In a move just now being confirmed after months of region-wide product shuffling that kickstarted rumors of complete removal, T-Mobile has officially confirmed to Reuters that it is pulling the BlackBerry line from retail sales and moving the line to direct ship status, meaning that customers or businesses that wish to purchase BlackBerry hardware will have to order online or through Telesales from now on, underscoring the bleak sales performance of the platform for the carrier.
Other carriers have similar BlackBerry sales policies, such as Sprint with the Q10 to limit losses from stale inventory, but this is the first time that a US carrier has actively pulled the current BlackBerry line from retail sales due to low sales and relegated it to online/Telesales only status for all orders.
Of course, one could still order from a retail store with help since demo units will still be available, but no devices will be kept in stock for immediate purchase and activation, instead all orders will be shipped to the customer whether ordered from a retail location, third-party dealer, telesales or online. This also follows last Friday’s bleak earnings news and this past Monday’s purchase news, exacerbating BlackBerry’s struggles to turn itself around.
