BlackBerry Z10 Price Drops to $49.99, Company Hopes for Sales Spike
The BlackBerry Z10 price dropped to $49.99 in the U.S. market as the company hopes to boost sales with the device by doing so.
Microsoft also slashed the price on its famed Surface tablet with the 32GB version now costs £279 in the U.K. The 64GB model price has dropped to £359.
"It's a big deal for both companies," said Tony Cripps, a telecoms analyst at Ovum, to the BBC. "Competing with the Apples and Samsungs of this world is tough, and it's a difficult climate to put out high-end products when the market is so dominated by a couple of players."
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The cheapest Surface tablet now retails for $349 in the U.S.
The $49.99 BlackBerry Z10 price tag is currently available through Amazon and Best Buy. The device still costs $99.99 on contract through carriers AT&T and Verizon.
BlackBerry reportedly shipped 1 million Z10s in the first three months of this year. The device is the company's ace in the hole in order to revive its brand that carried it to success in earlier years.
"For BlackBerry, it really bet the farm on its new BB10 operating system and it needs to regain market share in smartphones," said Mr. Cripps.
The Surface tablet is slightly less important for Microsoft, however, it was meant to serve as a focal point for launching the company's still fairly new Windows 8 software.
"In that sense, the Surface's success is perhaps not quite as important for Microsoft but if they want Windows 8 to be a key driver for the future, they need to get it into the hands of as many people as possible."
Microsoft hoped to compete with Apple's iPad with the Surface along with some of the popular high-end Android devices currently available in the market.
