Will Pricing on BlackBerry's (BBRY) Z10 at AT&T (T) Benefit Nokia (NOK)?
The device will go on sale for $199.99 with a two-year contract, standard for the higher-end smartphone segment.
Notably, AT&T is selling Nokia's (NYSE: NOK) high-end Lumia 920 for just $99.99 with contract. Nokia isn't the only one with a pricing advantage. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows Phone 8-eqipped 8X from HTC is going for $49.99 to $99.99.
Though pricing seems to favor Nokia in this case, consumers waiting to purchase BlackBerry devices will still purchase BlackBerry devices. Where Nokia may shine is when customers enter an AT&T store and find that a top-notch device costs half as much at the outset. Investors will need to watch BlackBerry pricing. If the price gets cut within a month or two following the start of sales, things might not be turning out as well as hoped.
It also almost seems like BlackBerry could have gone with something like $149.99 for the Z10. The company hasn't released a new device for months and it's trying to win over new customers with its sparkly, new operating system. Taking $50 off the price wouldn't necessarily damage the perception BlackBerry is trying to build and might even draw in younger users. BlackBerry's higher price might stem from expectations of drawing in lower service revenue.
Both companies are on watch with Samsung expected to unveil its next-generation Galaxy smartphone sometime this week.
Shares of Nokia are down 2.3 percent Monday, while BlackBerry is up 3.1 percent.