BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins has said he expects 100,000 apps on board for the US launch of BlackBerry 10 and its Z10 handset later this week.
That's up from the total of 70,000 apps that were available in time for BlackBerry 10's UK launch on 31 January 2013.
Speaking to the Australian Financial Review, Heins emphasised that BlackBerry was working hard to build out its app offering, and was engaged in talks with high-profile holdouts such as Netflix and Instagram.
"They want ROI on their development dollars as well," he offered.
"I think this is a very respectful way of looking at your business, and it is our job to convince them that BB10 is a successful platform."
The mystery shopper
Heins also made reference to the recent purchase of one million BlackBerry 10 devices by one of its established partners.
Despite issuing a press release announcing the deal, Heins insisted that a 'confidentiality agreement' forbade him from disclosing the buyer's identity.
"It is the biggest ever [single purchase order] in BlackBerry history and we are really happy with the vote of confidence," Heins explained.
"This is huge, those customers take on inventory and a financial risk, and in doing this it shows that they have a very strong belief that they can be successful with BlackBerry 10."
Heins declined the opportunity to reveal wider sales figures for BlackBerry 10 devices to date, but told his interviewer that he had been pleasantly surprised by the number of consumers leaving rival platforms in favour of BB10.
Ageing Apple
Heins did, however, share his feelings on Apple's position in the smartphone market.
He explained that the new wave of high-end smartphones, such as the recently-unveiled Samsung Galaxy S4, have eroded the lead Apple once had, in terms of both market performance and design quality.
"Apple did a fantastic job in bringing touch devices to market," Heins explained.
"They did a fantastic job with the user interface, they are a design icon. There is a reason why they were so successful, and we actually have to admit this and respect that.
"History repeats itself again I guess. The rate of innovation is so high in our industry that if you don't innovate at that speed you can be replaced pretty quickly. The user interface on the iPhone, with all due respect for what this invention was all about, is now five years old."
[source: Australian Financial Review]
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