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

The well-received BlackBerry Passport phablet is back in news with a "red" coloured version in tow. In the recent BlackBerry for enterprise event, John Chen, BlackBerry's CEO showcased a red hued Passport.

The initial plan was to make the red coloured version available during Christmas time frame, but apparently there is a change in plan. Two different dates are being used by tech websites. Phone Arena says the BlackBerry Passport in red can be availed from Friday, Nov. 14. On the other hand, Pocket-Lint reports that the device can be ordered on Black Friday, Nov. 28. The bittersweet part, however, is that the red version will be sold in limited quantities, unlike the black and white versions, according to Phone Arena.

Adding cherry on top, the price of the BlackBerry Passport versions, including the black and white versions has been cut by $100. And hence the device can be availed for just $599. Being a GSM device, the Passport works only under AT&T and T-Mobile networks.

Last month, BlackBerry CEO stated that the Passport's demand and sales have exceeded the expectations. And hence there was a shortage of the phablet when the pre-order window opened right after its launch. With the skyrocketing demand, John is happy to see issues related to inventory crop up. Deliberately, the company did not make the mistake of mass-producing the phablets without determining the demand, according to Phone Arena.

In the hindsight, BlackBerry sold 52.3 million units in 2010. However, in 2013, the shipment had collapsed to a distressing 13.7 million units. The steep decline in sales questioned the sustainability of BlackBerry, when the competition was shooting up from Android and iOS counterparts. Nonetheless, from the time John assumed control of the company, BlackBerry has been on the upswing.

During the troublesome period in 2013, John chose to take risk and make a handset that doesn't follow the standard. The 4.5-inch "square" display bundled with a unique 1,440 x 1,440 pixels resolution and physical QWERTY keyboard that acts as a trackpad set the Passport apart. This device is very effective and supremely helpful especially when viewing and editing excel spreadsheets, word documents and even typing emails. Readers can check out the Passport in red from Phone Arena.

Moving on to other devices, the pre-order window for the BlackBerry Classic, aka BlackBerry Q20, is live now and the quoted price is $449. Interested readers can check out this link to learn about the Classic and also to place an order.

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