Verzion Communications Inc.
(
VZ
), the largest telecom carrier in the U.S., plans to follow suit
with the second-largest carrier
AT&T, Inc.
(
T
), in launching
Research In Motion Limited'
s (
BBRY
) latest BlackBerry Z10.
Priced at $199.99, with a two-year contract, the smartphone is
expected to hit the Verizon stores by Mar 28, just six days after
its arrival at AT&T stores. Even T-Mobile USA, the third
largest carrier of the country, disclosed that Z10 will be widely
available in its stores from this week onwards, but did not
mention the price of the phone.
The newly launched BlackBerry Z10 is a full touch screen
smartphone having a much faster and smarter operating system (OS)
than its predecessors and includes features like 1.5 GHz dual
core processors, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage and an expandable memory
card slot. Additionally, the phone has an astonishing camera, a
superfast browser and is preloaded with social sites like
Facebook
(
FB
), Twitter, Foursquare and
LinkedIn
(
LNKD
).
Research In Motion's BB10 OS will also support some of the
most popular gaming applications including Angry Birds from Rovio
and WhatsApp. However, the struggling handset manufacturer lags
far behind
Google Inc.
's (
GOOG
) Android and Apple Inc.'s iOS Platform.
At present, Verizon Wireless is the largest 4G LTE service
operator covering 89% of the total U.S. population. In a bid to
boost 4G LTE data growth, the company is continuously expanding
its 4G LTE device handsets.
At the end of 2012, Verizon Wireless had 92.5 million
post-paid subscribers of which 58% of the customers are having
smartphones. Such rapid adoption of smartphones has induced VZ to
add handsets of different varieties to its portfolio. Moreover,
the company is also looking for other smartphone options rather
than selling highly subsidized Apple's iPhones.
Currently, Verizon has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
RESEARCH IN MOT (BBRY): Free Stock Analysis
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VERIZON COMM (VZ): Free Stock Analysis Report
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