BBRY Adds Carrier Partner

Customers in the U.S. who have waited long, will finally be able to lay their hands on Research in Motion Limited’s ( BBRY - Analyst Report ) latest smartphone Z10. The Canadian handset manufacturer has now added AT&T Inc. ( T - Analyst Report ) as its carrier partner in the U.S. The launch of the smartphone has been delayed in the U.S. by seven weeks of its earlier planned launch as it underwent extensive carrier testing.

Priced at $199.99, the smartphone is expected to hit the AT&T stores by Mar 22, 2013 with a two year contract. In fact, presales are expected to begin from Tuesday. Another top U.S. carrier T-Mobile USA also announced that Z10 will be widely available in its stores from next week, but did not disclosed any specific launch date or price of the phone.

The U.S. launch of Z10 together with a takeover rumor from China’s Lenovo Group pushed the share price higher as the stock ended at $14.90, up more than 14% at the end of trade on Mar 11, 2013.

Research In Motion, once the global leader of smartphones has been struggling over the last 3-4 years, as they failed to identify consumers’ preferences and has been battling in a crowded smartphone market mainly dominated by Apple Inc.’s ( AAPL - Analyst Report ) iOS and Google Inc.’s ( GOOG - Analyst Report ) Android Platform.

After years of delay, BBRY finally launched its much awaited BB10 OS (operating system) based device on Jan 30, 2013. BBRY’s fresh new platform will be tested as the company hopes to revive its fortune via its latest OS based devices.

The company started selling its device in the U.K. one day after its launch in the U.S. and has expanded in 20 other countries since then. Research in Motion has seen robust demand for its flagship device in some of the markets including U.K., Canada and U.A.E. Moreover, BBRY has witnessed strong customer switch from other OS platforms to their latest BB10 based device.

Recently BBRY suffered a setback as major U.S. carrier Sprint-Nextel Corp. has denied an offer to Z10 being part of its portfolio. Moreover, the U.S. launch comes close on the launch of two popular android based devices from Asian manufacturers – HTC and Samsung Electronics.

However, it order to gain popularity, Research in Motion has to be successful in the lucrative U.S. market, where BBRY has a mere 6.4% market share at the end of 2012. We believe offering the latest device on the fastest U.S. LTE (Long Term Evolution) network of AT&T is positive news for BBRY. It will give the Canadian handset manufacturer the opportunity of a foothold in the world’s largest smartphone market. Additionally, it will allow Research in Motion to compete better with Apple’s iPhone 5, which is also retailed by AT&T for $199.99.

Currently, Research in Motion carries a Zacks Rank # 3 (Hold).