BlackBerry’s stock price witnessed a decline of more than 5 percent on Thursday, April 11th after several analysts claimed that the latest Z10 all-touch smartphone from the Canadian company failed to lure customers in the United States. In fact, analyst Detwiler Fenton has even said that BlackBerry Z10 sales are so poor that the rate of return is touching record-levels. This must have seriously hurt the Waterloo-based company therefore BlackBerry came out a few days later and said that all such reports are “false and misleading.” In addition to this, BlackBerry also said that it is getting in touch with the Ontario Securities Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission to review the analytical views from Detwiler Fenton.
In a statement released on Friday, April 12th, President and CEO of BlackBerry Thorsten Heins said that, “Sales of the BlackBerry® Z10 are meeting expectations and the data we have collected from our retail and carrier partners demonstrates that customers are satisfied with their devices. 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.”
Bloomberg reported that Detwiler has mentioned in his report that customers are returning the Z10 because they think its interface in not very intuitive. Nevertheless, he was not the only analyst, who had made negative remarks about the latest all-touch device of BlackBerry, as ITG Investment Research has also released a report which described that the sales of the Z10 are slow.
However, the move from BlackBerry clearly indicates that at this point in time, it is quite sensitive to any negative publicity. The Canadian manufacturer is close to releasing the second BB10 device at the end of this month and negative publicity like the one it has just slammed can seriously cause a lot of damage to the company.
Here is the full press release from Balckberry:
“BlackBerry Seeks U.S., Canadian Review of False Reports on Return Rates
WATERLOO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – April 12, 2013) – BlackBerry® (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB), a world leader in mobile communications, today said it would seek Securities and Exchange Commission and Ontario Securities Commission review of a false and misleading report about retail return rates for the Company’s new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone.
“Sales of the BlackBerry® Z10 are meeting expectations and the data we have collected from our retail and carrier partners demonstrates that customers are satisfied with their devices,” said BlackBerry President and CEO Thorsten Heins. “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.”
BlackBerry and Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. carrier, on Thursday refuted claims from research and investment firm Detwiler Fenton that BlackBerry Z10 devices were being returned in unusually high numbers. Detwiler Fenton refused to make either its report to investors or its methodology available to BlackBerry, even after the Company said the firm’s findings were “absolutely false.”
BlackBerry Chief Legal Officer Steve Zipperstein said: “These materially false and misleading comments about device return rates in the United States harm BlackBerry and our shareholders, and we call upon the appropriate authorities in Canada and the United States to conduct an immediate investigation. Everyone is entitled to their opinion about the merits of the many competing products in the smartphone industry, but when false statements of material fact are deliberately purveyed for the purpose of influencing the markets a red line has been crossed.”
Zipperstein said BlackBerry would present its formal request to U.S. and Canadian regulators in the next several days.”
Source: TechCrunch
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