Just over six weeks after the BlackBerry Z10 phone went on sale in Britain, the handset, which will very likely determine the fate of the company formerly known as Research In Motion, will start arriving in the hands of American customers.
Katie McFadzean, a spokeswoman for T-Mobile U.S.A., said in an e-mail on Monday that the carrier expects to deliver the first of the new BlackBerrys to business users “as early as the end of the week.†While T-Mobile has yet to announce when consumers will be able to buy the phone, AT&T said in a separate statement on Monday that the phone will become available on March 22, with preorders beginning Tuesday.
Shares of BlackBerry closed at $14.90, up 14 percent, on Nasdaq.
The Z10, a touch-screen phone that uses a new BlackBerry operating system, became available in Britain the day after its public unveiling in New York on Jan. 30. In Canada, where BlackBerry is based, the phone went on sale the next week.
The status of the United States as the world’s largest single market for higher-end smartphones makes it particularly important to BlackBerry’s comeback. The company effectively created the smartphone market in the United States and dominated it for years. IDC estimated BlackBerry’s share of the worldwide market to be just 3.2 percent during the last quarter of 2012.
While BlackBerry has not offered specific sales figures for Canada or Britain, Thorsten Heinz, the chief executive, has made several positive statements about the Z10’s initial reception in those markets, both places where the company’s brand has remained stronger than it is in the United States.
The Z10 will be coming to American stores close to the introduction of two Android-based handsets that are likely to receive extensive promotion by carriers and retailers.
One is from HTC, which has been struggling like BlackBerry. HTC recently unveiled a new, high-end phone it calls One. On Thursday, Samsung, the dominant maker of Android devices, will introduce the Galaxy S IV. Among other things, a tracking system on that phone is expected to allow users to scroll by using their eyes. Samsung also hopes to attract business and government customers with a new security system for its handsets.
AT&T will charge users who agree to a two-year contract $200 for theZ10. While that is the same as AT&T’s price for an Apple iPhone 5, it is considerably higher than the Z10’s upfront cost in Canada. All three major carriers there charge 150 Canadian dollars for the phone, or about $146, but require three-year contracts and generally charge higher service rates than those in the United States.
T-Mobile has not announced its consumer price for the Z10. Its advertised price for business customers is $250 with a two-year contract. Large businesses, however, will receive substantial discounts.
Verizon, which will offer a special white version of the Z10, did not respond to questions about its plans.
Sprint will sell only the BlackBerry Q10, a phone that combines a touch screen with the more familiar BlackBerry physical keyboard. It is currently not available anywhere in the world. Adam Emery, a spokesman for BlackBerry, said the Q10 will come to market next month, but he declined to identify the countries in which it would first be available.
! BlackBerr! y attributed the delay in the Z10’s United States release to testing by carriers. In an interview before Monday’s announcement, Chetan Sharma, a mobile communications consultant who has worked with wireless carriers, agreed that testing by American carriers is generally more rigorous than that done in other countries. But Mr. Sharma said unsuccessful BlackBerry introductions in the past, particularly with its first touch-screen phones, may have added to the delays at American carriers or at least discouraged them from accelerating the testing.
“They have been burned before with BlackBerry, so they are cautious,†Mr. Sharma said.
