BlackBerry

BlackBerry Passport and BlackBerry Classic not selling says Morgan Stanley

posted by Alan F. / Mar 16, 2015, 12:59 PM

BlackBerry Passport and BlackBerry Classic not selling says Morgan Stanley

Brokerage firm Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients on Monday, that the two new BlackBerry handsets that were supposed to sure up the company's recovery are not selling. Morgan Stanley's analyst covering the company said that sales of the BlackBerry Passport and BlackBerry Classic are "not tracking anywhere close" to expected sales numbers.

Morgan Stanley says that only 8000 units of the business-centric BlackBerry Passport and old-school BlackBerry Classic have sold in the current quarter. Morgan Stanley says that the company needs to sell a total of 2-3 million units of these new models during its 2016 fiscal year. In addition, the brokerage firm said that it is unlikely to sell the targeted $500 million in software revenue that the company has been aiming for.

In the note, Morgan Stanley said that the BlackBerry name is becoming a hard sell, even to enterprise customers. When the Passport first launched with its wide 4.5-inch 1440 x 1440 screen, and touch-enabled physical QWERTY keyboard, it sold out 200,000 units quickly. A second batch was also sold out. AT&T recently launched a specially revised version of the phone for the U.S., with rounded corners.

The BlackBerry Classic, which is also available from AT&T, brings back the design of the BlackBerry Bold 9900 but with the BlackBerry 10 OS. It features the old-school trackpad and function keys along with keyboard shortcuts. North American pre-order inventory of the phone was sold out back in December.

Morgan Stanley said on Monday that it is reiterating its $7 price target for the stock and keeping its underweight rating. BlackBerry's shares are currently trading at $9.65, off 16 cents for the day.

Thanks for the tip!

via: Benzinga.com

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89 Comments

3. Mxyzptlk unregistered

Pricey without value won't bring sales.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 1:10 PM 11

11. downphoenix

Posts: 3165; Member since: Jun 19, 2010

Apple doesn't seem to struggle with doing good sales with that. :p

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 2:09 PM 17

18. meanestgenius

Posts: 21778; Member since: May 28, 2014

Lmao! Indeed. +1

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 2:36 PM 6

21. AlikMalix unregistered

Apparently you don't know what value means. Don't worry, they will teach u that in highschool. Basic economics lesson: if it's priced $10,000 and sells well - it's valued/priced correctly. If it's priced at $100 and does not sell it's overvalued/priced incorrectly. And at some instances if the manufacturer cannot manufacture something fast enough to need demand the item is deemed undervalued. Basic supply and demand are part of basic economics that they teach in middle school... Applied logic is a virtue that you must develop on your own when u grow up. Good luck.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 2:53 PM 7

36. Mxyzptlk unregistered

You just contradicted yourself.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 5:16 PM 2

37. VZWuser76

Posts: 4974; Member since: Mar 04, 2010

Most of the time yes, but there are exceptions. Take the pet rock. It was introduced in 1975 and sold for $3.95 a pop. It reportedly sold around 1.5 million units. Now there is demand, and making demand. Rocks are everywhere, why would you go out and pay $3.95 (which is closer to $17 today) for something that is readily available? Bottled water is another one, it costs more than gasoline in the same quantity and is available from your tap. The moral of the story, never underestimate how stupid people can be.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 5:27 PM 2

35. Mxyzptlk unregistered

Should I prove you wrong or are you ready to put on the dunce cap?

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 5:14 PM 2

4. MrHate

Posts: 317; Member since: Feb 09, 2015

Well 1.992.000 to go. Good luck.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 1:33 PM 4

5. darkoman4

Posts: 183; Member since: May 30, 2014

This must be a mistake. It is impossible to have only 8000 units sold in one quarter.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 1:42 PM 1

17. tacarat

Posts: 854; Member since: Apr 22, 2013

Talk to Amazon or Facebook.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 2:35 PM 5

6. jsjammu

Posts: 169; Member since: Nov 13, 2014

They need to just sell the company to either Google or Samsung

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 1:44 PM 3

8. TechKnowledge

Posts: 55; Member since: May 05, 2013

Did you omit Microsoft for any particular reason? I'm just curious.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 1:50 PM 1

22. AlikMalix unregistered

.... Or Apple? I think blackberry is invaluable and we all want our favorite brand to buy it. But I think BB is just having a bad moment. I think they got the brains to get them out of this hole. I'm extremely surprised the "passport" isn't selling well - it's an awesome concept.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 2:57 PM 1

45. Dr.Phil

Posts: 2340; Member since: Feb 14, 2011

I'm pretty sure the last company that was sold to Google, Motorola, was picked up for their patents and then thrown away as soon as they could. I wouldn't call that a good thing. Samsung already has a partnership with Blackberry and I'm willing to place a bet that the upcoming Slider shares some hardware made by Samsung. In return, Blackberry offers Samsung exclusive software content.

posted on Mar 17, 2015, 1:26 AM 2

70. JaneChenLong

Posts: 374; Member since: Mar 18, 2015

Actually, that's a good things. The patent got used. If BB bankrupt without being sold to Google or Samsung, the patent will end up in patent troll. But.... I think most of BB useful patent already expired, otherwise BB have a great patent but lousy execution.

