BlackBerry Subscriber Exodus Accelerates - John Paczkowski - Mobile. Financially, BlackBerry is back in the black, but when it comes to subscribers, the company is still bleeding red. As encouraging as the smartphone maker’s surprise fourth-quarter profit might be, it’s clear the company faces some still-formidable challenges — particularly in shoring up its eroding subscriber base. BlackBerry lost another three million subscribers in its latest quarter, with its customer base falling to 76 million subscribers. Until the third quarter, BlackBerry had posted subscriber increases fairly consistently. So the fact that it just posted a second consecutive decline — and one that was larger than expected — is cause for concern indeed.
Returning BlackBerry to its former glory is already a daunting task; pulling that off while subscriber numbers are declining only makes it more so. Obviously, BlackBerry subscribers are the most likely buyers of the company’s new BlackBerry 10 handsets, so an accelerating decline in their membership is troubling. BlackBerry Z10 U.S. And Canada Sales Estimate: 1 Million Units Sold. BlackBerry Z10 sales lower than expected, analysts say | Technology. BlackBerry may only have sold about 300,000 of its new Z10 smartphone with its make-or-break BB10 software by the end of its fiscal year on 2 March, analysts say – a far cry from earlier estimates of up to 1.75m, and leaving the company at risk of a fifth loss-making quarter in a row. Both Cannacord Genuity and Pacific Crest have slashed their estimates for the number of handsets sold through retailers after carrying out their own investigations with both shops and supply chain sources. That in turn has made them pessimistic on BlackBerry's chances of emerging from its struggles and challenging Nokia and Microsoft for third place in the smartphone wars.
Some doubt whether the company will be able to continue and turn the corner to profit. "There is no line of sight to profitability; we remains sellers of [shares in] BlackBerry," wrote Pacific Crest's analyst. But when news outlets contacted stores, they were told there were plenty of the handsets available. BlackBerry Takes Its PR Fight To The SEC: Seeks Review Of “False” Report On Return Rates Of BB Z10 From Detwiler Fenton.
BlackBerry, the beleaguered Canadian handset maker, today said it is contacting the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ontario Securities Commission for formal reviews of the analysts Detwiler Fenton, after its analysts issued a statement saying that its new flagship handset, the BB Z10, was seeing record-levels of returns in retail sales — reports that BlackBerry today says are “false and misleading.” “Sales of the BlackBerry® Z10 are meeting expectations and the data we have collected from our retail and carrier partners demonstrates that customers are satisfied with their devices,” said BlackBerry President and CEO Thorsten Heins said in a statement. “Return rate statistics show that we are at or below our forecasts and right in line with the industry. To suggest otherwise is either a gross misreading of the data or a willful manipulation.
Such a conclusion is absolutely without basis and BlackBerry will not leave it unchallenged.” Release below. The BlackBerry Z10 Experience: High Sales, High Returns. BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) is denying reports that Z10 returns are exceeding sales. The smartphone maker responded by saying that the report 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," the company stated.
Detwiler Fenton and ITG Investment Research beg to differ. The two firms caused a stir this week when Detwiler announced that Z10 returns were actually higher than the number of devices that were currently being purchased. At the same time, a new poll showed that BlackBerry devices are the least desirable among a group of more than 250 consumers surveyed between March 14 and March 26. Nearly 20 percent said that "nothing" would get them to use an Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone. Whether or not BlackBerry has "failed" is not yet clear. BlackBerry and Windows Phone Fight for No. 3 Spot (BBRY, MSFT) By Chris Neiger | More Articles | Save For Later April 2, 2013 | After a quick look at latest numbers from Kantar Worldpanel, investors will see that over the past three months Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) Windows Phones have made some significant gains, Android units are continuing to take more market share, and iPhone sales remain stable across the board.
