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TechCrunch is ignorant about BlackBerry, says Chris Umiastowski

Former analyst Chris Umiastowski, writing for CrackBerry.com, took issue with a recent TechCrunch article that mocked BlackBerry's announcement of a million device order.

Former analyst Chris Umiastowski, writing for CrackBerry.com, took issue with a recent TechCrunch article that mocked BlackBerry’s announcement of a million device order. Last Wednesday, BlackBerry (TSX:BB) announced it had secured its largest ever order. The company said an unnamed partner had purchased a million BlackBerry 10 smart phones, with shipments to begin immediately.

Good news, right? Not so fast.

In an article posted the same day, TechCrunch writer Darrell Etherington lambasted the release, calling it “pretty hilarious”.

“So, to recap:”, said Etherington, “BlackBerry says ‘Here’s a wildly sizable order we got, with no real information provided (and no timeline for the delivery of the order, either), at a crucial time for our company when stock was slumping based on a dip after an earlier surge about acquisition rumors, ahead of quarterly results which will almost certainly be disappointing because they don’t yet represent and incorporate the launch of our new platform.”

Former analyst Chris Umiastowski, writing for CrackBerry.com, took issue with the TechCrunch article.

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“For TechCrunch to refer to the release as “pretty hilarious” is an enormous sign of ignorance”, he said in his March 14th article. He continued:

“First of all, when companies get record orders it is totally normal for them to pound their chest in the form of a press release. If the news is either good press or material to investors then it should be press released. Obviously this one million device order was both good press AND significant. Just look at how the stock shot up after the news hit the wire.”

Predictably, comments on the articles have fallen along party lines. On CrackBerry.com, user Rezia said:

“You know what I don’t understand? Why is it that when Home Depot switches to iphone, BB shares tanked. That was like 10,000 orders. And all the news was doom and gloom…”

User Superfly_FR said:

“BlackBerry is back” that’s exactly what it means. Not “BlackBerry will crunch appl and Google in months”. But the news seems to scare some … particularly those who printed “it’s not going to happen, BB10 is DOA”.

On Techcrunch, amid a smattering of BlackBerry fans was user Mike Krupit, who said:

“Suspect they might get mysteriously returned a few weeks after quarterly results are reported.”

Commenter Alex Kalogeropoulos also weighed in:

“Are they buying the phones from themselves? Only thing that makes sense.”

A week after announcing the order, there is still no confirmation of who might have placed it, but one candidate is Verizon.

In a press release issued shortly after the BlackBerry new, Verizon Wireless announced it will begin taking pre-order for black and white Z10′s the next day. In 2008, Verizon was the first to carry Research in Motion’s first touchscreen smartphone, the BlackBerry Storm. And in February, BlackBerry added former Verizon executive vice president Richard Lynch to its board.

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About The Author /

Cantech Letter founder and editor Nick Waddell has lived in five Canadian provinces and is proud of his country's often overlooked contributions to the world of science and technology. Waddell takes a regular shift on the Canadian media circuit, making appearances on CTV, CBC and BNN, and contributing to publications such as Canadian Business and Business Insider.
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  1. All this negativity towards BlackBerry stems from the fact that Wall Street has shorted about 1/3 of the total float of BlackBerry shares betting that the company is doomed and destined for bankruptcty…. They were expecting BB shares to go to zero!!! And they don’t like the fact that it is trending up! Shame on Wall Street….

  2. I’d like to thank Chris for his response to this clown from TechCrunch who fancies himself a tech blogger. The article in question was comedic in its attempt to discredit the largest single order in BlackBerry history. Congratulations to BlackBerry on the milestone and may you quickly surpass this mark with larger orders.

  3. I don’t know why short interst kept going up when the stock was at $12. BBRY has no debt and even if BBRy were liquidated or bought out, it would be worth more than $12/share. If Wall Street is shorting BBRY, Wall Street is full of more idiots than I ever realized.

  4. My son is middle management at Home Depot and they started turning over their bbry last week with very mixed reviews. This tells me that this deal was done awhile ago as large companies can’t move that quickly. They only changed 20% of their phones so it is still not a done deal yet.

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