One Million BlackBerry Devices Sold to Buyer with No Name
posted Sunday Mar 17, 2013 by Nicholas DiMeo
With BlackBerry's new focus on both OS 10 and the new Z and Q10 smartphones, a lot is riding on these next few months. For the company to gain back any sort of relevancy like what it had in its hey-day, BlackBerry needs to get this new device in as many hands as possible. This week, a buyer has stepped up to help them do just that.
BlackBerry released a press statement that points out one of its big partners have placed an order for one million BlackBerry 10 devices, and they also said shipments were needed immediately. For BlackBerry (formerly Research in Motion), this is their largest order in the history of the company.
In the very short statement, Rick Costanzo, EVP of Global Sales, said,
An order for one million devices is a tremendous vote of confidence in BlackBerry 10. Consumers are ready for a new user experience, and BlackBerry 10 delivers. With strong partner support, coupled with this truly re-invented new platform, we have a powerful recipe for success.
Now, the question remains of who exactly bought that many phones. A couple of guesses come to mind, specifically in the government and other agencies, as some have discovered switching to Apple wasn't the best decision some of those groups have made. That would also be one of the safer options. It means that group or agency has decided BlackBerry is the way to go, and those devices would be put right into the hands of those using them.
We can also guess that one of the major carriers, like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon have put in an order for that many, but more problems lie in that notion. First, Sprint isn't even on the initial carrier list on BlackBerry's site. So, putting them aside, another carrier might be willing to drop that much on a million devices. However, a carrier would still need to sell that many handsets to customers, which means if a carrier put in the order, they have extreme confidence in this brand new operating system and revival of BlackBerry.
Obviously, whichever is the case, it is amazing news for BlackBerry as a company, especially since the Z10 is not too far away from launching here in the States. Who do you think bought one million new BlackBerry 10 smartphones? Give us your best guesses in the comments below.
