Canadian phone maker BlackBerry has launched smartphone Q5 at a price of Rs 24,990 on Tuesday and have plans to launch 3 to 4 new phones in the coming months.
“We have complete roadmap for both the portfolios, Blackberry will be launching more phones this year running BB7 and BB10 operating systems,” said Blackberry India Managing Director. However, he refuses to divulge the details and said the company will be launching 3 to 4 new phones in upcoming months.
lalvani mentioned that “BlackBerry is specifically targeting the urban youth segment with the Q5 smartphone.” “Currently we don't have any plan for the low-end segment phones,” lalvani told The Pioneer, when asked that the company has any plan to launch low- end segment phones. The company expanded its BB10 smartphone line-up with the launch of Q5 device, which is a touch and type QWERTY smartphone. lalvani said that BlackBerry is specifically targeting the urban youth segment with the Q5 smartphone, and available with zero percent EMI option.
Besides the Q5 smartphone, He also announced the launch of BBM Voice service, which BlackBerry users can use free of cost. The service enables users to make audio calls with their contacts using the BBM Voice over WiFi. When asked if Dollar appreciation has made any impact on the pricing of BlackBerry products, he said that the company has absorbed the Dollar price instead of imposing it on consumers.
The company also plans to increase its online presence and is in discussion with e-commerce players to sell its products in the country. Currently, the company works in partnership with FlipKart to sell its products online.The Q5 not only brings the new swipe-based UI, but also a physical QWERTY keypad, which is a rarity these days. BlackBerry hopes that the two factors - the pricing and physical QWERTY keypad - would help it revive its fortunes in India, one of the few markets where BlackBerry was still witnessing growth before launching BB10.