 "BlackBerry launches Q10 for Rs 44,990")
BlackBerry on Thursday launched the Q10, its latest smartphone with the iconic QWERTY keyboard, in India at Rs 44,990, hoping to regain share in one of the world’s fastest growing phone markets that consumes about 17-18 million smartphones every year.
The Q10, which comes with a touch screen along with the QWERTY keyboard in the BB10 operating software, is priced above its previous product, Z10, that was launched at Rs 43,490 in February.
The Q10 becomes the second costliest product from the Canadian smartphone maker, after the P9981 that costs about Rs 1.39 lakh. According to the company, the Q10 will be available across 20 cities in India starting this Friday.
“There are buyers in every price segment,” said Sunil Lalvani, managing director, Blackberry India. The Z10 is for people who love touch screen and the Q10 is for the people who love keyboards, he added. (Go Qwerty, the BlackBerry way)
While BlackBerry has launched the Q10 keeping in mind the loyal BlackBerry users who are hooked to keyboards, many of them might have already switched to the Z10 in the past few months. So, they may not want to change the handset so soon.
The Q10 comes with a 3.1-inch touch screen and 16 gigabytes of internal storage. It also supports the fourth generation (4G) networks and has an eight megapixel camera and high-definition (HD) video recording facility. The device reportedly claims to have 14.8 days of standby time on 3G networks and it gives 13.5 hours of battery life as talk time.
According to recent reports, Blackberry has shipped 5.7 million handsets to India during the first quarter this year, an increase of 64 per cent from the corresponding quarter last year.
Interestingly, Japan’s Panasonic Corp launched its first smartphone, P51, in India in May, while South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Ltd the Galaxy S4 in April. Also, Chinese handset maker Lenovo Group Ltd launched a few smartphones in India on Wednesday.
While Samsung, Nokia Oyj and even Apple Inc have increased their market share substantially in the past few years in India, BlackBerry has witnessed a steady decline to 7.5 per cent.
Countdown starts for Q5
With the Q10 made available to public, the wait now starts for BlackBerry’s next device, Q5, which is expected to be priced much lower.
“The Q5 will be a perfect product for the India market. The price is yet to be firmed up. But it will be affordable, targeted at the youth segment. The device is expected to be in the market in the next three months,” Lalvani told Business Standard.
BlackBerry will continue to sell its earlier models that run on the BB7 platform. “We will cater to every segment. But certainly not targeting the entry-level smartphone segment,” he added.
Meanwhile, to push sales, the company has started offering equated monthly instalment schemes and exchange offers in India. “Our aim was to bring down the cost of ownership. So, we lowered data plan tariffs from Rs 299 to Rs 129 a month for 15 circles with Aircel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, for the full BlackBerry experience. It will be taken pan-India soon,” said Lalvani, adding the company had been going through a transition in the past one year.
“We have introduced BB10 as a platform with the launch of the Z10. Now there is the Q10. The Q5 is coming up. Now, it’s the phase of execution,” he added.
The Q10, which comes with a touch screen along with the QWERTY keyboard in the BB10 operating software, is priced above its previous product, Z10, that was launched at Rs 43,490 in February.
The Q10 becomes the second costliest product from the Canadian smartphone maker, after the P9981 that costs about Rs 1.39 lakh. According to the company, the Q10 will be available across 20 cities in India starting this Friday.
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While BlackBerry has launched the Q10 keeping in mind the loyal BlackBerry users who are hooked to keyboards, many of them might have already switched to the Z10 in the past few months. So, they may not want to change the handset so soon.
The Q10 comes with a 3.1-inch touch screen and 16 gigabytes of internal storage. It also supports the fourth generation (4G) networks and has an eight megapixel camera and high-definition (HD) video recording facility. The device reportedly claims to have 14.8 days of standby time on 3G networks and it gives 13.5 hours of battery life as talk time.
According to recent reports, Blackberry has shipped 5.7 million handsets to India during the first quarter this year, an increase of 64 per cent from the corresponding quarter last year.
Interestingly, Japan’s Panasonic Corp launched its first smartphone, P51, in India in May, while South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Ltd the Galaxy S4 in April. Also, Chinese handset maker Lenovo Group Ltd launched a few smartphones in India on Wednesday.
While Samsung, Nokia Oyj and even Apple Inc have increased their market share substantially in the past few years in India, BlackBerry has witnessed a steady decline to 7.5 per cent.
Countdown starts for Q5
With the Q10 made available to public, the wait now starts for BlackBerry’s next device, Q5, which is expected to be priced much lower.
“The Q5 will be a perfect product for the India market. The price is yet to be firmed up. But it will be affordable, targeted at the youth segment. The device is expected to be in the market in the next three months,” Lalvani told Business Standard.
BlackBerry will continue to sell its earlier models that run on the BB7 platform. “We will cater to every segment. But certainly not targeting the entry-level smartphone segment,” he added.
Meanwhile, to push sales, the company has started offering equated monthly instalment schemes and exchange offers in India. “Our aim was to bring down the cost of ownership. So, we lowered data plan tariffs from Rs 299 to Rs 129 a month for 15 circles with Aircel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, for the full BlackBerry experience. It will be taken pan-India soon,” said Lalvani, adding the company had been going through a transition in the past one year.
“We have introduced BB10 as a platform with the launch of the Z10. Now there is the Q10. The Q5 is coming up. Now, it’s the phase of execution,” he added.