Detwiler Fenton, a Boston-based research and investment firm has invited the displeasure of Canada-based BlackBerry by stating that BlackBerry’s new smartphone (the Z10) is doing extremely poorly and that consumer returns for the product have been amazingly high and have outstripped demand in some cases. Blackberry explicitly stated that the rates of return for its smartphone have been below the forecasted consumer demand. According to its CEO Thorstein Heins, this conclusion made by Detwiler Fenton is completely baseless and is without any proof.
BlackBerry promised to forward an official request to investigate into the matter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission along with major Canadian securities regulator, Ontario Securities Commission, within a few days. Verizon Wireless’ spokesperson, Debra Lewis stated that the Z10 has performed like other similar devices that the mobile carrier had launched within the first 14 days of its release. Detwiler Fenton’s report that suggested that the Z10 had high return rates seems fictitious because of the absence of sources in its news piece.
This is not the first time that the firm has gotten itself into trouble as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has on many occasions fined the firm, totalling to about a quarter of a million dollars in all. In December 2011, FINRA sanctioned Detwiler because it had failed to supervise its own employees whilst allowing brokers to increase their effective commissions by making more trades than necessary into their clients’ accounts.
Meanwhile, BlackBerry might try to salvage some lost glory with a new range of devices which use the new and improved BlackBerry 10 OS. Apart from the Z10, the Q10 which boasts of a physical keyboard rather is scheduled to hit the markets in Canada and the UK before April ends. The company needs to prove its worth to the market and while it will seek to break-even by the end of this quarter, the company’s medium term outlook will not be clear until the end of 2013.
Blackberry has always maintained that the Z10 is selling very well, with strong demand in most regions. However, a growing litany of analysts and retailers are also indicating that the device isn’t exactly flying off the shelves. Low supply was the reason behind initial sell outs of the Z10, but the trend of increasing returns may be the first signs that consumers aren’t very enamoured with the new interface and hardware.
April 16, 2013 at 9:11 am
This article was just fine untl the last couple of lines.
“Low supply was the reason behind initial sell outs of the Z10, but the trend of increasing returns may be the first signs that consumers aren’t very enamoured with the new interface and hardware.”
Now you just did what DF did. You stated these two points as if they are a fact and the company has come out and flatly said that it is not true. Sell outs were caused by higher than expected demand, period! Any sell out is a result of “low supply”, even for apple so what’s your point? As for the high returns, that was just plain stupid.