BlackBerry 10 date, price revealed
2013-02-18 08:13
Cape Town - The new BlackBerry 10 smartphone will be available in late March, a report has asserted.
According to a Liron Segev report on Gadget, the new touch screen BlackBerry Z10 which was launched on 30 January, will be available in SA between 20 - 23 March.
The 23 March date appears more likely as BlackBerry sent invitations to reporters for a "secret gig" exactly a month before, on 23 February.
The smartphone will retail for R6 999.95 according to a pre-order instruction on Incredible Connection's website, which was live on Monday.
It is unclear whether the version that will be sold in SA support the higher speed Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks pioneered by Vodacom and MTN.
Ecosystem
BlackBerry, though hinted that it would be unlikely that the devices will be LTE enabled.
"Let's face it, LTE is still in pilot mode in some ways here in South Africa and so they [mobile operators] didn't see the need to have an even more expensive device - that's the LTE device," Alexandra Zagury, BlackBerry managing director for South Africa and Southern Africa told News24.
The Canadian-based company is under pressure to ensure that the BlackBerry 10 platform is successful and has been building an ecosystem ahead of the launch.
Zagury said that the device, once popular with corporations, was a victim of its success because companies locked down many of the features for users.
"One of the challenges we've had - and that's why BlackBerry went through some troublesome times - is that people never knew even the BlackBerry 7 experience.
"Enterprises were locking down these phones so much that Facebook, BBM, Twitter were not allowed to be used on a BlackBerry. Apps were not allowed to be used on a BlackBerry," she added.
One of the features of the new platform is the ability for the user to switch between work and personal profiles, while maintaining security.
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