[GadgetTravel]

What far too many here fail to apprehend is that the so-called "toys" excel at communication as well, and in certain respects can even be said to exceed what a BB is capable of. Welcome to 2013. You can have a toy that serves as a supremely capable tool.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

Yes, I think there is a lot of real denial here. High end Android phones or iPhones are at least as good, and arguably much better as productivity tools on my opinion and that includes communications. The market isn't evaluating things based on 2007 when BB may have been better.

[RubberChicken76]

Same for mine... Candy Crush, Pinetrese and Instagram are all must haves for her. Sideloaded options have not been good enough in the past, and she isn't impress with the process.!

It's because it's a process for geeks like us. The general consumer can't be bothered to go to the trouble. They want a simple "find, download, install" process. Just like App Store, App World, Google Play, Windows Phone Store.

[jonty12]

They need to change the perception via marketing. Cadillac changed their image from land yachts for the elderly to a sports sedan with the "Not your father's Cadillac" commercials and BlackBerry needs to do something similar to show that the new devices are nothing like the old BBOS that people came to loathe via the locked down devices assigned to them at work. People have no idea via the craptastic commercials that BlackBerry has put out what the device can do or that things have changed. It takes time and money to turn a negative image positive but BlackBerry doesn't even seem to think that they have an image problem and that all that they need to do is wait for the BB10 adopters to convert everyone over. Sorry BlackBerry but this won't work. You have to do the heavy lifting, not the user base.

Posted via CB10

You may want to read the following link. They are a lot like Cadillac in that they think their image has changed, but it hasn't really.

http://247wallst.com/autos/2012/12/0...ac-turnaround/

(for the sake of full disclosure, Cadillac sales are up 38% this year, but their 10 year re-image from the introduction of the CTS in 2002 to the end of 2012 left them with an average buyer older than any brand other than Lincoln. In other words, Cadillac is still your (grand)father's Cadillac .)

Posted via CB10

[lnichols]

You may want to read the following link. They are a lot like Cadillac in that they think their image has changed, but it hasn't really.

http://247wallst.com/autos/2012/12/0...ac-turnaround/

(for the sake of full disclosure, Cadillac sales are up 38% this year, but their 10 year re-image from the introduction of the CTS in 2002 to the end of 2012 left them with an average buyer older than any brand other than Lincoln. In other words, Cadillac is still your (grand)father's Cadillac .)

Posted via CB10

That's because most younger people can't afford them more than not wanting one! I bet the average age of someone who buys a new Corvette is not low either.

Posted via CB10

[jonty12]

That's because most younger people can't afford them more than not wanting one! I bet the average age of someone who buys a new Corvette is not low either.

Posted via CB10

If that was the case BMW, MB, and Lexus would have the same problem. They don't. Almost a decade younger average buyer.

Posted via CB10

[Stephen Cooper]

A lil commercial I did to portray "coolness" and have people intrigued.


Posted via CB10

Man this is actually awesome!!!!!!!

Posted via the Super BlackBerry Z10

[donnation]

A lil commercial I did to portray "coolness" and have people intrigued.


Posted via CB10

Wow that was really good. Beats anything Blackberry has done themselves. Nice job.

[NaijaBerry]

People know they exist in the US, they just have the perception of being old and outdated amongst iP5's and Galaxies etc. Take for instance a buddy of mine in Atlanta, sends me a message via WhatsApp from his iP5 which he loves. So I asked him to use BBM instead as its more efficient, and he's like, "BBM is on my CrapBerry and sends me a picture of his 9900". So I said that's not a BlackBerry, this is and sent him a picture of my Z10 (pre awesome Q10). He was undoubtedly impressed with that white Z10 and said, "that's a BlackBerry?.......hmmmmmm!". That's it......to him its still a crapberry.

Any marketing that BBRY does has to be aimed solely at changing that perception of old, for work, for old people, not fun, outdated, soooo 2007!

[txradioguy]

i dont see their brand perception changing either. I really really want it to.

The first words out of the mouths of everyone I've shown my Z10 to is "THAT's a Blackberry?" And they immediately want to start checking it out.

The problem I'm running into whenever I'm in the T-Mobile (Germany on a military post) store is that I know more about this phone than the people that are supposed to be selling it.

All the marketing in the world won't matter in any country if the people selling the device don't get behind it and sell it as hard as they do a Fruit Phone or the NSA Galaxy 4

[Stephen Cooper]

^^^totally agree.

