Smart phone users in the United Kingdom are snapping up the BlackBerry Q10 as fast as they can and Selfridge & Co., the high-end London-based department store that had the right to sell the Q10 in the U.K. exclusive until April 28, is having a hard time keeping up with consumer demand.
“The BlackBerry Q10 has been, without a doubt, the most highly anticipated smart phone we have ever sold and is already our most successful,” said Julian Slim, head of home and leisure at Selfridges, told technology product review site TrustedReviews.com.
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The department store began selling the Q10 last Friday, but buyers were also able to pre-order the device from the store’s Web site since April 24.
Selfridges’ initial stock of 2,000 Q10 units sold out in a matter of two hours from the time store opened its doors last Friday. Additional stock was being delivered “Continually on the hour, every hour” to keep up with demand, according to a statement from Selfridges.
Blogger Michael Collins, a former hedge fund manager who was at a Selfridge store last Friday wrote in his blog that some of the buyers were exporters buying as much as 20 units at a time.
“Upon arriving, there were lots of exporters buying 20+ units each,” he wrote in his blog Seeking Alpha a. “They had suitcases, and one used the suitcase to block people in the escalator so his pal could be the first to the counter.”
By his estimate, Selfridges was selling 22.2 phones per minute.
Collins said a manager told him the Q10 sales outpaced Z10 numbers “by leagues.”
“The BlackBerry Q10 represents the next chapter in the BlackBerry 10 story and we are delighted that it has been so well received,” said Rob Orr, manager, director of BlackBerry U.K and Ireland. “This initial success at Selfridges highlights the strong consumer demand for a high-end physical keyboard smart phone.”
The Q10 is scheduled for release in Canada on May 1.