BlackBerry shares fall after bleak report on Q10 and Z10 sales

James Faucette, an analyst at Pacific Crest, has marked BlackBerry’s stock with an underperformance rating, which could end up influencing other speculators and analyst expectations for the current quarter. Faucette said that initial shipment and sales volumes for the BlackBerry Q10, the more recent of the two phones, have been less than stellar, The Q10 brings the familiar QWERTY keypad that BlackBerry made famous, but even that traditional form factor has bombed in a world where touchscreens are becoming the only norm. 

Despite that, Faucette added that the sales of the BlackBerry Z10, the first full touchscreen BB10 device, have also slowed down after initially looking healthy in the first phase of the launch. "We believe the production levels of 1.5 million to 2 million units per month are well in excess of the sell-through," Faucette said in a note to clients. Ominously, the note added that BlackBerry could be forced to cut the production rate of its smartphones to curtail further loss.