Making BlackBerry cool again -- a big task

"Marketing matters as much as technology for Z10"

"BlackBerry faces a herculean task marketing the new Z10 smartphone to U.S. consumers."

"BlackBerry's chief marketing officer, Frank Boulben, will be front and center to make the case to individuals for the Z10, and later for the Q10 with its qwerty keyboard.

Burden said that Boulben has a good marketing pedigree for a company traditionally seen as engineering-oriented rather than marketing savvy. Boulben also seems to understand the difficult position BlackBerry is in, as the company struggles to grow its market share back above 5% globally.

While the BlackBerry 10 operating system was praised by many reviewers when it was introduced in January, Burden said technology prowess won't play a big role in the Z10's fortunes in the U.S.

"What's well known is that the best technology doesn't necessarily win," Burden said. "If the best technology always won, we'd all have been using Macs back in the 1990s. BlackBerry built a great OS and the Z10 hardware will evolve, but the marketing challenges to BlackBerry are very real.""

Source: Computerworld
Making BlackBerry cool again -- a big task - Computerworld

BlackBerry is way cool even before rotten apples and broken DROID

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by Homo Erectus

BlackBerry is way cool even before rotten apples and broken DROID

Posted via CB10

No doubt that BlackBerry ONCE was cool. But the last few years most people that were FORCED to use BlackBerry's by their employers have not taught of them as cool! Remember there are still people rocking OS5 and OS6 devices out there, and while OS7 was a HUGE improvement. It was still behind iOS and Android. If there had been another choice for a secure, and manageable device those companies and their employees, RIM's marketshare in the US would have gone from 6% to .00006%.

But that should change once all those people have to opportunity to use a truly modern smartphone.

The challenge of marketing is to overcome the past.... many products fall out if favor ( Volkswagon ) comes to mind.. but can make a comeback... all advertising does is get your product known.... what sells most is ... word of mouth and hands on experience.....most people I talk to who have had hands on the device come away with the wow factor.... If the retailers let customers have hands on I really believe the phone will sell... remember the thing BB10 has going for it is the new shiny factor....

"Once was Cool" is not good enough. Almost all of my friends used Blackberry, but like most were turned off with all the hardware/software problems with the 9900. Just in my company all four of our 9900 units died, some multiple times after getting them replaced. Sorry to say we all went to iPhone, just for the dependability. been using iPhones and iPads so long now it will be hard to change. I will be getting a Z10 and setting it up under an unused line in my company, just to see how well it works.

BB has it's job cut out for it to win many of it's customer back. Time shall tell.

Like OP said, I think marketing is going to be key.

Burden is most probably short bb ,nobody hides thier Z10 ,but he seems to think they do.bb has turned the corner with a stunning new product and don,t let the nay sayers get to you.it definetely was a big task,but we are CANADA,and we don,t back down,we play fair and strive to win.

"What's well known is that the best technology doesn't necessarily win," Burden said. "If the best technology always won, we'd all have been using Macs back in the 1990s."

lol :|

Originally Posted by dbmalloy

The challenge of marketing is to overcome the past.... many products fall out if favor ( Volkswagon ) comes to mind.. but can make a comeback... all advertising does is get your product known.... what sells most is ... word of mouth and hands on experience.....most people I talk to who have had hands on the device come away with the wow factor.... If the retailers let customers have hands on I really believe the phone will sell... remember the thing BB10 has going for it is the new shiny factor....

Actually the target market for the original Volkswagen (The People's Car) was the lower middle-class unlike the modern Volkswagen targeted to the upper middle-class. Also, the original car was air cooled rather than oil cooled. Even the location of the engine has been moved from the back to the front. Don't post on the Internet without doing your homework. ;)

Originally Posted by greggebhardt

"Once was Cool" is not good enough. Almost all of my friends used Blackberry, but like most were turned off with all the hardware/software problems with the 9900. Just in my company all four of our 9900 units died, some multiple times after getting them replaced. Sorry to say we all went to iPhone, just for the dependability. been using iPhones and iPads so long now it will be hard to change. I will be getting a Z10 and setting it up under an unused line in my company, just to see how well it works.

BB has it's job cut out for it to win many of it's customer back. Time shall tell.

To be honest, BlackBerry OS 7 and the line-up of BlackBerry smartphones were never intended to be released; they were a stop-gap wedged between BlackBerry OS 6 and what would become BlackBerry OS 10 though at the time it was released as BlackBerry Tablet OS 1.0 almost a year after BlackBerry OS 7. Delays in bringing both the BlackBerry Tablet with BlackBerry Tablet OS and the BlackBerry Z10 et., al. with BlackBerry OS 10 damaged the reputation of BlackBerry more so than the lock-down of corporate-issued BlackBerry smartphones.