UAE consumers caught in euphoria of souped-up devices

The UAE will be the third market globally where the device will be available in retail stores. The Canadian company claimed a historic record response in the first two markets; customers in the UK experienced the device first on January 31, a day after the launch. At its home market, it was unveiled on February 5.

“In Canada, February 5 was the best day ever for the first day of a launch of a new BlackBerry smartphone. In fact, it was more than 50 per cent better than any other launch day in our history in Canada,” BlackBerry president and chief executive officer Thorsten Heins said in a statement, posted on the company’s website. “In the UK, we have seen close to three times our best performance ever for the first week of sales for a BlackBerry smartphone.”

The same experience is expected in the UAE as thousands of devices have been ordered since pre-booking started from January 31 by telecom operators, its distributors and some of the top retailers.

Telecom operators etisalat and du opened new windows on their websites for pre-bookings in the UAE. They did not respond to Khaleej Times’ queries regarding the BlackBerry launch. Etisalat on its website offers four different packages ranging from Dh49 to Dh299 for the new BlackBerry. “The new BlackBerry Z10 will be available to pre-paid as well as post-paid customers on BlackBerry Complete, BlackBerry Unlimited and BlackBerry New Global packages,” it said.

Axiom Telecom, one of the distributors in the UAE for BlackBerry, said: “Levels of anticipation hit new levels when we announced that we were taking pre-bookings from January 31 and, following BlackBerry’s launch event, the Z10 order floodgates truly opened. All signs point to this being one of the year’s best-sellers.”

“We have had one of the best ever pre-booking campaigns. Already we have thousands of orders on the books,” Axiom Telecom chief executive officer Faisal Al Bannai told Khaleej Times.

“One of the reasons is that Axiom continues to maintain its position as the go-to destination for BlackBerry in the region by offering a range of benefits like exclusive accessory packs, special prices for those trading in their BlackBerry 9900 devices, free regional warranty and the Mena’s only one-hour repair service,” he added.

Axiom expects the device to do extremely well with both existing BlackBerry users looking to upgrade and newcomers, Al Bannai said, adding: “BlackBerry has done a wonderful job with the new OS, introducing many unique features. The market is abuzz with Z10 anticipation and this will definitely strengthen BlackBerry’s market share.”

abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com