BlackBerry Won't Be Releasing Any More Handsets In Japan

In light of lackluster demand, BlackBerry (previously RIM) has elected to forego BlackBerry sales in Japan. According to Reuters, this is due to an extremely small market share in the nation of only 0.3-percent, a drastic fall from the already tiny 5-percent it previously held. Because of this, the burden of creating a Japanese version of its BlackBerry OS isn't worth it.

While Reuters couldn't reach the company for comment, the folks over at Engadget did get a response from a company spokesperson who confirmed the rumors. In the response, the spokesperson said: "Japan is not a major market for BlackBerry and we have no plans to launch BlackBerry 10 devices there at this time. However, we will continue to support BlackBerry customers in Japan."

On Wednesday, we reported that BlackBerry 10 had a wildly successful launch day in Canada, where the company broke its own records by 50-percent. In addition, BlackBerry has reported that its sales in the UK are nearly thrice the best initial week sales of any other BlackBerry handset.

BlackBerry 10 isn't set to release in the United States until near the end of March, with the Q10 not slated to hit shelves until several weeks after the Z10. Many feel this is a bad move on BlackBerry's part, something that will ultimately hurt it, especially given the long duration over which BlackBerry 10 has been discussed and has been in development.

[via Engadget]