BlackBerry Q10 sells like hot cakes at Selfridges, breaks store records

UK retailer Selfridges has announced that the newly-released BlackBerry Q10 handset has broken the company’s technology sales record during its opening weekend at retail.

The QWERTY keyboard phone is the second in BlackBerry’s new line of BB10 smartphones and was a Selfridges exclusive, going on sale in the retailer’s London, Birmingham and Manchester flagship stores.

The handset broke Selfridges’ “fastest-ever selling consumer electronics record” well within 24 hours, with initial stock selling out in just two hours and the online pre-order site attracting 30,000 views in the two days prior to sales opening.

“The BlackBerry Q10 has been, without a doubt, the most highly anticipated smartphone we have ever sold and is already our most successful,” said Selfridges’ head of Home and Leisure, Julian Slim. “Our partnership has proven to be a powerful combination of great technology and commercial success.”

Rob Orr, BlackBerry’s UK managing director, shared the delight:

“The BlackBerry Q10 represents the next chapter in the BlackBerry 10 story and we are delighted that it has been so well received. This initial success at Selfridges highlights the strong consumer demand for a high-end physical keyboard smartphone.”

It’s welcome positive news for BlackBerry. Though the all-touch BlackBerry Z10 handset reviewed fairly well in critics’ hands, reports have suggested sales have been slow. It seems BlackBerry’s purists still want a physical keyboard, if early sales of the Q10 are anything to go by.Whether the early Selfridges-exclusive success is replicated when the Q10 goes on general sale remains to be seen.

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