Everything we’ve seen so far suggests that AT&T (T) has put absolutely no effort into marketing the BlackBerry (BBRY) Z10 to its customers or has even trained its retail staff how to talk about the benefits of the Z10. But there’s some good news for BlackBerry out of all this — it made not even need the American consumer market to thrive. Barron’s points us to a new note from Bernstein Research analyst Pierre Ferragu, who says that the slow start on AT&T shouldn’t derail BlackBerry’s fortunes long-term because “BlackBerry isn’t a U.S. story anymore.” More →
BlackBerry (BBRY) included an Android emulator in its BlackBerry 10 operating system that allows developers to easily port their applications from Android to BlackBerry. The decision to include such a tool paid off for the company, which launched its new platform with more than 70,000 apps. BlackBerry recently announced that its app store is now home to more than 100,000 BlackBerry 10 applications, and it has been revealed that only 20% are ported from Android. While the operating system is still missing key apps such as Instagram and Netflix (NFLX), for the most part BlackBerry has been able to attract developers to its still unproven platform. More →
A full-blown instant comeback was never in the cards for BlackBerry (BBRY), and now one analyst thinks the company’s best hope is to shoot for being a niche player going forward. Per StreetInsider, BGC Partners analyst Colin W. Gillis projects that “at best” BlackBerry “becomes a niche player” that has a small but very loyal group of customers that will help it survive the annual onslaught of new devices from big-name players such as Apple (AAPL) and Samsung (005930). But Gillis warns that this is only a best-case scenario and that BlackBerry still has a lot of potential pitfalls ahead, particularly in its efforts to retain customers in emerging markets. More →
Earlier this month, BlackBerry (BBRY) confirmed that an undisclosed partner agreed to purchase one million new BlackBerry 10 smartphones. According to AllThingsD, the purchase, which was the single largest in BlackBerry’s history, came from an electronics distributor known as Brightstar. Research firm Detwiler Fenton notes that the company handles most of Verizon’s (VZ) big-box retail distribution, and the partnership gives the carrier less risk if BlackBerry 10 fails to appeal to consumers because it can offload unsold inventory onto the third-party distributor. Verizon usually distributes devices it believes will be popular among consumers by itself, rather than relying on a third-party. This is not the case for BlackBerry 10, though. More →
BlackBerry (BBRY) had a very short time to enjoy the spotlight this winter before the Galaxy S 4 tap danced onto the scene and now it seems that the company’s momentum has slowed in the wake of Samsung’s launch extravaganza earlier this month. Barron’s points us to a new research note from Citigroup analyst Jim Suva, who says that BlackBerry Z10 sales have “dramatically slowed” after an initial “honeymoon” and that carriers “have already shifted promotions to other products (Samsung) and moved the Z10 to less favorable in store locations.” More →
To get a sense of demand for the BlackBerry (BBRY) Z10 on its launch weekend, I visited three AT&T (T) stores on Saturday afternoon between 52nd Street and 96th Street. Some of the standard questions I sprinkled between small talk were: “Do you have the new BlackBerry Z10? How is it doing, have you sold many units? What are the best features of the Z10?” More →
If the BlackBerry (BBRY) Z10 succeeds in the United States, it won’t be because of anything AT&T (T) has done to help. Per StreetInsider, Goldman Sachs on Monday released a new note that described a “disappointing” launch for BlackBerry’s flagship smartphone in the United States and said that there was a “surprising lack of marketing support and poor positioning of the product” in several retail outlets, including AT&T stores, Best Buy (BBY) and Radio Shack. Goldman’s note backs up another report we heard last week about AT&T stores in New York and San Francisco that didn’t feature any displays or marketing materials for the Z10 on its launch day. This reported lack of marketing support and slow launch weekend have led the previously bullish Goldman to cut its price target for BlackBerry shares to $17 while downgrading them from Buy to Neutral.
AT&T (T) may be pushing alternatives to the iPhone, but that doesn’t mean one of those alternatives will be BlackBerry (BBRY). The Wall Street Journal reports that two AT&T stores in Manhattan on Friday featured “neither special signs nor floor displays” to highlight BlackBerry’s flagship Z10 smartphone on its first day of availability in the United States. And this apparently wasn’t just a New York problem either, as the Journal reports that an AT&T store in San Francisco didn’t have any sort of display for the Z10 upon opening Friday and only brought out a Z10 for public viewing after a customer asked for it. When the San Francisco store finally did put up a display for the Z10, the Journal says that it was “at a back corner of the store, away from a large sign advertising the iPhone 5.”
BlackBerry (BBRY) launched its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone in early February and while there’s no question that the struggling vendor managed a major coup, industry watchers are still mixed as far as overall sales estimates go. Some bears suggest fiscal fourth-quarter BlackBerry Z10 shipments only totalled 300,000 units, but others believe the handset did much better. In fact, Evercore Partners analyst Mark McKechnie raised his shipment estimates for the February quarter in a note sent to clients on Friday. More →
Samsung (005930) unveiled its Knox security solution last month during the annual Mobile World Congress trade show, but smartphones sold by the world’s top vendor will never feature ”top-notch platinum” security according to BlackBerry (BBRY) CEO Thorsten Heins. The problem, Heins told CNET in a recent interview, is that Android is inherently insecure due to its open nature. ”You don’t know how many keys you’ve given to the main door of your house because it’s open software,” Heins said of Android. “So what are you trying to do? You’re locking the windows.” The executive added that BlackBerry 10 was designed from the ground up with security in mind, so Android phones from Samsung and other vendors will always be more susceptible to malware and other attacks. More →
BlackBerry (BBRY) fans in the United States haven’t even been able to purchase the company’s newest flagship phone for 24 hours and BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins is already teasing a new BlackBerry 10 smartphone. During an interview with CNET, Heins confirmed that his company has plans to launch an “exciting” new flagship smartphone ahead of the holidays this year, though launch timing isn’t yet set in stone. ”There’s one new product I’m really excited about, but I can’t really share it,” the BlackBerry boss said. He wouldn’t confirm any details about the unannounced device, though he did say that the upcoming phone “takes BlackBerry 10 to another level in terms of the user experience” — which could be somewhat aggravating news to all the diehard fans and other users about to enter into a two-year agreement when they purchase the BlackBerry Z10.
The wait for a fresh new BlackBerry (BBRY) smartphone to launch in the United States has been absolutely grueling for diehard fans, but it’s finally over. Beginning Friday, BlackBerry’s first next-generation BlackBerry 10 smartphone is available from AT&T (T) online and in stores for $199.99 with a new two-year agreement. BGR reviewed the BlackBerry Z10 in January and called it a huge improvement over the stale BlackBerry 7 OS in many ways, but BlackBerry still has a long way to go to catch up with market leaders. Following Friday’s launch at AT&T, the BlackBerry Z10 will be available from T-Mobile beginning March 27th and from Verizon (VZ) starting March 28th.
