[collinc93]

Mods please request adjustment to thread title....I hate to read bullsh i t masquerading as facts...

[bungaboy]

Once again, listen to the earnings call. Do your research. You will see that by outsourcing to Foxconn, BlackBerry is now free to focus on monetizing its software offerings and expanding solutions for the enterprise sector (government and corporate). At least Indonesia and about 7 other emerging markets, consumers will be able to purchase a BlackBerry.

Poetry in Motion

Again you are wrong. Chen did not state that! He didn't say "emerging" he said "different" markets!

"We have another maybe six or seven different markets that we identified, that we would like to take these devices to. It will be based on BB10, and I think this is going to be an exciting, positive collaboration.

[bungaboy]

Hmm. I haven't seen a cheap low end phone sold in North America in a long time. Q10, Z10, Z30, Bold series, etc are not cheap low end phones.

Poetry in Motion

Curve 9320 series released July 2012 in USA! Less than 18 months ago!

Q5 released August 2013 in Canada.

[the_sleuth]

My two cents, I am not sure what the commotion is about.

BlackBerry handsets in N. America will become more of a niche product for consumers. So you won't be able to walk into your carrier or Best Buy to pickup a handset. Big deal. Apple.com sells products directly to consumers. BlackBerry.com will do the same. I am sure Amazon.com will carry the products also.

Here in Canada, there are Bell, Telus, and Rogers franchises that cater specifically to business handset users. I am sure the same is true for U.S. carrier franchises.

All that matters for me, my wife confirmed a Z30 will be under the Christmas tree. May your families and you have a wonderful Christmas holidays. Cheers.

[bungaboy]

I would request your sources OP, Considering you're coming off as just another BB-basher...

I am not rejecting your claims, more-so asking that you provide some form of credible proof of it. I don't think BBRY will pull completely out of the consumer market, I think Joe Normal will still be able to buy a BBRY device down the road (Including Z50/Q30). Foxconn can easily make devices for North American markets at a much more subsidized price than what BBRY has done for themselves.

Here is the transcript of the ER call. Read it for yourself. The OP is making up stuff.

BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY): Blackberry CEO Discusses F3Q14 Results - Earnings Call Transcript - Seeking Alpha

[masterscarhead1]

OP is definitely making stuff up
When the new CEO took his post, he specifically made it clear that they ARE continuing to sell to "prosumers", which includes your everyday users in the future devices. It is just not their main focus.
You will still be able to get upcoming devices. The question would be whether it will be sold online, or through carriers.

[RyanGermann]

While BB will not be selling to consumers

That is not a fact, but stated as such: BB will not be "targetting" consumers (as they have in the past with devices like the Pearl, Curve, Style, and Tour brands) but saying "BB will not be selling to consumers" is a (sorry) gross misrepresentation of reality.

Will BlackBerry themselves or BlackBerry resellers ask for proof that you represent an enterprise in some manner before they allow you to purchase the device? Can we stop with this nonsense?

[lnichols]

I used to be like you :-) that is, I swore I'd not pick up a Z30 (knowing that my Z10 that I paid full launch-day price for would have such a low resale value that reselling it was just a waste of time) but then I used it... the AMOLED screen is just super punchy, device feels so good in the hand, and the performance (not that the Z10 was unsatisfying) is spectacular, and I'm a size queen (I "owned" a Galaxy Note III for a few days, but the build quality underwhelmed me).

I wouldn't encourage anyone to ditch a Z10 for a Z30, but if you play with one for 10 minutes or more, you may not need any encouragement... but if the next device out the door is another full-screen slab, it would have to have significant under-the-hood technology improvements or additions to be of interest.

...but to say that "BlackBerry ditches..." as the OP suggests is... well, let me put it this way.

Suppose I am going to make pastries... and I decide that the pastries I am going to make are going to appeal to people who run large corporations and they will be served at company parties / board meetings etc. I can focus my recipes and ingredients on what I think these target customers will like... but would I NOT sell my pastries to people who aren't C-level executives if they wanted to buy them? Of course I would still sell to anyone who wanted to buy. These are delicious pastries that are a bit pricey and may not be to everyone's taste, but if there's an even larger customer base than my specific target market, all the better for me.

What I really hope is that BlackBerry will rely less on carriers, more on direct sales of unlocked devices, and the world will (like many of us on CrackBerry already do) just buy the device with the frequencies that support our preferred carrier, pop in a SIM card and we're off to the races, and we're not beholden to carriers to issue OS updates, either: direct from the source like Apple does iOS.

This + the Foxconn deal is an opportunity for BlackBerry to hit the big reset button on the whole shee-bang... deja vu all over again.

I'll buy one when they write them off and sell them for $200 or around there. Z10 will last me till then.

