BlackBerry Priv Is Up For Pre-Order For $700 In The US, $900 CAD In Canada

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I actually don't terribly mind that, but it throws the *actual* cost of a handset into stark relief for me.

The 'actual cost' wouldn't hurt half as bad were it not for the ~100% margin on higher-end devices plus carrier markup on a device that costs less than $300 to design and manufacture.

 

[anubis44]

Why won't blackberry just die already very few people care about them anymore

Well, my company recently took away about 1,500 iPhones from employees and gave them all Blackberries because of security concerns. So much for people 'not caring about them anymore'. I guess when people don't care about all their private pics and data being stolen is when people won't care about Blackberry, which will be... hmm, oh that's right, NEVER.

The fact that this runs Android means I can get one of these as a company phone, which will mean my only phone, as I got rid of my old cell phone when I got my company phone, and with Blackberry Balance, my company doesn't care if I use it for personal use as well because all the personal stuff is separated from the company e-mail, BBMs, etc. Blackberry isn't going anywhere, and now that they're making Android phones with Blackberry-level security, you just might be seeing a lot more of them, so deal with it.

 

[anubis44]

The problem with blackberry isn't the OS or the hardware or the keyboard. Its the fact that Americans think BB is uncool and sometimes hated or embarrassing to take out in public.

Well, it just goes to show Americans are really all that smart, then, are they? In the Intelligence/defence/government sectors, Blackberries are the only game in town. So if you like using a toy instead of a serious communication device, keep ridiculing the brand your own President trusts with his communications security and keep buying overpriced junk from Apple or Samsung. Where I work in Canada, iPhones were tossed in favour of Blackberries about two years ago due to security concerns. All those pictures hacked in the iCloud kind of changed a lot of people's minds about iPhone security. Not to mention that Blackberry is still a major brand in many countries, much bigger than Microsoft Windows phone, and now that Blackberry have hardened Android to Blackberry-level security, I think many companies and government departments will be buying these. That's why it's more expensive: because it's better than Samsung or Apple crap.

 

[sykozis]

Except that Blackberry didn't increase the security of Android to match that of their own OS. Even on the Priv, Android is still a joke for security. BB10 was an amazing OS....it just lacked the necessary support to compete.