It has been a while since the Porsche BlackBerry P’9982 has been the topic of rumours but that does not mean it’s not coming. In fact, the latest rumours suggest it could finally launch later this month. UAE’s tbreak reports that company representatives attending a Dubai media event where Formula 1 fans could meet Lewis Hamilton told some of them that the device, based on the BlackBerry Z10 (much as the P’9981 was based on the Bold 9900), would launch on November 20.
The BlackBerry P’9982 is expected to have nearly identical internal specifications to the BlackBerry Z10 but it should be quite a different device on the outside. Expect a leather-wrapped carbon fiber or aluminium frame, a customized BlackBerry 10 user interface and other Porsche Design touches like custom icons, the Porsche font and premium BBM PINs to help identify other P’998x users.
Further evidence that a launch may be near is that the P’9982 now has its FCC certification for both LTE (bands 2,4,5 and 17) and HSPA along with dual-band Wi-Fi. The LTE band support suggests that a North American launch is in the cards.
While a price has yet to be revealed, it is likely to fall in the US$2,000 range. If you want to pick one up, you’ll likely need to make your way down to the nearest Porsche Design store. It just so happens that there is one in Toronto.