[yunvi]

BlackBerry Fans Wait as Carrier Scrutiny Causes U.S. Lag - Bloomberg

Seems here in this article in black and white, that its the carriers' faults:

All the carriers got the final software for the phones, known as the “gold code,” at the same time, Heins said in an interview this week. U.S. service providers received the phones themselves at the same time as other carriers around the world, BlackBerry confirmed yesterday.

“Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile -- they have to comply with certain rules they are subject to,” Heins said. “They’re trying to speed it up.”

I dont think BB would have paid 4 Mil for a 30second add knowing their product would have been launched weeks after the add. Just doesnt work that way...

BlackBerry (RIMM)’s latest phone faces a lengthy testing process by carriers in the U.S., its biggest single market, further delaying the arrival of a product that was already more than a year late.

Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. (T), the two largest U.S. wireless-service providers, have multistep tests that can take months to complete. The devices are checked for signal strength, battery life, call quality, heat tolerance and data performance, according to the carriers. BlackBerry has said that all the carriers got the new phone at the same time, putting its wireless partners on equal footing when the testing began.

Enlarge image
BlackBerry Fans Wait as Carrier Scrutiny Causes Delay in U.S. Scott Eells/Bloomberg
The new BlackBerry 10 is displayed during the device's launch in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013.

The new BlackBerry 10 is displayed during the device's launch in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg
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RIM to Tout New BlackBerry 10 Phones in Its First Super Bowl Ad Twitter/BlackBerry via Bloomberg
Companies are paying as much as $4 million for a 30-second commercial spot, according to CBS Corp., which is airing the Super Bowl.

Companies are paying as much as $4 million for a 30-second commercial spot, according to CBS Corp., which is airing the Super Bowl. Source: Twitter/BlackBerry via Bloomberg
.The slow process means the new Z10, unveiled at a New York event this week, will go on sale in the U.S. in March -- more than a month after its debut in the U.K. yesterday. The lag has frustrated efforts to roll out the phone globally, contributing to a 17 percent decline in BlackBerry’s shares. It also means the company is getting less value from its first-ever Super Bowl ad this weekend, when no one in the U.S. can buy the phone.

“It’s really hard to have a global, simultaneous launch of anything,” Tavis McCourt, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates in Nashville, Tennessee. “And you only get one chance a year for a Super Bowl ad.”

U.S. Last
When BlackBerry unveiled the new smartphone this week, it gave a range of release dates for the product’s initial markets. British carriers such as Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) began offering the Z10 yesterday, while Canadians will get the phone on Feb. 5. It arrives in the United Arab Emirates on Feb. 10.

After five days of declines, BlackBerry shares climbed 0.1 percent today to $12.99 as of 12:16 p.m. in New York. The stock rose 9.4 percent in January.

BlackBerry, based in Waterloo, Ontario, didn’t offer a firm release date for the U.S., saying it would be sometime in March. After the slow rollout irked investors, Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins said the U.S. carriers’ lengthy testing was the main reason for the later arrival.

All the carriers got the final software for the phones, known as the “gold code,” at the same time, Heins said in an interview this week. U.S. service providers received the phones themselves at the same time as other carriers around the world, BlackBerry confirmed yesterday.

“Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile -- they have to comply with certain rules they are subject to,” Heins said. “They’re trying to speed it up.”

‘It’s Different’
The situation reflects a balance of power in the U.S. where carriers rather than phone manufacturers dictate the terms, said Michael Cote, a wireless strategist at the Cote Collaborative in Chicago.

“It’s different for phone makers here,” said Cote, a former sales executive at T-Mobile USA, the fourth-largest U.S. carrier. “U.S. carriers are accustomed to running roughshod over phone manufacturers.”

An exception to that rule may be Apple Inc. (AAPL), which demanded a revenue-sharing agreement from AT&T when the companies first introduced the iPhone in 2007. When Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), the No. 3 carrier, got the rights to the iPhone in 2011, Apple required it to buy at least $15.5 billion worth of the phones -- a requirement that weighed on Sprint’s shares.

