An advertising blitz on TV and a high profile launch in New York during March don’t seem to have worked for BlackBerry as its shares tumbled 8% as the Z10 released in the US on AT&T. Lacklustre reaction to the new smartphone is the probable cause for this slump. The complete design makeover for BlackBerry didn’t go exactly as planned. The removal of physical buttons as a part for the design makeover wasn’t well received by BlackBerry enthusiasts. One such enthusiast claimed that the lack of buttons is a deal breaker. Furthermore, the same enthusiast added that people might as well turn to iPhones as their first preference.
It wasn’t criticism everywhere either. Mark Wilson, founder of a film production company based in Texas expressed his interest in some of Z10’s features like the upgraded camera. Overall though, he remained hesitant about the device. He stated preference for tactile buttons, claiming they were best for email and text, and in his opinion their inclusion would have surely kept RIM’s corporate base intact. However, Blackberry doesn’t seem to have abandoned the physical keyboard completely. The Q10 which will launch later this spring will incorporate both a physical keyboard and a touch screen.
There were a few enthusiasts who welcomed the decision to go with an all-touch approach. Some of these enthusiasts joked about the possibility of camping outside the Verizon store the night before its release. Then there are those who have decided to stick with their current BlackBerry phone but are willing to consider the Z10 smartphone in due time. This class of customers is the one who is intolerant to the design changes incorporated into the latest Blackberry smartphones. There are still other BlackBerry enthusiasts who consider this to be their ‘iPhone’ moment, persuading their spouses pick up the Z10 for them as they were stuck at work and feared an iPhone-like rush for the Z10.
The irony of the day was that the AT&T store a block from the Apple store had just one customer and the latter was still swarming with many. This was the defining moment of the day, clearly showing that Apple still remains at the summit of the smartphone industry and the Blackberry line of phones has miles of catching up to do before they can even dream of stealing Apple’s loyal market share.
