BlackBerry Z10 Shatters UK, Canadian Launch Records
Things seem to be going well with the Z10.
One might have have thought BlackBerry would have had an easy time when it came to all things smartphone, but company was left behind while competitors like Apple and Google took the lion's share of the consumer smartphone market. Still, the company is hoping its new line of devices will change the its fortunes. Indeed, BlackBerry is betting on BlackBerry 10 to turn things around. The company launched the OS last week, and the first BB10 phone, the Z10, went on sale in the UK just one day after its unveiling.
Earlier this week, BlackBerry let it be known that the UK launch had been very successful. In fact, the company went as far as to say it went better than expected. Now, the company is offering some more feedback based on the UK and Canadian launch. Phonearena cites BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins as saying the Canadian launch day was the best first day ever for a new BlackBerry smartphone. In the UK market, BlackBerry tripled its best ever performance for the first week of a new phone.
"In Canada, yesterday was the best day ever for the first day of a launch of a new BlackBerry smartphone. In fact, it was more than 50 percent better than any other launch day in our history in Canada," Heins is quoted as saying. "In the UK, we have seen close to three times our best performance ever for the first week of sales for a BlackBerry smartphone."
The Z10 is not scheduled to launch in the United States until sometime next month, and the Q10 will be an even longer wait. However, people are paying big bucks to get their hands on the phone early. Some units were going for as much as $1700 right after last Wednesday's launch event.
The Z10 packs a dual-core 1.5GHz CPU, a 4.2-inch display, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of on board storage, an 8-megapixel camera in the back, a 2-megapixel camera up front. Be sure to check out our live blog of the event, as well as our unboxing, and our first impressions of the device.
A Brief Look at the Technical Specs of BlackBerry Z10, Q10
BB10 Interview With the QNX Boss of BlackBerry OS
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Check out our hands-on with BlackBerry 10 on the Z10.
Interview With the BlackBerry Z10, Q10 Industrial Designer
A Complete Video Walkthrough of BlackBerry 10 OS
Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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fatality1515 Bravo BlackBerry! Competition between companies and more product choice for the consumer is always a great thing..Reply -
JOSHSKORN SuperEpicManHopefully this can end the iOS/Android fanboi arguments. I am tired of thoseThere's no such thing as an Android Fanboi around here.Reply -
fudoka711 I agree, this is great news. I hope BlackBerry is able to revitalize itself so we can have another competitor in the marketplace.Reply -
killerclick I'm always suspicious when companies express the good news in relative terms. They should just say how many units they sold.Reply -
alevox Headline is a little misleading - it's really no different to an athlete achieving a new personal best time and then touting it as 'record breaking'.Reply
More competition is always good, though I wish Tom's was a little less sensationalist in its headlines. -
blubbey I've heard good things about the Z10. I doubt I'll pick one up (only need a phone for calls, texts and music so I'm still on an '07 phone with 16gb memory stick) but give it a few years with a good deal, sure, why not. That's if better deals don't come up of course.Reply