Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) - device-returns report a devised plan

Northern, WI 04/13/2013 (avauncer) - The Canadian smartphone-maker, Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (Closed: $13.64, Up by 0.66%), now known as Blackberry has said that it is going to ask for investigation of a report that said that its new Z10 devices have had a very poor response and very high return rates. The company is arguing that the information might have been deliberately released as a stock market maneuvering strategy and manipulation of the stock price. They went on to say that the information is false. Yesterday, a Boston-based financial services firm Detwiler Fenton & Co, said that U.S retailers had seen a large number of dissatisfied customers returning their Z10.

False report circulated?

They said that the primary reason for this being that they found the interface to be unintuitive. The firm had gone on to saying that in some cases the returns have been exceeding the sales of the Z10 and is a phenomenon unlike one that has been seen or experienced before. The report resulted in a 7.8 percent drop in Blackberry shares and was the worst drop of the stock in nearly 2 months. In response, the Waterloo, Ontario-based Blackberry has said that the sales have been meeting expectations and that the return rates are in tandem with the ones that prevail in the rest of the industry.

Crossing the line

It has asked the Ontario Securities Commission and the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission to conduct a review of the Detwiler report. The company said that either the data had been grossly misread by the firm or had been a willful manipulation on its part. In a statement, Steve Zipperstein, the Chief Legal Officer said that they are calling upon the concerned authorities in the United States and in Canada to have an investigation conducted immediately. He went on to say that everyone has the right to an opinion about the pro’s and cons of competing smartphones that are in the market today. However, it is when false statements are circulated with the express intent of influencing the market, that the red line is crossed.

New devices

Blackberry has its hopes pitted on its new Z10 smartphone and the Q10 which is yet to hit the shelves. The company has been facing stiff competition from rivals and is making every effort to turn around its performance. The stock has appreciated by over 50 percent since September as there is optimism about the prospects of the company but a larger number of short sellers have been betting that the company is not going to succeed in making a comeback. The smartphone market just seems to be getting tougher and tougher and has been an unforgiving one even with well-established brands.