UK Gets On The Ground Analysis of BlackBerry Z10 Sales – Prices Going Up?!?

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You may have heard about two analysts slashing sales targets for BlackBerry 10. With that in mind Michael Collins on Seeking Alpha has performed a on the ground channel check of BlackBerry Z10 sales in the UK FROM the UK. Some analysts have been reporting petering sales based on “Channel Checks” but Collins provides quite a bit more detail and is actually performing the checks in stores. According to his report the BlackBerry Z10s are selling like hotcakes in the UK. Carphone Warehouse and Phones4u have actually RAISED the prices on the BlackBerry Z10 to 529 GBP from 479 GBP making it higher than the iPhone 5 at 499 BP. It seems like they are selling quite a few of the devices at all stores without contracts or SIM free with a thriving “Grey Market.” This is the first time I have ever heard of the price of a phone going up AFTER launch.

Here are Collin’s conclusions: “My limited UK channel checks have confirmed very important trends:

  1. Prices are being increased post-launch.
  2. The black market exists and is thriving 21 days after launch.
  3. The larger UK stores as expected had ‘massive’ quantities of launch.
  4. Those stores blew the phones out the door.”

Check out the full details along with a very colorful comment thread over at Seeking Alpha.

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