The first carrier to introduce the BlackBerry Z10 in the U.S. is not Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile. It is a carrier that you have probably never heard of. Solavei, a relatively new phone carrier, is introducing Z10 for a price of $999. You can buy it on their website with a promise of 24 to 48 hour shipment.
The price is perplexing. An iPhone 5 without a contract is available at Wal-Mart for $649, and for $200 from carriers who demand a two-year contract. So much for iPhone 5’s status of a premier priced phone. In contrast, Solavei is offering Galaxy S III for $575 and Google Nexus 4 for $405.
Solavei was launched in September 2012 and it offers an unlimited voice, text and data plan for $49 per month. The coverage area in the U. S. is limited. Solavei has teamed up with GSM Nation to sell BlackBerry Z10.
Solavei is differentiating itself by offering customers commission when they recommend their friends and family. Apparently, earning commission is attractive to some people as Solavei claims that it has paid out more than $5 million to 120,000 customers.
From an investment perspective, it appears that BlackBerry is not doing as good of a job in launching the new product as is needed to stem the tide against it. In contrast, Nokia did a great job when it launched its Lumia series. I have no position in BlackBerry now but my indicators are close to giving a short sell signal. Not helping the stock today is news that Home Depot is switching from BlackBerry smartphones to the iPhone for its executives.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2013/02/11/blackberry-picks-a-strange-way-to-beat-apple-with-a-thousand-dollar-phone/?partner=yahootix