Andre Yoskowitz
23 Mar 2013 17:25
BlackBerry made its return to the U.S. yesterday via carrier AT&T, but it appears consumer demand has not returned.
Shares of the company collapsed 7 percent on Friday after reports showed no demand in stores for the phone, and little excitement by AT&T employees.
AT&T locations around the nation did not even have the Z10 flagship phone on display yet, and Best Buy stores were also reporting weak demand.
Hudson Square Research analyst Daniel Ernst added (via Reuters): "This morning we visited and called stores to survey early demand for the BlackBerry Z10. We found no lines, no signage announcing the launch, and clerks told us they had very few pre-orders."
The Z10 is the first phone to feature the new BlackBerry 10 operating system, which the company hopes will let them move back into third place behind Android and iOS but ahead of Microsoft's Windows Phone platform.
BlackBerry released the Z10 in Europe in February and has seen relatively strong demand in other markets but it appears that BlackBerry is completely dead to the U.S. market.