The BlackBerry Q5 will be the next phone to run BlackBerry's still young BlackBerry 10 operating system, but don't expect to see it outside of emerging markets. The Canadian tech company unveiled the new handset on Tuesday at BlackBerry Live 2013.
It's is the same phone we saw leaked earlier this month, then known as the R10. The BlackBerry Q5 is a BlackBerry Curve-styled QWERTY keyboard smartphone running on BlackBerry 10.
The phone shares the Q10's screen size and resolution, but is designed to be lower cost and aimed at emerging markets. BlackBerry is targeting first-time and youth smartphone owners in those markets and will offer the Q5 in a variety of colors, including:
White
Red
Pink
Black
BlackBerry didn't announce specific pricing, but said the Q5 will be available in "selected markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia (including the Asia Pacific region), and Latin America, with expected availability beginning in July."
A Necessary Part of the Ecosystem
As BlackBerry tries to claw back up the smartphone ladder with its high-end Z10 and Q10 smartphones, the market reality is that it still sells more legacy BlackBerry devices and it sells them in emerging markets such as Africa, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. These devices primarily sell because they are inexpensive (comparatively) and carriers can bundle select data services (such as BBM or BBM and Facebook) for low-cost rates.
With BlackBerry 10, the company's original strategy appeared to be focusing on the high-end of the market and using legacy devices to support the rest. Unfortunately, as Android handsets get cheaper and cheaper — and alternatives from companies such as Ubuntu and Firefox try enter the emerging market space — BBOS just isn't good enough.
A modern BlackBerry smartphone priced and directed at these markets might be enough to keep those users from jumping ship to a new platform.
The big question, of course, is what impact this will have on BlackBerry's bottom line. BlackBerry currently has almost no margin on its BBOS devices (or even negative margin). It's unclear if the company will be able to sell phones at a price and volume required for these markets without taking a serious financial hit.
The BlackBerry Q5 is on display at BlackBerry Live and we look forward to doing a hands-on later today.
By Christina Warren
