Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB), which recently launched its flagship Z10 in the United States, received a lukewarm response from the network carriers. The Network giants like AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) gave a very low marketing response to the new phone from Blackberry, says WSJ. This has raised concerns for the phone maker who is seeking to increase its sales in the vital United State market.
There is now cloud of suspicion whether Z10 will receive good response from the other carriers such as Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile. Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has been doing effort to gain some share in the iOS and Android dominant market by launching its all touch screen Z10, and the other keyboard equipped model, which will be launched in this spring. The phone maker pushed itself hard into the marketing of its product but is not receiving very encouraging support from than e network carriers.
Diamond retailer, retail wing of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), which is based in Salt Lake City, will sell Z10 in more than 200 locations, in 17 states. David Thorton, director of Diamond said that they are expecting the phone will be received well by the customers. However, Diamond denied of giving any out of the box marketing support to the phone and said that RIM will have to make its own effort.
“If they’re going to provide it and put it up on their dime, we’d be interested, but we don’t have anything planned,” Mr. Thornton said.
The flagship Z10 was launched in Canada, the U.K. and some European and Asian markets since February 2013. The executives of the company said that the cell phone was received well by the markets and that they are witnessing impressive sales figure. The executive, however, did not reveal the sales figure.
Anne Marshall, spokesperson with T-Mobile said that Blackberry Z10 will be given an important place on the shelves of the retail stores owned by the company. However, there are hundreds of stores, which are not directly under the company, and are owned and run by the independent retailers. The other retailer Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) said that Blackberry Z10 has garnered good response from customers and that the staff in the store has been trained specially for the Z10.
Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) announced that it has received one million phone orders from an established partner. The company, however, did not reveal the name of the partner.
According to Jeff Johnston, an analyst at Detwiler Fenton & Co, the order of one million phones might have come from Brightstar Corp, which is a distributor of smartphone to the retailer. The company is based in Miami.
For the current quarter, Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is expected to report a loss of 29 cents as revenue declined about 32% from a year earlier to $2.85 billion. For the earlier quarter, the company posted a narrow profit.
