Rogers' BlackBerry backlash illustrates 'Buy Canada' mindset
The telecom company announced it would sell the latest BlackBerry after social media furor to news that Rogers wouldn't sell the BlackBerry Z30.
A week ago, the Rogers said it wouldn't offer BlackBerry's flagship phone, but many Canadians were upset that the company wouldn't support another Canadian company. Many users threatened to cancel services with one of the country's largest carriers.
The company has now said that the Z30 can be bought on its website and national reservation system.
Let's be real. BlackBerry is facing a dire situation. It looks like the company's future in smartphones is over with a possible $1 billion write off in unsold touchscreen phones, along with the possible sale and breakup of the company.
Despite the company's odds, Canadians can't help but root for the fallen tech darling. BlackBerry's start up story and growth into a worldwide brand is a great, Canadian story. It's not as common for Canadian companies to grow into a multimillion dollar entity since many of them sell out before they reach that status.
While Rogers partnered with BlackBerry for the company's smartphone debut, Rogers told the Canadian Press they wouldn't carry the phone because, “We believe we can fulfil our customers’ demand for a BlackBerry device with our current lineup." From Rogers' perspective, they likely didn't expect the smartphone to do well among Canadian consumers. They were afraid of getting stuck with unsold inventory of its own that they would need to write off.
As a consumer, would you buy the cheaper product or support your fellow citizens? It's a decision Canadians wrestle with and sometimes you don't get that choice since it comes down to how much money you have and whether or not you can afford to buy the more expensive product. If you're in this boat, there's some consolation that it might be more affordable to buy Canadian since the price gap between Canadian and U.S. products has narrowed, according to a recent BMO report.
How frequently do you pay for a more expensive item because it's sold or made by a Canadian company?
Josephine Lim, MSN Money
Posted by: Donald Hyde | Oct 11, 2021 8:08:14 AM
I believe in buy Canadian, I also believe that Blackberry is the only smart phone out in the market that is secure. The military and president of the US also believe this. When in a world of hackers,big brother and others listening to everyone`s conversations why would anyone buy a product sold to us built in a country that is determined to steal teck.from us.Who`s tracking y ou?
Posted by: Dale | Oct 11, 2021 9:53:33 AM
The thought of no more blackberry is very upsetting , i have been with blackerry since the very beginning it is the most secure phone out there even if other brands offer similar platforms. most phones cannot stand up to daily abuse like a blackberry .I think us canadians have to be true to our country and notice our acheivements and support them and not drop them at the first sign of problems .when ever possible buy Canadian !
Posted by: Troy | Oct 11, 2021 10:30:18 AM
Yep. Canada-made aside, this is a case of a good product being overlooked and then having the rug pulled out from under them by the public's preference for 'style over substance', which was then exaggerated by the media. Now, again Canada-made aside, I can't in good conscience purchase one for myself or my company because it looks like their future has been torpedoed. No sense in jumping back on a sinking ship, no matter how good it is.
Of course, that's what I said about Apple, circa 1998 or so... So you never know.
Posted by: John | Oct 11, 2021 10:56:09 AM
Always buy Canadian if it is an option. That's what keeps our country going. By buying anything else you are supporting someone else's economy instead of our own. It's simple economics, buy elsewhere and they prosper, buy local and we prosper. Nothing like Canadian made clothing, it lasts far longer than anything made overseas. The other countries still haven't learned how to sew a button on clothing properly, or stitch a hem on shirts or pants....but at $5.00 a shirt I can wear it once and throw it away afterward and fill our landfills with their garbage.
I support Blackberry..its a great phone...who needs 100,000 apps....what do you do with them all anyway...oh ya, discard them. We have to support our own Canadian products, but then again it's not Canadian for us to do that....so unfortunate.
Posted by: paul | Oct 11, 2021 11:02:32 AM
Technology wise, BB is the best. Keep in mind that it was designed for Enterprises.
