BlackBerry Z10 and X10 Smartphones

BlackBerry 10 Launch – Facts and Numbers

The tech world don’t really know what to make of the Wednesday’s global launch of BlackBerry 10.

There seem to be three camps out there. The majority of analysts seem to be thinking that the BB10 won’t change much – the current BlackBerry users will upgrade and the company is likely to slightly increase its market share.

A smaller number of people say that the BB10 is cool enough and it’s about to make a splash when the sales start. Then there is the third camp saying that what the company has done is not good enough. I’ve even heard some people saying that the new BlackBerry app library with 70,000 titles is “disappointing”.

Well, I’ve got news for you – the fact that you’ve downloaded 3,562 apps to your iPhone doesn’t mean you’re more productive than me with my 8 apps (that’s exactly how many apps I have). So, you’ve got a compass app, right? Well, unless you’re a captain or a surveyor, congratulations, you’ve totally wasted $1.99 🙂

Anyway, here’s the BlackBerry 10 launch in numbers

  • 12% is how much RIM shares lost in value amidst the disappointment that the phones wouldn’t be available for sale immediately. This is just how the stock market works and the share price will bounce back when the actual sales begin. The share price has started to recover slowly.
  • $199 is how much a BlackBerry Z10 will cost in USA on a 2-year contract. It’s a reasonable price.
  • 3.4% is the current market share of BlackBerry’s smart phones. It used to be 20% in early 2010. Will it ever recover? It’s on the right path but it’s going to be hard graft! They’ve managed to accomplish the most important task – to get the current BB owners interested. It means the company will stay alive. They will have a chance to concentrate on converting the Android and iPhone users next time it launches an update or a new product!
  • $3050 is the current bid for a brand-new BlackBerry Z10 on eBay. It was leaked there by one of the journalists who received it for free at a launch party. Update: there were some invalid bids placed and the phone ended up going for $1,825. A bargain really!
BlackBerry Z10 and X10 Smartphones
Promo pics of BlackBerry Z10 and X10 leaked by Pocketlint.com. Mind you these are not final. You can see Active Frames in action on the Z10’s screen.

A good way to evaluate sentiment is to look at conversations on social networks. Crimson Hexagon – social media analyst – has looked at Twitter conversations and here are the results. platform ForSight to analyse the conversations on Twitter surrounding BlackBerry’s new operating system announcement, the news that it’s dropped the RIM name and the launch of the Q10 / Z10 handsets.

The analysis looks at more than 14,000 Twitter post mentioning BlackBerry. It’s not a large sample because the last two days have seen millions of tweets mentioning BlackBerry but it’s good enough to make some judgement.

  • 24% of the conversations concluded that BlackBerry is still playing catch up to Android and iPhone.
  • 20% are sceptical over BlackBerry’s future. That’s actually good – the figures would b eway gloomier a couple of months ago.
  • 18% of Twitter users were sharing news stories relating to BlackBerry 10. That means the interest is still there!
  • 13% said the new handsets look impressive
  • 4% say they intend to purchase a new BlackBerry handset.

buzzkeeper

Arvid Linde is an independent SEO consultant, award-winning journalist, MSc in engineering, published author and a technology addict. More info on the about page.