“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.