“BlackBerry plans to ask securities regulators in Canada and the United States to probe what it said is a ‘false and misleading’ report that consumer return rates for BlackBerry’s new Z10 smartphone have been especially high,” Euan Rocha and Emily Flitter report for Reuters. “The Canadian company, which has pinned its turnaround hopes on its new BlackBerry 10 line of smartphones, went on the offensive on Friday after the report from Boston-based research and investment firm Detwiler Fenton sent its stock tumbling on Thursday. BlackBerry said return rates for its flagship Z10 devices have been at, or below, its forecasts and in line with industry norms.”
Rocha and Flitter report, “BlackBerry said Detwiler Fenton had so far refused to share its report or its methods. It said it would present a formal request for an investigation to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and to the Ontario Securities Commission, which is Canada’s major securities regulator, over the next few days. Detwiler has had run-ins with regulators in the past, documents reviewed by Reuters show. But none of the cases involved questions about the accuracy of Detwiler’s research or were linked to BlackBerry. The OSC said it would review the matter once it receives a formal complaint.”
Rocha and Flitter report, “A spokeswoman for Detwiler did not respond to a phone call and an email from Reuters seeking comment. The director of research also did not respond to a call seeking comment. ‘We believe key retail partners have seen a significant increase in Z10 returns to the point where, in several cases, returns are now exceeding sales, a phenomenon we have never seen before,’ its report said. Detwiler Fenton gave no details on how it had gleaned this information. While a number of brokerage firms have in recent weeks published reports saying Z10 sales in the U.S. market are slow, none of them have flagged any major concerns about returns.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Even if it is too late for beleaguered BlackBerry, it’s nice to see a company stick up for themselves in the face of reports they claim are “false and misleading.”
Hint, hint.
Good luck trying to wake up the SEC, DCW.
I own a Z10 and I think it’s a great phone. It does have a learning curve to get used to the gesture based controls but once you get over the hump it’s incredibly intuitive. When I first read the report I was shocked as I know other people with the Z10 and they are all very happy with them. This is the lengths that some will go to try and depress BlackBerry shares, they lie.
“I know other people with the Z10”
LOL. Yeah right. I have a girlfriend who lives in Canada, too.
I had sex with a girl in Canada once. Once.
I had an ’89 Honda Civic made in Canada, but it was too small to have sex with Canadian girls in. But I still would have tried if my wife would have let me.
You need to look up the definition of intuitive: by definition, it shouldn’t require any “hump” to get over.
“This is the lengths that some will go to try and depress BlackBerry shares, they lie.”
LOL – sort of like obvious trolls, getting paid to shill?
Hey Jim:
You piece of crap astroturfer, welcome to MDN. You will never come back here because we will swarm and attack you for the fraud that you are.
I’ve used a Z10 and I think it’s a piece of shit.
“devices have been at, or below, its forecasts and in line with industry norms.”
Notice how Blackberry never gives any concrete numbers? Their forecasts could be 50% for all anybody knows. And nobody knows what they think is the industry norm. Anytime someone uses the word “norm” like this they’re full of it. And who “forecasts” return rates? nobody forecasts return rates. You just “expect” return rates to be a set percentage based on past experience. This has lie written all over it. What a pile of saving their butt PR.
Here’s the problem. Blackberry could Detwiler Fenton, and win, but only if Detwiler Fenton was lying and if Blackberry is willing to open their books to prove their case. The later could be very damaging.
Blackberry will never reveal any real data. This complaint will go nowhere. It’s just a PR stunt.
From what I’ve read, Detwiler is on firm ground because they spot checked retail. If retail tells you that returns are high, etc. then you report that. There’s nothing Blackberry can do.
As far as I can see, Detwiler didn’t spin this as much as the media has. It’s the media pushing the returns exceeding sales bit. That’s not what Detwiler is saying in a generalized way.
Sorry Blackberry, just shut up and die.
Except the truth is BB did release Q4 data. And next Q1 data will be released when required. There is nothing to be gained by releasing more. And coordinated attacks by sell side analysts have been soundly trounced. BB is exceeding all their targets. See for example jaberwock at seeking alpha. You lose fella.
Cool. What’s a Z10? Suppository right?
I thought it was Chevy with a sporty paint job, like the Z28 Camaro or Z24 Cavalier. Maybe it’s a sporty Chevy Spark?
http://www.chevrolet.com/spark-mini-car.html
Look, what you do with your phone in privacy is your business, but please don’t share in public.
A few pints while listening to Flogging Molly and look what Fenton came up with.
I think Apple could appoint a FUD “Czar” who could tear down the mountain of manipulative lies.
It would have to be done in a manner so as not to be seen as defensive or weak.
Also, can’t give away the pipeline.
Can BlackBerry start by opening its records regarding the one million phones sold and to whom?… Like to know their methods!
yeah right, BBRY, ask the regulators. Soooooo sensitive uhhhhh
this kind of FUD happens to Apple almost every week . At least
one thing good for BBRY CEO is that he’s doing something about
the FUDs. Not Tim Cook, never even tried.
