Blackberry Trying to Revive the Brand through BB Classic
Today, If we run a survey of one hundred people on any street of the world about which phone they use or would prefer using for business as well as home? I am sure Blackberry would be the least checked out name on the list of Smartphones from other heavyweights like Apple, Samsung, Google, Nokia, HTC, Sony and more. There was a time when most of the business people would vouch for Blackberry because of the air it created and mailing was made easier and hassle free by Blackberry. Owning a Blackberry itself was a feeling of pride for the brand as well as the followers of Blackberry. Then came the advent of Smartphones with touch and Blackberry was quite rigid not to deter from it’s path and had to face the wrath of the Smartphone generation.
It was yesterday that Blackberry announced their new smartphone Blackberry Classic and made it official the smartphone that CEO John Chen was teasing us for almost a year or so. The BB Classic has a full Qwerty physical keypad, navigation keys and a design so different than the one which made Blackberry proud in the past( in a better way of course) for example Blackberry Bold.
Now, if we look at Blackberry Passport, BB Classic is really smaller than the Passport and it can be possibly used with a single hand, unlike the Passport which was humungous. Blackberry suggested that Classic would appeal to the masses who are looking for the classic Blackberry experience that made Blackberry what it was many years ago. And, this is how Blackberry is trying to revive the brand through BB Classic.
The BB Classic has a square, 720 x 720 pixel, 3.5-inch touchscreen perched above the keyboard and navigation keys. It is quite smaller than the Passport and much smaller than the average sized smartphones we have today in the market which makes it possible to experience that physical Qwerty keyboard we loved from Blackberry and with just one hand. It is powered by dual core Qualcomm processor and 2GB of RAM. This would not make Classic a mobile gaming option, but it would be the best choice to handle hundreds of mails per day. The BB Classic has two cameras with 8MP on the back of the phone and 2MP on the front.
The phone runs Blackberry 10 which offers ultimate productivity apps like Hub, Blend and Assistant. It can also run Android apps, which can be accessed on the Amazon AppStore which is already preloaded on the device. The diehard fans of Blackberry would be really happy to know that the BrickBreaker game is not available on the Classic and can be played just like it was on the previous Blackberry smartphones.
Blackberry Classic was announced at the same place where it all started, yes you are right the place where a Blackberry is a common entity in the hands of business people : New York’s Financial District. Blackberry Classic, unlike the Passport is not for people who loves to surf a lot, watch youtube videos and movies or play games 24*7, but it is for hardcore business people whose only purpose or we can say the main purpose is to answer hundreds of mails per day. Blackberry has been out from the business since a long time but now the brand is looking to double its core business users and the Classic is just the device that they needed to serve the purpose.
The BB Classic is now available through local carriers around the world but just AT&T and Verizon have confirmed that they will sell the Classic in the early part of the next year and the carrier pricing is not yet announced. The business phone is now available unlocked through Blackberry and Amazon’s online stores for $449.
Let us see how this device from Blackberry fares because Passport was such a fiasco, Blackberry insiders have their fingers crossed. If there are any updates, we would definitely add to this piece and all you guys are invited to mention it in the comments below.
Rajiv Patil is the founder & Managing Director of Nimblechapps, an innovative iPhone app development company. He takes a keen interest in topics related to mobile app development and mobile game development and often like to share his knowledge through informative posts on leading blogging sites.