But according to the research, there is one smartphone maker falling behind the pack -- but maybe not for long. Where they all stand Kantar took a look at the latest smartphones sales over a three-month period ending in February and found these interesting, but not entirely surprising, stats. Source: Kantar Worldpanel. This chart may not be new information for many investors, considering that its not news that Apple's iOS and Google's Android dominate the U.S. market. What isn't fully reflected, though, is BlackBerry's latest product launches and its new BB10 operating system (more on this in a moment). Let's find out why. BlackBerry's Gross Margins And Z10 Shipments Support Bullish Case. Shares of BlackBerry (BBRY) displayed historically little volatility after the cell phone producer released its fourth quarter results for its fiscal 2013 before the market open on Thursday.
Shares initially spiked up to trade with gains of around 6% before gradually falling back during the trading day to close the day with a small loss of less then 1%. BlackBerry generated fourth quarter revenues of $2.68 billion, down 36% on the year before. Revenues fell 2% compared to the third quarter, and missed consensus estimates of $2.82 billion. While revenues missed consensus estimates, the company reported very strong gross margins. Gross margins came in at 40.1%, up 660 basis points on the year, and up even 970 basis points compared to the third quarter. The extent of the margin improvement compared to last year is impressive as revenues fell by little over a third over the past year. As a result of the strong margin improvements, operating losses were narrowed to $12 million. 3 Stocks That Blew the Market Away (BBRY, GME, SAI) Don't settle for ordinary quarterly reports. Every week, I take a look at three companies that beat market expectations, since I believe that it's the biggest factor in a stock beating the market.
Leaving Wall Street's pros with stunned expressions can be a good thing. It usually means that the companies have more in the tank than analysts figured. Capital appreciation typically follows. Let's take a look at a few companies that humbled the pros over the past few trading days. We can start with SAIC (NYSE: SAI ) . SAIC's guidance for the year ahead wasn't as kind, but it did sweeten the pot by declaring a special one-time dividend of $1 a share. We also have BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY ) stunning the market with an actual quarterly profit. Analysts were betting on more red ink after the smartphone pioneer served up three consecutive quarterly losses. It wasn't a perfect report. But it was still a solid beat on the bottom line, and that's what counts here.
BlackBerry Z10, one week in | it is what it is. When the AT&T BlackBerry Z10 came out last weekend, I wandered over to a nearby AT&T store to check it out. Turns out that was easier said than done… store employees had removed the Z10 from its display and stashed it in the back room. Why? They said it was because the theft alarm kept going off. Oy. So, the store employee had to fetch it from the back room, and then charge it. Generally, store employees were negative about the Z10 — the guy who helped me had used it but reverted to his Samsung GS3, and another nearby employee flat out bashed the Z10. I found I loved the Z10′s bright, crisp screen, the unified in-box, the swipe navigation (reminiscent of the HP TouchPad or Palm Pre). First, some technical specs for context: I’m really enjoying the Z10.
Overall user experience: Blazing fast. While Blackberry seems to catch flak for its young Blackberry 10 app store, I’m not finding the app inventory to be an issue. The BlackBerry Z10 has been a delightful surprise. Like this: U.K. Phone Retailers Offer Cheaper BlackBerry Z10 Tariffs A Month After Launch — Soft Demand For First BB10 Handset?
After taking so long to transition to its next-gen OS platform, the company formerly known as RIM has an awful lot riding on its first BlackBerry 10 handset, the Z10. The handset launched at the end of January in the U.K. and early February in Canada (and is due to make its official U.S. debut this month). Not a great sign, then, that some U.K. phone retailers appear to be cutting the price of Z10 tariffs, a mere month after launch — suggesting demand isn’t as strong as hoped, and that the device isn’t as competitive against the high end of Android and iOS as BlackBerry needs it to be. Both Carphone Warehouse and Vodafone have slashed tariffs, according to the Telegraph. It also appears that Phones 4u is offering cheaper deals now.
