[aha]

Is Blackberry Losing the Hardware Battle?


From this video, John doesn't seem to be as confident in answering questions about turning around hardware business. He is not sure what's the problem here and can only say the problem is probably in the following aspects:

1. Didn't release to verizon fast enough
2. Didn't push enough in enterprise market to sell to companies
3. May have to look at pricing a little bit
4. The market for premium phones are too small
5. No mid-low range phones

That got me concerned... because:

1. Even releasing it to all markets, without proper marketing, it still won't sell. If the phone is not good enough, it won't sell neither.
2. true
3. true
4. It's not that the premium market is too small, because there are companies doing very well in this space. It's the Priv is not competitive in premium market. Priv just don't offer enough highlights in this space.
5. False... at the lower end, the value of security is even lower. It's about brand, price and cut-throat competition that BlackBerry is pretty bad at. He said that mid-low range phones may help high end phone sales, that's false. The reverse is true. If the high end phones sells great, the lower end phones' sales will be positively influenced.

The root cause of the underwhelming Priv sales is: Priv was underwhelming to compete at that price range, not so good at the release (many problems), not fixing problems fast enough, now new competitions have entered the market at the same price range. The window of capturing the most sales has past.

I still contribute BlackBerry's poor performance in their poor execution on so many things. From the release, to the ads, to the delayed delivery of pre-ordered phones, to the font they use on those posters, to price point, to the product quality, etc. They have done many things right, but just not quite enough to compete with big boys such as Apple and Samsung. Apple and Samsung make mistakes too, but the execution are always on a different level above BlackBerry.

Great ideas, but poor execution.

Hate to say this... but after using BlackBerry's product exclusively for the past 8 years, I think maybe BlackBerry should just quit the consumer market, they are just not competitive enough and probably will never get there.

[kevwill6115]

Is Blackberry Losing the Hardware Battle?


From this video, John doesn't seem to be as confident in answering questions about turning around hardware business. He is not sure what's the problem here and can only say the problem is probably in the following aspects:

1. Didn't release to verizon fast enough
2. Didn't push enough in enterprise market to sell to companies
3. May have to look at pricing a little bit
4. The market for premium phones are too small
5. No mid-low range phones

That got me concerned... because:

1. Even releasing it to all markets, without proper marketing, it still won't sell. If the phone is not good enough, it won't sell neither.
2. true
3. true
4. It's not that the premium market is too small, because there are companies doing very well in this space. It's the Priv is not competitive in premium market. Priv just don't offer enough highlights in this space.
5. False... at the lower end, the value of security is even lower. It's about brand, price and cut-throat competition that BlackBerry is pretty bad at. He said that mid-low range phones may help high end phone sales, that's false. The reverse is true. If the high end phones sells great, the lower end phones' sales will be positively influenced.

The root cause of the underwhelming Priv sales is: Priv was underwhelming to compete at that price range, not so good at the release (many problems), not fixing problems fast enough, now new competitions have entered the market at the same price range. The window of capturing the most sales has past.

I still contribute BlackBerry's poor performance in their poor execution on so many things. From the release, to the ads, to the delayed delivery of pre-ordered phones, to the font they use on those posters, to price point, to the product quality, etc. They have done many things right, but just not quite enough to compete with big boys such as Apple and Samsung. Apple and Samsung make mistakes too, but the execution are always on a different level above BlackBerry.

Great ideas, but poor execution.

Hate to say this... but after using BlackBerry's product exclusively for the past 8 years, I think maybe BlackBerry should just quit the consumer market, they are just not competitive enough and probably will never get there.

I agree. Maybe it's time to exit the hardware division.

Posted via CB10

[early2bed]

He clearly doesn't have a knack for the hardware business, which is no surprise as he wasn't hired with this in mind. But he's up against the most cutthroat hardware business there is. Launching on Verizon late was a fatal blow for Palm. Unless you have great market presence, you don't tell the carriers what you are doing - they tell you what to do and how to do it. The average webOSNation fan probably knew this better than John Chen did when he took the helm. The guy gets the "deer in the headlights" look when he talks about the carriers.

