BlackBerry Z3 to arrive in India on June 25; could be priced around Rs 14,000

[mmadhankumar]

We had earlier reported that BlackBerry Z3 will arrive in India when the global release is finalised. Now, news has it that the BlackBerry Z3 is all set to enter the Indian market soon. According to bbin.in, the company is all set to launch the device on June 25.

Blackberry has reportedly started sending out India launch invites that read, “Today’s India smartphone is here.” It further asks users to block their calendar for June 25 ‘to witness the unveiling for the next generation BlackBerry 10 device’. Clearly hinting that the BlackBerry Z3 is headed to the Indian market.

Though the BlackBerry Z3 retails for the equivalent of Rs 12000 in Indonesia, there is a subsidy element there by local telcos. In India, telcos don’t subsidise smartphones and BlackBerry also faces duties, taxes and forex uncertainty. For instance, in the past couple of days the Indian rupee has seen its biggest fall in nearly four-and-a-half months thanks to the ongoing Iraq crisis and worries on oil imports. While BlackBerry executives were tight-lipped, retail sources said that they were receiving indicators of the Z3 being priced around Rs 14,000 or slightly higher depending on these issues.

India is among the seven countries where the Z3 will be alunched, BlackBerry had told Tech2 at the official launch in Jakarta. But the exact launch dates were not disclosed as the company wanted to see the response in Indonesia, before formulating marketing strategies for other regions.

It is a mid-range handset, featuring a 5-inch full touch display with a 540×960 resolution and running the latest version of BlackBerry 10 OS.

The BlackBerry Z3 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC which has a dual-core processor along with 1.5GB of RAM. Apart from that you have a 5MP rear camera and a 1.1MP front-facing camera. The BlackBerry Z3 is expected to compete with the likes of the Moto G and Lumia 630, and also against the newest range of Windows Phone handsets by Micromax.


BlackBerry Z3 to arrive in India on June 25; could be priced around Rs 14,000 - Tech2