The future of BlackBerry on O2

[Anonymous]

This is a question possibly for the moderators like Toby and Chiara, but I'd like to bring up O2's lack of BlackBerry models on sale.

With only the Q5 and Q10 available now, and despite the Z10 and Z30 being available to stock (I got my Z10 from O2 last year), are O2 no longer going to sell/stock BlackBerry smartphones? Will there be a lack of support for existing devices in the future?

Why aren't O2 stocking legacy BBOS7 devices such as a cheaper Curve model like the 9720 or the 9320 any longer? Surely there is still a huge customer base using Curve handsets?

I'm not one to suggest an ulterior motive, so as a long term BlackBerry user on O2 it would be interesting to hear the official stance as to why O2 have seriously slimmed down the choice of BlackBerry phones available.

[Anonymous]

I acquired my BlackBerry passport from CPW on 26th September for £60 up front and £28 per month for unlimited texts, unlimited minutes and 1Gb data over 24 months. I was sorely disappointed that I couldn't get it from O2 and have made the decision to change my carrier when the contract is up if I cannot get the handset I require from O2. in my opinion, omitting the worlds best business phone from the lineup of business handsets available from O2 is a mistake. For what it's worth, this is probably the best phone I've owned. It doesn’t bend, explode, require the user to be right handed, can go 2 days on a charge, has exceptional signal reception, doesn't have an OS made by a marketing company, is formidable for spreadsheets, ebooks, typing, security, messaging speed, speakers, battery life, screen resolution, ram, etc...... it seems sometimes like there's a deliberate attempt to push consumers and business users onto American platforms that do not value privacy and security. As far as I'm aware, nobody in the UK is selling the Jolla phone either. Any restriction of choice for the customer has to be bad. Doesn't it?

[Anonymous]

I agree restrictions are not good and in an ideal world every handset would be supplied to keep everyone happy.

I hope in the future things change and the blackberry handsets are re introduced.

[jonsie]

I agree totally. If I wanted a certain model of phone and my provider proved to be totally short sighted as to not stock it then I would be taking my custom elsewhere. Flagships phones by all the major manufacturers should be availablewhether a consumer or business user.

I know that in the end it all comes down to profit but whatever happened to customer service. You can't tell me that the BB Passport wouldn't sell in big enough numbers as a valid reason. No one says they have to stock vast numbers when the bigger profit is surely in the airtime contract over two years.

[MI5]

Good post Guy73. No one can fathom O2's decision not to stock BB's anymore.....

[Beenherebefore]

Certainly indicates perhaps that Blackberry would not supply phones at the price required by O2.

So it's basically the same stance for O2 customers.....if you can't get what you want from O2 then go to the supplier that can provide your requirements. 

[Anonymous]

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@jonsie wrote:

 You can't tell me that the BB Passport wouldn't sell in big enough numbers as a valid reason. No one says they have to stock vast numbers when the bigger profit is surely in the airtime contract over two years.

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This.

It would sell at least the same sort of numbers as some of the HTC, Huawei, Moto, Nokia and LG phones that O2 currently stock.

[jonsie]

Not to mention the contraption from Amazon....

[Anonymous]

Speaking of which, and I'd love to hear read an official statement on this, following on from the Amazon statement today that they are taking a $170million write down on the fire phone after it has only sold around 35,000 devices in the US, has who ever decided that O2 shouldn't stock the BlackBerry Passport been sacked yet?

The Fire phone MUST be costing O2 money as well because I keep seeing adverts for it on TV!

Seriously, who at O2 decided the Fire phone was what their customers wanted over the Passport? Did no-one check sales figures from the States?

This gets even more laughable as time goes on!

[jonsie]

It makes not one iota of sense @Anonymous 

I don't know how many of these have been sold since the launch but we haven't had one query or comment on here about the Fire even though they sweetened the deal with 20gb data.

If you were able to compare UK sales of the Passport in the relatively short period of time it has been available I would suspect they would outstrip sales of the Fire which was released months ago.

[Anonymous]

Jonsie, the figures speak for themselves:

Fire sales over 4 months - less than 35,000
Passport sales in first 48 hours - 200,000

Seriously, heads at O2 should roll for deciding to stock the Fire rather than the Passport!