posted on Mar 18, 2015, 5:45 AM 0

7. Phonedingo

Posts: 399; Member since: Aug 16, 2014

Not surprised that they're doing bad, but this bad is comical.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 1:48 PM 5

9. meanestgenius

Posts: 21778; Member since: May 28, 2014

This is total BS. The shorts are just out for blood, as usual. March 27th, when BlackBerry reports it's quarterly earnings, is drawing near, so of course we hear of bogus news to drive the stock price down. If this were the case, then where did Chen get the 200,000 figure from concerning initial sales of the Passport? And why would he have said that the sales of the Classic have been better at launch than the Passports 200,000 at launch? This story reeks of BS. I'm willing to bet good money that when BlackBerry reports it's numbers at the end of the month, we will see a different picture entirely. Anyone who believes otherwise is fooling themselves.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 2:02 PM 2

13. Alan01

Posts: 602; Member since: Mar 21, 2012

Shorts are devious no doubt, but the previous sales of the Passport touted by Chen covered the prior quarter. Regards, Alan F.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 2:22 PM 8

15. meanestgenius

Posts: 21778; Member since: May 28, 2014

It's already been reported by BlackBerry that the bulk of Passport sales were not recognized in the previous quarter. They said they would be reflected in this quarter.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 2:29 PM 1

44. Dr.Phil

Posts: 2340; Member since: Feb 14, 2011

@meanestgenius is correct, the majority of sales of the Passport and Classic were not reported in the last quarter. They will go down in record under this quarter. Part of that is because the Classic was released after the quarter ended and the other part is because they didn't have enough supply of the Passport to actually complete the sales so those were unreported.

posted on Mar 17, 2015, 1:24 AM 2

71. JaneChenLong

Posts: 374; Member since: Mar 18, 2015

I think we need to wait for 27 March 2015 to know the truth. My bet is, BB passport got around 100K order, and John Chen bluff it was 200K. By the time they need to write it on the book, they said part of the sale will be put on next quarter, hopping the sales would increase. But then... in the next quarter... the sales is diving, and because they already put the bluff number in quarter before, and they can't bluff forever, this quarter aint pretty for them.

posted on Mar 18, 2015, 5:48 AM 0

80. meanestgenius

Posts: 21778; Member since: May 28, 2014

I think you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

posted on Mar 18, 2015, 8:38 AM 1

16. Scott93274

Posts: 6032; Member since: Aug 06, 2013

I want to believe that BlackBerry will do well and turn itself around, but in all honesty I just don't see it happening. Without disrespecting the quality of the goods are services that BlackBerry provides, the expectations of the consumer both public and private on what they expect of a smartphone is simply not being meet by the company, weather it OS's GUI, or the hardware itself. And one major truth that Apple can abide by is that branding is imperative, BlackBerry was king in the pre-iPhone era, but that was nearly 8 years ago now.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 2:34 PM 3

19. meanestgenius

Posts: 21778; Member since: May 28, 2014

You're looking at BlackBerry from a consumer perspective and as a company as dependent on hardware as Apple or HTC. Their software is what is and will carry them through the enterprise market, which is their intended market to begin with. The same way Apple's brand name is a driving factor in the consumer market is the same way BlackBerry's brand name is in enterprise. Trust me, the numbers quoted by this analyst is pure BS and short covering.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 2:41 PM 2

20. Scott93274

Posts: 6032; Member since: Aug 06, 2013

You're right, I am looking at it from a consumer perspective, and maybe I'm wrong, in which case you can gloat all you like and I will admit to being short sighted. That being said, it was my honest view on the situation, and it shouldn't be too long before we hear official financial reports from Mr. Chen.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 2:49 PM 1

26. meanestgenius

Posts: 21778; Member since: May 28, 2014

I won't gloat when it turns out that you're wrong ;) Seriously, I know it's your honest opinion. You don't even comment on BlackBerry articles all that much, and you never troll them. I'm looking forward to March 27th when BlackBerry releases it's quarterly earnings report. It's going to be very interesting.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 3:12 PM 1

27. Scott93274

Posts: 6032; Member since: Aug 06, 2013

lol, I did once, but then you put me in my place.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 3:18 PM 1

30. meanestgenius

Posts: 21778; Member since: May 28, 2014

Oh, that's right...ah! Water under the bridge, my friend, lol.

posted on Mar 16, 2015, 3:25 PM 2

52. xq10xa

Posts: 808; Member since: Dec 07, 2010

The phone doesn't sell. Cell phone accessories sales on eBay and Amazon are good indicators. Look at the ranks. Really low. No one is buying this phone.

posted on Mar 17, 2015, 12:56 PM 1

53. meanestgenius

Posts: 21778; Member since: May 28, 2014

Incorrect assumption in BlackBerry's case. Most BlackBerry users by their accessories from CrackBerry, shop.blackberry.com, or other BlackBerry centric sites. Or they're like me, and have their devices "naked".

posted on Mar 17, 2015, 1:12 PM 1

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