The BlackBerry Thread

[psicodude]

Originally Posted by Slava

I also thought that this would be the release/retailing date. I guess I misunderstood.

No, I think you understood correctly. They have been saying for months that Jan. 30th was the release date and it was a safe assumption that they would be for sale within a few days after that. In my opinion, the Feb. 28th date means they aren't getting the factories going until Jan 30th.

Not a huge deal, but IMO this is another missed deadline for RIM. I mean, Samsung and Apple will only sell another 7 or 8 million phones that month.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Rathji

For $799, it better include a BJ.

Not a good strategy for getting people to re-adopt, unless the contract price is extremely reasonable.

Aren't all of these phones like $800 each anyway? The carriers subsidize the costs and make you sign a contract.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Slava

Aren't all of these phones like $800 each anyway? The carriers subsidize the costs and make you sign a contract.

Not all, Google/LG have one of the better phones on the market current that's about half that price. Mind you, it's impossible to find and if it finds it's way to Canadian carriers it won't be that price I'd imagine.

RIM should have tried to keep it around 599 or 499 for a lesser model (16gb?). I won't be going on a contract for any one but I'd love to be able to get this new BB and play with it.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Slava

Aren't all of these phones like $800 each anyway? The carriers subsidize the costs and make you sign a contract.

My S3 was $520.

Nexus 4 was $359(?) roughly.

32GB iPhone is $799. (16GB is $699).

I don't know how much storage it has, but by pricing it at $799, it is saying that "this phone is better than, or equivalent to and iPhone", which is a claim most consumers will be very wary about.

That said, if the under contract price is $150 or less, then the total price really doesn't matter that much.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Rathji

My S3 was $520.

When it first came out? Sale?

[Rathji]

Was in Dec, and that's the amount that went onto my Tab to be paid off over 3 years, after the $34 I paid out of pocket, so not exactly a retail price, I suppose.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Rathji

That said, if the under contract price is $150 or less, then the total price really doesn't matter that much.

I was reading $149 on a 2 year contract this morning, but not from official sources.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by psicodude

No, I think you understood correctly. They have been saying for months that Jan. 30th was the release date and it was a safe assumption that they would be for sale within a few days after that. In my opinion, the Feb. 28th date means they aren't getting the factories going until Jan 30th.

Not a huge deal, but IMO this is another missed deadline for RIM. I mean, Samsung and Apple will only sell another 7 or 8 million phones that month.

Samsung, Apple....and...LG. The market is getting even more clustered now.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

I was reading $149 on a 2 year contract this morning, but not from official sources.

Which is decent enough. Most top end phones are $199 on a 3 year plan.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by Slava

The gestures/swiping looks to be very similar to the playbook, which is awesome (the gestures...not trying to start anything else here!). I have a Nexus 7 now, but the swiping is something I miss from the playbook. Its so intuitive and on a phone it would be awesome. I have been waiting to see what to replace my phone with, but more and more the Blackberry is winning me over.

That camera is so cool! Just the idea is brilliant, but its all in tyhe execution I suppose.

I have a playbook and I have been using it more and more these days. It doesn't have the processing power of an ipad or the nexus 7 but I still find that I am able to do quite a bit with it in terms of web browsing, reading pdf files, email and the like. That isn't to say that it hasn't been an absolute disaster for RIM but the tablet isn't completely awful for what most people do.

Still I am pretty hesitant about going with a blackberry the biggest reason is actually cost, not of the device but of the plans that they are associated with, as the blackberry specific plans tend to be more expensive relative to the general plans available for phones because of having to pay for the blackberry enterprise servers and the like

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

I have a playbook and I have been using it more and more these days. It doesn't have the processing power of an ipad or the nexus 7 but I still find that I am able to do quite a bit with it in terms of web browsing, reading pdf files, email and the like. That isn't to say that it hasn't been an absolute disaster for RIM but the tablet isn't completely awful for what most people do.

Still I am pretty hesitant about going with a blackberry the biggest reason is actually cost, not of the device but of the plans that they are associated with, as the blackberry specific plans tend to be more expensive relative to the general plans available for phones because of having to pay for the blackberry enterprise servers and the like

I have both a Playbook and Nexus 7 and truthfully I like the Playbook better for a few reasons. I really only use the Nexus because I've had a screen issue with the Playbook and have no idea how to correct it.

I am not sure whether I will go with the BB10 though. Fixing that screen issue would be one reason, but like you say I pay an extra $25/month for the BES and that seems like an unnecessary cost when you consider that both droid and Apple can accomplish the same thing without that cost.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

I agree about the Playbook - it has its issues, there is no doubt about that, mostly regarding applications and the horrible first operating system that they put out and then taking forever to correct the problem with OS 2.0 and the ability to sideload Android Apps. The thing that I really like about it now is that it is cheap to pick up products like the quick charging stand for 10 dollars and now I am able to use it as an alarm clock and bedside radio that I can pick up and take with me in the morning, charged and not have to think twice about plugging in.

[Rerun]

RIM ready for battle in smartphone war, analyst says
Early BlackBerry 10 reviews suggest devices outperform iPhone 5 and Android phones]

Research in Motion's upcoming models of BlackBerry 10 phones are better than the current generation iPhone and many Android devices, something that could be enough to propel the stock higher, according to an analyst at Scotia Capital.

In a research report on the company issued Tuesday. Scotia analyst Gus Papageorgiou upgraded his rating on the company to "outperform," citing the company's upcoming line of BlackBerry 10 smartphones as having the technical prowess to help RIM defend its turf and even expand in the highly competitive cellphone market.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/stor...y.html?cmp=rss

[Cheese]

BB10 release is online right now..

http://tremolo.edgesuite.net/blackbe...dvr/index.html

[Cowperson]

Amusing to be sitting here with live stock quotes, watching the presentation on TV.

They were up 75 cents when they started and then were down about 78 cents in the middle of their talk, which is still going on.

Classic buy on rumour, sell on news.

Cowperson

[nfotiu]

I'm sure the new phone is fine and all, but consumer's won't flock to it any more than they do to the decent Windows phones. And enterprise no longer has any faith in their long term viability, which means most organizations have either moved on, or have plans to move to a different platform. Hard to see a path to success or even survival at this point.

[me_dennis]

is that alicia keys?

[Cheese]

^^yes

[wpgflamesfan]

Alicia Keys is now the new Global Creative Director of Blackberry?

[chemgear]

There has to be a segment that is still very die hard BB - most likely why they are going to release in Canada so much sooner than in the US. Get some positive sales numbers (relatively speaking) and then hopefully spin it out to the US and beyond.


The BlackBerry Z10 will go on sale for $149.90 with contract Feb. 5, a month earlier than in the U.S. Join our live coverage to the launch on now