Even knowing that U.S. carriers take longer to approve phones, BlackBerry failed to get the new model to American carriers sooner than its overseas partners. The company has been racing to finish developing the phone following multiple delays that put the Z10’s debut at least a year behind schedule.

Comeback Plan
BlackBerry, formerly known as Research In Motion (RIM), is counting on the new products to reverse six quarters of sales declines and win back market share from Apple and Google Inc.’s Android. Despite positive reviews for the Z10, BlackBerry shares tumbled for a second day yesterday amid concerns that U.S. sales will suffer from the delay.

The BlackBerry Q10, a second model equipped with a keyboard, is set to go on sale in April. No specific date was given for any carrier debut of that device.

Mark Siegel, a spokesman for Dallas-based AT&T, declined to comment on the BlackBerry delay.

Torod Neptune, a spokesman for Basking Ridge, New Jersey- based Verizon Wireless, said the testing process can be more lengthy for devices running on new operating systems, as is the case with the Z10 and Q10.

“There’s really no typical length of time for a phone to go through testing,” he said. “We have a rigorous and extensive testing protocol, and how long that process takes depends on the device and the issues we may encounter.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Scott Moritz in New York at [email protected]; Hugo Miller in Toronto at [email protected]

[TheStoof]

Maybe we'll be surprised. Who knows. I try not to think about it.

[Balti43]

its a shame that nothing can be done to speed up the US carriers.

[organized_mayhem]

its a shame that nothing can be done to speed up the US carriers.

Yeah. Unfortunately it is all of them so it does no good to threaten to move to another carrier.

[SixStringMadness]

Maybe we'll be surprised. Who knows. I try not to think about it.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst

[blkitr]

Yeah. Unfortunately it is all of them so it does no good to threaten to move to another carrier.

And that's one of the major reasons why us U.S. bb fans/customers are so irrate!!! or shall I say me, don't want to speak for anyone else

[TomJasper]

Seems to me this carrier foot dragging is bringing Blackberry 10 lots of FREE buzz.

[organized_mayhem]

And that's one of the major reasons why us U.S. bb fans/customers are so irrate!!! or shall I say me, don't want to speak for anyone else

I agree. I wasn't expecting it on day 1. However I thought within 2 weeks we would see it. That combined with my storm about to die is driving me crazy.

[SixStringMadness]

Seems to me this carrier foot dragging is bringing Blackberry 10 lots of FREE buzz.

Starting to look like each is pointing their fingers at the other

[BergerKing]

Confirmed what I knew to be the truth. Thanks for posting for the benefit of others.

[BergerKing]

Seems to me this carrier foot dragging is bringing Blackberry 10 lots of FREE buzz.

I've heard two radio show host now that have been asking to give them positive press, they want the device in their hot little hands so they can review it on-air.

[BergerKing]

its a shame that nothing can be done to speed up the US carriers.

Yes, some of them move slower than the speed of smell. And some are particularly obnoxious.

[TomJasper]

I've heard two radio show host now that have been asking to give them positive press, they want the device in their hot little hands so they can review it on-air.

The anticipation buzz, nice to see. Sucks for those waiting but it increases the buzz for Blackberry during the lag time, sure tells me the anticipation factor is high, silver lining.

[TomJasper]

Yes, some of them move slower than the speed of smell. And some are particularly obnoxious.

Something tells me there is as fire lit under the carriers butts, ie petitions,news stories etc.

[DuexNoir]

Another similar article here: Blackberry Z10 U.S. release faces delays due to testing process.

Excerpt from the article:

"BlackBerry, based in Waterloo, Ontario, didn’t offer a firm release date for the U.S., saying it would be sometime in March. After the slow rollout irked investors, Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins pointed the finger at U.S. carriers.

All the carriers got the final software for the phones, known as the “gold code,” at the same time, Heins said in an interview this week. U.S. service providers received the phones themselves at the same time as other carriers around the world, BlackBerry confirmed Thursday."

