Mobile retailers have slashed the price of the BlackBerry Z10 just a month after the make-or-break BB10 handset was released.
Carphone Warehouse is now offering the BlackBerry Z10 on a 24 month Three tariff costing £29 per month, plus a £29 upfront handset fee. At launch, the BB10 handset was free on a two-year contract at £36 per month. This cheaper tariff option means the handset is now offered at a reduction of around £160 over the contract.
Vodafone has followed suit, introducing a web-only deal for the BlackBerry Z10 equating to a £77 reduction through a £33 per month two-year tariff.
With price cuts coming just a month after the BlackBerry Z10 launched, analysts are suggesting that the BB10 handset is struggling, especially with recent reports that BlackBerry Z10 sales have been below expectations.
“The case for [BlackBerry’s] recovery has been that in the long run, the company could return to selling high-end handsets that would feature enough profitability that handset profits could more than offset long-term declines in the highly profitable service business,” said James Faucette, a Pacific Crest analyst.
“We believe that meaningful price cuts so soon after launch, while probably at the initial discretion of the carriers, is likely to relegate the Z10 to being a mid-tier device with very low gross margins.”
Despite being a company that is very dependent upon its loyal customers base, BlackBerry announced last month that a third of new BlackBerry Z10 owners were not BlackBerry users beforehand.
The BlackBerry Q10, wielding a physical QWERTY keyboard alongside the new BlackBerry 10 OS, is due to be released sometime in April and should appeal to the long term corporate BlackBerry users. The second BB10 handset could provide increased success for the Canadian company.
BB10 was tipped to be the make-or-break launch for BlackBerry, as the company has experienced a rather turbulent 18 months, what with staff redundancies, a waning user base, dwindling earnings and a history of service problems.
Do you think the BlackBerry Z10 is better marketed as a mid-range handset? Do you think the BlackBerry Q10 will retail better than its touchscreen brother? Drop us a line via the TrustedReviews Facebook and Twitter feeds or the comments section below.
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Via: The Telegraph
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
