BlackBerry News: BB10 US Users Get Better Shows With PBS, Univisio, Viacom
BB10 has 1M Handset Buyers
BlackBerry seems bent on building the list of services that BB10 users can enjoy, as it recently boosted the offerings of TV networks for its BlackBerry World content.
This comes after collaborating with Zimbalam for its digital music distribution, perhaps moving on to television content this time around, reports The Next Web.
Now users can enjoy shows by PBS, Univision, and Viacom, so you can easily watch the likes of Downtown Abbey, or tune into channels like Nickelodeon, MTV, and Comedy Central.
However, for the meantime, this service extends only to US users. So if you are a US user of the Z10, you can enjoy these offerings including 20th Century Fox, Entertainment One, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, MGM, Lionsgate, The Walt Disney Studios, and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, to name a few.
"BlackBerry 10 is a great and growing platform for audiences to catch up with their favorite shows on the go," said Senior VP of Content Distribution for Viacom Media Networks Tom Gorke to The Next Web.
It's a pretty big step for BlackBerry to showcase not just the features of its flagship phone, but to also showcase just how fast they can get the big names in the industry to offer services for BB10.
1M BB10 handset buyer revealed
While this wasn't confirmed by BlackBerry due to confidentiality reasons, research company Detwiler Fenton claimed that it was Brightstar that bought the 1M handsets, reports The Guardian.
Brightstar is an electronics distributor for carriers that include Verizon, which will start selling the Z10 on Thursday.
"We think Verizon isn't very confident this is going to be a very big-selling product," said Mark Gerber, managing director of Detwiler Fenton, to The Guardian. "By handing that off to Brightstar, it suggests that they don't think it's a really hot product."
Considering the pretty disappointing performance that the handset experienced with its US launch, it seems that Verizon is taking the safer and less risky way when it comes to distributing the Z10. This is because any cases of leftover units after the sale would be in Brightstar's inventory, not Verizon's.
Nevertheless, it's too early to give up on BlackBerry just yet, not when the company's Q4 sales are yet to be revealed and with all the upcoming campaigns and improvements that the company has lined up for its users.
Just recently, BlackBerry announced in its Twitter account about a massive deployment of BB10 handsets with another company.
"20th Century Fox is deploying BlackBerry 10 to keep employees moving and BES10 for secure, industry-leading EMM. Welcome to Team BlackBerry!"
It seems that not everyone has give up on the device just yet.