I agree with you. PRIV is out of my reach too. Or was. Its price is coming down, but a number of things have to happen for me to get it. I do like the hard keyboard.
All of these things must be present for me to get a Blackberry. In short, Blackberry must come to me.
1) My contract with Sprint must end, and it will end this September. I currently have the Apple I6
2) For me, the Blackberry will have to have a physical keyboard like the Priv.
3) It must be supported by Sprint. At this time, Sprint has dropped out but hasn't ruled out the possibility of coming back. I want the Sprint store I like to carry it in inventory, I want the company to support it, and I want its personnel to be knowledgeable about it. I want to be able to pick it up in my hand, hold it before purchase, and talk about it in the Sprint store.
4) Sprint must make the transition smooth for me. If they can transfer all of my current data on My Iphone for me, that would be great. I don't want to do the work.
5) The price needs to be competitive to the latest new Apple Iphone at the time. And Sprint will have to roll it into their phone bill so I have only one payment to make through Billpay through Wells Fargo, and I don't have to change account numbers or anything else. That means no out of pocket expense, just a slightly higher phone bill as the payments get spread out into an effortless, invisible transition.
If/when this happens, I doubt the hardware future for Blackberry will be in doubt. If it doesn't happen, it probably means Blackberry exited hardware or just can't come to me for whatever reasons.
I don't like hard sells, and I don't like solicitors. Don't call me, I'll call you. But that still means that you do have to come to me. But on my time, and just be there where I want you, patiently waiting. On MY TIME, when I want you, at my choosing, when I'm ready, and on my established channels of commerce. And I won't have it any other way.
I am not their main focus, the enterprise customer. They don't ever have to make it to me for me to invest in the company. I, of course, am already an investor. But for me to get a phone, that is what they must do or they can't have me as a sale. It's going to be all about me, the Premadonna customer whose needs are currently being met by Apple. Except for that touch-screen keyboard I just can't stand. The need for a solid hard keyboard is not being met by anyone, except by the Priv which is out of my reach by both price and carrier and contractual obligations at this time. And, yes, only the Priv would do it for me because I want my Apps. I don't want to give up anything I currently enjoy on the Iphone. Security is not a big issue for me. I'm not a criminal, not a drug dealer, I have my safety deposit box at Wells Fargo, and don't keep sensitive information on my phone. I don't care who is reading my texts. They would be bored.