If it weren't down to carriers holding up the release in the US, then I'm sure they would have released a retaliatory statement pointing straight back at BB but

"Mark Siegel, a spokesman for Dallas-based AT&T, declined to comment on the BlackBerry delay."

[kevinnugent]

Even knowing that U.S. carriers take longer to approve phones, BlackBerry failed to get the new model to American carriers sooner than its overseas partners.

Therein lies the problem.

[Andrew4life]

I just don't see why some of the carriers aren't willing to cut corners and expedite the process. They clearly know that being first onto the market will get them the biggest chance of attracting customers.

And I don't see how some of these tests can take so long. Surely they can do the tests in parallel. I'm sure BlackBerry would be more than happy to provide them with 100 test phones if they need that many to do the tests in parallel.
Unfortunately, to US carriers, it seems that with the BlackBerry 10, it's just "business as usual".

[Skeevecr]

Even knowing that U.S. carriers take longer to approve phones, BlackBerry failed to get the new model to American carriers sooner than its overseas partners.

Therein lies the problem.

To a certain extent you can understand this with the cdma carriers because almost nowhere else uses that so they can't take advantage of any other testing, but the stupidest thing with at&t and tmo us is that there is plenty of gsm testing taking place globally and indeed a formal certification process called GCF that is widely recognised especially in europe and thus carriers do not have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to their own testing and allows them to release so much earlier than the american gsm carriers.

[Spencerdl]

I can't believe I'm getting ready to post this, but hear goes.......with all this "madness" (my polite way of saying BULL$HIT), the iphone and SG3 is starting to look better and better......thats right I said it.

[lynxs_claw]

Let's face it.. How much testing is really required to get any new products through especially for company already defined in mobile. All other non-US carriers got it approved in what 6 weeks. It's taking the US carriers what.. 6 months. If the US carriers wanted to get this through and wanted to take advantage of new contracts, etc. I believe they could and easily if not all the carrier but surely at least one. IMO they don't want disrupt the Apple (and Google) cart so to speak which to me is a huge conflict of interest since their primary focus should be to their customers not to their manufacturers. Without the carriers Google and Apple with their phones would not exist. The situation is just shameful.

Additionally, if the 10 phones are really good which they are.. Think about the advantages one US carrier would have if they said screw it, expedited the process and released it first at a reasonable rate. Making money is what they should be focused on not catering to the pressure of the duopoly.

[web99]

When the Samsung Galaxy 3 was launched last year it took more than a month before the US customers were able to buy it there. I don't remember that company getting the same amount of grief that Blackberry is now receiving for it. My perspective on the whole issue is that if it sells well in the UK, Europe, Canada, the Middle East and other regions where it will shortly be launched, it will sell well in the US once it becomes available. My perspective is that for people who have been waiting for the BB10, once they are able to have the phone in their hands and see for themselves that it is a good product, they will buy it and the delay will be a secondary thing.

[taz323]

keep thinking their dragging their feet on purpose, by the time the phone comes out in March there will be other phones coming out.

[lynxs_claw]

When the Samsung Galaxy 3 was launched last year it took more than a month before the US customers were able to buy it there. I don't remember that company getting the same amount of grief that Blackberry is now receiving for it. My perspective on the whole issue is that if it sells well in the UK, Europe, Canada, the Middle East and other regions where it will shortly be launched, it will sell well in the US once it becomes available. My perspective is that for people who have been waiting for the BB10, once they are able to have the phone in their hands and see for themselves that it is a good product, they will buy it and the delay will be a secondary thing.

I agree with you about if the product is good it will sell eventually. But perception could be everything.. I don't think there's any denying that this delay by the US carriers is hurting RIM's launch and is hurting their business and reputation.. To me it's simply unfair and uncalled for.

[gdurnt]

If every US carrier is delayed it all points to the FCC testing the product all carriers cant be delayed the same amount of time unless somebody else is the stumbling block.

[BigBuffBerry]

My understanding is it is 8 weeks of testing for Verizon. Seems a little drastic. If the code is good enough for EVERYONE else it should be good enough for them.