A person uses the new Blackberry Z10 device at a Rogers store in Toronto on Feb. 5, 2013. A poll from Forum Research Inc. says that as many as 2.6-million Z10 devices could be sold in Canada over the next year.MARK BLINCH/Reuters
A major wireless retailer said Research In Motion Ltd.'s new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone has sold better since its launch than more popular devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone 5 and Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S3 devices in Canada.
In a statement released on Monday, Burnaby, B.C.-based Glentel Inc., said the new Z10 model was "the leading smartphone" sold within its 330 Canadian Wirelesswave and Wave sans Fils retail stores since the device's launch on Feb. 5.
RIM's new BlackBerry, of course, is much newer than its best-selling Galaxy S3 and iPhone rivals – which have sold tens of millions since their respective launches – and is one of the only major devices to have launched since the holiday season ended. Since then, there has been a drought of high-end smartphone releases.
Glentel did not respond to a request for additional comment and did not immediately make available any actual sales numbers.
Since RIM's global launches began rolling out in late January, actual data on sales have been in short supply. Until RIM reports its fourth quarter financial results on March 28 – an analysis that will include sales from early December until March 2 – observers are left with little more than vague figures from RIM and its partners, analyst "channel checks" with retail stores and wireless carriers, and other non-definitive numbers.
RIM has said the full touchscreen Z10 device had a more successful launch out of the gate than any previous BlackBerry, which many had expected given the long wait since the latest BlackBerry 7 devices were launched in August, 2011. A delay to availability in the U.S. led to many analysts cutting sales forecasts, but anecdotal accounts – including the release on Monday of Glentel's statement and reports of lineups in the U.K. – provide some evidence that RIM's Z10 has had at least some sales momentum.