On
Thursday April 18th 2013 and Friday April 19th 2013, fans
of the Blackberry got a double serving of, well, the company Blackberry,
formerly Ontario, Canada-based RIM (Research in Motion)! On those dates
respectively, Telecom Provider LIME and
Telecom Provider Digicel launched
Blackberry and their latest phone, the Blackberry
Z10.
Oddly
enough, Telecom Provider LIME Blackberry Z10 Launch Ceremony on Thursday April
18th 2013 at the Oxford Towers in Kingston was loud and lavish and well carried by both
newspapers as can be seen in “LIME, in
spectacular fashion, introduces BlackBerry Z10”, published Sunday, April
21, 2013, The Jamaica Observer and
“LIME launches BlackBerry Z10”, Published
Sunday April 21, 2013, The Jamaica Gleaner.
It
even got press coverage in Geezam blogger
Kelroy’s article entitled “LIME Jamaica launches Blackberry
Z10 at glitzy event in Kingston”, to which he got invited and will later
post pictures from the event, which was basically in the backyard of his
workplace, so to speak.
Meanwhile
Telecom Provider Digicel, strangely
enough, opted for a soft Launch the following day on Friday April 19th
2013. Telecom Provider Digicel’s
only Press Coverage being in The Jamaica Star
as per the article “Digicel launches new
BlackBerry Z10 smartphone”, published Monday April 15 2013, The Jamaica Star. Oh, and there’s their
formal Press Release on their Digicel’s Launch of
the Blackberry Z10.
Both
companies, coincidentally, plan to make the Blackberry
Z10 available in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean on Tuesday April 23rd
2013, which is tomorrow. Again, more evidence, as far as I’m concerned, of
Telecom Provider LIME and Telecom
Provider Digicel now realizing
they’ll have to work together to nurse the limping Wireless Broadband Data
market along. Ditto too as it relates to getting one of the two (2) coveted
700MHz Spectrum Licenses for LTE (Long Term Evolution).
First
evidence of this changing mindset was the Tablet donation to the Preparatory
and Primary School Students as evidenced in my blog article
entitled “LIME
and Digicel both make Donations of Tablets to Preparatory and Primary Schools -
How Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark started a Love for Computer
Programming Languages in Jamaica”.
But
why so quiet a launch for the Blackberry Z10 by
Telecom Provider Digicel, which
was launched in the US of A in spectacular Fashion by RIM as stated in my blog article
entitled “RIM rebrands as Blackberry and
Launches Blackberry Z10 and Q10 - Alicia Keys' Global Creative Director is a
Girl on Fire for these Tallawah yet Beautiful Creatures” and Geezam blogger Kelroy’s article entitled “BlackBerry 10 Officially launches – Z10 and Q10
flagship devices”?
Possibly
Telecom Provider Digicel wasn’t so
confident about the Blackberry Z10 doing well
in Jamaica as opined by Geezam blogger
Horace in his article “Blackberry 10: Can It
Rescue Blackberry?”. Possibly too, being as it’s Blackberry’s first TRUE
smartphone and the older Blackberry handset sales are in a free-fall as many
Jamaicans opt to have relative abroad just send them a refurbished Blackberry.
Even
worse, smartphone adoption is picking up as per my Geezam Blog article entitled “Apple
iPhone boosts Jamaican smartphone usage as BB goes Chapter 11 Bankruptcy”
and my blog
article entitled “Blackberry popularity wanes
as Jamaicans go smartphones - Android and Apple's Smartphone Revolution”.
However, the cost of a smartphone seems to be making many Jamaican opt to have
relatives abroad just send them a refurbished smartphone…....creating the same
problem of lackluster handset sale for Telecom Provider Digicel all over again.
To
this end, Telecom Provider Digicel
has launched the sub-US$100 smartphone, the Google Android 4.1 aka Jellybean
smartphone known as the Digicel DL600. This is really an attempt to shore up
lackluster smartphone sales and boost Data Plan adoption with this rebranded
Alcatel One Touch S'Pop as opined in my blog article
entitled “Digicel to launch the DL600 Smartphone
by Mid-May 2013 starting below US$100 - Alcatel One Touch running Firefox OS
marketed like The Incredible Burt Wonderstone”.
Telecom
Provider LIME and Telecom Provider Digicel need to be as Brave (2012) as Blackberry.
Facing
criticism in a Wall Street Journal report by Detwiler Fenton analyst Jeff
Johnston claiming that people are returning the Blackberry
Z10 in droves, Blackberry stoutly denied this as reported in “BlackBerry denies abnormally high return rate for
Z10 phone”, published April 11, 2013 1:23 PM PDT, by Roger Cheng, CNET News, stating the return rates are normal
for any new smartphone launch.
Telecom
Provider Verizon has now come to their aid, stating sales are moving briskly and
stating that quote: “after 14 days, quality performance [of the Blackberry Z10] has been in line with other
smartphone launches” as noted in the article “Verizon
backs up BlackBerry, says Z10 returns aren’t high at all”, published April
15, 2013 at 11:35 AM By Brad Reed, BGR.
Argument
done! Blackberry steady recovery is assured….in the US of A and Canada. Not so
confident ‘bout the Developing World, where the Blackberry
Z10 is still a pricey smartphone upgrade to your older Blackberry that
already does everything you need.
So
this higher priced Blackberry Z10 is possibly
being viewed with suspicion, as albeit it a smartphone, it very pricey, come
Tuesday April 23rd 2013 at either Telecom Provider LIME and Telecom Provider Digicel. Sales may be worse than in
the US of A and Canada; No long lines as the Recession drags us into Oblivion (2013).
One
last thing. Since Telecom Provider LIME
went all out for the Blackberry Z10, will
they do the same for the Blackberry Q10? Stay
tuned to this blog and the Geezam Blog…….
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