The BlackBerry Q10 smartphone appears to be a hit in the UK in its first three days on the market, with British media reporting one major British phone retailer selling 2,000 handsets in just 90 minutes.
According to The Guardian, major retail chain Selfridges said has described the Q10 as its London, Birmingham and Manchester stores’ fastest-selling consumer electronics product ever.
“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.”
Meanwhile, Carphone Warehouse organised separate queues for consumer and small business customers, with some small business customers purchasing dozens of the devices at a time.
While the UK has traditionally been one of BlackBerry’s strongest markets, the news is nonetheless encouraging for the company, which is facing tough competition from Apple and Android devices.
The BlackBerry Q10 is the first smartphone based on the BlackBerry 10 platform to feature a traditional keyboard, rather than a full-screen touchscreen display as the Blackberry Z210 did.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
