BlackBerry’s global roadmap for the rest of 2014 appears to have been leaked. While BlackBerry has already announced a number of the devices it plans to launch before the end of the year, many still expected to see the company also release a high-end all-touch device to succeed the BlackBerry Z30 launched in late 2013. If the information obtained by N4BB is accurate, that will not be the case.
On tap for the rest of 2014 appear to be four devices that will fall into four categories: Affordable, Classic, Innovative, and Prestige. All four are known to us:
- Z3 LTE target market: “upgrade for feature phone and BBOS, and for enterprise fleet renewal.”
- Classic Q20 target market: “upgrade for BlackBerry QWERTY base and enterprise fleet renewal.”
- Passport target market: “Bring X-Pros back to BlackBerry and for business execs.”
- P’9983 target market: “…the expectations and purchase behaviors of the affluent and wealthy.”
While there does not appear to be a direct successor to the BlackBerry Z30, the BlackBerry Z3 LTE (or Z20 as it might be known when it launches), is said to sport some similar specifications, including a 1.7GHz dual-core processor and 2GB of RAM.
The BlackBerry Passport is expected to launch in September. It will be followed by the BlackBerry Classic in November. The BlackBerry Z3 LTE and BlackBerry P’9983 are expected to follow shortly after.
The BlackBerry 2014 roadmap makes it clear that the company is indeed focused on its business and enterprise customers at this point. With little demand for a high-end all-touch device in this market, BlackBerry has chosen to focus on the devices that these customers prefer (with the exception of the P’9983 which targets a different market entirely).
Source : N4BB