BlackBerry Passport comes to India

BlackBerry Passport will be available from October 10, is priced at Rs.49,990.

September 29, 2014 04:32 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 06:48 pm IST - NEW DELHI

Sunil Lalvani, Managing Director, Blackberry India at the launch of Blackberry Passport Phone in New Delhi on Monday, September 29, 2014. Photo: R.V. Moorthy

Sunil Lalvani, Managing Director, Blackberry India at the launch of Blackberry Passport Phone in New Delhi on Monday, September 29, 2014. Photo: R.V. Moorthy

Nearly a week after it was revealed for the world, Blackberry Passport has made its way to the Indian shores. The Passport, whose name is in line with its passport-like dimensions, will be available from October 10 onwards, and is priced at Rs.49,990.

At this price, the 4.5-inch square screen device is the most expensive one in the Canadian firm’s portfolio. This is also the first phone in its line-up to run on the latest BlackBerry 10.3 OS, which brings features such as BlackBerry Assistant and access to Amazon Appstore, giving users access to over two lakh top Android apps.

“BlackBerry Passport was designed to aid professionals in becoming more productive. The phone is built on feedback from users and giving them better battery life and a wider view. The display is ideal for those who have to see a lot of Excel sheets or read documents,” BlackBerry India Managing Director Sunil Lalvani told reporters here.

The pre-booking for the Passport has started at Amazon.in and BlackBerry exclusive stores from Monday. Customers pre-booking at Amazon.in would receive a gift card worth Rs.5,000.

The three row QWERTY keypad on the device too has touch features embedded in it.

“The BlackBerry Passport includes the industry’s first touch-enabled keyboard. It can be used for typing as well as navigation by swiping fingers on it for functions like delete, moving predictive words function up and down etc,” Mr. Lalvani added.

The device also boasts of 3450 mAh battery. Besides, it is powered by Quad Core 2.2 GHZ Processor, 3 GB RAM, 13 MP rear camera and 32 GB memory and supports 128 GB of external storage.

“Last week we launched the Passport in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Germany and Dubai. Within four days of that we are launching it here. This shows the priority of the Indian market for us,” he added.

The company, which is looking to reinvent itself to gain the lost ground in the country’s smartphone market, will also be launching BlackBerry Classic that will bring back the famous BlackBerry trackball back before February.

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