As for the article: The link to " $1 billion write off " redirects to a site that requires subscription. An example of poor quality control.
This form requires better programming/code.
Posted by: pelikan | Oct 11, 2021 11:45:05 AM
if you've noticed apple's latest ad, its all about how flashy the phone is... it says nothing about how well the phone works. its a disaster of a phone. blackberry z30 is amazing but yet will rogers sales people push you to buy the phone or even suggest it? absolutely... NOT!!! they dont want you to buy BB. plain and simple. its a tragedy. and its a big slap in the face to BB and to canadians. who's going to have the last laugh? we shall see.
Posted by: Steve | Oct 11, 2021 1:26:11 PM
For me it has nothing to do about Buy Canadian. Yes I am Canadian. But I would not buy an inferior Canadian product. Want my money? Make me something I want. And THIS is the reason I buy BlackBerry's.
I buy it for two reasons.
#1 My personal/family security. I have private pictures, files, and information about myself and loved ones that would make me sick if someone got their hands on it. If my BlackBerry even just slows down the NSA or any other hacker/government agency from accessing it, I'll buy it. iPhone and Android are open doors for Hackers and government agencies around the world.
#2 I don't play games on my phone. I use my phone as a communications device. Whether its social networks, emails, SMS, BBM, etc. Android and Iphone can't come close to BlackBerry's communications strengths. Whether its the old BBOS or the new BB10 OS.
Android and iPhones are play things that I don't want.
Posted by: LO | Oct 11, 2021 1:51:33 PM
it would be real nice if we all canadians suppor BB,not only cuz is a home product,lest no forget that not only is the best phone ,but was the first company making smart phones ,any other company just copied our home product,we should be proud of the great BB!!
Posted by: d | Oct 11, 2021 2:26:21 PM
You are basically asking one Canadian company to make an unwise business decision in order to support another company just because they are Canadian? Seriously? I think the idealists should get there head out of their rear ends.
Posted by: KM | Oct 11, 2021 2:29:43 PM
I had a BB Curve 8530 for 3 years, and when my contract expired, I went with LG for the touchscreen (something BB didn't have at that time). Now I'm locked into another 3-year contract (2 years to go) before I can go back to BB. Question is....will BB be around?
Posted by: SS | Oct 11, 2021 4:09:25 PM
Sorry, Black Berry has had it.
Why buy a product from a company you know has a very good chance at going under? This has nothing to do with being Canadian, it is about wise choices.
Buying Canadian doesn't help support Canada when our manufacturing base has been outsourced to other countries. All it does is line the pockets of the Executives. North America is in BIG trouble due to outsourcing the manufacturing of products - we'll never get those jobs back and the economy will go downhill if those jobs aren't replaced with the same numbers and same pay, or better. Last I read, I believe the stats were that the number of Canadians earning minimum wage has doubled since 2009. Not looking good.
I hope BB survives but they lost touch with the market years ago. With Steve Jobs gone, Apple better come up with something innovative otherwise they could end up like BB a little bit down the road.
Posted by: ITDirector | Oct 11, 2021 4:28:09 PM
Kudos to Rogers for coming to their senses. While it is FACT that Blackberry holds close to 70% of the business market, they risked their meal ticket by trying to become relevant in the consumer market. The focus should have remained within their realm of expertise and having said that, they could have become more relevant than all other players. The hardware experts focus on hardware only and churn out very good product (Sammy -> S4, Note 3) however they cannot even dream of creating a back-end architecture for delivering secure content to/from their devices. At best, they use bits-and-pieces of other companies product to create a patchwork of battery-draining apps that barely suffice. Blackberry really did have it all and am truly disappointed that they went off the rails. Moral of the story: stick to what you do best - and buy Canadian whenever possible.
