[lord of the flies]

Most people know by know that the key to winning the battle of the smartphones is the teenager market. In order for BB10 to truly become a smashing success, they need to be able to conquer the teen market. I think the best way to do that is to expand the music store to the point where it is bigger and better than iTunes. They also need to have both a killer app store and be great with messaging. But I think the most important thing they need to do in order to win the teen market, and in turn make BB10 a success is promote BBM. I don't mean do a little promotion, or even a Super Bowl ad. I mean a massive promotional tour. Every channel, there needs to be a BBM commercial. Blackberry representatives need to be at malls and retail stores, and even visit high schools and colleges like Microsoft did with the Surface.

Do you think that BB10 can reclaim the teen market from the claws of iOS and Android, and if so, how?

[PippinTook]

Fair Warning: I am a teen myself

Personally I think when teens pick up smartphones they are looking for certain things. First a cheap price point. Most smartphones are paid for by their parents and their parents usuallly dont want to pay a bunch for smartphone. Out of my whole whole family we have only ever 1 paid for a phone it always is whatever deals the carrier is pushing.

Next it must be good at messaging. Looking over my bill I send/get about 15,000 texts each month. I need something with a good keyboard and sturdy to handle. It needs to be social with a good amount of social networking ability. Teens I know dont download alternate social networking apps (Tweetbot, Echophone, ect) they want good apps from their offical devs. Such as a good Facebook for Blackberry or Twitter for Blackberry.

Quick Games on the go are something else thats going to be important. I see a lot of my friends pulling out their phones for any game thats quick they can play for short periods of times.

I think BBM would be a good feature to market but I it would need to be marketed carefuly. Most of the ppl I know with iOS use Imessage only cause it lets you group message much better then text messages do. It would need to showcase how BBM can help you stay connected.

Teens want the most popular apps. For example as SnapChat burst to popularity they want it just so they can say they have it. I mean I know a lot of teens that have it just to say they can use it if someone asks them. It does not mean they use it often.

Game Center for iOS is the other main function I see teens using on their iOS devices which BB does not have a market on yet.

I honestly cant wait to get a BB Q10 (or whatever qwerty phone they have out in a year when my contract is up). BB Q10 looks amazing to me. Nice keyboard, while still good socially!

[donmateo]

College student who has had a BB for abour 3 years now. I had a 9700 and December 2011 got a 9900. Had an iPhone 3g before and cheap phones before that. Hated my iPhone, home button quit on me with about 6 months left on contract but was being testy with 1 year left. I will be getting a Z10 immediately.

[lord of the flies]

I'm also a teen, so I understand everything you're saying. When you mentioned the part about us teens wanting the most popular apps, this is where I get concerned. Since most apps gain their popularity through the iOS Appstore or whatever Android has, I'm concerned that popular apps will take their sweet time getting to BB10 if they get popular elsewhere, and by then the popularity may have died down.

[Rello]

I think its hard to say. I believe that the younger crowd will find that the "swiping" of the OS will give it plenty of cool points, but I think that the lack of all the major apps will hurt until it is fixed. With the right marketing though...I think they'll be aight.

[kfh227]

Is their product awareness among you teens?

[donmateo]

Typically only if you know someone with a product. I stumbled upon BB at Best Buy and thought it looked cool and I loved the keyboard, so I got it. Got addicted and now I am not going back. I am trying to convince other people to get interested and check it out.

[richardat]

Is their product awareness among you teens?

I'd say they have it AT LEAST as much as adults.

The teen market has quick turn-over - by defintion - every few years there is a completely new crop of teens. So BB has SOME chance to reclaim it completely a few years down the road (though this would mean surviving that long, which I don't think will happen), in the meantime, as Pippin astutely pointed out, the lack of apps mean a lack of momentum among youth. They want to be able to use the same apps as their friends so as to communicate/integrate with them, which of course, is perfectly legitimate.

So, yes, it could be done, no, not in the short term....but a few years down the road. Will it happen? No.

As to promotions....well the college tour you suggest was quite a rousing success for the Surface right? (not quite the same....the Surface was so bad, it was doomed from the start, as I wrote before it was released!) .....but sure, promotion is always good. BB doesn't have the money to just blanket everything as you suggested though. In fact, they have enough for a very comprehensive blitz, if used very, very wisely (because they are on very tight-rope financially), but I have no faith in their marketing department either. Historically it's been terrible, and so far, they haven't shown any sign of improving.

[PippinTook]

I think just advertising Blackberry and BBM are not enough. What we need are BlackBerry Teen ambassadors, people that can show off their Blackberry devices to their friends. A lot of teens are "followers" when it comes to tech. I cant count how many of my friends asked droid or iphone on Facebook and got a smartphone that way.

It would be a lot cheaper then TV adverts and people are more likely to trust friends then adverts. Maybe open this program from highschool to college?

Teens with Blackberrys could be rewarded for showing off their Blackberry. Points for making Blackberry videos and the number of views they get. Help them get some Blackberyr swag maybe?

[donmateo]

As soon as I can get my Z10, that is exactly what I will be doing.

[Emu the Foo]

Well since I was 18 I've always thought the BlackBerry was one fiiiiiinnnneeee sexy phone. Maybe even 16. 19 is when the 9000 been out. Since then, I've worked for att corporate and been handed an htc kaiser, iphone and iphone 3g, bold 9000, 9700, 9800 and now 9930 on vzw. I liked the iphone but the novelty wore off. Especially with all the stupid apps it had. That's why they have a grip of apps because they have 100 fart machines and 200 obama voice apps and 300 mustache apps. BlackBerry always and forever hopefully. And I'm glad that the teens now still like it and plan on looking into. They do need to work on getting more like my friends lil sister tells her parents she "only wants an iphone!" Safe to say she doesn't have a phone at all. So now at 2 months away from 25 I'll be having a new BlackBerry and keep on after that