Tag: blackberry

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Journalism

By Me and a Colleague: BlackBerry Releases High-End ‘Classic’ Smartphone in India

A story I wrote with colleague Jai Krishna:

Samsung this week said it would unveil in India a sub-$100 smartphone based on its own operating system, its latest attempt to turn around its declining sales.

That isn’t stopping rival BlackBerry from launching a high-end smartphone in the country, with the Canadian company hoping corporate executives and professionals there will pay a premium for its devices.

BlackBerry on Thursday said it is releasing its new Classic phone for 31,990 rupees ($518), slightly higher than the $449 it costs in the U.S., where it went on sale in December.

The Classic, which comes with a physical QWERTY keyboard and trackpad, reflects the company’s plan to appeal to corporate customers in search of secure services, Sunil Lalvani, managing director at BlackBerry India, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.

Click through to read the rest.

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Journalism Tech

My story on BlackBerry’s turn-around push in Indonesia

A chance encounter in Jakarta with legendary Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was merely an exhilarating byproduct of my recent Indonesia trip.

I traveled there to cover the debut of BlackBerry’s new low-cost, Foxconn-made smartphone, which it released in Indonesia as part of a high-stakes turnaround plan.

The story includes snippets from my interview with Chief Executive John Chen, and begins:

BlackBerry Ltd.’s latest stab at keeping its storied brand alive is starting here, at a launch event for its $191 smartphone, in the capital city of Indonesia.

The phone maker based in Waterloo, Ontario, unveiled its latest handset, dubbed the Z3, before several hundred people in a packed five-star hotel ballroom on Tuesday. An Indonesian hip-hop trio warmed up the crowd before BlackBerry’s new chief executive, John Chen, took the stage to introduce the phone.

The Z3 represents a number of firsts for BlackBerry, which recently replaced its chief executive and revamped its corporate strategy, after failing to find a buyer for its struggling business.

I also wrote a post with more color from the launch event.

Categories
Tech

BlackBerry Takes Preorders for Indonesia Smartphone

That’s the headline of a quick story I wrote today.

It begins:

BlackBerry is now accepting preorders for the low-cost, Foxconn-made smartphone it’s releasing first in Indonesia, where its devices have traditionally been popular.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company said Monday it expects the smartphone, called the BlackBerry Z3, to be priced at 2,199,000 Indonesian rupiah (US$189), and that an official unveiling of the device will take place on May 13 in Jakarta. The phone can be ordered from two Indonesian telecommunications providers, Indosat and XL.

As part of a plan to cut its phone making costs amid declining market share in Indonesia and elsewhere, BlackBerry has outsourced much of its hardware business to Taiwan’s Foxconn, officially known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, which produces most of world’s iPhones and iPads.