Research In Motion Ltd (BBRY) Sales To Hit 8.2M This Quarter [REPORT]

Blackberry 10 devices are expected to cross their previous quarter sales, says a research note from National Bank Financial analyst Kris Thompson.

Thompson estimates that Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) will transit around 8.2 million smartphones this quarter, which will also include 4 million BB10’s. The sales figure estimate is more than the 6 million shipped in the first quarter of the year and 6.9 million in the quarter before that.

The announcement of the sales figure of Q10 in the United States will not be included in the quarterly announcement on June 28 because the phone is not yet available in the country.

Z10 “just okay”

Thompson holds the view that the Z10 is “just okay,” and will not be able to leave a mark in the cut throat competition, which is prevalent in the smartphone market. He also said that the Z10 has been frustrating due to its digital keyboard, slow email and the slow browser and weak battery.

Positive for BlackBerry

He said that the average selling price is a positive indication for Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB). The average selling price of Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) was increased by 15 percent in the first quarter, fueled by the sales of Z10 in Canada, Britain and a few other countries. The gross margin on handsets increased 10.5 per cent.

Negative observations

Thompson however, believes that the positive news may only be short lived as the phone manufacturers like Huawei and ZTE Corporation (SHE:000063) have enough power to emerge as the price leaders.

There are also many new handsets set to launch this year with some sitting on the operating system like Mozilla (Firefox), which is a joint venture of Samsung, Intel and Linux foundation (Tizen), Canonical (Ubuntu) and Jolla (Sailfish) and the phones will be probably targeted outside North America.

Thompson said that Blackberry’s latest model Q5 is also targeting the consumers outside North America. Blackberry Q5 is a QWERTY keypad enabled phone.

He further raised the question that if Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) should continue to compete in the international market, or it should focus more towards its “high-end business power users” in the United States with the Q10.

The other observations that Thompson made were that the Windows phone out-performed the Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) devices worldwide, in the first quarter of the fiscal 2013. The sales increased 133 percent year over year. He also observed that LG, the maker of Nexus handsets has outpaced Chinese mobile makers like Huawei and ZTE Corporation (SHE:000063) and is on the fifth spot among the smartphone makers.