BlackBerry chief executive Thorsten Heins has hit out at analysts Detwiler Fenton and asked regulators to probe its report claiming high levels of Z10 returns.
Heins has described the Detwiler Fenton report as “false and misleading”, and will formally ask the United States’ Securities and Exchange Commision and the Ontario Securities Commission, in Canada, to scrutinise the analysts’ findings.
Heins said: “Return rate statistics show that we are at or below our forecasts and right in line with the industry.
“To suggest otherwise is either a gross misreading of the data or a willful manipulation. Such a conclusion is absolutely without basis and BlackBerry will not leave it unchallenged.”
Anne Buckley, Detwiler Fenton general counsel and chief compliance officer, defended their research.
She said: “Detwiler Fenton is not the only research provider publishing similar reports regarding customer reactions, sales, and returns of the BlackBerry Z10.”
The touchscreen BlackBerry Z10 was unveiled in January, alongside the Q10, and is the first BlackBerry running the new BB10 operating system to be commercially available.
The rollout of the Q10, which has a physical keyboard, is expected to begin by the end of April.
