Best Buy has cut the price of BlackBerry’s Z10 smartphone to $49.99 with a service contract, two weeks after the Canadian smartphone maker reported lackluster sales of the flagship touch-screen model.
The Z10 is available at that price with a two-year contract from Verizon or AT&T. The device originally went on sale in the US in March at $199.99, on a par with Apple’s iPhone.
Sales of the Z10 last quarter were almost 1 million units short of analysts’ estimates, contributing to a surprise loss for BlackBerry.
The company is now increasingly dependent on the newer Q10 phone, which features a physical keyboard and appeals to its existing customer base.
BlackBerry, which has steadily lost market share to Apple and other rivals, accounted for less than 3 percent of global smartphone sales last quarter.
Meanwhile, the beleaguered handset maker may also be facing an increase in executive departures as retention bonuses expire.
One-year incentive packages offered starting last July to help get the company’s BlackBerry 10 phones and software built and delivered on time are expiring. Managers failing to meet the figures will face termination, an informed source said.