BlackBerry Q10 is Selfridges fastest-selling gadget ever

The BlackBerry Q10 has raced to record sales in Selfridges stores, it has been claimed, in what some are claiming is a sign that the QWERTY keyboard still has a place in a smartphone world dominated by touchscreens.

According to the high-end retailer, unprecedented demand for the Q10 since Friday April 26th in its London, Birmingham and Manchester stores means the handset is now Selfridges’ fastest-selling consumer electronics product ever.

The phone, which was exclusively on sale at Selfridges, purportedly sold out entirely within two hours.

Rob Orr, Managing Director of BlackBerry UK and Ireland, said: “The BlackBerry Q10 represents the next chapter in the BlackBerry 10 story and we are delighted that it has been so well received.

“This initial success at Selfridges highlights the strong consumer demand for a high-end physical keyboard smartphone.”

So. The Q10 is an unqualified success, then? Hmm. Not just yet. Early sales can be a pretty unreliable indicator of a phone’s fortunes. And given that the phone was solely on sale in Selfridges, it’s not terribly surprising that the handset sold out.

That said, we can see the Q10 being BlackBerry’s most successful kit for some time. If only because its physical keyboard means it’s guaranteed a good level of pick-up from the company’s core of enterprise users, as well as the kids who have stuck with BBM over rival messaging services on other platforms