[Enyigma]

For every successful launch are the legion of overly negative detractors. The only softening on their part is to dismiss each success and formulate another theory of how sales are dismal. I guess they should not let indicators (and soon facts on March 28th) get in the way of raining on the parade.

The pattern is becoming quite clear though. Sales appear to be beyond what BB had been hoping for ("aggressive sales projections" in biz-speak) in every market where they have been launched. I'm glad our little company in Waterloo is very much back in the game.

To the new owners of the Z10 in India, congratulations on your acquisition.

I wonder what all the nay-sayers will be saying now?

[Amit Oberoi]

Congrats everyone who have received the device in india. Can u please list out ur model no. And OS version. Mine is STL100-2 OS 10.0.9.2372

Posted via CB10 on my BlackBerry Z10

[pallav_gupta]

Then it's a grey market device as only 001 is official here in India.

Posted via CB10

[Amit Oberoi]

I know pallav it is a grey market device as I purchased it and have bee using it for the past two weeks or so. Just wanted to confirm the model no. And OS being rolled out in india.



Posted via CB10 on my BlackBerry Z10

[Amit Oberoi]

Check this out btw, sales seem to be good all over

Over 50% BlackBerry Z10 Purchases Made by New Customers in Canada; 33% in UK https://t.co/CEHjjB7NW5 #TeamBlackBerry -- N4BB - BlackBerry @N4_BB

Posted via CB10 on my BlackBerry Z10

[anon(5639363)]

Check this out btw, sales seem to be good all over

Over 50% BlackBerry Z10 Purchases Made by New Customers in Canada; 33% in UK https://t.co/CEHjjB7NW5 #TeamBlackBerry -- N4BB - BlackBerry @N4_BB

Posted via CB10 on my BlackBerry Z10

In before we're told how that's all misleading information, not factual, etc etc yadda yadda yadda...

[FBA]

Why in the world would BB hold back stock?

They're NOT. I am sure they purposely under-produced, because stock costs money to produce and if the demand isn't there, they would end up sitting on a lot of $$ inventory. Simple business economics. When Thorsten Hindlicker said they were going to start producing more product, he failed to mention that they only produced enough for a conservative launch, because they knew the phones would not be selling like a new iPHONE and they would have gotten hammered by investors for having a whack of inventory that doesn't move. We will see when the earnings call comes at the end of the quarter...but I would bet the inventory shortage is because they only built a few hundred thousand units, not a million. And that's also why they didn't launch in the US yet...orders from carriers are small, and BBRY just doesn't have the cash to build a whack of product, especially if the product is questionable as to whether it works in mass qty. A US launch would be mass suicide if the device / OS has severe issues. They launched in the most dense (BlackBerry) markets 1st...starting with England. Then Canada, India etc...those are their metrics.

[Amit Oberoi]

Congrats everyone who have received the device in india. Can u please list out ur model no. And OS version. Mine is STL100-2 OS 10.0.9.2372

Posted via CB10 on my BlackBerry Z10

Anyone...

Posted via CB10 on my BlackBerry Z10

[pallav_gupta]

Ok India got 35000 devices and sold out the same day.

Posted via CB10

[kfh227]

Ok India got 35000 devices and sold out the same day.

Posted via CB10

Can I ask where this info is coming from?

With a market of about 8 million people in India that are in the $500+ smart phone market, I would be shocked if they took 0.4% of that market on day one?

Knowing what I know about India, can I assume that this thing is a status symbol due to scarcity?

Man, I hope this happens in the USA.

[anon(375378)]

I for one am loving it. It's 4am here in Delhi and I'm still playing with it.
Just tried splash top streamer to RDP to my Mac. Connected my Z10 my plasma TV using HDMI and was able to stream my mirror my laptop screen to my TV. A solution I had been looking for some time.
The voice recognition works well and I don't have to fake an American accent to make it work.
Good job BlackBerry.

Posted via CB10

Wow, never thought of it that way lol. Interesting point. "don't have to fake an American accent "

[pallav_gupta]

It is from a very reliable source. Next batch coming on 5th March.

Posted via CB10

[aniym]

Ok India got 35000 devices and sold out the same day.

Posted via CB10

Channel sales or end-user sales? Samsung for example sells its products in India through a network of 100,000 mom-and-pop and telecom stores, according to this article from the Wall Street Journal:
Apple Acts to Crack India Market for iPhone - WSJ.com

Apple by comparison sells through 2,000 stores only, due to their strategy of working only through authorized retailers and trusted partners. According to Canalys, Apple shipped (different from sold) 252,000 iPhones in India in Q4 2012 and 460,000 units for CY 2012 (source: WSJ article above).

