Wall Street hammers BlackBerry, says BB10 won’t repair ‘damaged brand image’

As anyone who invested in mortgage-backed securities last decade knows Wall Street isn’t always right. That said, BlackBerry (RIMM) can’t be all that happy to see that Street analysts’ reaction to its BlackBerry 10 operating system and BlackBerry Z10 smartphone have been mostly negative. Reuters has a representative roundup of analyst comments about BlackBerry’s grand rebirth on Wednesday and they don’t paint a pretty picture. Among the highlights are analysts from Credit Suisse, who say that they “see limited scope for traction in the hypercompetitive smartphone market” for BlackBerry 10; analysts at Evercore Partners, who praise BlackBerry 10’s “dramatic improvement” but who also “expect a muted consumer response due to RIMM’s damaged brand image”; and Barclays Capital analysts, who are worried that BlackBerry has priced its new devices far too high.