Carphone Warehouse initially priced the BlackBerry Z10 from £36 per month on pay monthly contract, bundling the cost of the handset into that tariff. “The feedback from our enterprise customers has been brilliant. BlackBerry Z10 U.K. Pricing Remains At A Premium, Despite Misleading Analyst Report. BlackBerry Z10 UK Pricing Remains at a Premium, Despite Misleading Analyst Report In an attempt not to get sued, I'm not going to name the "analyst" mentioned above, but I am going to go through his points and refute them one by one for you.
You will be shocked at the truly awful hit piece this was. You will not be shocked that a major outlet chose to print it yesterday. Bless his dear heart, the author did finally note this 'analyst' was a bear. Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Dearest of Them All? Before you read any further I would like to show you pricing for the Z10 vs. the iPhone, the Xperia Z, and the HTC One (the last two being brand new, premium 'hot' handsets.) Would BlackBerry (BBRY), currently, be the most expensive handset of them all, more expensive than the hottest new releases, and this, one month after it was released? Don't ask the analyst to mention the above fact to you. "The U.K.' Impressed by this author? Follow and be the first to know when they publish. BlackBerry Z10 - Phones.
I’ve often said that our Canadian cousins at BlackBerry have lost the plot these past few years. Well, this, the Z10, suggests they’ve found it again. Within 30 seconds of picking it up, I felt as if I had the iPhone 6 in my hand. Running iOS 7. It is an awesome phone, with a pleasing new operating system, BB10. Both the BlackBerry Z10 hardware and the OS, a Canadian/Swedish/Australian co-production, could have the folks at Cupertino gnashing their teeth, because whatever iPhone upgrade they launch later this year or next, it will surely struggle to catch up. The Z10 is the fruit of the shake-up following BlackBerry’s dog days in 2011, and its decision to refocus on business users rather than rioters. Devotees of BlackBerry’s nasty (at least I think) little keyboard and tiny screen may be shocked by the Z10. Let’s set the record straight on this crazy price cutting speculative garbage. Today we noticed an article in The Telegraph and the headline was quite negative, suggesting that retailers are slashing BlackBerry Z10 prices.
They also quoted an analyst, James Faucette from Pacific Crest, talking in very bearish terms about all this. For the record, I have not seen the Pac Crest report, however the way The Telegraph portrays it, the whole thing appears to be very incomplete. It may be misrepresented by the media, or it may be that this analyst is spinning minor news to support his negative rating on the stock without thinking through the facts clearly. What's really happening? Gigantic UK mobile retailer Carphone Warehouse included the BlackBerry Z10 in their "This Week's Smart Deal" section. They are promoting the Z10 on a £29/month plan and the sticker price of the phone is also set at £29.
There is SO MUCH wrong with that analysis! But to call this a price cut that relegates BlackBerry to the low margin segment? So let's check out the 3 and EE websites, shall we? 'We have now increased our production capacity.' - BlackBerry CEO, Thorsten Heins. By Bla1ze on 24 Feb 2013 09:26 pm Since the launch of BlackBerry 10 there has been a lot of speculation out there surrounding sales, available stock and who exactly is out there purchasing the new BlackBerry Z10. In a recent interview given to the Frankfurter General Newspaper, BlackBerry CEO, Thorsten Heins gave some further background on the matters. While not giving out exact numbers and simply stating they will come later after some more business is done, Thorsten did once again, confirm that sales of BlackBerry 10 smartphones exceeded expectations and that production capacity has been increased to help deal with the demand coming from carriers and consumers.
Overall, it's an interesting interview in the fact you get to hear the details from the one person would know better than anyone else how sales for BlackBerry 10 are going. You can hit the link below to read the full interview and feel free to drop your thoughts on it in the comments section. Read the fully translated interview.
