March 22nd launch date for BlackBerry Z10 on AT&T?

According to two sources familiar with th plan, the BlackBerry Z10 will launch via AT&T on March 22nd. That is exactly one week after the launch date mentioned in the previous rumor. That speculation had AT&T as the first carrier in the country to launch the first BlackBerry 10 device. With this new date, we are unsure if AT&T or T-Mobile will get the honor of debuting the device in the U.S. Last month, T-Mobile said that because the device was more stable than expected, it could launch the model two weeks earlier than first thought which signified a release around the middle of this month. The carrier had earlier stated that it wanted to be the mobile operator to first bring the phone to the market in the U.S.

The all-touch BlackBerry Z10 is now available in 21 countries with none of them as important as the United States where the Canadian manufacturer has traditionally been able to generate 20% of its sales. While there is a question about just how strong sales of the device have been, there should be no doubt how the Z10 does in the U.S. After both AT&T and T-Mobile launch the BlackBerry Z10, Verizon will release the phone at the end of the month. There is some speculation that Big Red will be offering an exclusive version of the phone in white.

Sprint will not be offering the BlackBerry Z10, but will offer the QWERTY keyboard equipped BlackBerry Q10 which should come to the U.S. in May or June. The three other stateside carriers will also offer the Q10, which is a more traditional looking 'Berry with that fantastic physical keyboard. The reason for the delay in the launch of the BlackBerry Z10 in the U.S. has to do with the more stringent testing requirements that U.S. carriers have.

source: Bloomberg