Posted via the Super BlackBerry Z10

[amazinglygraceless]

All the marketing in the world won't matter in any country if the people selling the device don't get behind it and sell it as hard as they do a Fruit Phone or the NSA Galaxy 4

Nor will all the marketing in the world erase the perception among many that the user base of BlackBerry are a bunch of spoiled, petulant brats whose only defense of their platform of choice is to deride the competition with ignorant names and can therefore be ignored (read: Developers, consumers, sales people). By the bye, if Apple makes a "fruit phone" couldn't the same be said for BlackBerry (also a fruit)

[drkpitt]

BlackBerry needs to take several new approaches in their marketing, one of which is the funny aspect like Microsoft is taking.

Check out these funny ads that directly show what is better about other products:
"I'm sorry, I can only do one thing at a time." Windows 8: Less talking, more doing - YouTube
"Do you still think I'm pretty?" Windows 8: Surface RT vs. iPad - YouTube

And here's the real world example:
"Do two things at once without dropping the ball." Windows 8: Baseball - YouTube

There need to be some other ads which directly address the elephant in the room of BlackBerry being uncool, and some others where the difference in efficiency saves the day at work and at play. I'd also like to see some poking fun at how BlackBerry is David vs. Apple's Goliath, and how Apple is now the Big Brother of conformity they eschewed in 1984.

[dbmalloy]

As we live in a superfical world at best.... we need celebrities to endorse BB.... no offence to Alicia... but you need a Justin Bieber... Taylor Swift.... boy bands etc.... Lobby the entertainers with the top facebook and twitter followers and have them rave about it on social media...... then look where sales would be..... look what and Oprrah can do for a book or her favorite things... they fly off the shelf....the reason BB is your fathers phone is that it is not cool anymore... BB needs to make it cool again and in the US anyways... this would be the fasted way to success....

[LWKING]

I think a lot of the execs at BlackBerry are too old to understand. For them it's a perfect phone. I don't think they see the need for an image change. Frank Boulben may be good at what he does, but he's the wrong guy for BlackBerry. They need younger workers that can actually reach out to the younger crowd. A lot of teens drive sales. They have an influence on the phones that their parents, grandparents, and friends get.

The Z10 is the cool BlackBerry phone. The Z30 is the new cool BlackBerry phone. Unfortunately it may be another wasted opportunity

[kvndoom]

Same here.. my wife plays Words with Friends. Ive wanted her to get a BB. But she doesnt want to give up that game.

Which just goes to show, it will always be about the apps, apps, apps... People aren't going to see what else the phone can do if they don't have the incentive to own it in the first place.

[BlackBerry Guy]

I see BlackBerry's problem as very similar to an actor that's been typecast into a particular role. Regardless of what they do, they'll forever be associated with the QWERTY keyboard devices of the mid to late 2000s in the minds of the typical consumer. Their slow move away from BBOS only reinforced that as they were left behind and appeared being antiquated during the formative years of iOS and Android. As much as I hate to say it, I think almost the only thing that will get the brand back into the forefront of people's minds is a lot of celebrity star power and an ecosystem that can keep people's interest once they decide to take the plunge.

[h20work]

Step one, make a product that functions properly. Step two, show the world you have changed your ways and show off this product and what it can do.

They haven't done either. Most of us long time bbry users have either bailed or resorted to using leaks.

The Z feels oddly similar to the original storm. Both had features and capabilites that were not available on previous bb's, and both were crippled with bad software.

BlackBerry needs to show they have changed. Release a fully baked product, deliver it ahead of schedule for once, and quit the bs "this summer, next quarter, coming soon, in a few short weeks" crap we've been hearing since 2008. Until BlackBerry changes, the mindset of their consumers won't.

[newfie1974]

What far too many here fail to apprehend is that the so-called "toys" excel at communication as well, and in certain respects can even be said to exceed what a BB is capable of. Welcome to 2013. You can have a toy that serves as a supremely capable tool.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4

Im sure your right. But my wife wont get a BB because of the games she cant get on a BB that she gets on her Samsung. I dont play games at all so the game thing means nothing to me.

[lilchurchboy]

As we live in a superfical world at best.... we need celebrities to endorse BB.... no offence to Alicia... but you need a Justin Bieber... Taylor Swift.... boy bands etc.... Lobby the entertainers with the top facebook and twitter followers and have them rave about it on social media...... then look where sales would be..... look what and Oprrah can do for a book or her favorite things... they fly off the shelf....the reason BB is your fathers phone is that it is not cool anymore... BB needs to make it cool again and in the US anyways... this would be the fasted way to success....

I totally agree. Blackberry tried with alicia but it failed.what samsung & jayz did was Brilliant! Not only was jayz promoting his album but samsung was promoting their galaxy phones. I think if blackberry rebrands itself as a cool phone & actually builds the ultimate phone. they will make their way back up to the top. it will take time