The BlackBerry Priv was officially launched in India.
The press launch took place at an event in Oberoi, New Delhi, by BlackBerry India Managing Director Narendra Nayak and Senior Director of Asia-Pacific Product Management Damian Tay.
BlackBerry Priv: Pricing And Details
The Priv will be on sale as from January 30.
Shockingly, however, it will be priced at Rs 63,000 ($926). This will make the Priv the most expensive smartphone in India.
The incredibly high price is bound to put the Priv at a significant disadvantage. The more than one billion active smartphone users in India prefer mid to low end smartphones. In fact, Samsung has been losing market share to mid-range smartphone makers, with the Lenovo K3 Note being the country’s most popular device.
The Priv is extremely expensive even when compared to other high-end smartphones. An iPhone 6s Plus currently starts from Rs 58,000 ($853), while a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus is priced even lower, at Rs 52,600 ($775) for the 32 GB model.
BlackBerry CEO John Chen might have implied during a recent interview that the Priv will soon benefit from a price-cut. Giants Apple and Samsung will soon start working on the release of their next high-end devices, so a discounted Priv would make sense. A lower price would give the Priv a fairer chance in
one of the most important smartphone markets in the world.
What do you think of the BlackBerry Priv’s pricing in India? Is it excessive?
Sound off in the comments below.