Research In Motion Ltd (BBRY) CEO Already Encouraged By Z10 Sales

While the new Blackberry phone is yet to launch in the U.S. until later this month, Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is already finding success in more 20 other countries with its launch. This is according to CEO Thorsten Heins.

On Thursday, Heins said at Communitech Tech Leadership Conference via Reuters, “The feedback is very encouraging. What has been a real surprise for us is that BlackBerry 10 as a platform and product is attracting users that are currently on other platforms.”

“We are just five weeks into this. We have just one product out in 21 countries, so it is early indications, but we are encouraged by what we see and hear from our carrier partners.”

The BlackBerry 10 operating system is already for sale in countries such as the UK, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, India, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa. More are expected to launch the phone.

Heins did not give Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s Z10 sales figures at Thursday’s gathering but said it had already passed the company’s expectations, especially in emerging  markets such as India. This comes as less expensive devices are typically more popular.

“I was surprised when we launched in India how well the Z10, which is a high-end device, sold. We shipped into the channel product that we thought would have been good for at least five days and I got an emergency call from our manager in India, saying that they were sold out in two days. Now we are scrambling to re-load that channel,” he said of the product’s launch in that country.

Earlier in the week, Heins again spread the gospel of Z10′s success when he spoke with Spanish newspaper Expansion. He said that the BlackBerry Z10 has been embraced not only by those consumers who have been faithful to the BlackBerry brand but by customers who are currently utilizing other mobile platforms for their smartphone needs.

Its success in India was again highlighted as the company’s managing director in India recently said the amount of people switching to BlackBerry in the country has been significant.

On March 28, the company will announce its fourth-quarter numbers but it will be too early to factor in this recent success. Until the, it cannot share recent numbers in the near-term because of this quiet period.

Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has lost lots of market share to its competition including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPhone, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930)’s Galaxy devices and ones running on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Android operating system.

Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is pinning its profit and market share hopes on the new smartphone but there’s still an large mountain to climb as its rivals are unlikely to let up anytime soon.

‘Get ValueWalk’s Daily Edition By Email and Never Miss Our Top Stories’