[falbo]

https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/03/tc...t-smartphones/
I guess a PKB just wasn't interesting enough.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

https://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2020/03/tc...t-smartphones/
I guess a PKB just wasn't interesting enough.

Not really.... still "TCL is only offering up concept devices at this stage".

[bb10adopter111]

Not really.... still "TCL is only offering up concept devices at this stage".

TCL won't suddenly change its tune and build items to stock. They will still build to order, so they have to excite potential channel partners to place orders.

Z10 = BB10 + VKB > iOS + Android

[anon(10387168)]

TCL is dead to me! Period!

Posted via my Passport

[Chuck Finley69]

TCL is dead to me! Period!

Posted via my Passport

I always thought as OEM, TCL never existed to you anyways.

[anon(10622733)]

TCL has sold more phones ten times over in the last 2 years than BB10 ever sold altogether.

TCL won't suddenly change its tune and build items to stock. They will still build to order, so they have to excite potential channel partners to place orders.

Z10 = BB10 + VKB > iOS + Android

[bb10adopter111]

TCL has sold more phones ten times over in the last 2 years than BB10 ever sold altogether.

Yes, they are a major OEM and a very competent manufacturer. I was not criticizing them. I was only describing their inventory policy.

In manufacturing one has to decide whether to build a product "to stock" or "to order." Building to stock want estimating demand and choosing stock levels for constant resupply. It decreases the likelihood of stocking out, but carries significant risk of excess inventories as a product ages and demand decreases. Building to order means waiting for orders from channel partners and matching manufacturing to those orders. It guarantees low inventory risk but increases the likelihood of stocking out.

In general, TCL prefers to avoid inventory risk and build to order. That is not my opinion. It is a fact. It's part of their strategy for avoiding inventory risk for products with relatively uncertain demand and short demand cycles.

Z10 = BB10 + VKB > iOS + Android

[Troy Tiscareno]

Considering that there were still new K1s for sale until very recently, 2.5 years after introduction, it seem that they already over-produced the demand, so I'm not sure why this makes any difference.

[mitchy_mitch]

I'm done with TCL. Won't buy anything from them again

[bb10adopter111]

Considering that there were still new K1s for sale until very recently, 2.5 years after introduction, it seem that they already over-produced the demand, so I'm not sure why this makes any difference.

From TCL's perspective, so long as they sold through inventory to resellers like AT&T, they didn't over produce. All signs point to TCL/BBMo selling out.

Z10 = BB10 + VKB > iOS + Android

[Chuck Finley69]

I'm done with TCL. Won't buy anything from them again

Why is that?

[the_boon]

Why is that?

Well why do you think??

They abandoned BBMo and the keyboard, so that makes them just another OEM like all the others. And the others are better at it.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Well why do you think??

They abandoned BBMo and the keyboard, so that makes them just another OEM like all the others. And the others are better at it.

Well if abandoning users is a disqualifier.... should have left BlackBerry long ago. (Storm, PlayBook, Z10, DTEKs)


No one believes that if TCL pushed out a PALM PKB phone, that you wouldn't be all over it.

[the_boon]

No one believes that if TCL pushed out a PALM PKB phone, that you wouldn't be all over it.

Their Palm thing was a Palm in-name-only.

If it did have a PKB whether fixed or slide-out, it would actually have paid homage to the Palms of years gone by and I'm very confident that it would have sold better than it did.
That, and also if it weren't only available through Verizon lol.

[joeldf]

Considering that there were still new K1s for sale until very recently, 2.5 years after introduction, it seem that they already over-produced the demand, so I'm not sure why this makes any difference.

Very recently? How about right now. Still on the AT&T website as of this post.

[bb10adopter111]

Very recently? How about right now. Still on the AT&T website as of this post.

And still comes with a one year warranty as AT&T is an authorized retailer!

Z10 = BB10 + VKB > iOS + Android

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

And still comes with a one year warranty as AT&T is an authorized retailer!

Z10 = BB10 + VKB > iOS + Android

So AT&T has till August to get rid of them.....

