BlackBerry boasts record early sales for Z10 in U.K., Canada
The phone maker says it nearly tripled the sales of its best performance over the first week in the U.K., while it had its best first day ever in Canada.
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BlackBerry said it nearly tripled the sales of its best performance over the first week in the U.K., while it had its best first day ever in Canada.
"In fact, it was more than 50 percent better than any other launch day in our history in Canada," BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said in a statement sent to CNET.
While BlackBerry hasn't been known to have explosive first-day sales in the manner of the iPhone, the accomplishment is encouraging for a company looking to climb back into the smartphone game. There's a lot riding on the success of the Z10 -- the first BlackBerry to run on the company's next-generation platform -- as it will set the tone for how future BlackBerry phones will be received.
The Z10 has received positive critical reviews, and BlackBerry fans appear eager to buy the device. But a bigger test will lie in its longer-term sales and whether non-BlackBerry fans will consider the smartphone.
One analyst today claimed that the sell-outs were more the result of supply issues rather than demand, but BlackBerry's comments suggest the company is off to a solid start.
The company should have a better indication of the success of the Z10 when the phone makes it to the U.S. market, which its executives have said should happen by the middle of March.