<p>BlackBerry's phones have been off to a weak start in Canada, the home turf of the struggling handset maker. But the new BlackBerrys are getting a warm welcome from Verizon Wireless, the biggest American carrier.</p><p>Dan Mead, chief executive of Verizon Wireless, cheered on the new BlackBerry phones at an investor conference on Wednesday morning. He said Verizon Wireless customers are especially interested in the new BlackBerry phone that includes a physical keyboard, called the Q10 (the Q stands for "qwerty"), which has yet to be released on the Verizon network.</p><p>BlackBerry's new touch-screen smartphone, the Z10, has already turned in strong sales for Verizon, according to a recent analysis.</p><p>"We think that there is an important place for BlackBerry," Mr. Mead said at the Jefferies 2013 Global Technology Media and Telecom Conference. "We have a lot of BlackBerry customers on our network. There seems to be a hunger for the qwerty keyboard."</p><p><a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/08/verizon-chief-sees-hope-for-new-blackberry-phones/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57583422-94/verizon-wireless-ceo-gives-props-to-blackberry-windows-phone/">Verizon Wireless CEO gives props to BlackBerry, Windows ...</a> (CNET)</p><p><a href="http://pandodaily.com/2013/05/08/verizon-doesnt-care-about-blackberry-or-windows-phone-it-just-wants-to-beat-the-iphone/">Verizon doesn&#039;t care about BlackBerry or Windows Phone -- it just wants to ...</a> (PandoDaily (blog))</p><p><a href="http://bgr.com/2013/05/08/verizon-blackberry-q10-lumia-928/">Verizon Wireless CEO wants to see BlackBerry, Windows Phone succeed</a> (BGR)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dmU9g1G-GLEC63MCDOZkCXxvZIJQM&ned=us">15 additional articles.</a></p>