By Will Connors
Associated Press
The BlackBerry BBRY +1.33% Z10 smartphone hasnt sold well in the U.S., according to some analysts
What could be worse for BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion Ltd. than weak early sales of its new flagship phone? The possibility that people who did buy the phone are returning it.
In two separate reports Thursday morning, analysts noted a weak launch of the BlackBerry Z10 in the U.S.
ITG analyst analyst Joe Fersedi writes that the Z10 launch started poorly and weakened significantly as the days passed, and that Z10 sales are in line-to marginally ahead of anemic sales of older BlackBerry models and the Nokia NOK1V.HE -1.50% Lumia 822.
Fersedi said that initially the Z10′s share of sales was 4% at Verizon stores and 7% at AT&T T +0.13% stores, but those numbers have fallen to about 1% to 2%.
Perhaps worse, according to a report from Detwiler Fenton, customer returns of the Z10 are actually outnumbering sales.
We believe key retail partners have seen a significant increase in Z10 returns to the point where, in several cases, returns are now exceeding sales, a phenomenon we have never seen before, Detwiler analyst Jeff Johnston writes in the report.
In response to the reports, the company issued the following statement: BlackBerry wishes to respond to media coverage today regarding speculation that there have been abnormally high levels of returns of BlackBerry Z10 devices. This is absolutely false. Our data shows that return rates for BlackBerry Z10 devices both in the U.S. and on a global basis are in line with or better than our expectations and are consistent with return rates for other premium smartphones in the market today.
In its most recent earnings call, RIM said it sold 1 million Z10s, but the quarter did not include U.S. sales.
If there is a silver lining for RIM, its that Mr. Johnston and many other analysts expect the forthcoming, keyboard-equipped BlackBerry Q10 to sell much better. The Q10 just became available for pre-order in the U.K. and Canada this week and is expected to ship at the end of April. The Q10 should arrive in the U.S. in May or June.
But for the Z10, which RIM expects to compete head-to-head with the iPhone 5 and the latest Samsung Galaxy, these early indicators do not bode well.
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, but its not like me and all my friends gonna get one just to do that. The whole bbm scene is too snobbish for todays market.
