BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen Holds Up The Unreleased Blackberry Passport
BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen holds up the unreleased Blackberry Passport device during the company's annual general meeting for shareholders in Waterloo June 19, 2014. Reuters/Mark Blinch

After two years of staying in slumber mode, BlackBerry is back with a bang accompanying a major release. This time around, the product in focus is a unique, make-or-break phablet named BlackBerry Passport. It is worth mentioning that BlackBerry Passport's progress was overseen by Chief Executive Officer John Chen and it is an ambitious project to say the least. On Wednesday, the BlackBerry Passport was launched in multiple events at Toronto, Dubai and London.

As BlackBerry mentioned earlier, the Passport phablet with 4.5-inch "square" display complemented by a physical QWERTY keyboard is aimed at getting back the business, corporate and government customers. In retrospect, the BlackBerry 10 powered phones did not give any boost to the beleaguered company, which tried to take Apple iPhones and Android based smartphones with its earlier releases, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Amidst the troubles and delays, came the unique idea for Passport. John's thirst for success is very much visible with the unusual design philosophy combined with the willingness to take greater risk to bring back the company from troubled waters. Also, this helped earn the much-required trust and credibility from the investors, stakeholders and customers alike. Not to forget, John took over the CEO seat not-so-long-ago in November 2013 and BlackBerry only had less than 1 percent market share in Q2. Will the company turn around with CEO John Chen firmly seated in the driver's seat? Only, time will say.

When it comes to pricing, BlackBerry expects the brand new phablet to target roughly 30 percent of the global mobile market and hence the pricing is quite competitive. The BlackBerry Passport is priced at $599 (roughly translates to AU$680) without a contract. In comparison, Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will set you back by $649 and $749 respectively. The Samsung Galaxy S5, on the other hand, was priced at $650 when the device was launched.

The Passport can be purchased from ShopBlackBerry (BlackBerry's website) by potential buyers from Canada, France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. In case of the U.S. market, the BlackBerry Passport can also be availed from AT&T for $250 under a two-year contract. The BlackBerry Passport is priced at CAD 699 in Canada, whereas the customers from France and Germany can purchase the device for EUR 649. And, the U.K. customers can avail the phablet for GBP 529. Also, this phablet is now available under Telus's two-year contract plan for CAD 200 in Canada. This is an introductory offer until October 1, however the regular price will set you back by CAD 250, says NDTV.

Additionally, readers can expect the device to be listed in Amazon shortly. This one-of-a-kind phablet can also be purchased from 30 countries before the end of 2014. The countries include Australia, India, Middle East, Singapore, Austria, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Netherlands, South Africa, Vietnam, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Venezuela, Philippines, Russia Slovakia, Colombia, Spain, Romania and Mexico. To know more on BlackBerry Passport, we strongly recommend readers to check out BlackBerry Passport vs. Galaxy Note 4.

Furthermore, the same event also offered an introduction to another device from BlackBerry named Classic, which is expected to hit the store shelves in a couple of months. Interested readers can read more on the BlackBerry Classic from IBT.

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