Brightstar have been revealed as the buyer of one million BlackBerry 10 powered handsets, but an expert has cast doubt on whether its a good sign or not.
The electronics distributor, which counts the second largest US carrier Verizon among its clients, was described as an “established partner” by BlackBerry when they were keeping tight lipped on who made the order.
But Mark Gerber, Detwiler Fenton’s managing director, told the Guardian Brightstar are set to handle distribution of the BB10 handsets for the Verizon network to retailers such as supermarkets.
Gerber said he thinks Verizon using Brightstar was a negative sign. He said: “We think Verizon isn’t very confident this is going to be a very big-selling product. Normally, it would want to limit the channels the handsets were distributed to initially and really control that process.”
He added: “By handing that [the bulk buying and risk] off to Brightstar, it suggests that they don’t think it’s a really hot product.”
BlackBerry’s first device to run the BB10 operating system, the touchscreen Z10, is now available in the US, but shares in BlackBerry have already lost 15 per cent.
Brokers Goldman Sachs have described sales as “tepid”.
Concerning whether the sale was to Brightstar, BlackBerry said: “We are bound by confidentiality with our partner and cannot disclose our partner’s name.”
