BlackBerry finally has something to smile about and it's not Alicia Keys' Global Creative Director position. Since the BlackBerry Z10 went on sale in the UK last week, sales of the smartphone have exceeded BlackBerry's expectations and the device has completely sold out at many locations across the UK.

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BlackBerry's UK Managing Director Stephen Bates spoke to TechCrunch and revealed that:

"The response we've seen exceeded all of our launch partners' expectations. Customers are choosing to buy the BlackBerry Z10 in large numbers," said Bates. "In fact some of our partners have told us that they sold out over the weekend in some of their key retail locations."

"The partners' call centres are also flooded with calls, as people phone to ask for more information about the device, and also where and how to buy it."

This is the kind of news BlackBerry needs to be experiencing if it plans on sticking around. The company has not experienced this kind of reception in years as it watched its smartphone empire quickly demolished by Apple's iOS and Google's Android.

BlackBerry chose the UK to launch the Z10 because BlackBerry is still somewhat popular in the UK. A report was issued in November that suggested that close to half of UK teens still own a BlackBerry. BlackBerry is hoping that more than just teens move to BlackBerry 10 devices - it also needs to regain confidence in the corporate world where it once was king. It appears that BlackBerry is off to a good start in the UK.

BlackBerry launched the BlackBerry Z10 in Canada on Feb. 5 and a U.S. launch is expected sometime in March. It remains to be seen if BlackBerry can keep the momentum going from its success in the UK and translate that to the U.S. market. The U.S. market will be the deciding factor on whether BlackBerry succeeds and lives or fails and goes out of business. For now, things are starting to look right for BlackBerry.

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