Telecom Lead Asia: The new BlackBerry Q5 cost effective smartphone will be available in select emerging telecom markets including India beginning July.
The other markets that will see the launch of the budget BlackBerry Q5 smartphone include Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The cost effective BlackBerry Q5 is aimed at the youth segment.
The smartphone provider did not share the price of the new phone.
Focusing on emerging telecom market is very vital for BlackBerry to improve its market share.
Top smartphone makers’ market share
Since BlackBerry took time to unveil cost effective smartphones, the company is out of the top 5 list of Gartner.
The BlackBerry Q5 smartphone features a QWERTY keyboard with discrete keys.
Thorsten Heins, president and CEO of BlackBerry, said: “The BlackBerry Q5 gives you the best of everything with its cutting-edge BlackBerry 10 functionality and a physical QWERTY keyboard. It is for youthful fans that are passionate, confident and bold, and it makes it easy for them to have fun, create, share and stay connected.”
The BlackBerry Q5 features a classic BlackBerry Keyboard with discrete keys that has been re-engineered and designed to help you type fast and accurately.
The BlackBerry Q5 smartphone gives you the best of both worlds – a classic QWERTY keyboard for optimized communications and a 3.1″ touchscreen for all the rest.
BlackBerry Time Shift mode enables mobile users to create the picture perfect shot. BlackBerry Story Maker allows users to create movies with photos, videos and music.
BlackBerry Hub enables messages and social conversations to flow in and out of messages and conversations.
Meanwhile, BlackBerry announced that it will open up its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) instant-messaging program to iOS and Android users for free, with new clients coming for those platforms later this summer.
“We will make BBM available as the premiere multiplatform messaging solution all around the globe, and even better, it’s free,” Heins said at the BlackBerry Live conference in Orlando, FL.
