BlackBerry Z10 price drops to Rs 29,990 in India

Update: BlackBerry has now released an official note stating that the BlackBerry Z10 is available for Rs 29,990 as a limited period festive offer.

BlackBerry had left many tongues wagging when it launched the Z10 earlier this year for a hefty price of Rs 43,490. Now, the price has been slashed all the way down to Rs 29,999 on Flipkart. It is selling slightly cheaper at Rs 29,636 on Snapdeal while online sites like Infibeam and Saholic are selling it around Rs 35,700. This means, within seven months from its launch, the price has come down by over Rs 13,000.

The BlackBerry Z10, a full touchscreen phone running on BB10

There hasn’t been an official announcement from the company about the price slash yet. However, it is believed that the company is making room for its new and first ever phablet, the Z30. Last week, the company launched the Z30, which sports a large 5-inch AMOLED display and runs on BB 10.2 OS. It is powered by a 1.7GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor with Adreno 320.

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The BlackBerry Z10 was supposed to be BlackBerry’s saving grace and first device to run on the BlackBerry 10 platform. The sales didn’t really match up to what the company was expecting. So, by slashing the price, it is trying to offload existing Z10 units. The company has been struggling to claw back market share from the likes of Apple’s iPhone  and Samsung’s Galaxy phones. It is expected to report a net operating loss of about $950 million to $995 million in the quarter ended August 31, due to writedowns and other factors. It is also said to cut about 4,500 employees.