Reports say that BlackBerry will halt sales in Japan

The Nikkei news agency is reporting that because BlackBerry cannot justify the expense of converting its new BlackBerry 10 OS into the Japanese language, the resurgent company is pulling out of Japan and will no longer sell its phones in the country. BlackBerry is smashing company records with strong sales of the BlackBerry Z10 all-touch phone, which has launched in the U.K. and Canada. But with just a .3% share of the smartphone market in Japan, the company would spend more money than it would receive if it converted the OS. Things might have been decided differently had BlackBerry continued to own the 5% of the Japanese market that it once had.

Those smartphone owners in Japan who already own a BlackBerry model will still continue to receive support from the company. But it looks like the new BlackBerry 10 will not be available in the country. Japanese users will remain stuck with the BlackBerry 7 OS that is available on the previous generation models like the BlackBerry Bold 9900.

source: Reuters