BlackBerry 10 might be finding early success in Canada but it won't extend to Japan.
First reported by Japanese newspaper the Nikkei business daily and confirmed by AllThingsD, Blackberry's global roll-out for its new platform and Z10 handset will not include Japan.
In a statement to AllThingsD, BlackBerry said in part:
Japan is not a major market for BlackBerry, and we have no plans to launch BlackBerry 10 devices there at this time.
The company will continue to support existing customer devices.
Although BlackBerry has strong support in parts of Asia -- namely Indonesia -- the company has struggled in Japan. In June 2012, BlackBerry's smartphone share was reported at under 0.4% according to comScore.
Speaking of Asia -- BlackBerry's plans for a China launch are still unclear. We asked about specifics at the launch event last week but were not given a clear answer on carrier or release dates. BlackBerry has not responded to our requests for more information on its Asia strategy moving forward.