According to Seeking Alpha, Black Friday and the weekend following it was kind to Research in Motion. The BlackBerry Curve did particularly well at AT&T stores over the weekend as did Verizon’s new BlackBerry Pearl. Sprint, on the other hand, who just launched their version of the BlackBerry Pearl on Black Friday, didn’t do as well because of lack of devices in the store.
It was a great move for Sprint to launch the BlackBerry Pearl on Black Friday. Not having devices in the stores to capitalize on the foot traffic completely counteracted it. Its no wonder this company is losing customers hand over fist…
It’s actually a bad strategy to launch any product on Black Friday.
First, inevitably there will be shortages on any launch day. When was the last time that wasn’t true?
Second, inevitably the employees will not have had adequate time to train and familiarize themselves with the new product. This is especially true when the employees are busy with a ton of other tasks getting ready for Black Friday. They could probably care less about one new device. They are probably more focused on pushing as many free phones with plans out the door as possible on that day. Remember, retail cell phone sales people get paid on the service contracts, not the equipment.
Third, most people will not have had time to realize the phone even exists in the inventory of the carrier. I know for those of us who read blogs like this that we know these details, but the average consumer does not. It takes time to build consumer awareness that the product is available.
The best strategy is to do what Verizon did with the Pearl. Release it a few weeks early to allow time for ramp up of store inventory and employee knowledge and consumer awareness.
I went to several Sprint stores and kiosks over the holiday weekend and didn’t find a single Bleackberry Pearl on display. Of course their sales were dismal.
Sprint also has customer service run by monkeys.
Third, most people will not have had time to realize the phone even exists in the inventory of the carrier. I know for those of us who read blogs like this that we know these details, but the average consumer does not. It takes time to build consumer awareness that the product is available.
I agree. How many times have we seen the stupid Sprint commercial for the Palm Centro. I have yet to see one for the Blackberry Pearl.
Is everybody surprised by this? It’s Sprint we’re talking about here…
@ gquaglia
You’re right i haven’t seen any commericals for the Sprint Pearl! Why wouldnt they advertise it??? Does Sprint have something to say???
I got my 8130 in the lower level store in Garden State Plaza in Paramus NJ on Friday.They opened up a new Sprint store in the new wing on the upper level and I went there first. First of all, they had the 8800 on display with the 8130 info label on it. When I asked if they had the 8130 they said they didn’t receive it yet. I then was like “Why do u have the 8800 with the 8130 label next to it?” and then they removed the demo phone from the label. I went to the older downstairs store and they had the 8130 in stock. I was the first 8130 customer they had and the guy took a few minute to figure out how to program it because he had never touched one before. He knew what he was doing though in the end and I left the store with a working phone. It was really dumb of Sprint to release the phone on Black Friday especially if many of the stores didn’t have the phone in stock and didn’t know much about the phone since they weren’t trained on how to use it. Also they didn’t have the software available to convert your address books to the 8130 yet(he said they were getting it this week) so I ended up having to retype in all my contact info and numbers into the 8130. Sigh. In the end I’m happy with the phone. I just wish they were getting the Curve as well!!!
On Black Friday I asked one Sprint sales rep if they had the Pearl in yet and his response was that they were all sold out becuase they had been selling a lot the past few weeks! Shocking how someone can know so little about their own product.
they were all sold out becuase they had been selling a lot the past few weeks! Shocking how someone can know so little about their own product.
Not clueless, but simply full of shit. Most sales persons are.
Yea, I can only imagine the chaos that is happening at Sprint. They are so blatantly dropping the ball in every possible manner. They are last to get all the good phones. Their customer service is generally considered a punch line. I literally feel sorry for them and if they didnt have the cheapest data plans, I would be on AT&T right now. I’m still considering leaving them.
As for their customer service, for me at least, it has improved dramatically since last week. I have not spoken to anyone from another country. I keep speaking to people here in the US who are polite, helpful, and are like talking to people instead of outsourced people from other countries who have zero clue what I’m talking about no matter how many times I say it in English. I read Sprint’s goal as of late was to work on their customer service problems and from someone who has totally despised calling them in the past, I have to say their customer service on the phone is 1000 times better of late than it had been. And we’re talking I wanted to used to stab myself in the head after I got off the phone with them when I was connected to someone overseas.
Sprint’s customer service is much, much better than it used to be, however, it is still highly dependent upon who you get on the line. Other issues with service reflect the extremely poor wages that the customer service people are paid and the lack of latitude they are given to fix a problem. Another area that they have always had problems with were billing errors, especially with corporate accounts. Fully 75% of my corporate accounts had serious errors on their first bill and it took an acto of congress to get them fixed!