A tremendous vote of confidence’: BlackBerry partn
‘A tremendous vote of confidence’: BlackBerry partner orders one million BB10 devices in record purchase order
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Matthew Braga | 13/03/13 | Last Updated: 13/03/13 5:32 PM ET
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Mario Tama/Getty Images"An order for one million devices is a tremendous vote of confidence in BlackBerry 10," said Rick Costanzo, BlackBerry's executive vice president of global sales, in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.
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An “established” BlackBerry partner has placed an order for one million of the Waterloo, Ont.-based company’s new smartphones – the single largest purchase order ever in the company’s history.
A BlackBerry spokesperson declined to reveal the partner’s identity at this time.
“An order for one million devices is a tremendous vote of confidence in BlackBerry 10,” said Rick Costanzo, BlackBerry’s executive vice president of global sales, in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. “With strong partner support, coupled with this truly re-invented new platform, we have a powerful recipe for success.”
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The company’s NASDAQ-listed shares closed at US$15.64, up 8%, while TSX-listed shares closed at $16.04, up nearly 8.2%.
BlackBerry – formerly Research in Motion Ltd. – announced its two new flagship smartphones, the touchscreen BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 with physical keyboard, during a series of simultaneous worldwide launch events on January 30.
U.S. cellular carrier AT&T confirmed last week that it would begin selling the Z10 on March 22 for US$199.99 on a two-year contract.
Verizon announced Wednesday that it would also offer the Z10 on a two-year contract for the same price, but would not begin selling the device until March 28. Preorders begin tomorrow morning.
Both carriers also plan to sell BlackBerry’s Q10 smartphone, but no further details have been announced.
Although the BlackBerry Z10 is already available in more than 20 countries, long testing periods with U.S. carriers have purportedly delayed the smartphone’s launch in the United States.
Canadians were one of the first markets with access to the Z10, which went on sale February 5.