Given that these mom and pop stores are unlikely to report to BB on a daily basis, I'm guessing if the 35k number is true, that was the total initial shipment BB allocated for India.

[pallav_gupta]

It being sold at a premium . And we talk about high prices.

Posted via CB10

[peter9477]

They're NOT. I am sure they purposely under-produced, because stock costs money to produce and if the demand isn't there, they would end up sitting on a lot of $$ inventory. Simple business economics. When Thorsten Hindlicker said they were going to start producing more product, he failed to mention that they only produced enough for a conservative launch, because they knew the phones would not be selling like a new iPHONE and they would have gotten hammered by investors for having a whack of inventory that doesn't move. We will see when the earnings call comes at the end of the quarter...but I would bet the inventory shortage is because they only built a few hundred thousand units, not a million.

I think your logic is totally flawed with this.

The company is basically betting the farm on this product, and if it doesn't sell LOTS, they're out of business. Deliberately under-producing "just in case" doesn't fit with that at all.

[buwee]

They're NOT. I am sure they purposely under-produced, because stock costs money to produce and if the demand isn't there, they would end up sitting on a lot of $$ inventory. Simple business economics. When Thorsten Hindlicker said they were going to start producing more product, he failed to mention that they only produced enough for a conservative launch, because they knew the phones would not be selling like a new iPHONE and they would have gotten hammered by investors for having a whack of inventory that doesn't move. We will see when the earnings call comes at the end of the quarter...but I would bet the inventory shortage is because they only built a few hundred thousand units, not a million. And that's also why they didn't launch in the US yet...orders from carriers are small, and BBRY just doesn't have the cash to build a whack of product, especially if the product is questionable as to whether it works in mass qty. A US launch would be mass suicide if the device / OS has severe issues. They launched in the most dense (BlackBerry) markets 1st...starting with England. Then Canada, India etc...those are their metrics.

And you know this how? - Are you an insider at Blackberry?

[DuexNoir]

How much money do you need to be considered rich in India? Maybe I'll move there and live like a king.

Posted via CB10

To be considered Rich in India....hmm... at least assets around $5 million and liquid cash in bank to the tune of $1 million.
I have assets around $3 million and $400,000 in bank and I sure don't feel rich here. But then again it all depends from what vantage point you are looking from.
Consider this...a BMW 328i costs nearly $80,000 here and there sure are a lot of them here. Just compare that with the price in USA. So if you can't afford one in USA you most certainly can't afford one here.
Or a four bedroom apartment in the nice part of Delhi will set you back by $2 million, and I know that for $500,000 i can get a huge house with a backyard and garage in Maryland. So yea, for me it's the other way round.....I can sell my assets in India and move to USA and feel rich. Now if I can only convince the US authorties to give me a Green Card there. Oh and the 328i there would only set me back by $30k. Quite an affordable country US is

I think we Westerners should stop thinking that places like India, China and other similar countries, do not have people with a lot of wealth (and have many of them). If current economic trends are any indication, they have more wealthy people than we realize and their wealth isn't in the thousands bank-account wise...it's in the millions and billions. Just look at the trend in China and the US. The US middle-class is gradually declining while the Chinese wealthy are increasing.

The voice recognition works well and I don't have to fake an American accent to make it work.
Good job BlackBerry.

Posted via CB10

Don't you mean Canadian accent?

[bigbbrybeliever]

Channel sales or end-user sales? Samsung for example sells its products in India through a network of 100,000 mom-and-pop and telecom stores, according to this article from the Wall Street Journal:
Apple Acts to Crack India Market for iPhone - WSJ.com

Apple by comparison sells through 2,000 stores only, due to their strategy of working only through authorized retailers and trusted partners. According to Canalys, Apple shipped (different from sold) 252,000 iPhones in India in Q4 2012 and 460,000 units for CY 2012 (source: WSJ article above).

Given that these mom and pop stores are unlikely to report to BB on a daily basis, I'm guessing if the 35k number is true, that was the total initial shipment BB allocated for India.

In this case, Channel sales equals the end-user sales because the end user demand is X times higher than the Channel sales number. Sam just reported that his local mom and pop store ordered 182 units but the channel only gave them 12 units or less than 7% they ordered.

[BBNation]

It is from a very reliable source. Next batch coming on 5th March.

Posted via CB10

We hope your source is truly reliable and bb sold 35k. next batch should be sold as well based upon this..so 100k just for Indian first few weeks..

