BlackBerry Ltd NASDAQ:BBRY TSE:BB’s Passport is just days away from being officially released at three events around the world. Smartphone fans and the media are invited to attend events in Toronto, London and Dubai on Sept. 24. However, the Canadian smartphone maker has decided not to host any launch event in the U.S., at least for now.
U.S. launch later
BlackBerry’s New York team will be present at the Canada event to represent the company. One probable reason for the no show in the U.S. might be that the Passport is still not ready for the country, and the latest rumors suggest that the phone will not be available in the country until February 2015, says a report from N4BB.
BlackBerry launched its Z30 model in Malaysia, and the reason cited was the increasing user base in the country, which has risen by 300%. The company launched the phone in mid-September last year. followed by the debut in the U.S. on Verizon Wireless in mid-November. The U.S. version of the Passport is expected to follow a similar timeline, says the report.
The BlackBerry Passport will be a premium product, and according to a few reports, the phone will come with a price tag of over $700. The Passport’s premium and gold versions will cost even more. The company mentioned on its blog that on Sept. 24 there will be three launch events in the presence of the Inside BlackBerry team, along with an exclusive list of media and industry guests.
BlackBerry passport features
The BlackBerry Passport is a one-of-its-kind smartphone with s 1440×1440 pixel density, a 4.5-inch display, an innovative touch-enabled keyboard, four microphones, and stereo speakers. The phone has a battery power of 3450mAh, which is enough to run the smartphone for a whole day. The phone will run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 chipset with a 2.2 GHz quad-core CPU aided by 3GB of RAM.
There has been a lot of discussion over the odd shape and size of the Blackberry Passport, but the company is targeting professionals across several fields, from businessmen to doctors, with this flagship handset. For instance, the company has shown an image of a chest x-ray on the device, suggesting how efficient the large screen will be for medical imagery, technical schematics, spreadsheets and other documents. The Canadian company believes that the innovative touch-enabled keyboard will allow users to communicate clearly and precisely.
