Blackberry passport is actually selling out

BlackBerry never intended for the Passport to be a
phone that everyone would want to buy, but it’s
clearly got a lot of people excited. It’s already sold
out at two online stores and has taken the number
one spot in Amazon’s unlocked phones listing.
According to BlackBerry CEO John Chen, more than
200,000 Passports have been ordered since the device
launched on Wednesday. That figure isn’t in the
same ballpark as the iPhone 6, but it’s undeniably
impressive for a device from a company that
appeared to be crashing and burning. And it’s
already sold better than the Amazon Fire phone.
The chunky, awkward-looking Passport is also sold
out not just on BlackBerry’s own store, but also over
at Amazon. Early orders shot it past all other
unlocked phones, and that’s amazing to see for a
couple of reasons. For one, it’s a BlackBerry. On top
of that, it’s a $600 phone. While that’s not necessarily
expensive for an unlocked flagship device, it’s a lot
more than Amazon shoppers normally spend.
Other phones in the top ten include the $80 Blu
Advance 4.0 and the $170 Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini —
which is more than a year and a half old. Top-shelf
phones don’t generally sell that well in this particular
category on Amazon, but the Passport is for some
reason.
What is it that’s convincing people to buy the
Passport? Is it the fact that BlackBerry sweet talked
Amazon into letting them ship the phones with their
App Store pre-installed? Is it the massive battery and
crazy endurance it provides? The QWERTY keyboard?
Maybe it really is that weird square screen.
Reviewers have been saying how good desktop
websites look on it and how awesome the extra space
is for productivity apps. BlackBerry was aiming the
Passport at hard-working business types, and so far
it looks like the hit the mark.