BlackBerry CEO Disappointed by Late U.S. BB Z10 Launch

By Zak Islam
published

Device now available in Canada and UK

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins has expressed his disappointment with BlackBerry Z10's mid-March launch in the United States.

The device just launched in Canada and has been available in the United Kingdom for a few days, with the handset performing well commercially thus far in the latter region.

Heins pointed towards U.S. phone carriers' strict testing system on the longer wait for American consumers. "We need to respect that. Am I a bit disappointed? Yeah, I would be lying saying no."

"But it is what it is and we're working with all our carrier partners to speed it up as much as we can," Heins added during an interview at the Ritz Carlton in Toronto. "We need to win back market share to be relevant," he continued. "We have to be aggressive in the U.S. market." He's confident that BlackBerry can eventually become the third ecosystem behind Android and Apple's iOS.

As for the device's performance in the UK, the executive said: "It's beyond expectations. White is sold out already. The black is hard to stock up again. It's very encouraging. I won't share the number because I need to verify it, but we are getting a substantial number of users moving from other platforms to BlackBerry. That is an interesting data point."

Previously known as Research In Motion, the company's first day trading as 'BlackBerry' saw its stock increase by 15 percent.

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Zak Islam
14 Comments Comment from the forums
  • classzero
    I will try the Blackberry, my contract is up in April on my android and I am not impressed with android.
    Reply
  • MarioJP
    This article made my day. Rare that you see companies are in it for the people. I also not impressed with Android. It is fugly
    Reply
  • ta152h
    MarioJPThis article made my day. Rare that you see companies are in it for the people. I also not impressed with Android. It is fugly
    Companies are always in it for people, their stockholders.
    Reply
  • robochump
    Bah, was hoping the BB CEO sent the memo via iPhone. lol. Besides that the BB 10 will be slow to adopt since it requires enterprises to upgrade the BES server. Currently for my company it is not cost effective to do so unless free upgrade which I will be shocked if the BES upgrade is not offered at a significantly reduced price or indeed free.
    Reply
  • MarioJP
    ta152hCompanies are always in it for people, their stockholders.
    Just the way he said it as a CEO.
    Reply
  • dalethepcman
    Or they could have released a non carrier branded model and sold it directly to the consumer, or to smaller cell providers. I live in Alaska, and one of our cell providers was the first company to launch the Galaxy S2 in the united states. How you ask, because they sold the unlocked international version.

    Its not "testing" that has to be done on the big carrier phones, its ensuring their spyware works and you can't use a competitors sim card.

    http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/09/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-now-shipping-for-100-in-america-on-alask/
    Reply
  • icemunk
    dalethepcmanOr they could have released a non carrier branded model and sold it directly to the consumer, or to smaller cell providers. I live in Alaska, and one of our cell providers was the first company to launch the Galaxy S2 in the united states. How you ask, because they sold the unlocked international version.Its not "testing" that has to be done on the big carrier phones, its ensuring their spyware works and you can't use a competitors sim card.http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/09 -on-alask/It's too bad unlocked are illegal in the USA now.
    Reply
  • halcyon
    ...or they could have gotten the device to US carriers sooner.
    Reply
  • frank_drebin
    meh
    Reply
  • cjl
    icemunkIt's too bad unlocked are illegal in the USA now.Except that they aren't. The act of unlocking is illegal, but purchasing a phone which is unlocked from the start is perfectly legal.
    Reply