The India BB10 case. The US BBZ10 Sales Story. The Indonesia Blackberry Z10 sales case. From the Editor's Desk: Talking to happy BlackBerry Z10 owners. With a few exceptions, I have been a hermit the last 6 weeks. Coming home from CES in Las Vegas, there was a week of craziness packing things up and taking care of loose ends as I prepped to move to Toronto for a month. At Toronto's CrackBerry's BlackBerry 10 Launch Campaign Headquarters, we were pretty much heads down from early morning until late at night every single day. Returning home last Sunday, I have been glued to my office computer working on the CrackBerry website relaunch (still a lot of little things left to do, but aiming to be live later this week - stay tuned!). Suffice to say, I really haven't had many opportunities lately to get out and talk to people In Real Life, but this weekend I managed to do just that. I also bumped into a few people I knew who were rocking the Z10 - not everybody was a stranger.
All of the people I spoke with absolutely LOVED their Z10. Looking online and in CrackBerry's BlackBerry Z10 forums, the Z10 has received a lot of positive reviews. BlackBerry Bests Samsung, Apple in Customer Excitement. Over 50% BlackBerry Z10 Purchases Made by New Customers in Canada; 33% in UK. Sales for the BlackBerry Z10 have been doing exceptionally well. What’s even more impressive is those who are purchasing the Z10. According to results announced by BlackBerry, over 50% of sales in Canada have been by new customers to the BlackBerry platform. During a conference for the company’s enterprise customers and developers in San Francisco, BlackBerry VP Richard Piasentin also announced that over 33% were new customers in the UK. This falls in line with one carrier in Canada acknowledging the BlackBerry Z10 has been outselling the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy phones. The German government adopts the BlackBerry Z10 for its security features. Solid Z10 demand in Canada is another positive sign for BlackBerry.
BlackBerry name becoming relevant again in the U.S. BlackBerry Z10 sales mixed, say UAE retailers - Personal Tech. BlackBerry Z10 sell-outs continue in new markets, but sales said to be slowing in Canada, U.K. Revived BlackBerry still needs to prove itself in U.S. | Mobile. Blackberry Z10 Arrives in Indonesia; But Without the Long Queues. With Q4 Earnings Two Weeks Out And Stock Dipping, BlackBerry Suddenly Announces Mystery Order Of 1M BB10 Handsets. BlackBerry earnings preview, Q4 2013: Rough waters ahead. BlackBerry Z10 Being Received Very Well: Singh: Video.
Top 10 International Twitter Trends of the Week, Vol. 47 by HootSuite. BlackBerry Z10 supply orders indicate “unqualified success” $200 is just too much for the BlackBerry Z10. BlackBery: Goldman Pounds Table on BB10 Upside. Investors love their BlackBerry (stock) BBRY: Z10 Awareness Problem, Says Detwiler; Jefferies Defends. BlackBerry Z10 Secure Enough for UK Govt. BlackBerry Z10 Review: Good is not good enough - Mar. 20, 2013.
BlackBerry Z10 Review: The BlackBerry the World Has Been Waiting For. BlackBerry: A Speculative Stock Poised To Bounce. What you need to understand about the stock market and BlackBerry shorts. BlackBerry Shares Jump as Lenovo CEO Mentions Possible Deal. BlackBerry will announce Year-End and Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2013 results on Thursday, March 28th, 2013. BlackBerry Z10 pricing and availability for AT&T announced. BlackBerry Z10 Selling In “Large Numbers”, Says BlackBerry — Some U.K. Retailers Sold Out Over The Weekend. BlackBerry Z10 Did Sell Out In 55% Of Phones 4u’s 680 U.K. Stores Over Launch Weekend — But Still No Hard Sales Figures. BlackBerry Confirms It Won’t Launch BB10 Devices In Japan.
BlackBerry Stock is About to Get Crushed - Sell or Buy Puts! I Still Think RIMM and BB10 Are Doomed. There's No Right Time to Launch BlackBerry's New Z10. Canaccord Financial says BlackBerry Z10 Sales will Drop in Coming Months | Current. Relevant. Entertaining. Canada's ultimate source for technology and business news. Une mort programmée - Multikoo-leblog: Actualité et nouveaux concepts internet. The BlackBerry Z10 Might Not Be A Stunning Smartphone, But It Gets The Job Done. The BlackBerry Z10 is not revolutionary, but it's better than the iPhone.