RBC Capital: RIM sold 150,000 BlackBerry Torchs opening weekend

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that BlackBerry maker Research In Motion sold right around 150,000 Torch handsets during its opening weekend. The sales estimates come courtesy of RBC Capital Markets and Stifel Nicolaus. Curiously, the launch numbers keep being compared to the first weekend sales figures of the iPhone 4; which launched on June 24th of this year in five countries and on multiple carriers. The WSJ also calls into question the profitability of the handset for RIM. Research firm iSuppli pegged the cost of the slider’s components at right around $171 — with an additional $12 for manufacturing — bringing the total to $183. The LCD and Samsung flash-memory are the unit’s two most expensive parts and cost approximately $35 each. As a point of comparison, iSuppli estimates Apple’s iPhone 4 at $188 and the HTC DROID Incredible at $165. When compared component for component, the Torch’s part costs do seem a little steep. Again, the numbers are all speculative… but 150,000 seems to be an acceptable result for an opening weekend release on one carrier, no? What do you think?

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