Daniel
Shen, Taipei; Jackie Chang, DIGITIMES [Thursday 31 January
2013]
Research In Motion (RIM) has changed its name to BlackBerry, and has
introduced two new smartphones based on the new BlackBerry 10 platform, the Z10
and Q10. The two models will be available on the market starting the end of
January.
Handset makers stated that the new models do not have surprising
hardware and BlackBerry does not plan to be aggressive on pricing strategies,
but with differentiation in software, customers are likely to favor the new
products.
BlackBerry's Z10 and Q10 both use Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Plus 1.5GHz
dual-core processors and have features such as LTE, near-field communication
(NFC) and 8-megapixel rear cameras. The Z10 has a 4.2-inch, 356ppi screen while
the Q10 has a 3.1-inch AMOLED touch screen.
The
two models will first be available in the UK starting the end of January. The
Z10 will be available in Canada at the beginning of February and in the US in
March.
Handset makers noted that the retail price for Z10 is likely to be
around US$700/unit, meaning that BlackBerry does not want to engage in price
competition. But BlackBerry has strengthened the new platform to achieve product
differentiation compared to Apple's iOS, Google's Android, and Microsoft's
Windows Phone 8.
BlackBerry plans to introduce at least six new handsets and the supply
chain predicts 2013 total shipments to reach 35-40 million
units.
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