The QWERTY Keyboard BlackBerry Q10 Lands in the US

The last weekend in April 2013 saw the first sales of the BlackBerry Q10. The initial sales were in the U.K. That weekend, the Q10 became the fastest ever selling consumer electronic device in the U.K., and BlackBerry was making hourly deliveries to keep up with the demand.

By the end of March 2013, the Z10 was available in the U.S. – two months after it was available in Canada and the U.K. There is no denying that when the BlackBerry Z10 came out as an all touchscreen smartphone, a lot of loyal BlackBerry users felt lost without the famous QWERTY keyboard. I myself had to get used to the screen keyboard.

On May 14, the keynote address for BlackBerry Live 2013 took place. During the address BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said that the Q10 would be available in the U.S. “shortly.” He was correct. Less than a month later, the Q10 has hit the shelves of T-Mobile USA.

T-Mobile began to sell the Q10 on Wednesday, June 5. Verizon Wireless, which has an exclusive on the white version of the Q10, has the smartphone available today online. They will have the device in the stores on Monday. AT&T began taking pre-orders for the smartphone on Wednesday. However, they haven't provided a release date as of yet. Sprint has been more vague, saying that it will carry the phone sometime this summer.

You might think that going from an all touchscreen smartphone to one that has a keyboard is taking a step backwards. TechRepublic, an online trade publication for IT professionals, released the results of a poll it conducted concerning the Q10. The results show that 64 percent of former BlackBerry enthusiasts who left the Z10 behind for either an Android or iPhone are tempted to switch back because of the Q10. An overwhelming 76 percent say that the Q10 would be enough to keep them loyal to BlackBerry. It would appear that a lot of people find comfort in the keyboard as opposed to the touchscreen version.

While I seriously doubt that the Q10 will sell out as quickly as it did in London, I do know of a lot of people who really like the QWERTY keyboard offered by BlackBerry. They will be the ones in line to make the purchase.