[RoseBud68]

Not losing.....Lost the hardware Battle.

[kvndoom]

I still wonder if verizon turned down the chance to have the Priv first, and did a "wait and see." They did get burned the worst with the Z10.


AT&T probably did ok with the passport so they weren't as hesitant to make an agreement with BlackBerry on the Priv launch.

BlackBerry probably had to take the "beggars can't be choosers" approach and deal with a staggered rollout. The price is still hard to swallow for anything with a "BlackBerry" logo on it.

BlackBerry Classic non-camera, Cricket Wireless

[aha]

If you look at Chen's resumes, you will find no experience in competing in consumer market. The enterprise market is his domain and he is very comfortable to lead the business in that area.

It doesn't matter how BlackBerry make it, the enterprise market for smartphone product is getting smaller and smaller. Because more and more companies allow employees to bring their own device now.

But before Priv, BlackBerry clearly believes that there is still enough space for BlackBerry to own and thrive in. That's why they shifted the focus to enterprise and pretty much gave up the consumer market... there was little to no marketing for Passport and Z30.

But after a year or two, probably they found the number didn't add up... the increasing revenue in software doesn't offset the declining rate of service revenue, and the hardware business also increased declining speed now without carrier support and marketing, so they changed the course again with Priv. They made it for consumers... selling it through carriers, and made pretty much no push in enterprise world (after all it's an experiment).

But Chen wasn't experienced nor prepared in consumer domain, the release was so unorganized that the only impression I had was him holding the Priv awkwardly in his hand, trying to wake up the phone by swiping up, and referring the OS as "it runs Google ".

If you think Heins was bad at marketing BB10, Chen was worse.

I don't think Chen wants to kill off the hardware business. On the contrary, he genuinely tried to make it viable again, but he was just not experienced enough to lead and build the teams to compete in this consumer market.

This is not to belittle Chen's contribution or anything. He did turn the ship around and stabilize the financial situation, which was an extremely difficult task.

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2339

[MikeX74]

To be quite honest, they lost the battle on January 9, 2007, when the iPhone was announced. They just didn't know it.

[khlover520]

They NEED to market their phones and they NEED to lower the pricing. I don't know if this is recent or not but Walmart is selling the Priv brand new around $630. That's a good price but it needs to be even lower in my opinion.

Also the Priv hasn't been released in Mexico yet, the country that once valued BlackBerry so much. Maybe that market might bring a significant boost in sales. I also think Chen should release the mid tier all touch device mentioned in the rumors and scrap the premium keyboard one for now.

Posted via CB10

[Polt]

'Lost' is a more appropriate word.


Posted via CB10

[hobgoblin1961]

the whole mobile device business is slowing down, not only at Blackberry's site, even Apple does step down developing for new devices, building new devices by picking parts out of old stock clear out and just name them SE... LOL
just face it.. the mobile phone market is stuffed and no one need a new device every year... well some went in to the habit of collecting this things as a hobby, but in general it's like a hype, like new TV set or any other fashion item, well many folks spend money on this tech toys just to appear cool, interchangeable with (cars, phones, dressing, just any tech crap)

Posted either via -Passport SQW100-1 or -Classic SQC100-1 / 10.3.++

[JeepBB]

Great ideas, but poor execution.

Hate to say this... but after using BlackBerry's product exclusively for the past 8 years, I think maybe BlackBerry should just quit the consumer market, they are just not competitive enough and probably will never get there.

BB has already exited the consumer market, it's just that many here refuse to accept it.

Just because an ordinary consumer can still buy a BB phone, doesn't mean you are their focus.

[whatsever]

There is no battle, they are trying to push qwerty phone's which nobody ones, only a few million.

Marketing is a b.... if you don't know the market.

