Switching to an Android environment from its own BBOS may still keep BlackBerry relevant in the smartphone wars. According to the latest news, the latest company outing, the BlackBerry Priv, is doing so well that stocks dry up fast. In addition, it was also reported that BlackBerry stock prices are rising steadily.
According to CNN, the BlackBerry Priv sold out at retailers like Best Buy and Walmart last week, and both retailers seemed to have restocked on Friday. This is an indication of how fans and smartphone buyers have received well the latest BlackBerry flagship. The news site also stated that this was a surprise for the BlackBerry Priv, as previous iterations have performed poorly in sales over the last few years.
Phone Arena added that with the surprise figures for Priv sales, investors seemed to be flocking to the company. As of Wednesday last week, company shares were reportedly up 10%.
However, finance website Forbes seems reserved about the idea of the Priv making a financial turnaround for BlackBerry. According to the industry follower, while it is an indication that the Priv has been well received that it sold out, it might have been deliberately done as a "feel-good story," meaning that stocks available to retailers might have been within the low range, so the outcome would be such.
The website also indicated that for fans and observers to see how BlackBerry performed with the Priv, numbers would have to be based on quarterly earnings report, the latest one expected to be out this Friday, Dec. 18.
The Priv has been the first BlackBerry device to fully run on an outside software. Featuring a full Android platform rather than the BlackBerry OS, the Priv also features a slide-out physical keyboard, a 5.4-inch curved AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 808 processor, and 3 GB of RAM.
