BlackBerry will formally unveil the BlackBerry Passport at three simultaneous events on Wednesday. But two key launch questions were answered today by company CEO John Chen in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. He revealed that it will go on sale on Wednesday for US$599 “without subsidies.” Pricing in other countries will vary based on factors such as taxes and tariffs.
Chen explained that BlackBerry is looking to “get the market interested” by going for a price that will be “a little lower” than that of devices it will compete against. Among those are the new Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and the Samsung Galaxy S5.
While BlackBerry has yet to announce full device specifications, it has already called attention to its square 4.5-inch display offering a resolution of 1440 by 1440 pixels and the touch-enabled keyboard that supports gestures and acts like a trackpad. Chen also promised that the battery will last 36 hours and the large antenna should improve reception.
Other specifications have not been confirmed but are expected to include a 2.2 quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage with expansion via microSD cards, a 13MP AF rear camera with OIS and a 3.450mAh battery. It should also come with BlackBerry 10.3 which will bring the Amazon Appstore and some 240,000 apps to the BlackBerry platform and BlackBerry’s own BlackBerry Assistant, its take on the personal digital assistant.
Chen said that the BlackBerry Passport will go on sale the day of its announcement in Toronto, Dubai and London. Initial availability may be limited but it should be widely available within a week or two of its launch.
Source : The Wall Street Journal