At least three major operators refuse to stock the handset

Oct 9, 2014 14:52 GMT  ·  By

BlackBerry was pretty optimistic shortly after it launched the Passport and reported that more than 200,000 units were pre-ordered in the first 48 hours since the smartphone was put on sale.

However, things might not be as good as the Canadian company is letting us believe. At least three major carriers in the UK have declined Blackberry’s request to offer the Passport, MobileNewsCWP reports.

EE, O2 and Three will not carry the BlackBerry Passport anytime soon, unlike the 18 months ago when they were feverishly stocking the BlackBerry Z10, the company’s first full touch smartphone.

For the time being, customers in the UK can only purchase the BlackBerry Passport through Vodafone or Carphone Warehouse. The latter offers the smartphone for £530 (€675 / $855) outright.

According to Kantar Woldpanel ComTech Director Dominic Sunnebo, “operators will only take smartphones that their customers are asking for. It’s simply that consumers are not asking for BlackBerry.”

Based on this statement, UK customers do not seem to be too attached to BlackBerry’s new Passport, otherwise they would request their carriers to make it available.

Moreover, Gartner research director for smartphones Roberta Cozzasays that “mobile operators aren’t convinced by the Passport, or BlackBerry as a whole. Shelf space is in short supply and operators have to be careful with the products they stock, but they no longer believe in BlackBerry or think they can make a return on investment with their products.”

BlackBerry has to sell 10 million smartphones per year to be profitable

Although the future of BlackBerry, at least in the UK, seems bleak, the company’s Chief Operating Officer Marty Beard thinks that BlackBerry Passport and Classic success will carry the firm forward.

Last month, BlackBerry’s CEO John Chen said that, in order for his company to be profitable, it needs to sell 10 million smartphones per year. That shouldn’t be that hard considering the Canadian company sold exactly 20 million devices last year.

However, the number of BlackBerry smartphones sold this year will mainly depend on how well the Passport and Classic fare on the market.

“We know this space better than any other in the world, and we know this market is underserved today. The strategy of our turnaround is based on what we know and what mobile professionals demand the most,” said Marty Beard.

From these statements, it becomes clear that BlackBerry plans to play the role of a niche player in the smartphone market. It remains to be seen if the enterprise customers will be able to save BlackBerry from collapsing.