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Electronics retailer
Best Buy Canada is reporting a “hugely successful” launch of the
BlackBerry <>
Z10 in the smartphone’s home-country debut Tuesday.
Best Buy corporate
communications director Christopher Bennett said in-store traffic was
brisk through the day and preorders for the Z10 “went through the roof.”
The company, which operates Best Buy and Future Shop outlets, processed
preorders for tens of thousands of the devices through the online
process, he said.
BlackBerry, based in
Waterloo, Ont., is topping up retailer inventory in case of sellouts,
said Bennett, adding that some customers may have to wait a few days to
get their hands on the 10.6-centimetre (4.2-inch) device. The Best Buy
report corroborates evidence from network carriers in Canada including
Rogers and Bell Canada, which said early orders have topped any previous
BlackBerry model.
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Still, the
long-awaited release of the BlackBerry Z10 didn’t draw crowds in
downtown Toronto, though shares in the company rose 6.3 per cent to
close at $15.94.
At The Source in
Toronto’s Eaton Centre, manager Mani Chowdhury said he’d opened early —
at 8:30 a.m. — and put out popcorn in anticipation of a crowd.
But by 10, the store had only sold two devices.
“I was shocked,” Chowdhury said. “A few people want to upgrade their BlackBerry but it’s not like the iPhone was.”
He said he’s still hopeful that sales will build up.
“A lot of people really love BlackBerry.”
Alyssa Page, 27, stopped by on her way to work to buy the BlackBerry Z10 because her previous model just died, she said.
“It looks great,” said Page, who has always used a BlackBerry.
Akilan Thurairasa said
he switched to a BlackBerry rival Samsung Galaxy phone six months but
came in Tuesday morning to buy the new BlackBerry.
“I just want to use
the (BlackBerry), get back to normal,” Thurairasa said. The 28-year-old
added he had heard the hype about the BlackBerry Z10 but was withholding
judgment.
The early Canadian
results follow some reports from the U.K. last week, where the Z10 made
its global debut on Thursday, of lineups of BlackBerry fans at London
retailers.
“We believe Carphone
Warehouse is seeing widespread sellouts, while O2, Vodafone, Orange and
EE are seeing robust demand,” Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek
said in a research note. He cited channel checks showing solid
pre-release demand in markets including the United Arab Emirates, where
the Z10 will launch within weeks.
“We estimate sell-in to be at least several hundred thousand units,” Misek said.
Still, Deutsche Bank
analyst Brian Modoff said his survey of 30 carrier stores in the U.K.
showed all but one had Z10 in stock, adding that carrier promotion was
limited.
BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins told BNN the white Z10 had sold out in the U.K.
The BB Z10, the first
major refresh of BlackBerry smartphones in more than two years, marks a
comeback attempt after the company’s sales fell in western markets on
hard charging competition from Apple and Samsung.
In a preliminary
research report, IDC said BlackBerry had just 4.5 per cent of the
Canadian smartphone market in the final quarter of 2012, versus 47.5 per
cent for Apple and Samsung’s 32.7 per cent. It said BlackBerry had 1.4
per cent of the U.S. market in the quarter.
BlackBerry says it’s launching its next generation platform last in the U.S. market,
probably in mid-March. The physical keyboard Q10 will not debut
anywhere until April and Heins said it will appear in the U.S. in May or
June. Last week, Heins set an April time frame, but said talks with
carriers about release dates continue.
He said the
BlackBerry’s entry into the United States, the company’s biggest
customer base by far, is later because of the extensive testing required
by the U.S. carriers and the regulatory process.
“I’d love to be
earlier. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not happy with it, but at the moment it
is what it is,” said Heins, who in a Toronto speech later in the day
urged Canada to assume global leadership in mobile computing.
Heins added that he’s encouraged by early sales indications showing people migrating from other platforms back to BlackBerry.
Heins also said the
rollout of the new hardware and operating platform in Canada and the
U.K. creates anticipation in the U.S. Fans of the phone’s physical
keyboard will have to wait a little while longer — the new keypad
version of the device won’t launch until sometime in April.
The Z10 is expected to typically sell for $150 on a three-year contract. Koodo is selling it without a contract for $550.
With files from The Canadian Press
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