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BlackBerry Q10 won't arrive in the US until May at the earliest

BlackBerry Q10 won't arrive in the US until May at the earliest

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BlackBerry Q10 (color-corrected stock)
BlackBerry Q10 (color-corrected stock)

Although the BlackBerry Z10 is already available in the UK and Canada, buyers in the US won't be able to get their hands on BlackBerry's vanguard next-gen smartphone until mid-March. That's thanks to the "rigorous testing" that US carriers subject devices to, and according to CEO Thorsten Heins, BlackBerry's Q10 will be similarly delayed. In an interview with the Associated Press, Heins says that the QWERTY smartphone won't arrive on US carriers until 8-10 weeks after the Z10. That gives the US a May-June release window for the phone — its international release date is currently penciled in for April.

As well as revealing the US release schedule for the Q10, Thorsten Heins also told the news organization that international sales of the Blackberry Z10 were "beyond expectations." The CEO wasn't willing to share any numbers, but said "a substantial number of users" had moved from other platforms to BlackBerry. Despite Heins' comments, it's difficult to grasp whether or not BlackBerry 10 has gotten off to a truly strong start: until we see some firm figures from the Canadian manufacturer, we have no clue how high its sales expectations were in the first place.