BlackBerry Q10 hits Australia July 1

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blog I’m honestly not sure how many people care at this point — are hardware keyboards still a thing? Is BlackBerry still a thing? But in case you do care — perhaps you’ve never been able to accept software keyboards as legitimate, or just don’t trust other brands, given BlackBerry’s history in large corporations and in government — you would no doubt be interested to know that the BlackBerry Q10 is shortly to launch in Australia. A media release issued by the Canadian company today tells us:

The BlackBerry Q10 smartphone is expected to be available for purchase with competitive pricing plans from carrier partners Optus and Telstra on July 1 and 2, respectively, and from retailers Harvey Norman and JB HiFi.

Matthew Ball, Managing Director for Australia at BlackBerry said, “We are excited to be working with our partners to bring the first BlackBerry 10 smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard to customers in Australia. The BlackBerry Q10 smartphone offers customers the power and performance of the BlackBerry 10 platform in a signature BlackBerry design.”

Given the fact that pretty much all the momentum in the smartphone business at the moment appears to be behind Apple and Samsung, and even major brands like HTC are struggling, one does very much wonder how much the Q10 even matters. I mean, everyone talks about the fact that there are “BlackBerry die-hards” out there, especially those who won’t give up physical keyboards, but are there really? I haven’t come across anyone who’s willingly been carrying around a BlackBerry with a physical keyboard for some time now — those that have them seem to have had them enforced by their businesses, and often carry around an iPhone on the side for personal use.

I’m keeping an open mind regarding the Q10, and I’ve asked for a review model. However, the device has also been out overseas for some time, and the Verge’s review in late April comes to mind as I consider the Q10’s launch in Australia. The site wrote at the time that for the faithful, the Q10 was “the ultimate BlackBerry”. However, it also described the handset as “the best horse cart in the age of the automobile”, and pointed out the fact that touch-screen keyboards were now ubiquitous and arguably as good as physical keyboards. I suspect it will be hard to disagree with that summation when it comes to the Q10.

Image credit: BlackBerry

9 COMMENTS

  1. Tough to say, its doing well in Canada and Europe. I picked one up here in Manila, but wonder about using the now tiny screen when there are better ways to go (iPhone, Android) I have to admit though for pure messaging its nice to use a keyboard again! I also have a Galaxy S4 and an iPhone 5 and am somewhat objective. And yes I carry all 3 everyday, but find myself doing the messaging pretty much on the Q10 except for Viber

  2. I’d love a smartphone with a good hardware keyboard, but I’m not going to buy a Blackberry just for the keyboard – especially if it comes at the expense of screen size.

  3. Also on July 1 Telstra said they will cease selling the Blackberry 7 devices to enterprise and government customers. Be interesting to see if that move tanks BB entirely for that sector…

  4. If you like to keyboard it’s good, I guess? It’s still a BB and that still carries all of the losses that come with retaining a full keyboard; like screen real-estate.

  5. Don’t think anyone is really wanting a blackberry at all …
    I can’t see any benefits in using this type of Smartphone anymore . IOS and Android based Smartphones have so many great features, management capabilities and the Apps to back it up ..

    • Yup – me :)

      With my clumsy fingers, I always loath the virtual keyboards and swype isn’t my cup of tea.
      And the BlackBerry has something which some Android phone and the iPhone are lacking – a good phone quality :)

  6. I guess with carrying around a tablet, having a big screen phone seems to be more of an oddity, than a phone that is easier to use. The keyboard ensures i can use the phone as a phone, and switch to the tabet if I need to consume data that is too small for the phone.

    4-5″ Phones seem to be monstrosities with mutant cross-breeding. I strongly prefer a phone for phones sake.

  7. I’m still waiting for BlackBerry to update the line up of its BB7 OS running smartphones. I got to your blog and found it really interesting. It seems like BB has announced BB Q10 in Aus very late. They have already lost millions this year. I don’t think why they didn’t just launched the devices to the complete world together. Now they paying for it!

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