BlackBerry just introduced a cheaper phone. With colors. The new Q5 is the company's first entry into the mid- to low-cost phone range since introducing its new operating system, BlackBerry 10.
The phone is designed and built for emerging markets, according to CEO Thorsten Heins. It will be launched by global carrier partners this July, hitting "selected markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia (including the Asia Pacific region) and Latin America." There's no word on U.S. availability yet.
The low-cost Q5 will be available in red, black, white and pink. It has a physical keyboard like the Q10, but slight spaces are evident between the keys.
The artist formerly known as RIM has been staging a bit of a comeback lately, after years of post-iPhone paralysis. The company that put email in your pocket was slow to pick up on the market move to touchscreen phones, and it has been routinely trounced by Android handsets and iPhones.
Blackberry finally introduced its modern mobile operating system in January, along with two new devices. The Z10 was the first BB10 phone on offer; it ditched the traditional keyboard for a touchscreen rectangle to compete with Android and iOS. The Q10 is a return to BlackBerry's roots with a physical keyboard; it should launch in the United States by the end of May. T-Mobile announced today that Q10 will be available on the Simple Choice plan for $99 down and $20 a month for two years starting in June. Like the Q10, the Q5 has a physical keyboard, but it will be priced lower than the Q10's contract-saddled $250.
This new device is BlackBerry's third phone in an already crowded market, so it'll be interesting to see if the company can continue its turnaround with three phones on the market. Also, it'll be nice to see more colors in the smartphone market. So far, only Nokia seems to be taking chances with colors beyond black and white.
