BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) first budget phone will be known as ‘Jakarta,’ and will be released at the MWC tech fair in Spain, according to confirmed reports over the past few days. Chairman of the Hon Hai/ Foxconn Technology Group, in an interview with FocusTaiwan said that the company is working with BlackBerry to build a new device, and a range of devices will be shown in Barcelona in February.
Although he did not reveal the exact number of devices that would be showcased, he confirmed that there will be more than one.
‘Jakarta’ for Indonesia and maybe South Africa
Experts believe that Jakarta will be a low cost device, and will be introduced in Indonesia, where BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is still very popular. However, there are strong possibilities that Jakarta would also be marketed in South Africa following the report of research firm World Wide Worx, which said that the Canadian firm’s market share in South Africa recently increased from 18% to 23%, whereas, for Samsung, it was flat at 19%, and Apple managed a 2% market share. BlackBerry is known to be the coolest brand in South Africa, where users stick to BlackBerry ignoring Google’s Android based devices.
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) Jakarta is expected to be powered by the new OS 10.2, which indicates that BlackBerry 7.0 OS has become obsolete, says a report from Seeking Alpha by George Kesarios. If rumors are to be paid attention to, then the phone would be a full touch display with a QWERTY keyboard.
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) did not break its silence over the retail price of the Jakarta model, but according to some experts the device could fetch a price of around $150, which would be a premium over the Chinese models.
BlackBerry may stick with QWERTY
QWERTY keypad is popular amongst enterprise users, but the average consumer goes with the full touch display. BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) using QWERTY keypad in its upcoming phone would help it to attract those enterprise users.
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is still upbeat on attracting more retail customers because, in the developing market, the brand still holds some ground. Also, it would be unfair if the company withdraws from these developing markets, where it commands a respectable share. Foxconn handling the inventory and production side of the company will be beneficial for BlackBerry.
BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) with its Jakarta model is planning to attract more retail customers though it has still some loyal large organizations, government firms and big enterprises.
