When BlackBerry Ltd. Chief Executive Thorsten Heins was asked why he decided to start selling the company's new keyboard-equipped smartphone months after a new touch-screen device, he said it was because BlackBerry "owned" the keyboard phone market and could afford to wait.

That decision appears to have backfired. Sales of the keyboard-equipped Q10, which BlackBerry hasn't discussed publicly, have been dismal, according to carrier executives and retailers in the U.S. and Canada.

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