How successful was BlackBerry’s big launch day in Canada? Record setting sales if you ask the Waterloo, Ont.-based smartphone maker or the carriers, but less impressive if you look to the search engine popularity.
BlackBerry issued the following statement today to media:
“In Canada, yesterday was the best day ever for the first day of a launch of a new BlackBerry smartphone. In fact, it was more than 50 per cent better than any other launch day in our history in Canada,” said Thorsten Heins, President & CEO of BlackBerry. “In the UK, we have seen close to three times our best performance ever for the first week of sales for a BlackBerry smartphone.”
The carriers concurred, with Bell Canada saying that orders for the Z10 smartphone best any previous BlackBerry model and Rogers Communications Inc. reported sell outs in at least some stores.
When it comes to how curious Canadians are about the device, Google searches for BlackBerry are a decent indicator. In the 30 days leading up to the Feb. 5 availability of the Z10, the search term “BlackBerry” was most popular on its Jan. 30 launch event. Since then, it sunk back below the more popular “iPhone” search term, but was still beating out “Android.”
Ontarians – especially in Waterloo and Markham – seem the most interested in BlackBerry, searching for the term more than elsewhere in Canada. Meanwhile, iPhone is a popular search term in Manitoba more than elsewhere, and Android found its strongest support in Ontario and B.C.
Brian Jackson is the Editor at ITBusiness.ca. E-mail him at [email protected], follow him on Twitter, connect on Google+, read his blog, and check out the IT Business Facebook Page. 
