BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins told media the white version of the Z10 smartphone was currently unavailable – a claim that has been disputed by What Mobile’s sister business publication, Mobile News.
In a number of press interviews in the US Heins claimed the “White is sold out already and the black is hard to stock up again.”
However, when Phones 4U’s customer services (which represents the entire company), and two of its retail stores on the ground, all of them said the white handset – which is exclusive to the retailer – was currently available. A stark contrast to the claimed ‘sell out’ nationwide.
While customer services quoted delivery of five days, the two stores contacted ‘ one in Leeds and one in Manchester ‘ both said handsets were available for purchase and collection now, with one saying they had ‘loads left’.
This caused Phones4U to issue a press release yesterday claiming that ‘over half’ of their 680 stores have sold out of the new Z10, another claim that is difficult to verify. See What Mobile’s story here.
Has Mr Heins perhaps overplayed his hand in an attempt to build hype in an Apple-esque fashion?
