By Binu Paul email: b.paul@mobilenapps.com | Mar 08, 2013 07:35 AM EST
BlackBerry appears to have pinned all its hopes on the new BlackBerry Z10 and to its relief, the sales are pretty good so far in the 21 countries including India, UK, Canada and more where the device has been released. BlackBerry's new touchscreen mobile device Z10 is rumored to go on sale in the U.S. with AT&T on March 22.
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Speaking to Bloomberg, two people familiar with the plan said BlackBerry Z10 will begin appearing in U.S. stores on March 22. The Canadian smartphone maker is banking high on its Z10 U.S. release as it receives about one-fifth of revenue from the American market. The handset's delayed American arrival should be attributed to the extended testing times with U.S. carriers. However, the smartphone is expected to have a good run in the U.S. market as it has already won a good round of reviews from U.S. technology critics.
"The feedback is very encouraging," BlackBerry's Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said referring to Z10's global sales. "What has been a real surprise for us is that BlackBerry 10 as a platform and product is attracting users that are currently on other platforms", he said at the Communitech Tech Leadership Conference in the company's hometown of Kitchener-Waterloo. "We are just five weeks into this. We have just one product out in 21 countries, so it is early indications, but we are encouraged by what we see and hear from our carrier partners."
While most of the major U.S. carriers including Verizon and T-Mobile are poised to offer the Z10 at some point, Sprint took an unusual decision to carry only the QWERTY-keyboard equipped BlackBerry Q10. Sprint's decision is better justified as many feel that Q10 may turn out to be the dark horse in BlackBerry's re-launch campaign.
While AT&T declined to confirm a U.S. release date for the device, Verizon Wireless had earlier suggested that it expects to offer the Z10 at the end of March and Sprint expects to bring the device to the U.S. sometime in mid- March.
According to an earlier report, Solavei, a MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) would be the first U.S. carrier to offer the Z10 which apparently began offering the device for $999 in the second week of February. "Solavei is teaming up with its retail partner GSM Nation to bring the BlackBerry Z10 to its U.S. customers. The Z10 will be unsubsidized for that $999 price tag. Solavei uses T-Mobile's network in the U.S., which offers GSM / EDGE / UMTS / HSPA+ network and offers unlimited voice, SMS and data for $49 a month, contract-free," the report said.
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