Is BlackBerry demand souring?

Research In Motion (RIMM) is seeing “disappointing” sell through trends, according to Pacific Crest’s James Faucette.

“Our checks with carrier retail outlets across North America and with third-party retailers in Western Europe indicate that BlackBerry handset sell-through through the middle of October has been slightly disappointing,” he wrote in a research note this morning.

He asserts that early sales of the Pearl Flip are “tepid at best,” with “particularly disappointing” demand at T-Mobile. “We believe that some of the stores had only sold one or two, despite the product having been on sale for a couple of days,” he writes.

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U.S. and European handset demand was “lackluster” in August, creating pressure on pricing, Pacific Crest’s James Faucette asserted in a research note this morning.

Faucette says says handset sell-through is up sequentially from July, but below expectations for the beginning of the back-to-school season. He adds that “price pressures on handsets continue to mount.” He notes that the mix of Apple (AAPL) iPhone 3G sales during August has shifted “decidedly” toward the $199, 8GB model. He says that will increase the difficulty of selling other smartphones “in the usual $250 to $300 range.”

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