Can Research In Motion Ltd (BBRY) Rise Like the Phoenix With the Z10? – Apple Inc. (AAPL), Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NOK)

Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)‘s business phones had a good share of the market for a long time, but one thing they forgot was to innovate with time. This is where Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (KRX:005935) capitalized with their smartphones and operating systems. BlackBerry 10 has a lot to do so that the company can rebound out of its bad past.

The Z10 sales mystery

There are mixed reports regarding the sales numbers, as the company has not come up with concrete figures as yet. On one hand, Pacific Crest and Canaccord estimate sales of 275,000 to 325,000 phones for the February quarter, whereas Jefferies’ Peter Misek estimated a sale of 500,000 phones for the month of February. This has left investors confused as what to expect from the company.

According to Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), half of its BlackBerry Z10 sales in Canada, and one-third of UK sales are from customers switching from other platforms. Moreover, as per Glentel, the Canadian retailer, the Z10 has been the “leading smartphone” in most of its outlets across Canada. As per another report of Pacific Crest, the Z10 has grabbed around 5% to 8% of the total market in the U.K., and 15% to 20% in Canada, of the high-end smartphone market. With the launch of the phone in the U.S., things should get clearer about the future of Z10.

It’s getting better

BlackBerry has always been about reliability and security, which kept it ahead of others when it came to corporate clients. Of late, companies have been cutting down on the use of BlackBerry and opting for other phones. However, The Federal Office for Information Security of Germany has recently agreed on a deal to give half of its staff BlackBerry again. Such a deal will definitely not boost revenue and profit, but it shows that the company is still respected when it comes to security of your information, and new contracts might follow soon.

The company is placing its strategy right, as it is not looking for short-term profitability by trying to grab higher margins on the sale of its phone, but is being far-sighted by trying to reclaim the lost market share. The growth in the company’s market share makes it evident that its plans are delivering. Once the mobile users are satisfied with the phone and services, it can charge higher fees and users will not mind paying extra.

Competition upfront

A smartphone without a stellar OS to back it up is nothing better than any ordinary phone. Android and Apple’s iOS have a plethora of app offerings to support their high-end phones. Moreover, to Samsung’s advantage, it has an operating system on its devices for free. This gives it the advantage to focus exclusively on hardware production from the time they happened to use Android. On the other hand, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) both have to face the strain of developing revolutionary software.