Just when you think that things could get more weird in the smartphone market, expect Blackberry to pull a crazy on you.
With Blackberry’s fortunes in the smartphone market already dwindling, the company has unlike Apple chosen to target the Indian smartphone market with a mid-price segment phone in the form of Blackberry 9720 priced at Rs. 16,000
While the Blackberry 9720 is priced right for the Indian smartphone market, someone needs to tell Blackberry its not the price alone that makes Indian consumers buy smartphones.
Blackberry 9720: Runs On An Outdated OS (BB 7.1)
For the longest time, Blackberry tried to win over the market with the announcement of its shiny new OS- BB10 and while it good some good reviews, a new OS also did not bode well.
So, when Blackberry decides to launch a mid-price smartphone in India they decide to power it with an outdated OS! A cheaper phone doesn’t really have to mean super cheap specifications and features and Blackberry needs to understand that.
Blackberry 9720: A QWERTY phone that lacks features
Yes, Blackberry has produced some of the best QWERTY phones and some of my friends who previously owned Blackberries still miss the keyboard. But then, haven’t smartphones gone touch-screen since a long time now?
A QWERTY keyboard notwithstanding, Blackberry 9720 does not pack any specifications worth talking about. 512 MB of RAM and 512 MB of internal memory hardly make for a good smartphone specifications
It is no surprise that Blackberry missed the boat both in terms of hardware and software while companies like Samsung took the lead in the smartphone market. Having said that, what baffles me is Blackberry’s pricing strategy. Remember the company’s flagship phones Z10 and Q10 powered by BB10 OS priced north of Rs.40,000.
As it turns out, while Blackberry’s strategy to launch a mid-price smartphone sounds right on paper, Blackberry 9720 is looking like a bad execution of the strategy. With launches like these, I actually think spinning off Blackberry into smaller companies such as BBM Instant Messaging might be the only hope for the Canadian smartphone maker