BlackBerry Z10 Returns

[techbeck]

What could be worse for BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion Ltd. than weak early sales of its new flagship phone? The possibility that people who did buy the phone are returning it.

In two separate reports Thursday morning, analysts noted a weak launch of the BlackBerry Z10 in the U.S.

ITG analyst analyst Joe Fersedi writes that the Z10 launch ?started poorly and weakened significantly as the days passed,? and that Z10 sales are ?in line-to marginally ahead of anemic sales? of older BlackBerry models and the Nokia NOK1V.HE -0.38% Lumia 822.

Fersedi said that initially the Z10?s share of sales was 4% at Verizon stores and 7% at AT&T T -0.06% stores, but those numbers have fallen to about 1% to 2%.

Perhaps worse, according to a report from Detwiler Fenton, customer returns of the Z10 are actually outnumbering sales.

?We believe key retail partners have seen a significant increase in Z10 returns to the point where, in several cases, returns are now exceeding sales, a phenomenon we have never seen before,? Detwiler analyst Jeff Johnston writes in the report.

In response to the reports, the company issued the following statement: ?BlackBerry wishes to respond to media coverage today regarding speculation that there have been abnormally high levels of returns of BlackBerry Z10 devices. This is absolutely false. Our data shows that return rates for BlackBerry Z10 devices both in the U.S. and on a global basis are in line with or better than our expectations and are consistent with return rates for other premium smartphones in the market today.?

In its most recent earnings call, RIM said it sold 1 million Z10s, but the quarter did not include U.S. sales.

If there is a silver lining for RIM, it?s that Mr. Johnston and many other analysts expect the forthcoming, keyboard-equipped BlackBerry Q10 to sell much better. The Q10 just became available for pre-order in the U.K. and Canada this week and is expected to ship at the end of April. The Q10 should arrive in the U.S. in May or June.

But for the Z10, which RIM expects to compete head-to-head with the iPhone 5 and the latest Samsung Galaxy, these early indicators do not bode well.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/04/11/analyst-blackberry-z10-returns-outnumber-sales/

[jkenn99]

Blackberry is pursuing SEC investigation in response to the above-mentioned analysts' reports

http://press.blackberry.com/press/2013/blackberry-seeks-u-s---canadian-review-of-false-reports-on-retur.html

[firey]

I had heard that the Z10 was doing quite well in Canada, granted I've not seen anyone with one (which holds true for WP too). However having owned a few BB Devices in the past, and currently own a Playbook I do thing the RIM has kind of missed the bus.

I want them to release BB10 for Playbook already.

[Kondrath]

I left my job at AT&T a couple of days ago, but our store didn't even receive a single unit to actually sell. I didn't even know it launched until I saw it at Walmart the other day while browsing.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

I have one sitting on my desk this very moment, I received it this morning to deploy to a user next week when they come to our location from another branch office.

[siah1214]

I was at the local Verizon store to get an HTC 8X i'm demo'ing activated. The sales rep I talked to said they hadn't sold a single Z10. As I was getting set up, a customer next to me bought a Lumia 822.

This anecdotal evidence tells me that Windows phone is selling much better than Blackberry and Blackberry had better just throw in the towel. :rolleyes:

[AStaUK]

How can you have more returns then devices you've actually sold?

[zhangm Supervisor]

How can you have more returns then devices you've actually sold?

It's an attention grabbing title. Think of it over time - rate of sales and returns don't remain constant. They're not talking about net sales and returns. For example, if they sold 100000 devices in the first week, and are now selling 5000 on the tenth week, but getting 6000 returns, their returns exceed sales on the tenth week.

[Torolol]

they should use percentage of total sales, instead of 'exceed'.

[primexx]

It's an attention grabbing title. Think of it over time - rate of sales and returns don't remain constant. They're not talking about net sales and returns. For example, if they sold 100000 devices in the first week, and are now selling 5000 on the tenth week, but getting 6000 returns, their returns exceed sales on the tenth week.

yea, that was quite confusing for me. i was wondering if they had given out a bunch of promo units to organizations or something ahead of launch.

[(Spork)]

around there is some die hard blackberry lovers ive sold 20 O__o

[Ambroos]

I tried one we had for demos in the store, I'm not a big fan. Surprisingly enough it's not even completely fluid. Scrolling through settings was juddery and felt slow. Not a big fan. The whole system felt unintuitive too.

[BajiRav]

Analysts :/

[Scorbing]

RIM needs to just give it up and stop using that horrid Blackberry OS and jump to Android if they want to make any $$$ and survive.

[Snake89]

RIM needs to just give it up and stop using that horrid Blackberry OS and jump to Android if they want to make any $$$ and survive.

Maybe Microsoft should just give up, an start using Android also.

Microsoft is just very very slowly making a small dent in Blackberry smartphone marketshare, an they've been making phones for ages now.

[greenwizard88]

Normally I'd say that they both can't be right, so maybe it's somewhere in the middle.

However, when you limit your bounds to just what is possible and exclude anything that's impossible (seriously, where do these phantom devices come from? If I sell 5, and get 6 returned, does this mean they're reproducing? :rofl: ) all that's left is for me to take TCFKAR* at their word, and that the Z10 is selling well enough.

*The Company formerly known as RIM

[Scorbing]

Maybe Microsoft should just give up, an start using Android also.

Microsoft is just very very slowly making a small dent in Blackberry smartphone marketshare, an they've been making phones for ages now.

Well Microsoft's OS is 1000 times better than Blackberry's OS, there is no doubt about that.

[Snake89]

Well Microsoft's OS is 1000 times better than Blackberry's OS, there is no doubt about that.

Try telling that to businesses or governments that prefer BB over Microsoft. Hell the US DOD is running BB inside of US drones. Since BB OS10 is just QNX with a different UI.

[George P Global Moderator]

Try telling that to businesses or governments that prefer BB over Microsoft. Hell the US DOD is running BB inside of US drones. Since BB OS10 is just QNX with a different UI.

Don't expect BBs hold over business to last. Remember about a month ago when Nokia reported that a number of businesses switched over to Lumia. We also have reports of others moving to iPhone and so on.

[vcfan]

Maybe Microsoft should just give up, an start using Android also.

Microsoft is just very very slowly making a small dent in Blackberry smartphone marketshare, an they've been making phones for ages now.

thanks for playing