Thread: Discuss: Gazelle Online Reports An 80% Increase In BlackBerry Trade-Ins Over The Last Month

Gazelle, one of the largest electronic trade-in service has reported a massive spike in BlackBerry trade-ins. Gazelle's Chief Gadget Officer Anthony Scarsella seems to think that " Consumers could be starting to fear the end of the Canadian based device maker." Unfortunately Mr. Scarsella's opinions seem to seem to be shared by quite a few others, and the term "RIM is dead", has also been loosely.

Scarsella goes on to say that the company's "data illustrates that BlackBerry trade-ins have risen 80% above the normal 30-day average since March 1st here at Gazelle [...] Consumers could be starting to fear the end of the Canadian based device maker. BlackBerry owners are indeed starting to dump their current smartphones before their beloved BBM and email support comes to a screeching stop if RIM collapse. The fear of rapid depreciation and unsupported devices has consumers upgrading to other platforms quicker than ever before.”

One would have to be in denial if they did not see the sudden spike in BlackBerry trade-ins as a concern, but what about the comments about consumers fearing the end of RIM. Is there any truth to this? To be frank, there actually is, but for the wrong reasons. The fact is that consumers are suckers when it comes to going with whatever the media says. Comments like " RIM is dead" are simply not true and are based on the medias assumption rather than the cold hard facts. Last I checked a company that is worth over 7 Billion dollars was considered to be doing quite well, A dead company is bankrupt and simply can't move on, a dead company has no hope for a future, a dead company, has no plans for the future. I would venture to say that RIM has addressed all of those characteristics that mark a dead company.

via: ubergizmo

Yeah, I don't buy into the "RIM is dead" bs. It is true the media is responsible for all the crap though. After awhile I just quit listening to it. True RIM people know the truth.

Originally Posted by Tersammy

Yeah, I don't buy into the "RIM is dead" bs. It is true the media is responsible for all the crap though. After awhile I just quit listening to it. True RIM people know the truth.

If you are follower, you are a sucker, consumers need to do their homework before implying that RIM is dead.

RIM is farrrr from dead, let me tell you right now, and true BlackBerry owners know this.

The media sells stories that attracts readers, the media sells what readers want to read, the media sells what readers want to see (the truth would be nice though) not some speculated garbage that RIM is in trouble.

The media sells bad news, bad news is what people like to read, isn't that crazy?

How many times do you see in the newspapers, RSS feeds, plus so many other ways to grab news, good news?

Who wants reads good news, maybe 30% vs 70% bad news, now do you see what I am trying to say?

I dispise the media so much, that I wish they could be held accountable for what they post to the public.

I truly believe as long that some media outlets post news articles like the one above, it re-inforces that RIM is in fact doing better, and hope other media outlets posts more facts vs garbage to the public.

Thank you.

Guys, you gotta remember, most BB owners are not as well informed about RIM as a company as most around here. Most BB owners are not trolling these message boards and blogs for hours on end. Most BB owners don't view their mobile device as a culture. They see their smartphone as what it is - a smartphone.

It was RIM themselves that said they were going to abandon the consumer market. If I was an average BB user that wasn't on these message boards all the time (you know, like people that actually have a life....lol), I would be leading the charge to trade my phone in. Whether RIM has since recanted on that statement is neither here nor there.....the media never reports on the "I take that back/Let me clarify my last dumb remark" and if they do it will be a small blurb on page 32. The only way the general public is going to know that RIM executives lifted their foot off of their own genitalia is if the mainstream media happens to pick up the story and print it on the first couple of pages the same way they printed the original. But that will never happen because that doesn't contain near the amount of teeth that the original statement had.

So what did RIM decide to do?...recant in the BlackBerry blog. 90% of BlackBerry owners do not have the time to read or don't even know/care the BlackBerry blog even exists. Should they do some more research before jumping the gun and trading their phone in?...absolutely. But like I said, they don't have time. All they know is that newspaper XYZ had a story containing a quote from a RIM executive making a dumb statement that they were going to abandon the consumer market - except they don't know it was a dumb statement because RIM recanted on the BlackBerry blog instead of doing something MASSIVE that would draw people's attention to the recant in question.

And you can't place complete blame on the media either. I know many media outlets LOVE to kick RIM around (Toronto Star being top of the list who prints WAY more negative stories than positive) and many stories end up being slanted in a negative direction. But if RIM is going to go out and make such a bold/foolish statement, the media HAS to print it.

Originally Posted by DownForce

It was RIM themselves that said they were going to abandon the consumer market. If I was an average BB user that wasn't on these message boards all the time (you know, like people that actually have a life....lol), I would be leading the charge to trade my phone in. Whether RIM has since recanted on that statement is neither here nor there.....the media never reports on the "I take that back/Let me clarify my last dumb remark" and if they do it will be a small blurb on page 32. The only way the general public is going to know that RIM executives lifted their foot off of their own genitalia is if the mainstream media happens to pick up the story and print it on the first couple of pages the same way they printed the original. But that will never happen because that doesn't contain near the amount of teeth that the original statement had.

There is a difference between not having time and simply being ill-informed. When the media said that RIM was " abandoning the consumer market" it was completely false. The fact is RIM has said over and over that they will not abandon the consumer market.

The comments that gave birth to the idea that RIM was "giving up" on its consumer market were taken from RIM's CEO Thorsten Heins. When he stated that RIM plans:

"to refocus on the enterprise business and capitalise on our leading position in this segment. [...] We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we tried to be everybody’s darling and all things to all people. Therefore, we plan to build on our strength.”

Yes, one could see how these words could translate to RIM giving up on its consumer market However, I think maybe some should have stopped, took a breath, and looked at the big picture before they came to the conclusion that RIM was giving up on its consumer market.

The facts are RIM is not giving up on its consumer market. In a response to pocket-lint.com RIM's managing director of global sales and regional marketing, Patrick Spense stated that:

“The claim that RIM has said it will withdraw from the consumer market is wholly inaccurate,"

Furthermore, RIM's VP Of Developer Relations Alec Saunders responded to the issue with a tweet this morning that stated that the "remarks were wrongly interpreted. We are not leaving the consumer market."

With all of that said, it does not mean that in the future it will not be an option. It could very well happen if their enterprise market picks up really well. As for right now they are still focused on consumers.