[Troy Tiscareno]

From TCL's perspective, so long as they sold through inventory to resellers like AT&T, they didn't over produce. All signs point to TCL/BBMo selling out.

While there's truth to that, especially for a company who is abandoning that line of business, if we assume that BBMo hoped to continue business, then having over-produced and over-sold demand such that the inventory still hadn't sold through after 2.5 years (on a product that normally has a 1-year product cycle with 3/4 of the sales happening in the first 2 quarters) is bad business, if not for TCL directly, then for TCL's relationship with AT&T, who is the one stuck with the unsold inventory. For anyone who wonders why AT&T didn't pick up further BBMo devices, that would be exactly why.

[Chuck Finley69]

So AT&T has till August to get rid of them.....

That’s unless @the_boon corners the PKB resellers marketplace

[bb10adopter111]

While there's truth to that, especially for a company who is abandoning that line of business, if we assume that BBMo hoped to continue business, then having over-produced and over-sold demand such that the inventory still hadn't sold through after 2.5 years (on a product that normally has a 1-year product cycle with 3/4 of the sales happening in the first 2 quarters) is bad business, if not for TCL directly, then for TCL's relationship with AT&T, who is the one stuck with the unsold inventory. For anyone who wonders why AT&T didn't pick up further BBMo devices, that would be exactly why.

Sure. But TCL, as a manufacturer, doesn't care. They just move on to the next product, whether it's a phone or something else. That's my point. They think of themselves as a manufacturer, not a premium brand. It's worked well for them in the past, which is why they do that, and why they preferred to license or buy brands rather than develop their own. They now see that won't work in a mobile phone market where growth is slowing.

Z10 = BB10 + VKB > iOS + Android

[Troy Tiscareno]

Of course - but the issue was about TCL not producing to stock - and even though they produced only to order, they still over produced. Had they produced to stock, they'd have WAY over produced, and lost a ton of money in the process.

[bb10adopter111]

Of course - but the issue was about TCL not producing to stock - and even though they produced only to order, they still over produced. Had they produced to stock, they'd have WAY over produced, and lost a ton of money in the process.

I disagree. If AT&T ordered 100K devices, and they produced and sold AT&T 100K devices, that's not over producing. Were they supposed to under deliver??

Z10 = BB10 + VKB > iOS + Android

[Troy Tiscareno]

I disagree. If AT&T ordered 100K devices, and they produced and sold AT&T 100K devices, that's not over producing. Were they supposed to under deliver??

Obviously they needed to deliver their contracted amount. But I think you know that what we are really talking about is that they projected higher sales than actually occurred, which would have had them push AT&T to buy a higher number of K1s then they were able to sell during the normal window (1 year), which in turn meant that AT&T wasn't interested in buying phones from them any further. It was good in the short term - they sold more phones up-front - but ultimately damaged their long-term relationship with AT&T and helped their ultimate demise.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Obviously they needed to deliver their contracted amount. But I think you know that what we are really talking about is that they projected higher sales than actually occurred, which would have had them push AT&T to buy a higher number of K1s then they were able to sell during the normal window (1 year), which in turn meant that AT&T wasn't interested in buying phones from them any further. It was good in the short term - they sold more phones up-front - but ultimately damaged their long-term relationship with AT&T and helped their ultimate demise.

It's hard to say why AT&T has kept the KEYone... but I bet any ordered will have some dust on the box.

[the_boon]

Obviously they needed to deliver their contracted amount. But I think you know that what we are really talking about is that they projected higher sales than actually occurred, which would have had them push AT&T to buy a higher number of K1s then they were able to sell during the normal window (1 year), which in turn meant that AT&T wasn't interested in buying phones from them any further. It was good in the short term - they sold more phones up-front - but ultimately damaged their long-term relationship with AT&T and helped their ultimate demise.

I don't think an AT&T branded KEY2 would have made any difference in the final outcome of BBMo if they had only sold it online while dedicating zero store space for it, like they did for their KEYone.