BlackBerry to Launch the Q10 in India on June 6th – Rumour

By: Ali Raza  |   June 3rd, 2013   |   Android, Apple, iOS, News, O Canada, Smartphones

Rumours have stated that T-Mobile is launching the QWERTY keyboard enabled BlackBerry Q10 on June 5th. Now according to the latest speculation the new BlackBerry 10 smartphone will make its debut in India a day after it is to be launched by T-Mobile. In fact, the Waterloo-based company has already sent the invitations of the June 6th event to respected guests in India. Prior to the Q10, BlackBerry has launched the all-touch Z10 smartphone in India during March. The Z10 was warmly greeted by consumers, as its sales were beyond the expectations of the Canadian company. However, 45 percent of those Z10 sales were the courtesy of other platforms. According to the latest survey, which was revealed during BlackBerry Live, 64 percent of users who have exchanged their BlackBerry smartphones with Apple’s iPhone or Samsung’s Android devices are enticed by the new Q10. It now seems these former BlackBerry users are looking to switch back to BlackBerry.

 

On the other hand, 76 percent of the current Blackberry smartphone users have said that a physical QWERTY keyboard is sufficient to keep them loyal to the brand. Coming back to the Q10 release in India, BlackBerry expects to see some serious demand for its latest BB10 handset, as users who love typing on the QWERTY keyboard are likely to purchase the latest smartphone in big numbers. It is expected that BlackBerry will offer the Q10 at a high price in contrast to the Z10. Just the way Canadian manufacturer had done in the U.S., it priced the Q10 at $50 more than the Z10 that was available on contract. But reports from India suggests that the Q10 will come at a price of 35,000-40,000 Indian Rupees that is equal to $619-707, which is less than the price of the Z10.

 

Since India falls in the developing smartphone market category therefore smartphone makers always find it really tough to price their device according to the region because if it’s too expensive for most users, the device would not be able to achieve decent sales. It is because of this very reason, Apple’s iPhone was not able to gain the attention of  consumers, but just when the company cut its price down and offered installment plans, the sales of the iOS smartphone saw a impressive 400 percent increase in the sales. So let’s see whether BlackBerry has learned something from Apple’s experience in the Sub Continent.

 

Source: PhoneArena

Photo: BBin