Absolutely! Great observation.
While I applause BB for pushing back, it has long been Apple’s policy to ignore and not get embroiled in these public claims by analysts or pundits. I’m not saying it is right or wrong, just that Cook has been following the SOP at Apple. There are time though that I’d like to see someone from Apple call bullsh*t on the FUD.
As Steve Jobs did several times, with prejudice. Back in the days of yore, Apple was no inert punching bag. But with his passing, the rodents and scavengers cautiously emerged from their squalid burrows and crept ever closer to the inattentive guardians of the secret, and by now their ferality is rampant and unchecked.
aapl stock gets a heck a lot of manipulation and false analysis. so why doesnt apple do a RIM and ask for formal investigations?
e.g:
Doug Kass goes on CNBC and rips into apple. The stock goes down as his shorts pay off. Then he sheepishly tells people he has bought a whole bunch at the down point because now he has info that Apple will boom and he rides the stock up again.
He does it over and over with plenty of help from CNBC.
— example two.
Analyst firms like Nomura give the most crazy ‘analysis’ of apple. For example when the iPhone was launched their Richard Windsor gives a formal report that iPhone screens will fail because it’s based on heat technology bought from a European company. But of course iPhone doesn’t use heat but touch capacitance…
Aapl stock tanks.
etc. etc etc.
Apple though never takes action so now it’s stock has one of the lowest P.Es around, lower than the S&P average…
It has way lower P.E than microsoft! i.e investors have more faith that Msft will do well than Apple….
(OK, OK , maybe Apple shouldn’t go legal action — apple legal sucks anyways.
but perhaps they could have some PR guys to correct the nonsense?
When the nomura report came out with the heat screens a few years back and help knock the stock down 20% (together with the ‘missing iPhones hidden in channel story’ from the Street.com) i was astonished Apple said zero, like would it have killed apple to announce ” No we don’t use heat tech on iPhones’?
Apple management : ” we’ll let them slap apple around, sooner or later they will get bored cleaning the blood off their hands or they will get tired. That’s how we deal with bullies in school… “.
Glad you said what some of us were kind of thinking. I agree. Although I have a slightly different idea what’s going on inside the citadel.
First, I take CEO Tim Cook at his word when he said at a conference call this year that he won’t respond to FUD, essentially because doing so would be a never-ending task. Fine; still, the depth and persistence of his silence indicates something more than just not wasting time refuting everyday rumours.
It can’t be a company SOP to ignore slanderous attacks. That would be idiotic, to expose yourself to billion-dollar losses in valuation, only for the sake of turning the other cheek? Preposterous.
My theory is this: it’s the culmination of Steve Jobs “going thermonuclear” on Google for IP theft leading to Android market dominance AND to the encouragement that gave to others, especially Samsung, to engage in piracy with impunity.
The court trials are just a sideshow, a red herring. I think Apple has doubled down on secrecy and are staying out of the rumour mill deliberately while working on the Next Big Thing. And the Thing after that. &etc.
In conclusion, after employing misdirection and secrecy, Apple’s planning on shocking the world again, and again, as often as it can. There have been delays in implementing the next wave of disruption only because of the additional moves made necessary by more betrayal from within, this time by Samsung.
“after employing misdirection and secrecy, Apple’s planning on shocking the world again”
sure hope you are right.
I find Apple, with it’s “There’s iPhone. Then there’s everything else”-headed webpage…
http://www.apple.com/iphone/why-iphone/
… are showing more aggressiveness. That page is well made. They’re doing things new-age Apple-style, though, it seems. I miss the Intel suit, Mac and PC guys. If they don’t have a commercial like that up their sleeve, they truly are missing out on a grand opportunity.
Look at Mac OS X’s and iOS’s competition… Windows is ready for the slaying by bringing the Mac / PC guys back and concentrating on how the user interfaces compare. Someone on here commented a while back that Windows 8 looks like the Partridge Family bus. I couldn’t agree more… It’s fucking chaotic.
On the iOS front, they have a website (see above) that could be truncated to fit in commercials, bullet point by bullet point.
Maybe they are waiting for something they are going to unleash or do? I sense something big coming soon, lol! Regardless of what’s coming, they should be more aggressive regardless of their position currently. Yeah, they are at the top when it comes to quality products… that doesn’t mean they should rest and leave the advertising to idiotic “analysts”. These analysts with their predictions of future products (and negative manipulation) are starting to become annoying and tiresome.
To recap: Apple needs to push some edgy commercials out. When Steve was in charge, Steve would often rebuke naysayers via his famous e-mails. There were also commercials that pushed Apple’s competitor’s buttons. It was great. It was just as much an integral part of Apple’s DNA as was (and still is) making the best products out there.
beleaguered 🙂
Unless BB’s lobbying effort on par with Google’s level, I wish BB best of luck try to get anyone @ SEC on phone. 🙂
Sabotage…..