BlackBerry Q10 Available in KSA

By: Zain Nabi  |   May 7th, 2013   |   News, O Canada, Smartphones

The second of the duo of smartphones launched earlier this year by BlackBerry, the Q10, is now available for sale in Saudi Arabia. The smartphone was launched in the country yesterday in Riyadh where some local developers also showcased their talent through the apps they had designed for the new BlackBerry operating system.

 

Coming with a physical keyboard, the Q10 smartphone has generated strong sales all over the world since its launch. It was not available in the markets globally soon after its launch earlier this year and the Z10, the smartphone with virtual keyboard, was initially marketed. The Q10 was made available recently in Canada and Britain and early reports with respect to sales figures in those countries are very encouraging for the Canadian-based company.

 

BlackBerry fans in Saudi Arabia reportedly are very keen to get their hands on the latest BlackBerry product and the company is expected to initially generate good sales figures in this country too. Khaled Kefel, managing director of BlackBerry in Saudi Arabia, said, via Arab News:

 

“We have seen tremendous excitement for the launch of the BlackBerry Q10 in Saudi Arabia. This innovative new smartphone brings together the best of what we have with the signature physical keyboard that BlackBerry customers want.”

 

Meanwhile, Froot Apps and Numu Multimedia – both Kingdom-based developers – exhibited their applications for the Q10 in front of the audience during the launch event.  Ahmed Hamdan, CEO, Froot Apps, said on the occasion:

 

“With its intuitive interface and rich display, the BlackBerry Q10 provides users of the Ketabi eBook reader with an enriched experience. Having developed the first BlackBerry 10 eBook reader in Arabic, we are focused on creating locally relevant applications that will benefit from the potential of the BlackBerry 10 platform.”

 

Wael Al-Fayez, CEO of Numu Multimedia, also expressed excitement on launching apps for the BlackBerry platform and said while explaining his plans:

 

“With apps for some of Saudi Arabia’s major publications, we are enabling customers to access and share the latest news from the Kingdom and across the world with their friends and family on the move.”

 

Although BlackBerry might be able to generate good sales figures in Saudi Arabia initially, it will be interesting to see how well the market responds to the product in coming weeks, which will actually determine the potential of the smartphone.