T-Mobile pulls BlackBerry from stores, BlackBerry cans Q2 earnings call
Days after BlackBerry announced it would stop marketing its handsets to consumers, consumer-oriented T-Mobile has dropped BlackBerry inventory from its stores.
T-Mobile, the fourth-largest mobile provider in the US, said on Wednesday it will stop carrying BlackBerry smartphones in its stores except for demonstration models, and instead will sell them only via its website.
"T-Mobile continues to support the BlackBerry platform. Customers can buy BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 devices in T-Mobile retail stores, online at www.T-Mobile.com and through B2B sales channels.
"The T-Mobile retail channel is moving toward fulfillment via direct ship for BlackBerry devices, rather than in-store inventory. A customer will still see a phone on the shelf. If the inventory is not available in the store, the device can be ordered," it said in a statement.
The carrier announced the decision citing weak demand from consumers, and saying businesses tended not to buy in stores, according to Reuters.
The move by T-Mobile follows BlackBerry's decision last week to drop its focus on consumers, narrow its future device lineup from six to four, and slash headcount by 4,500.
Following Monday's propose $4.7bn agreement by a consortium led by Fairfax Financial to buy BlackBerry, the company today also cancelled a second quarter earnings call scheduled for Friday.
"In light of the letter of intent agreement between BlackBerry and Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited that was signed and announced on Monday, September 23, BlackBerry has cancelled its second quarter earnings conference call and webcast that had previously been scheduled for Friday, September 27 at 8:00 am," BlackBerry said in a statement today.
The company plans to publish its second quarter results in financial statements to be filed next week.
Earlier this week it published a grim preliminary report, and expects GAAP net operating loss of approximately $950 million to $995m. It expects to report approximately $1.6bn in revenue for the quarter on recognised sales of approximately 3.7 million smartphones.
It's also taking a charge on inventory of approximately $930m to $960m in the quarter, primarily over BlackBerry Z10 devices.