[m1kr0]

Contrary to general belief, the BlackBerry 10 platform is doing well in developing nations like South Africa. I was very surprised to see the Z3 being the top selling smartphone in the country, according to this article:

SA's most popular smartphones revealed | Fin24

"Cape Town - BlackBerry may be on the back foot in many parts of the world, but in SA, the brand continues to hold its own, despite intense marketing from rivals.
According to mobile marketplace Phonefinder, despite Samsung being the most popular manufacturer in SA, BlackBerry smartphones outsell the Galaxy S5 and Apple's latest iPhone.
Here are the top selling smartphones according to results on the platform which sees over 100 000 visits per month of people looking to buy smartphones.
Top sellers
1. BlackBerry Z3
2. Samsung Galaxy S5
3. Apple iPhone 6 (16G)
4. BlackBerry 9720
5. Apple iPhone 5 (16GB)
"Our purpose is to be neutral. We are an unbiased platform where visitors can compare deals which fit their pockets and suit their needs," CEO Lance Krom told Fin24."

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[Uzi]

Great news!

Z30STA100-2/10.3.2.680

[thymaster]

The Z3 is a success in developing countries as stated by Chen many times. No surprise here.

[m1kr0]

True, Chen did mention this. That's not what surprises me. I'm from South Africa and cost is definitely a huge factor when choosing a smartphone but not the only determining factor. Very expensive data and low availability of wifi drive consumers to the legacy BlackBerry devices (BIS with data compression, a fixed monthly fee and unlimited BBM/on-device Internet browsing). Hence my surprise that an OS 10 device not only outsells the BIS devices but is the overall top selling smartphone in the country.

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[attaturk]

If Z3 is did so well in South Africa then BlackBerry is definitely making a mistake by not releasing the Leap in South Africa. I hope it's on their radar.

The improved specs over the Z3 and similar price point, it is bound to do well.

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[lnichols]

I really wish BlackBerry would release sales figures per device at each earning report.

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[Witmen]

So now all BlackBerry needs is a few hundred thousand more developing nations to sell their devices in and they will be right back in it!

This post seems misleading anyway. I wonder how many phones were actually sold in SA. The article doesn't appear to be listing the phones by actual numbers of sold units in SA. Rather, it seems to be listing the phones in order of results from one site that gets "over 100 000 visits per month of people looking to buy smartphones."

More people looking to buy a phone on one website with a truly pathetic traffic ranking of only around 100,000 visitors per month shouldn't be enough to determine any one phone as the top selling phone in an entire country.

Unless I'm reading it wrong, this data seems worthless in determining which is the top selling phone in SA.

[sahilp17]

OP, it's not contrary to general belief because the general belief is that yes BlackBerry is doing well in developing countries because they target the customers who aren't able to afford IOS and the high end android devices. But that only takes BlackBerry's success a little bit further until they can actually penetrate developed countries, which isn't going to be anytime soon if not ever

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[BeautyEh]

This is at least very interesting...someone refresh my memory what the differences are between the Z3 and Leap? They seem like bigger versions of Z10 with an LCD screen.

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[keithhackneysmullet]

Wow the z3 and 9720 are killing it in South Africa. I think that says more about South Africa than BlackBerry's health at the moment.

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[serbanescu]

This is at least very interesting...someone refresh my memory what the differences are between the Z3 and Leap? They seem like bigger versions of Z10 with an LCD screen.

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Leap - 1.5 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, 1280 x720 pixels display
Z3 - 1.2 GHz processor, 1.5 GB of RAM, 960x540 pixels display

[Matty]

As a person who live in Africa I can confirm that I have seen many people around town using a Z3. Reason for this is because the device is fairly cheap and also has a large screen.

People seem to go for cheap devices with big screens. At the moment it's selling for $219 (INCLUDING Tax) in some stores so no wonder it's popular.

I have a feeling the Leap will also do very well. Almost like an upgraded Z3.

Posted via BlackBerry Q5 on 10.3.1.2576

[m1kr0]

Agree, Leap will do well. Pity it is still not available in South Africa.

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