BlackBerry may announce a budget-friendly phone on Tuesday
BlackBerry has released a couple of new mid and high-end phones over the past months. The company has proved that it can produce competitive high-quality products. But these devices are designed primarily for the developed markets like Europe and the USA. What about the consumers living in other countries? Most of them don’t find BlackBerry’s phones fitting their needs. The leading motives when making a purchase in the developing countries is still the price and BlackBerry doesn’t make the cheapest devices on the market.
The next question emerges: Will BlackBerry make more budget-friendly devices for the developing markets? These markets can be characterized with a rapid growth of the smartphone sales over the last few years, and there is no indication that this trend will stop soon. According to many specialists, the impact on these emerging markets is the key to a successful business of any phone manufacturer. We saw some of them like Nokia and Apple to announce their plans for making more affordable devices, so could we see similar plans to be revealed at the BlackBerry Live event, taking place in Orlando this Tuesday? Yes, such an announcement has a big chance of happening. First, we saw some leaked images of BlackBerry R10, so this model can be announced at the upcoming event this week. With R10 or/and other models, BlackBerry can try to establish its brand on huge markets like Brazil and India.
Many specialists think that the high-end market is already matured and there are not many untapped resources in it. In situation like this, the low-end market is the only logical choice of companies aimed at increasing their sales worldwide. BlackBerry has already made an impact with Z10 and Q10, but their potential is limited because of the higher price. Not many users in the developing countries can afford a device priced at $600. That’s why BlackBerry may launch some cheap alternatives and try to gain a competitive advantage in these highly underrated new markets.
Source: CNET
