BlackBerry Q10 sales abysmal, says report
One carrier says the Q10 units he ordered were eventually sent back to an equipment vendor after no demand for the smartphone.
BlackBerry's Q10 smartphone was supposed to bring the old days of BlackBerry's physical keyboard into today's touch-screen-obsessed world. But according to a new report, few people actually cared.
The BlackBerry Q10 has experienced abysmal sales since its time on store shelves, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the situation. One phone retailer, who sells handsets in the Midwest across 16 stores, told the Journal that he "saw virtually no demand for the Q10," adding that the few he sold across his locations were eventually returned by customers. Nearly all of his stock was returned to his equipment vendor, according to the Journal.
An unidentified executive at a Canadian carrier was similarly down on the Q10, telling the Journal that the smartphone "just hit the ground and died." BlackBerry, which is headquartered in Canada, had hoped that its home country would drive strong sales for the Q10.
BlackBerry earlier this year announced the Q10 alongside the Z10. The latter, which came with a virtual keyboard, was first to hit store shelves. BlackBerry's Q10 was next. BlackBerry had hoped that the Z10 would appeal to consumers buying touch-screen devices, while the Q10 could tap into BlackBerry's QWERTY-obsessed market. It appears, however, that neither device saved the day.
BlackBerry has not publicly broken out device sales, so there's no telling how many Q10 handsets it has sold.