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BlackBerry Z10 sales may be better than expected, but shares still plummet

Published Mar 22nd, 2013 3:40PM EDT
BlackBerry Z10 Sales Q4 2013

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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.

McKechnie now thinks that BlackBerry shipped 1.2 million BlackBerry Z10 handsets in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended on March 2nd. The analyst previously believed Z10 shipments would come in at 1 million for the quarter.

BlackBerry’s first BB10 phone has launched in several additional markets since then, including the U.S., and McKechnie thinks shipments will remain stronger than expected. He now sees BlackBerry shipping 3.2 million BB10 smartphones in the May quarter, up from his earlier estimate of 2.6 million units.

Despite the improved outlook at Evercore, BlackBerry shares plummeted more than 7% on Friday as AT&T’s (T) BlackBerry Z10 launch failed to draw a crowd.

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.