Apparently the Brits aren’t much for Apples: By some accounts the BlackBerry Q10 is one of the fastest-selling product launches in the UK. Ever. That’s not a backhanded compliment, either: By all accounts, the only outlet carrying the Q10 is selling “thousands per hour.”
In a statement, Selfridges said that the Q10 had been its fastest-selling consumer electronics product ever, through its London, Birmingham and Manchester stores. “Selfridges’ initial stock of the BlackBerry Q10 sold out in stores within two hours,” the store said in a statement. “Stock of the BlackBerry Q10 is being continually delivered on the hour, every hour to keep up with demand.”
Making this especially surprising is the fact that BlackBerry has been treating the Q10 like an ugly stepchild: It got almost no marketing and won’t even be arriving in BlackBerry’s home country until tomorrow. The Z10, its flashy new touchscreen phone, has been available across the world since March. It… has been coolly received.
So why is the Q10 selling like gangbusters while the Z10’s returns are exceeding its sales? This is just a guess, but it’s the keyboard. By all accounts, BlackBerry fans are piling up in droves to buy this phone, and a lot of corporate types are buying it as well. Apparently, having the physical keys available really appeals to a wider swath of customers than anybody, including many analysts, were expecting.
The question now becomes… will the Q10 be able to keep BlackBerry afloat? We’ll find out soon enough: It arrives in the US in June.