The BlackBerry Q10 smartphone, the first traditional-style Blackberry bearing the company's long-awaited new operating system, has sold out on its first weekend.
The first batch of the new device, which was released to generally positive reviews, was put on limited sale at Carphone Warehouse branches operating in Selfridges department stores in London, Birmingham and Manchester on Saturday, and sold out in hours as buyers queued up to purchase the new device.
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According to Selfridges, the Q10 smartphone was the fastest-selling electronics product it has ever sold, selling out within two hours despite the delivery of new stock "on the hour, every hour".
On the spot reports suggest many buyers were purchasing in bulk to export to buyers around the world who wanted to be among the first to get their hands on the devices, as well as diehard 'fans' of BlackBerry in the UK.
"They had suitcases, and one used the suitcase to block people on the escalator so his pal could be first to the counter. Carphone Warehouse had broken customers out into two lines – single unit buyers like me and 'multi unit' buyers," wrote Michael Collins on the Seeking Alpha website.
Collins said that about 2,000 £579.99 Q10s were sold within its first 90 minutes of sale, with the whole stock exhausted within six hours.
"Looks like BlackBerry isn't dead on arrival as [technology investment bank] Pacific Crest claimed. I honestly have not seen this much excitement since the iPhone 1 or 2... BlackBerry is selling into two-plus years of pent-up demand, while [Apple] iPhone and Samsung are selling into some serious hardware upgrade fatigue," concluded Collins.
According to BlackBerry, more than 100 major organisations are already rolling out and using 10-series devices to staff, with law firm Clifford Chance purchasing 1,600 BlackBerry Z10s.
Computing's sister publication V3 reviewed the Q10 last week, giving it four stars out of five, concluding that it is "a great phone for those looking for a smartphone with a physical keyboard, especially corporate users trading up from older BlackBerry devices".
It also offers "excellent" battery life – in stark contrast to the BlackBerry Z10, which can run down in just six hours of moderate use.
The Q10 will go on general sale in Canada on Wednesday 1 May, and in the US by the end of the month.
