BlackBerry is set to unveil its latest smartphone Wednesday, in a move aimed at reviving the fortunes of the struggling Canadian tech group.<\/p>\n
The BlackBerry Passport with a square 4.5-inch screen and physical keyboard will be priced at $599 without a contract in the United States, chief executive John Chen told the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n
The price is slightly below the contract-free price of Apple’s new iPhone and high-end smartphones from Samsung.<\/p>\n
It will be launched at events in Dubai, London and Toronto, before launching in stores 15 days later, he said.<\/p>\n
The Passport launch follows the failure of devices on the BlackBerry 10 platform to gain traction, and a management shake-up last year aimed at stemming massive losses.<\/p>\n
The Waterloo, Ontario-based company helped create a culture of mobile users glued to smartphones, but lost its luster as many moved to iPhones or devices using Google’s Android software.<\/p>\n
Last December, BlackBerry unveiled a manufacturing partnership with Taiwan-based Foxconn and a revamped organizational structure.<\/p>\n
The deal transfers to Foxconn the manufacturing and inventory management and allows BlackBerry to focus on software and services.<\/p>\n
The company is scheduled to release its second quarter results on Friday, which are expected to show the company slowly climbing back from the brink.<\/p>\n
In May, BlackBerry launched a new budget handset in Indonesia, one of its last bastions, in the hope it will take off in emerging markets and stem a decline in the smartphone maker’s fortunes.<\/p>\n
The touchscreen Z3, the first to be produced from the Canadian firm’s partnership with Foxconn, is aimed mainly at Asian markets and especially Indonesia, where the company maintains a loyal following, thanks in part to the popularity of its BBM messaging service. The device was launched at a price of under $200 without a contract.<\/p>\n
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