Canadian handset maker BlackBerry on Monday slashed the price of Q5
smartphone by 20 percent in a limited period 'New Year Bonanza' offer,
to Rs 19,990. The 'affordable' BB10 smartphone with a QWERTY keypad was
earlier priced at Rs. 24,990.
"The New Year Bonanza aims at providing a
powerful mobile device, with cutting edge BlackBerry 10 OS at an
affordable price point to the consumers," BlackBerry India Director
(Distribution) Sameer Bhatia said.
The offer is in line with
BlackBerry's commitment towards the Indian market and will help the
brand to reach out to more potential customers, he added.
The
Canadian firm has been facing stiff competition from other smartphone
makers like Apple and Samsung as sales have declined over the past few
months globally.
Besides, it is also betting on apps, including
taking its popular messaging service BBM to other operating systems, to
rake in additional revenue in the coming months.
BlackBerry, in a
filing, had disclosed that mounting inventory had cost the company about
$1.6 billion in the third quarter and forced it to cancel the launch of
two new devices.
(Also see: BlackBerry cancels two low-cost phones, set to launch third in April: Report)
It said the pile up was mainly on account of
unsold BlackBerry 10 devices, which was launched in January last year
with much fanfare.
In India, BlackBerry had reduced the price of
its Q10 handset by over 13 percent to Rs. 38,990 under a similar offer
last month (valid till January 26), while in September it cut the price
of its Z10 smartphone by 31 percent to Rs. 29,990.
(Also see: BlackBerry Z10 price slashed to Rs. 29,990 in India)
It also ran an offer for free and discounted apps for its BB10 operating system-run devices BlackBerry Q5 (Review I Pictures), BlackBerry Q10 (Review I Pictures), BlackBerry Z10 (Review I Pictures) and BlackBerry Z30 (Review I Pictures) in India.
Though
the company does not disclose the number of its users, sources suggest
27-30 percent of its sales in India are of devices powered by the BB10
platform.
In India, the four BB10-powered devices are priced between Rs. 22,000 and Rs. 44,000.
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