Posted by: jimmypage | Oct 11, 2021 6:29:32 PM
my gf had a bb curve and the port popped out within 7 months of having it, we phoned rogers to get a replacement they wouldnt do it, they told us to phone bb. so we phoned bb who wanted to charge us to talk to their support team i beleive it was 55 dollars, i said no to that so eventually they transfered me over to the support team, they said rogers covered warrenty work ( why would you no cover it yourself), phoned rogers again and got the same speech. tried bb again they said there was nothing they could do. so no i will not buy a blackberry if the company will not stand behind their devices and are not willing to help. where as my first htc got repaired by virgin then htc itself because of a internal issue, and samsung simply replaced my unit with about 5 min on the phone with their (free) support team.
Posted by: Richard | Oct 11, 2021 8:22:58 PM
Long live blackberry.
Posted by: Jeanno | Oct 11, 2021 8:25:18 PM
What a piece of sh*t company. It's time to let it die.
Posted by: Don | Oct 11, 2021 9:15:35 PM
Support your own if you must have one, at least it will support athe society that supports you. Apple and the rest do not! The whole price issue is BS, people pay far more in sevice fees than the phones cost anyway. Seems to be little question about that price. The current smart phone rage seems foolish and to a huge extent mostly a "fad fashion" accessory for the immature, rather than some actally useful. Life is pretty good when things like smart phones are deemed to be important.
Posted by: Bruce | Oct 11, 2021 11:40:04 PM
I think this has more to do about Rogers crying about perceived unfair rules (which they agreed to by the way) for the upcoming wireless spectrum auction and how they thought the Canadian government was playing favorites when it was rumored Verizon was going to enter the Canadian wireless market. Rogers cried foul and said the government should support Canadian companies first. How ironic is it then that once another Canadian company (Blackberry) needs Canadian support the same company (Rogers) who shit the bed over "unfair" and "anti-Canadian" wireless spectrum auction rules (which was PR BULLSHIT) now plays a different tune! Hypocrites!
Posted by: CN | Oct 13, 2021 1:10:40 PM
I find it funny how several people have commented that BB is a superior product. It just shows that people are guided by subjective admiration of a company that is Canadian. In no area is the BB product superior to either Apple or Samsung products. Even with security. BB brags they have such a superior and secure product yet hackers have broken the BB hardware and software many times. It is just we don't hear about it because why would a hacker want to exploit technology that next to no one uses? Simple, hackers only go after the products where their malicious work can go noticed and be felt. Don't be swayed by the false illusion that BB is secure. Nothing and I mean nothing in computer technology is secure. There is always a smarter hacker out there for each company that claims they have solved the security crisis.
Posted by: Darryl | Oct 13, 2021 2:11:23 PM
I believe Blackberry will survive. I am not a BB user, mostly due to the fact that I could never get used to the qwerty keyboard. Anyway, I believe BB hit a rough time due to Apple coming out with new improve smartphones and BB was caught off guard. It became a catch up game, but I also believe the investors of BB were the biggest problem to BB some what down fall. They expect too much and it becomes push, push. Greed.
I hope Mike Lazaridis decides to go for BB. He can turn this company around and get it back on track. The investors need to back off. BB needs to go private.
All Apple has going going for them is touting that is cool to own an iPhone and it works, but I believe their creativity will come to an end. The past few years there hasn't been any major change other than speed and different colours.
I am an android user because I personally find it very flexible. As for security, I have it set-up for encryption especially the external sd card.
Even though I am not a BB user, I know they will get back on track and gain market share especially if Mike Lazaridis takes charge.
Posted by: Joshua | Oct 13, 2021 9:24:36 PM
I have been using the BB for now 8 year and I still believe that it's a superior phone compared to Apple's iphone. The security it offers is superb. As a Canadian, I must support a Canadian company to grow. Let's face it, there are ups and downs in all businesses. Apple went through the same trend before, and probably it will again with more competition coming into the market. People shouldn't always get discouraged by the downward trends because it's part of the business cycle. It's never a smooth up-ward curve. Rather, it has the highs and lows - growth, peak, recession and trough. We must always always base our decisions on these facts.