BlackBerry Priv

And here I thought BlackBerry couldn't come up with a name worse for a phone than Leap. Turns out I was wrong. Enter the BlackBerry Priv.

With word surfacing and multiple sources (including our own) confirming that BlackBerry's upcoming Android slider will be called the BlackBerry Priv, the CrackBerry and broader smartphone community has been providing its feedback on how this is a horrible, stupid, lame, dumb — ​insert your adjective​ — name for what looks to be an otherwise awesome phone.

The poll we ran makes it official: over 51% of respondents hate the name while over 30% dislike it. Never in all our years have we seen this sort of hate for a BlackBerry name.

BlackBerry Priv Poll Results

If you're not sure how to pronounce Priv from reading the word, don't feel bad, neither do I. I assume it's priv as in privacy or privilege. Or is preeve? Or prive? Or privy? Either way, it doesn't really matter - this is just a terrible name for a product.

BlackBerry has always had a thing for one syllable names like Tour or Bold or Leap, but Priv is just reaching for something that isn't there. And I'm not gonna lie - it sounds a little too close to another four letter word I know that starts with a p, ends in a v and also has an r in it.

What's really irking about this is that recently BlackBerry has launched some phones with what most agree are great names, including the BlackBerry Classic and BlackBerry Passport. For their first phone that's powered by Android, you'd think BlackBerry would want to make a positive impression to the smartphone masses. Priv will certainly make an impression, albeit not a positive one. Honestly, I'm still holding out hope this is just a cruel joke by BlackBerry's security department to pass on bogus info to employees in hopes of uncovering who's leaking info out there (we know CEO John Chen hates leaks). Though at this point that seems like wishful thinking on my part.

BlackBerry Priv Poll Results

I hate to harp on BlackBerry when the company has enough of a battle to fight on a daily basis, but I wouldn't be doing my job in representing BlackBerry users if I didn't relay the info and make a strong plea to BlackBerry to listen to the community and CHANGE THE NAME. Obviously a good portion of us will be buying this phone when it comes out regardless of the name on the box (many of us will just refer to it as the "new BlackBerry" anyway), but when 4/5 of your biggest fans and influencers hate the name, there's a problem. Hopefully, BlackBerry hasn't printed many packages yet. Maybe if it's not too late, there's still time to change it! Fingers crossed.

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