Hasta La Gadget!

A couple of weeks ago, Blackberry announced that a mystery partner had purchased 1 million of its Blackberry Z10 devices. It wouldn’t say who the partner was, but that it was a huge confidence boost for both the company and consumers alike. The announcement was enough to boost its shares up 8.2%. While it was speculated that the mysterious partner had to be a major carrier like AT&T or Verizon Wireless, it turns out that the partner was actually a wireless distributor by the name of Brightstar.

Brightstar is a big, wireless distributor that distributes products all around the world. About 40% of its revenue was composed of Blackberry handset sales a couple of years ago. Brightstar had enough confidence in Blackberry’s new product in order to place such a massive order, and since it operates globally, it has a better chance, than AT&T and Verizon Wireless, to resell all of its Blackberry Z10 devices.

Brightstar also acts as a buffer for companies like Verizon Wireless. Mark Gerber, managing director at Detwiler Fenton, a Research House, stated that Verizon is using Brightstar to “handle the big-box retail and dealer agent channels” for the Blackberry Z10. Gerber believes that Verizon Wireless doesn’t have enough faith in the Blackberry Z10, otherwise it would sell the product on its own.

Operating through a 3rd party is Verizon’s safety net if the Z10 doesn’t do well on its network. It’s a conscientious move on Verizon’s part. Goldman Sachs’s research showed that the Blackberry Z10′s launch on AT&T was disappointing. The firm checked over 20 various AT&T, Best Buy, and Radio Shack stores to confirm their research. However, the firm did say that it wasn’t the product itself that was bad, but the company’s and Blackberry’s lack of marketing support for the device.

[via All Things D]

Which partner purchased one million Blackberry Z10 devices? is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you picked up the latest and greatest from the smartphone maker of the north, it may take a little while to figure out all the features hidden in the OS’s nooks and crannies. We dug up 10 helpful tips …

Blackberry, ever-ambitious and pushing to regain all it has slowly lost, plans to release a flagship handset in time for the holiday season, a phone the company’s CEO Thorsten Heins says he is “very excited about.” This information comes from an interview the CEO had with the folks over at CNET, and while precious few details were given, it is said to be one of a few the company plans to launch in 2013.

Said Heins, “There’s one new product I’m really excited about, but I can’t really share it.” He went on to state that the phone’s launch is planned in time for the year-end holidays, but that he cannot say with absolute certainty that it will roll out in time. What he does say, however, is that the device “takes Blackberry 10 to another level in terms of the user experience.”

A statement which, given the relatively near release date, might give pause to those who were planning on the grabbing the Z10, which went up for pre-order earlier this month and will be available from multiple carriers in just a few days. While the Z10 has been getting all the attention, Blackberry also unveiled the Q10, which features a physical QWERTY keyboard and will be available next month or the month after.

Speaking of a physical Blackberry keyboard, Google’s Eric Schmidt revealed this week that is he a Blackberry user, and his reason for using the non-Android handset is because he likes the keyboard. He should be happy to hear, then, that Blackberry’s CEO said the company will roll out three tiers of devices, each one offering both touchscreen and QWERTY options.

[via CNET]

Blackberry plans to roll out high-end smartphone in time for the holidays is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

When you’re the Executive Chairman of a company who makes a large chunk of its business surround a mobile operating system like Google does with Android, you don’t go around using a BlackBerry. That is, unless you’re Eric Schmidt. It was confirmed this week that Schmidt, while speaking at the Activate conference in India to Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger, that Schmidt uses a BlackBerry smartphone because he likes the keyboard. If that’s not the news of the day in the gadget universe, I don’t know what is.

Though a real straight-up pull-quote has yet to be found, it’s been said by the Guardian that Schmidt’s desires lie in the keyboard of the BlackBerry he continues to use to this day. Of course there are many Android alternatives for those addicted to BlackBerry who cannot get off the idea that they need a physical keyboard, but it’s apparent that Schmidt will not be deterred.

It’s assumed that Schmidt means the physical keyboard when he says “the keyboard”, since the next-generation on-screen keyboard in BlackBerry 10 being choice for Schmidt over Android’s plethora of keyboard options, well, that’d just be too much to swallow. As it stands, BlackBerry 10 as an OS and as a smartphone lineup has yet to hit the United States – it’s on the way soon and very soon.

With Schmidt also talking about the way we must consider the privacy of others and how China is laying low its society’s ability to use the web, we must also note that one of the main reasons the Google Executive Chairman had this particular interview was because he’d just left North Korea. There he’d been speaking as evangelist for a more open internet in the top half of the Korean land mass, attempting to knock some sense into the government – and whoever else would listen – with chat about how their economy would flourish if given the chance.

Have a peek at the timeline below for more wild and wacky adventures of Eric Schmidt and don’t you dare leave without letting us know if you’re thinking about tossing your Android smartphone out the window the moment BlackBerry 10 hits your local mobile carrier!

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt: BlackBerry User is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The BlackBerry Z10 was officially launched on January 30th. It immediately became available for customers in UK and Canada, while gradually releasing in a host of other markets as well. The Z10′s performance in the U.S. is termed as the yardstick by which the success or failure of this device, and BlackBerry 10, will be gauged. According to Jeff Johnston of Detwiler Fenton & Co.’s, his checks indicate pre-order volume of the Z10 is light and below expectations in the U.S. AT&T started accepting Z10 pre-orders on March 12 and Verizon on March 14.

This definitely does not mean that there’s a possibility of Z10 sales not picking up at all. The device will be available at AT&T and Verizon retail outlets from March 22nd and 26th respectively. Surely there won’t be any massive lines outside their stores like there are for a new iPhone, but things just might work out for the Z10 at a much more modest scale. Jeff believes that BlackBerry has an awareness problem in the U.S. and that it is not doing as much as it should to get the word out to prospective customers. He adds that they’ve done a good job with the OS but there’s a steep learning curve that might irk newcomers, but does say that once they grow accustomed to the new OS, they’ll probably end up liking it.

If BlackBerry starts burning cash on big advertising campaigns, they’ll be taking a huge risk. With market share already depleting, the company isn’t exactly in a position to burn through millions of dollars if sales won’t even break even. The company is spending on advertising nonetheless, they ran an ad during the Super Bowl. BlackBerry definitely knows that they have to change the mindset about their platform and their devices in the U.S., the question remains, are they doing enough? What do you think?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nokia’s CEO Throws An iPhone On TV, Promises To Replace It With A Nokia, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop Teases “Beautiful Phones” Incoming, Could This Be The Rumored Lumia 928?,