BlackBerry new Android phone really struggling selling

[GoodBytes]

Blackberry sales of its Priv Android powered phone is selling abysmally, with a high number of returns.

Reports suggest that the reason is that most of the buyers were BlackBerry loyalists, but the phone is running Android now, and not BlackBerry OS.

The company only sold 600,000 handsets for the quarter worldwide, while it was expected to sale 850,000.

 

Quote

An executive at AT&T, one of BlackBerry's longest allies, didn't pull any punches in an assessment of the latest flagship phone.

"The BlackBerry Priv is really struggling," the high-level executive, who asked not to be named, said last week. "We've seen more returns than we would like."

 

Quote

Early indicators were already shaky. BlackBerry in April reported selling 600,000 phones in its fiscal fourth quarter that ended February 29, well below expectations of 850,000 for the quarter -- and below the 700,000 it sold in the preceding quarter.

 

AT&T, and Blackberry expected sales of the device to increase as it would be an Android device with a physical keyboard, but instead it is more Blackberry loyalist who bought the device, and many are having trouble transitioning to Android, and simply returned the device.

Quote

AT&T offered a more detailed account of why the Priv has disappointed. BlackBerry and the carrier expected to see demand for an Android phone with a physical keyboard. Instead, most of the buyers were BlackBerry loyalists, the executive said. Those faithful, however, struggled with the transition from the BlackBerry operating system to the Android operating system, leading to a higher-than-expected rate of return.

 

CEO John Chen said that they will get out of the phone market completely if they can't turn in a profit by October.

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The assessment doesn't bode well for the future of BlackBerry's phones. CEO John Chen said in October that the company would exit the phone business, which has been on life support for years, if it cannot turn a profit in 2016.

 

Something that will get harder to reach, with the latest news by a CBC investigation showing that the company is giving away to police and government world wide users personal information:

Source: http://www.cnet.com/news/blackberry-priv-may-have-done-worse-than-we-thought/

 

As for current Android users, they might not be interested in the device, as based on reviews and user comment who claim to have tried it, the device is inferior in build quality, with quality control problems, something unacceptable for the price, and the OS is fully locked blocking any ability to root the device, not to mention not very impressive specs compared to similarly priced phones.

 

Do you have interest in a physical keyboard phone?

[ShadowCaptain]

7 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Do you have interest in a physical keyboard phone?

yes and no - definitely not at the expense of screen estateIf it was like normal phone, but double thick with a slide out keyboard, maybe

personally id actually be more interested in a physical GAMEPAD but thats a different topic entirely

 

 

The Priv - basically a mediocre android phone
and a Blackberry that isnt running Blackberry

there was just NO market for this phone

[Naijin]

I would have loved to buy one, but it's just way too expensive in my opinion. I still love a phone with a full physical keyboard instead of having the keyboard on a touchscreen, but at € 600, it's just way out of my budget for phones.

[samcool55]

Well that's not suprising because every blackberry device for the last few years had always the same issue, price.

It doesn't matter how good it is if it's expensive af...

Maybe if they would release a phone for i don't know, 200 bucks, maybe that will sell.

 

If they would release a priv with moto G-ish specs and price it 200 bucks, it would sell like mad. But yea they are business people and they don't care but whatever.

Also the fact it's secure is a complete joke now we know they just give that sh*t to govs...

 

Android might be insecure, but i believe BB is even worse because the govs don't even need to do any effort! Well a call and that's it but that's practicly nothing.

[suicidalfranco]

the passport was better 

[dalekphalm]

I really have to wonder what people were expecting to happen. The Android market is already so saturated with literally dozens and dozens of manufacturers to choose from, and at least a dozen "Big Name" manufacturers to choose from. Once Blackberry went to Android, I pretty much expected them to become totally irrelevant.

 

Once they switch to Android, what's the upsell? Higher security? Well, only sort of, since you're still running the same base OS as every other Android phone. BBM? "Hello? Hi yes, 2010 called, someone cared". BBM is irrelevant now. More than half my friends used to use BBM, and now that 1, it's cross platform, and 2, everyone uses stuff like iMessage or WhatsApp or Messenger, BBM is just not that special anymore.

 

There is no reason to buy a Blackberry Android device, when there are already dozens of better Android Devices out there.

 

This is the same reason I suspect Nokia's entry using Android OS is also going to fail miserably.

[Energycore]

After this, I expect BlackBerry to finally die.

[ltguy]

I wanted to like this phone but... it was too expensive, its a slider... and the keyboard was mushy and very disappointing, which is unfortunate because that's their claim to fame. I agree with the other poster, the passport looked like a better phone.

[deVIZtation]

5 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

 

Do you have interest in a physical keyboard phone?

Yes. My first smart phone after having flip phones for over 10 years was the Blackberry Q10. I needed a keyboard as I refused to use type with anything without buttons. It was a great phone, but expensive. I wanted to buy the Priv, but at that price point I basically said, no, even as someone who loves the Blackberry keyboard. It's like they wanted to fail in my opinion when they announced how much it was going to cost. I understand that this was a new venture for them and R&D costs. I would have totally bought the Priv if it was 199-299.

[dalekphalm]

2 hours ago, Energycore said:

After this, I expect BlackBerry to finally die.

I don't. I suspect that Blackberry will finally transition into a Network/Server Application Service Provider. They own a lot of awesome backend technology that they used for BES, etc. They could definitely capitalize on some of that.

 

But I think they're done in the Mobile market.

[SansVarnic]

5 hours ago, Energycore said:

After this, I expect BlackBerry to finally die.

I agreed with you but because I think it is Blackberry's time to go due their lack of realizing that they lost what they had. Blackberry was so much and more than anyone else but overtime they tried to hard and now they are out of ways to impress, they trying to catch to what they should have ahead of to begin with.