BlackBerry Q5 price slashed to Rs. 19,990 in limited period New Year offer

Canadian handset maker BlackBerry on Monday slashed the price of Q5 smartphone by 20 percent in a limited period 'New Year Bonanza' offer, to Rs 19,990. The 'affordable' BB10 smartphone with a QWERTY keypad was earlier priced at Rs. 24,990.

"The New Year Bonanza aims at providing a powerful mobile device, with cutting edge BlackBerry 10 OS at an affordable price point to the consumers," BlackBerry India Director (Distribution) Sameer Bhatia said.

The offer is in line with BlackBerry's commitment towards the Indian market and will help the brand to reach out to more potential customers, he added.

The Canadian firm has been facing stiff competition from other smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung as sales have declined over the past few months globally.

Besides, it is also betting on apps, including taking its popular messaging service BBM to other operating systems, to rake in additional revenue in the coming months.

BlackBerry, in a filing, had disclosed that mounting inventory had cost the company about $1.6 billion in the third quarter and forced it to cancel the launch of two new devices.

(Also see: BlackBerry cancels two low-cost phones, set to launch third in April: Report)

It said the pile up was mainly on account of unsold BlackBerry 10 devices, which was launched in January last year with much fanfare.

In India, BlackBerry had reduced the price of its Q10 handset by over 13 percent to Rs. 38,990 under a similar offer last month (valid till January 26), while in September it cut the price of its Z10 smartphone by 31 percent to Rs. 29,990.

(Also see: BlackBerry Z10 price slashed to Rs. 29,990 in India)

It also ran an offer for free and discounted apps for its BB10 operating system-run devices BlackBerry Q5 (Review I Pictures), BlackBerry Q10 (Review I Pictures), BlackBerry Z10 (Review I Pictures) and BlackBerry Z30 (Review I Pictures) in India.

Though the company does not disclose the number of its users, sources suggest 27-30 percent of its sales in India are of devices powered by the BB10 platform.

In India, the four BB10-powered devices are priced between Rs. 22,000 and Rs. 44,000.