The love affair between BlackBerry (formerly Research In Motion) and Canadians does not appear to be waning. A poll conducted earlier this month by Forum Research Inc. found that about 8% of Canadians are “almost certain” to buy a BlackBerry 10 device over the next year. Another 19% were “very likely” to buy one as well. That could translate to sales of between 1.2 million and 2.6 million BlackBerry 10 devices in Canada alone.
The survey also found that BlackBerry 10 devices were most popular with those aged between 35 and 44 and making CA$100,000 or more a year.
While that part of the survey is encouraging, BlackBerry will have a lot more work to do with the 64% that said that they were “unlikely” to buy a BlackBerry 10 device.
Sales of the first BlackBerry 10 device were off to a solid start in Canada. While no specific numbers were provided, company CEO Thorsten Heins described the BlackBerry Z10’s debut as the “best day ever” for the launch of a BlackBerry smartphone in Canada. It would appear that, at least at this early stage, BlackBerry does have a chance to establish itself as Canada’s third-largest mobile platform in 2013 as predicted by IDC Canada late last year.
Analysts such as National Bank’s Kris Thompson and Byron Capital Markets’ Tom Astle expect that BlackBerry could ship between 35 and 40 million devices in 2014.
Read more: The Globe and Mail