Posted via CB10

[scribacco]

I think what many missed yesterday during the earnings call was this statement from Chen:

"For the foreseeable future, our designers in North America will focus on enterprise ONLY. This does not imply, in the long term, we?re not going to get ourselves back into the consumer space in North America."

And of course that made investors happy and the stock rose as a result. Canada and the US will not see any more phones developed/designed for the consumer market. No running into Rogers, Telus, Bell, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile to pick up the latest BlackBerry. It will be interesting to see how long carriers continue to sell online. BlackBerry will continue to leverage BBM?s popularity.

Time to stock up on BlackBerry phones. Lol. We won't see another one until Jakarta is released and it won't be sold in Canada and U.S.

Poetry in Motion

So why did Chen say that At&t has agreed to test new phones? At&t is only in North America

[scribacco]

I'm sorry you're disappointed in Chen's strategy to keep the company afloat. I suggest you listen to the earnings call.

Poetry in Motion

if you call losing $4.4B an earning call..lol

[berklon]

OP is definitely making stuff up
When the new CEO took his post, he specifically made it clear that they ARE continuing to sell to "prosumers", which includes your everyday users in the future devices. It is just not their main focus.
You will still be able to get upcoming devices. The question would be whether it will be sold online, or through carriers.

Any way you slice it, this approach will be the eventual death of handsets for Blackberry. This will guarantee their market will be extremely small, and that it will be too cost in-efficient to continue making phones for such a small market (unless they charge a premium - and then you'll be scaring off a lot of people there). If you think BBs market is small now, wait to see how small it is then.

Coming soon: RIP Blackberry handsets.

[scribacco]

Regardless of what Mr. Chen said or more specifically how you treated his messages, if BB manufactures a non-consumer device then they will lose the market completely no matter the distribution channels. This is exactly what happened with old BB devices - they were not consumer friendly.
In other words, if no consumer devices in Canada and US then no BB devices at all in this region.

Exactly! Only devices that are successful on the consumer market are successful on the corporate one and viceversa

[vrud]

.
Coming soon: RIP Blackberry handsets.

How soon? I've been hearing this message for 3 years already.

Posted via CB10

[scribacco]

Hmm. I haven't seen a cheap low end phone sold in North America in a long time. Q10, Z10, Z30, Bold series, etc are not cheap low end phones.

Poetry in Motion

The Z10 sells for less than $300 unlocked and Bold series you can get it for less than $200..compared to high end phones like the Galaxy, Htc One, and iPhones that all run over $600, they are quite cheap.

[Mr Bigs]

Most of the phones that BlackBerry has ever released were intended to be business devices first: Curve, Bold, 8XXX... Consumers bought them because people with BlackBerry device were viewed as important and they were one of the best Smartphones on the market at the time. Other than the Pearl, every consumer focused device has been a commercial failure (Storm, Storm2, PlayBook, Z10....). The market has shifted and now the devices that are the consumer successes are becoming the desired devices for business needs. So by focusing on high end business devices they should be making devices that consumers will want to.

Posted via CB10

I like to say BB is going through a purging process. The phone is no longer fashionable which clears the people out who just want to look up to date and important or just cool. I cant tell you how many people have smartphones that don't know how to use them or only use a small part of its capabilities.

[scribacco]

I don't think they'd be dumb enough to release another OS7 device unless it's for enterprise, no one is developing applications for that thing anymore.

If BB10 devices are a success in emerging markets then you just get a better ecosystem, because developers will be able to reach a wider audience.

Posted via CB10

Emerging markets are price sensitive and do not buy many apps and developers won't waste their time and money for poor returns.

[LuvULongTime]

Any way you slice it, this approach will be the eventual death of handsets for Blackberry. This will guarantee their market will be extremely small, and that it will be too cost in-efficient to continue making phones for such a small market (unless they charge a premium - and then you'll be scaring off a lot of people there). If you think BBs market is small now, wait to see how small it is then.

Coming soon: RIP Blackberry handsets.

No.

The status quo would have been the eventual death of the handset business. This deal with Foxconn gives them a chance to actually make it work. Think about it for a second. Why would Foxconn do business with Blackberry if they didn't think they could make money? They are assuming all of the risk here. I remember Chen saying that BBRY would make set profit on each device and anything over and above would go to Foxconn. There is a huge opportunity here for Foxconn to make $$$. They have far more leverage with component suppliers than BBRY ever did on their own. Because they make phones for numerous other companies, they can purchase in larger volumes and can negotiate better prices.

Foxconn probably already has a good idea of what their first Jakarta phone will look like from a component and cost perspective. They know they can compete with the cheap Android OEM's, otherwise the wouldn't have bothered entering into an agreement with BBRY.

Couple this with the rumoured Google play support on 10.2.1, and I think we can all see this coming together.

[nico2004]

I'm ever glad that my work only uses BlackBerry !!


