BlackBerry Z10 Returns ‘Exceed Sales’

The BlackBerry Z10 smartphone hasn’t sold well in the U.S., according to some analysts.

What could be worse for BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion Ltd. than weak early sales of its new flagship phone? The possibility that people who did buy the phone are returning it.

In two separate reports Thursday morning, analysts noted a weak launch of the BlackBerry Z10 in the U.S.

ITG analyst analyst Joe Fersedi writes that the Z10 launch “started poorly and weakened significantly as the days passed,” and that Z10 sales are “in line-to marginally ahead of anemic sales” of older BlackBerry models and the Nokia Lumia 822.

Fersedi said that initially the Z10’s share of sales was 4% at Verizon stores and 7% at AT&T stores, but those numbers have fallen to about 1% to 2%.

Perhaps worse, according to a report from Detwiler Fenton, customer returns of the Z10 are actually outnumbering sales.