and knew I would also hate Apple (after what I went through with their operating system update fiasco with my computer.)

The reason BlackBerrys don't sell is because the phone companies hide them under the table and don't WANT them to sell!

It is Blackberry's responsibility to make sure people know about their products and that the carriers display them well. The carriers don't care which phone they are selling as long as it sells well. Why would they?