Research In Motion today announced the Porsche Design P’9981 smartphone from BlackBerry, the brand’s first smartphone. As past rumours suggested, it was designed by Porsche Design in collaboration with RIM.
“Since 1972 Porsche Design has presented milestone products with iconic style, and the P’9981 smartphone from BlackBerry will be our next landmark,” said Dr. Juergen Gessler, CEO Porsche Design Group. “The pure and distinctive design, coupled with authentic materials and an emphasis on the manufacturing process, perfectly match our philosophy and complement the Porsche Design product assortment.”
The Porsche Design P’9981 is very similar to the BlackBerry Bold 9900 in terms of specifications but features a forged stainless steel frame, hand-wrapped leather back cover, and a sculpted QWERTY keyboard. BlackBerry OS 7 has been modified with custom Porsche Design icons and uses the Porsche font. It also comes with a bespoke Wikitude World Browser augmented reality app experience and premium BBM PINs to help identify other P’9981 users.
The Porsche Design P’9981 smartphone from BlackBerry will be available from Porsche Design stores later this year.