A new report has AT&T shaping up to be the first wireless carrier in the U.S to release the BlackBerry Z10. The AT&T BlackBerry Z10 is expected to be available in AT&T stores, online and big box retail locations on March 15. But sales might be affected if this debut gets caught in the undertow from Samsung's big announcement of its wildly anticipated Galaxy S4 the day before, on March 14.
According to sources, AT&T made it clear to BlackBerry that it wanted to the first major carrier in the U.S. offering BlackBerry's flagship smartphone. AT&T is rumored to have moved up its plans to release the BlackBerry Z10 after being expected to release the smartphone at the end of March. T-Mobile had been widely reported as the likely first carrier for the BlackBerry Z10, with Frank Sickinger, head of business sales at T-Mobile USA, recently telling Bloomberg:
"The device is more stable than we anticipated," said Frank Sickinger, head of business sales at T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG. "If we are able to speed up the launch date, we will do that. Right now it's looking like mid-March."
If the rumor is true, it now appears that BlackBerry has chosen AT&T to be the first carrier out of the gate to sell BlackBerry's flagship smartphone. But with Samsung having just announced the Samsung Galaxy S4 the day prior, potential smartphone buyers might hold off purchasing the BlackBerry Z10 after they hear what Samsung has packed into the Galaxy S4. Timing is everything in the launch of a smartphone, and it's an even bigger deal when it's a smartphone with a brand new operating system.
This isn't the first time a smartphone maker decided to launch a smartphone the day after another very high-profile smartphone was announced. Palm and Sprint released the Palm Pre on June 9, 2009. Apple announced the iPhone 3GS the day before, on June 8, 2008. Apple's announcement of the iPhone 3GS completely overshadowed the launch of the Palm Pre and definitely hurt sales of the device, as consumers waited for Apple to release the iPhone 3GS.
Do you think this will affect sales of the BlackBerry Z10? Let us know in the comments.
