Michael del CastilloUpstart Business Journal Technology & Innovation Editor Email |TwitterThe UpTake: This new designer BlackBerry model stands to gain the company very little, while running the risk of alienating their dwindling existing customers.
Until yesterday I was rooting for BlackBerry. Like Kodak, Nintendo, or any number of industry-defining products, there's a degree of nostalgia that comes with these older brands. But yesterday, the Canadian mobile phone company unveiled its 'elite' Porsche-designed P'9982 phone, with a price that would break most old-school fans of the phones banks, and they kind of broke my heart.
The phone is beautiful. Fans of the Italian cars will see the resemblance-Italian leather and all. And with a customized BlackBerry 10.2 OS that includes a 'priority hub' for easily managing conversations across platforms; a smart keyboard that learns how you type; and a 'time shift' camera mode that somehow manages to start taking a picture even before you actually take the picture, the functionality looks sleek, intuitive, and like something I'd actually be proud to bring out in front of friends.
But at a reported $2,250 I'd never buy the phone, even if I could. And that's not to say that other people won't. No, I'm not even saying that other people shouldn't. Luxury goods have their place in any industry, including mobile phones. But unless BlackBerry is planning on scrapping a huge chunk of its existing business model to cater to the super-wealthy, this price-point will likely only alienate the spindly remains of their once great customer-base.
'Every aspect of this smartphone has been purposely designed and built for a powerful premium experience,' said Alistair Hamilton, senior vice president of design at BlackBerry, in a statement. And from what we've seen in the unpacking video and the press release, we're inclined to believe him.
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