Thorsten speaks about his exclusive launch day partnership with Selfridges and how customers have flocked to Selfridges stores to purchase the new Q10 device. A lot of our reporting, today, has hit on the fact that the Q10 sales are HOT HOT HOT.
Bloomberg TV’s Willow Bay shot off a few questions, beginning with a discussion about the price point of the Q10 and how it is priced aggressively against the iPhone. He speaks to the speed and use of the keypad and how they have integrated new Instant Actions and how targeting the 70 million “installed” user base with the new keyboard version of the BlackBerry 10 operating system – hinting at expected sales in the “10’s of millions”.
He goes over the statement released regarding return rates of the Z10 – and emphasizes that the return rates have varied, but are in line and are better than earlier BlackBerry launches of the past.
They go into partnerships and Thorsten mentions he still has interest in partnerships after proving the success of the brand and the operating system. “We are still observing and watching that space, so that’s what we will continue to do…Our focus is still BlackBerry 10 and getting that out…there is more to come this year as well as some exciting announcements at BlackBerry Live as well.”
In terms of a tablet coming out “As I always said the tablet market is very challenging in terms of the pure hardware perspective. There are very few companies that actually make money on the hardware. In order to do that we need a service value proposition on top of that. Some of that will be shown at BlackBerry Live. But we are running with a different concept that makes [BlackBerry 10] your personal mobile computing power and only [BlackBerry 10] your source of personal mobile computing power. And it’s a slightly different approach to the market”
Very interesting to hear Thorsten speak to a level of confidence that has only been building since the debut of the Z10 back in January and even more interesting when he states we will be hearing more from Team BlackBerry during BlackBerry Live.
Michael, Kris, and I will be there to break all the news for you, as it happens!
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