BlackBerry 10 started off well when the Waterloo-based company made it available to customers in Canada and the U.K. last February. Since then BlackBerry has been able to sell more than one million BlackBerry Z10 handsets. It was a remarkable feat for the Canadian manufacturer, as BlackBerry managed to do that in just two months after the Z10 was launched. In the meantime, BlackBerry has also increased the number of apps on its app store BlackBerry World, which now houses more than 100,000 apps. BlackBerry World saw an increase of more than 30,000 apps in two months time and more importantly BlackBerry World achieved this milestone just a few days before the launch of the Z10 in the U.S. which is a market that is quite crucial for the BB10 device maker because its current struggles started from this very country. However, when it was released in the U.S. some early reports suggested that the sales of BlackBerry Z10 were quite poor. In fact, an analyst had even claimed that Z10’s rate of return had surpassed its sales because customers did not like the devices interface. As a result of these negative reviews, BlackBerry stock prices plunged down by more than five percent during Thursday’s trading session. But all of this failed to even slightly disturb the belief of Fairfax Financial Holdings’ Prem Watsa, as the largest shareholder is still loyal to BlackBerry.
Even though, Watsa’s old friend and founder of BlackBerry, Mike Lazaradis has left the company after he resigned from the post of vice chairman and board of directors, the “Canadian Warren Buffett” did not lose hope. He said he has confidence in the new CEO of BlackBerry, Thorsten Heins, who was the real driving force behind BlackBerry 10. Talking to the Associated Press, Watsa said that, “[Mike Lazaridis] chose Thorsten Heins to be CEO and Thorsten has done an outstanding job in the last year and continues to. Thorsten has done a tremendous job. He’s got new management into the company and he’s building for the future.”
Watsa’s belief in BlackBerry can be judged from the fact that when the stock price of the Canadian smartphone maker was freely falling down the business tycoon doubled his share in the company. Today BlackBerry has been able to depict profit in its balance sheet thanks to Heins and company, but one question still stands out whether BB10 will be successful enough to push BlackBerry back into the game.
Source: TechVibes
Photo: 123People
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