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Analyst sees solid demand for BlackBerry Torch; PlayBook sales to be unimpressive

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 6:56PM EST
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In a note to investors Monday, Barclays Capital analyst Jeff Kvaal restated his “overweight” rating and set an $85 target for shares of RIM’s stock. Kvaal thinks the company will report a solid third quarter, and he believes current demand for the BlackBerry Torch to be “solid.” AT&T’s decision to drop the BlackBerry Torch to $99 last month played a big role in bolstering sales, the analyst believes, and he raised his Q3 estimates from 13.9 million units to 14.1 million as a result. Moving on to 2011, Kvaal sees RIM launching several handsets in the first half of 2011, including an update to the Curve 8900, a “Touch Bold” and a third version of the BlackBerry Storm. Sales of RIM’s first QNX-based tablet are projected to be quite low, however, and QNX-based handsets are not expected until the second half of 2011 at the earliest. Kvaal estimates BlackBerry PlayBook sales of 3 million units in 2011, and Gleacher & Co. analyst Mark McKechnie estimates PlayBook sales of only 1.8 million units through February 2012.

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Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.