BlackBerry Z10 Release Date: Will Slow Sales Slow in Europe Affect U.S. Launch?

Sales of the new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone have been slower than anticipated, analysts say -- a worrying trend for the embattled company, which was hoping for a comeback with its BlackBerry 10 phones.

"BlackBerry may only have sold about 300,000 of its new Z10 smartphone with its make-or-break BB10 software by the end of its fiscal year on 2 March, analysts say -- a far cry from earlier estimates of up to 1.75 million, and leaving the company at risk of a fifth loss-making quarter in a row," writes The Guardian.

The phone is not yet available in the United States, but the slow sales could mean a later release in America.

The sales numbers are 83 percent lower than anticipated, worrying investors, even after initial reports of the Z10 selling out in some locations.

"With new BB10 smartphones launching in the U.S. only in mid-March or later at subsidized prices no better than competing high-end Apple/Samsung smartphones, combined with our expectations for the Galaxy S IV to launch at a similar time frame in the US market, we are lowering our BB10 sales estimates for the February quarter and all of F2014," wrote Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley in a note to investors.

Still, it is analysts' numbers that must be revised not BlackBerry's, and CEO Thorstein Heins was upbeat about the Z10's release.

"Heins was saying that sales of the Z10 had been three times better than any previous UK phone launch for the company, and that first-day sales in Canada were 50% better than any new BlackBerry launch -- but did not give figures," says The Guardian.

It's also possible that BlackBerry could move up a U.S. release to increase sales, or offer larger incentives to American consumers who buy the phone. But with the Mobile World Congress smartphone show just around the corner, BlackBerry has plenty of competition from Apple, Samsung, Sony, HTC and LG, all of whom are jockeying for a larger piece of the mobile market.