TORONTO (Reuters) - BlackBerry said on Friday it would ask securities regulators in Canada and the United States to probe a report about retail return rates for its new Z10 smartphone that it called "false and misleading."
The Canadian company, which has pinned its turnaround hopes on its new BlackBerry 10 line, said return rates were at or below its forecasts and in line with industry norms.
"To suggest otherwise is either a gross misreading of the data or a willful manipulation," Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said in a statement. "Such a conclusion is absolutely without basis and BlackBerry will not leave it unchallenged."
BlackBerry said research and investment firm Detwiler Fenton had said Z10 smartphones were being returned in unusually high numbers, and had refused to share its report or its methods.
The company said it would present a formal request to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ontario Securities commission over the next few days.
Shares of Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry fell 8.0 percent on Thursday.
(Reporting by Allison Martell; Editing by Janet Guttsman and Bernadette Baum)