[Yasch22]

Estimates of wealth in India are all over the map. Here's an article that was posted on Stockhouse a couple of days ago: How many people in India are Rich? � Wise Wealth Advisors . According to the author's calculations, 150 million people are middle class, defined in this article as living in a household (=5.2 people) where annual income is between $5,000/year and $25,000/year. It doesn't sound to me as if a whole lot of these folks would be able ot afford an $800 phone, but you could say the same thing about North America, where by some miracle of wizardry a lot of seemingly poor kids or 20-something grocery clerks rock $200 sneakers and the latest iGadgets. As for the truly wealthy in India, I think we're looking at a base of somewhere between 10 and 50 million people. I know, people often criticize me for being too precise.... All in all, the simple fact is that 19 million smartphones were sold in India last year, and analysts predict sales will rise to 100+ million by 2016. It is entirely conceivable that an aspirational phone like the BB Z10 should sell 35,000 in its first few days on the market. BlackBerry operates 2000 outlets across the country, and sales of 35,000 means that each store would need to sell a mere 17.5 units.

[BBNation]

Estimates of wealth in India are all over the map. Here's an article that was posted on Stockhouse a couple of days ago: How many people in India are Rich? � Wise Wealth Advisors . According to the author's calculations, 150 million people are middle class, defined in this article as living in a household (=5.2 people) where annual income is between $5,000/year and $25,000/year. It doesn't sound to me as if a whole lot of these folks would be able ot afford an $800 phone, but you could say the same thing about North America, where by some miracle of wizardry a lot of seemingly poor kids or 20-something grocery clerks rock $200 sneakers and the latest iGadgets. As for the truly wealthy in India, I think we're looking at a base of somewhere between 10 and 50 million people. I know, people often criticize me for being too precise.... All in all, the simple fact is that 19 million smartphones were sold in India last year, and analysts predict sales will rise to 100+ million by 2016. It is entirely conceivable that an aspirational phone like the BB Z10 should sell 35,000 in its first few days on the market. BlackBerry operates 2000 outlets across the country, and sales of 35,000 means that each store would need to sell a mere 17.5 units.

Every market, culture, country is diffrent how they treat things. When it comes to South asian countries following elements play role in market such as India.

- Prestige, owning the latest phone to friends/family for show off
- 1.2 billion people with millions of millioners
- Foreign influence, the people do not make to stats as they have no jobs but they still have tons of money to buy such gadgets
- Owning and using more than one phone is norm, infact lots brands carry dual sim cards
- IT Outsourcing influence, millions of techs, compliance requirments, etc.
- Large goverments.

[Cracklen]

Some Q 'n A from India;

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/blackberr...375483-11.html
and other views;

http://www.ibtimes.co.in/articles/43...rati-price.htm

....and some sort of analyst from uk ....swipe to bottom for summary !

http://n4bb.com/blackberry-z10-outse...tition-stores/

nite

[Dapper37]

You forgot number 3 which is that BB could not have enough stock.

And #4 as per Sam_b77; A close friend of mine is heading a Mobile chain store. The way it works is that if every retailer is given enough supply then the smaller retailers would start giving discounts from their own margin and reduce the price point overall. This would anger the retailers who do high volumes of BBs as this is the time when they can sell the phone at full price and make full margin on it. Remember these are the same retailers who pushed BB when BB had no new models for a year. They gave heavy discounts from their own margins to maintain sales. This is how BB will repay them by allowing them a week or two of full margins and not providing phones to retailers who are the fly by night operators who only want to make a quick buck when the going is good but otherwise don't push BB's. There are a lot of factors going on when it comes to retail chain management

[Dapper37]

I think your logic is totally flawed with this.

The company is basically betting the farm on this product, and if it doesn't sell LOTS, they're out of business. Deliberately under-producing "just in case" doesn't fit with that at all.

I think the word were looking for is conservatively produced. But mid December they "apparently" upped that production to 2 million a month. That could mean theres been up to 4.5 million Z10s produced. and we still see shortages? now it sounds like another bump in production has happened. We shall see?

[DragonFlyer]

To be considered Rich in India....hmm... at least assets around $5 million and liquid cash in bank to the tune of $1 million.
I have assets around $3 million and $400,000 in bank and I sure don't feel rich here. But then again it all depends from what vantage point you are looking from.
Consider this...a BMW 328i costs nearly $80,000 here and there sure are a lot of them here. Just compare that with the price in USA. So if you can't afford one in USA you most certainly can't afford one here.
Or a four bedroom apartment in the nice part of Delhi will set you back by $2 million, and I know that for $500,000 i can get a huge house with a backyard and garage in Maryland. So yea, for me it's the other way round.....I can sell my assets in India and move to USA and feel rich. Now if I can only convince the US authorties to give me a Green Card there. Oh and the 328i there would only set me back by $30k. Quite an affordable country US is

Come to Canada. Our doors are open.