Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) / BlackBerry Z10 sales continue to slump, and the price of the handset has now been slashed by up to 75 percent by some retailers and carriers in the U.S. The Wall Street Journal’s Will Connors reports that both AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) have discounted the BlackBerry Z10.
Discounted Prices For The BBRY’s Z10
The handset had been priced at $199 with a two-year contract, but both are now offering it for $49 with a year-year contract. Verizon Wireless has sliced the price in half, offering it for $99 with a two-year contract. The handset usually retails for $700 when it’s offered without a contract. These deep discounts are in opposition to top selling handsets from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930), which still have their devices selling at $199 with a contract.
Earlier this month, Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)started a different strategy to reach out to consumers in India, offering an exchange program in an attempt to boost sales of the Blackberry Z10.
BBRY’s Attempts To Crawl Back
Of course Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has been struggling to get back to its former glory for years, and discounting is a pretty common strategy. However, the fact that prices on the flagship BlackBerry Z10 device are being slashed just months after its launch is a good indication that sales are not going too well.
The company failed to distinguish between Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s BlackBerry 7 and BlackBerry 10 shipments on its most recent disastrous earnings report. This has left questions about how many of the newer OS handsets are being shipped.
Sales of the BlackBerry Q10 did not have much impact on the most recent report because it was released late in the quarter, and some analysts believe the first QWERTY keyboard BlackBerry 10 model is selling better than the Z10. We won’t really know until the next quarterly earnings report, although the company may still be secretive about how many of the new handsets it shipped.
Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s CEO Thorsten Heins has repeatedly asked shareholders for more time to turn the struggling Canadian company around, but at this point, his odds don’t look good.