Posted via CB10

[Taede]

Monday will be here soon so it is time to turn the Bad and Good news into a negative. What is the purpose of this thread, to give us your opinion after reading a statement or something online or did you speak with someone from BB that gave you an inside scoop?

For me the news was more sweet than bitter. I will continue purchasing devices made by BB.

BYOD!!! There are just consumers now and they will not carry two devices.

I don't want to continue with my reply to this post. As it was stated above how does this post help BB and a simple Google search will post this negative thread at the top, as Google always does, it's Google.

[Admorris]

How soon? I've been hearing this message for 3 years already.

Posted via CB10

Because they aren't in the grave doesn't mean they aren't dead. I like to think of BB as a zombie that has escaped a stab to the head over the last couple years.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

[berklon]

No.

The status quo would have been the eventual death of the handset business. This deal with Foxconn gives them a chance to actually make it work. Think about it for a second. Why would Foxconn do business with Blackberry if they didn't think they could make money? They are assuming all of the risk here. I remember Chen saying that BBRY would make set profit on each device and anything over and above would go to Foxconn. There is a huge opportunity here for Foxconn to make $$$. They have far more leverage with component suppliers than BBRY ever did on their own. Because they make phones for numerous other companies, they can purchase in larger volumes and can negotiate better prices.

Foxconn probably already has a good idea of what their first Jakarta phone will look like from a component and cost perspective. They know they can compete with the cheap Android OEM's, otherwise the wouldn't have bothered entering into an agreement with BBRY.

Couple this with the rumoured Google play support on 10.2.1, and I think we can all see this coming together.

Yes, they will be able to make cheaper devices... and they will probably be able to better compete on price with the cheaper Android devices.

But I don't believe the Google Play support. Why would Google allow Blackberry (ie. the competition) access to Google Play when it could take away some of Android's marketshare. While I think that's just a pipe-dream that BB having access to Google Play will make much of a difference - I don't see Google allowing it anyway.

The Blackberry name is DIRT... MUD really. Most people will just avoid Blackberry altogether because of all the negative connotations associated with it. Plus, if people want access to the Android ecosystem - they'll buy an Android device. Simple as that.

Every step of the way since Blackberry tried to make a comeback with BB10, everyone here has been disappointed. Yet, there are those who still hold out hope - even though there's really no reason to believe it will get better. It will NOT work out... it's over.

[vrud]

Because they aren't in the grave doesn't mean they aren't dead. I like to think of BB as a zombie that has escaped a stab to the head over the last couple years.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

I hope zombies won't rule the world...

Posted via CB10

[Whyareallthegoodnamestaken]

BlackBerry is exiting the consumer retail market. Only enterprise handsets going forward. It's pretty clear.

Poetry in Motion

It's not clear at all. The person you quoted said exactly why. Read.

[R Field]

I think what many missed yesterday during the earnings call was this statement from Chen:

"For the foreseeable future, our designers in North America will focus on enterprise ONLY. This does not imply, in the long term, we?re not going to get ourselves back into the consumer space in North America."

And of course that made investors happy and the stock rose as a result. Canada and the US will not see any more phones developed/designed for the consumer market. No running into Rogers, Telus, Bell, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile to pick up the latest BlackBerry. It will be interesting to see how long carriers continue to sell online. BlackBerry will continue to leverage BBM?s popularity.

Time to stock up on BlackBerry phones. Lol. We won't see another one until Jakarta is released and it won't be sold in Canada and U.S.

Poetry in Motion

Mr. Chen, 58, said that while BlackBerry will continue to focus on the design and construction of high-end smartphones, Foxconn will be tasked with building lower-cost devices for emerging territories, �filling the gaps� in the company�s product offerings.

"Z10 and q10 will continue to develop"

BlackBerry Ltd CEO John Chen comes out swinging, vows days of mocking smartphone firm are over | Financial Post

Yes we won't see another high end device before the Jakarta is released but we just had the Z30 released. They will arrive and there is a lot of stuff in the pipeline. You may not see another high end device for another 6 months but that is the smart move as they develop the OS and come back with a refreshed offering for the market. It would be stupid at this point to go all in on another high end device right away to be honest. If I was a betting man maybe Q3 with the TAT 10.3 you will see a Z50/Q50. Don't be misled by the BS.

BlackBerry Isn't Dead; At Least 4 More Devices Planned - N4BB

[CecilTsunami]

My opinion is that if BlackBerry is to survive, it will regain popularity the same way it grew to begin with.

Enterprise customers will force their employees to use a BlackBerry. Employees will go "Hey, this is a nice phone." will show it off to friends and family. Eventually friends and family will want to buy one.

All of this of course is dependant on BlackBerry making a phone that is good enough that the people forced to use it at work will actually come to the conclusion that it would be the phone they would choose to use if it were up to them.

Quality, apps and the right exposure is the key. Making the phones unavailable to the consumer is just nuts. If your goal is to make money, your product needs to be available to anyone with money to spend.

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