Yea, my ass-ent is not available for that proposition.
Let me tell you why.
Why? Because, as we saw with the huge inefficiences involved in the clumsily handled Cingular BlackBerry 8700C rollout, Cingular'd distribution network is a mess.
So unalike T-Mobile's, where the Pearls got to most of the stores on time, and with not too many exceptions, they were there and available for sale that very morning of rollout, September 12 of this year.
But based on Cingy's track record of chucked-up distribution- especially to retail, I am far more than skeptical they are going to be able to meet these goals.
My sense of this impending problem is heightened by all the advance reports you are sending me.
Unlike T-Mobile- where store owners and even individual store clerks knew all about the Pearl, had Pearl's under lock and key and executed launch day swimmingly, it seems that a lack of communication bordering on cluelessness and chaos about the Pearl rule the day in Cingular stores and in their retail channel.
What's worse, if these units aren't in the stores on Tuesday, you have the logistical challenges of pushing this product through the distribution chain over a four-day holiday weekend. I'm not sure Cingular is up to this. I mean, they haven't given me proof that they are.
Want proof? Turn the page and I will replicate my post in which I described how utterly incompetent Cingular was with the BlackBerry 8700c launch.
Cingular didn't "raise the bar"- they raised the FUBAR
FUBAR= Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition. (hey, my Mama and Daddy raised a right proper gentleman).In several posts I made over the weekend, I made note that several BBHub readers have been telling me that calls to Cingular Wireless' toll-free help line for information about the new Cingular BlackBerry 8700c seem to have been received with bewilderment by Cingular support reps.
I've acknowledged a pattern here: when it has come to this rollout, Cingular has chosen to serve their national accounts first, then selected high-profile retail locations, then other retailers, and at the bottom of the chain, web and phone-based ordering.
In Cingular's rollout "strategy" meetings, they may have identified their rollout schedule as I have described. Yet there's one key factor those Cingular execs seem to have overlooked. With knowledge about, and availability of, the new 8700c's spreading throughout the distribution chain, they seemed to have overlooked the Blogosphere as a key conduit that would spread this information outward from national business accounts, on to retail and then to consumers.
That means you.
Many consumers - fans of the BlackBerry who cannot wait to get their hands on an 8700c - read this BlackBerry blog and others. And they have been jumping up and down about this new product, waiting to know when they can get their hands on one.Who can they be expected to call? Well, customer "service" in many cases.
What I'd like to know is why didn't a memo go out to the call centers, saying something to the effect of there's been lots of publicity about the BlackBerry 8700c, it's listed on our site, all the blogs as well as major national newspapers are writing about and have reviewed it, we'll be fielding lots of calls, and here's what the customer service reps need to know about the BlackBerry 8700c features and availability if they are asked about it.
For Cingular customer "service" to not know about this new product is nothing less than a failure of vision, a failure of planning, and a failure of execution at the highest levels.
1. From absolute certainty that it would be released by November 17 to absolute doubt that it could be released by November 21. You guys are amazing.
Posted at 5:56PM on Nov 17th 2006 by Bill