indian_foxhound
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That's a whole lot of pie! An undisclosed customer bought a million
BlackBerrys from the smartphone maker formerly
known as Research In Motion -- marking the
largest ever single purchase in the company's
history. These aren't the business basic gadgets of years
past, of course: The Canadian company unveiled
the new BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 in
January to rave reviews from tech watchers
worldwide. The company hopes the redesigned
BlackBerry will fuel a comeback -- and orders of this magnitude suggest it may be working. The pioneering brand lost its cachet not long after
Apple's 2007 release of the iPhone, which reset
consumers' expectations for what a smartphone
should do. The Z10 is already available for purchase in a
number of markets around the world; it will
begin selling the touchscreen smartphone to U.S.
consumers with AT&T on March 22 for $199.99
with a two-year contract. Sales of the device
began in the U.K. and Canada shortly after RIM unveiled the phone in late January. Rival U.S. carrier T-Mobile said it expects to deliver
the new BlackBerry for some corporate
customers as soon as the end of this week,
though it did not provide details on the
availability for non-business customers. RIM Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said
previously he was disappointed the new
BlackBerry would not be released in the U.S. until
mid-March, but he said the U.S. and its phone
carriers have a rigid testing system. Heins told The Associated Press last month that
the company would have to regain market share
in the U.S. for BlackBerry to be successful. The U.S.
has been one market in which RIM has been
particularly hurt. The iPhone and phones running
Google's Android software now dominate. According to research firm IDC, shipments of
BlackBerry phones plummeted from 46 percent
of the U.S. market in 2008 to 2 percent in 2012. Heins also suggested to the AP that a modern
BlackBerry with a physical keyboard might not
arrive in the U.S. until May or June, a month or
two behind other parts of the world. Heins said
the physical keyboard version, the BlackBerry
Q10, will likely come out eight to 10 weeks after a carrier releases a model with only a touch
screen, the BlackBerry Z10. BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis noted RIM's U.S.
release will go up against Samsung's next Galaxy
smartphone which is expected to be unveiled on
Thursday. "If that makes the splash that people think it may,
you don't want to be the guy that's coming out a
week later," Gillis said.
www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/03/14/someone-bought-1000000-blackberry-z10-smartphones
BlackBerrys from the smartphone maker formerly
known as Research In Motion -- marking the
largest ever single purchase in the company's
history. These aren't the business basic gadgets of years
past, of course: The Canadian company unveiled
the new BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 in
January to rave reviews from tech watchers
worldwide. The company hopes the redesigned
BlackBerry will fuel a comeback -- and orders of this magnitude suggest it may be working. The pioneering brand lost its cachet not long after
Apple's 2007 release of the iPhone, which reset
consumers' expectations for what a smartphone
should do. The Z10 is already available for purchase in a
number of markets around the world; it will
begin selling the touchscreen smartphone to U.S.
consumers with AT&T on March 22 for $199.99
with a two-year contract. Sales of the device
began in the U.K. and Canada shortly after RIM unveiled the phone in late January. Rival U.S. carrier T-Mobile said it expects to deliver
the new BlackBerry for some corporate
customers as soon as the end of this week,
though it did not provide details on the
availability for non-business customers. RIM Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said
previously he was disappointed the new
BlackBerry would not be released in the U.S. until
mid-March, but he said the U.S. and its phone
carriers have a rigid testing system. Heins told The Associated Press last month that
the company would have to regain market share
in the U.S. for BlackBerry to be successful. The U.S.
has been one market in which RIM has been
particularly hurt. The iPhone and phones running
Google's Android software now dominate. According to research firm IDC, shipments of
BlackBerry phones plummeted from 46 percent
of the U.S. market in 2008 to 2 percent in 2012. Heins also suggested to the AP that a modern
BlackBerry with a physical keyboard might not
arrive in the U.S. until May or June, a month or
two behind other parts of the world. Heins said
the physical keyboard version, the BlackBerry
Q10, will likely come out eight to 10 weeks after a carrier releases a model with only a touch
screen, the BlackBerry Z10. BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis noted RIM's U.S.
release will go up against Samsung's next Galaxy
smartphone which is expected to be unveiled on
Thursday. "If that makes the splash that people think it may,
you don't want to be the guy that's coming out a
week later," Gillis said.
www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/03/14/someone-bought-1000000-blackberry-z10-smartphones