Posted via CB10

[menshawy]

I think a big cause also is the brand name. It's not attracting the young consumers which is the largest.


Posted via CB10

[xtremeled]

Absolutely not! In order to win or lose any battle, You need to be in it. Blackberry was never in the battle. They were an industry powerhouse and then they died. No battles!

[bakron1]

I think they lost the battle in 2008 when the iPhone and Android took control of the market. What's sad is back then they had the capital and resources to change the outcome but lacked the vision and execution to do so.

[TgeekB]

I think they lost the battle in 2008 when the iPhone and Android took control of the market. What's sad is back then they had the capital and resources to change the outcome but lacked the vision and execution to do so.

No, instead we heard "tools not toys" and other arrogant remarks as the others smartly moved on past.

[Laura Knotek]

I think they lost the battle in 2008 when the iPhone and Android took control of the market. What's sad is back then they had the capital and resources to change the outcome but lacked the vision and execution to do so.

Did you read the book "Losing the Signal"? It is an interesting but sad report on what went wrong.

[koebi90]

It MUST be possible to at least be a very very very small niche player in the hardware business with a android based, big battery android phone.

It's just a matter of shrinking the capacity and businesses and pricing the device right.
There is a die hard fan base out there that will never move away from BlackBerry as a hardware brand, because they can not miss the keyboard!

Posted via CB10

[southlander]

There are no profits unless you can produce top hardware and distribute it quickly while it's still top hardware. Look at Apple and Samsung. They both do this. Look at One Plus as an example of getting it half right. Blackberry does neither. They put out high mid range hardware and do it late.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[GadgetTravel]

They NEED to market their phones and they NEED to lower the pricing. I don't know if this is recent or not but Walmart is selling the Priv brand new around $630. That's a good price but it needs to be even lower in my opinion.

Also the Priv hasn't been released in Mexico yet, the country that once valued BlackBerry so much. Maybe that market might bring a significant boost in sales. I also think Chen should release the mid tier all touch device mentioned in the rumors and scrap the premium keyboard one for now.

Posted via CB10

I think the price of the Priv on Verizon is an absolute joke. It's more than an S7. Seriously?

[bobby1966]

You actually have to think about the answer?

via my Samsung Galaxy S5

[Jay Wright2]

I think they lost the battle in 2008 when the iPhone and Android took control of the market. What's sad is back then they had the capital and resources to change the outcome but lacked the vision and execution to do so.

Well said.

The BlackBerry Guy

[xtremeled]

It MUST be possible to at least be a very very very small niche player in the hardware business with a android based, big battery android phone.

It's just a matter of shrinking the capacity and businesses and pricing the device right.
There is a die hard fan base out there that will never move away from BlackBerry as a hardware brand, because they can not miss the keyboard!

Posted via CB10

Name one! Just one small device maker that caters to this market. You cant. You know why? There is no way to make a profit. You think that the few hundred members here who still use a dated device can support an entire technology company? Where do you people come from? LOL

[xtremeled]

Also the Priv hasn't been released in Mexico yet, the country that once valued BlackBerry so much. Maybe that market might bring a significant boost in sales

LOL. So you think Mexico will be the savior of the Priv? LOL You people are always good for a laugh. The nutcase ideas that i can read here one of a kind.

[roleli]

LOL. So you think Mexico will be the savior of the Priv? LOL You people are always good for a laugh. The nutcase ideas that i can read here one of a kind.

You laugh..When expanded to include Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa. Once when Blackberry use to report revenues from regions you saw that while smaller than North America they did contribute revenue. Once profitable regions should never be ignored but since 2012/2013 Blackberry seems not to be interested in these regions. Seemingly because they thinkniche (high-end) while forgetting the low-mid range to their peril.

In Jamaica BB10, the OS, was never launched in a country that was once Blackberry country.(There were a few phone ads but BB10 was more than just the phone), A low-mid range Blackberry Android device (all-touch) would have done well based on what I see selling over the last 2-3 years.