At the Mobile World Congress (MWC 2014), BlackBerry announced a new smartphone — BlackBerry Z3 — that will cost you less than $200. The device vendor also shared future strategies.
The new smartphone will go on sale in Indonesia first. Z3 will be the first cost effective smartphone on its BlackBerry 10 OS platform that went live in January 2013.
The device is being built under a partnership deal with FIH Mobile – the Hong Kong-listed unit of Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn.
The device, codenamed Jakarta, will first go on sale in Indonesia in April for under $200, said John Chen, CEO of BlackBerry.
“The announcements made during MWC 2014 demonstrate that BlackBerry is looking to the future and bringing solutions to market that matter most to our customers. These solutions emphasize our strengths in enterprise mobility, while empowering end users to become more productive with technologies that drive communications and collaboration,” Chen added.
BES 12
At the Mobile World Congress 2014, the device vendor said the new BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES12) will enable organizations to develop enterprise-grade applications that are quickly deployed to BlackBerry smartphones and other mobile devices.
The BES12 platform will offer backward and future compatibility, unifying BES10 and BES5 on to one platform. The new BES12 architecture will also provide customers with the ability to move securely from on-premise to the cloud effortlessly and securely.
EZ Pass program
A new EZ Pass program will enable a free migration path for customers to move from BES and other MDM platforms to BES10. For existing BlackBerry customers, the EZ Pass program will match any active existing on-premise BES license and any active license customers may have from other MDM vendors with a corresponding Silver BES10 perpetual license.
eBBM Suite for enterprises
It also announced eBBM Suite, a new family of products and services that work with BlackBerry smartphones and BES and BES10 to provide enterprise-class mobile messaging that brings together the core strengths of BBM with features and capabilities aimed at enterprises.
New BES10 customers
BlackBerry also revealed some of the latest companies to adopt BES10, including Daimler AG and Airbus Group.
New devices
BlackBerry Z3 smartphone is an all-touch BlackBerry 10 smartphone designed for customers in Indonesia. The affordable 5″ smartphone will come with the latest BlackBerry 10 OS, version 10.2.1, and new productivity features.
The new BlackBerry Z3 smartphone is expected to be available from leading carriers and retailers in Indonesia in April.
BlackBerry Q20 smartphone is an upcoming QWERTY smartphone with a new 3.5″ touch screen.
The new BlackBerry Q20 smartphone will be available in the second half of 2014.
