"New ‘affordable’ BlackBerry Curve 9220 at Rs 10,990"

Riding on the popularity of BlackBerry’s entry level smartphone, the BlackBerry Curve 8520, Research in Motion on Wednesday launched a new BlackBerry smartphone in India, calling it its “most affordable” phone.

The BlackBerry Curve 9220 smartphone, launched by Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif, has a dedicated key for accessing BlackBerry Messenger and FM radio and has a long battery life, the company said in a statement. The new Curve is also thinner, sleeker, sexier and comes with BlackBerry OS 7.1. In a market long dominated by Nokia, popular for its FM radio feature, the 9220 is the first BlackBerry to feature an FM Radio function.

The BlackBerry Curve 9220 smartphone, launched by Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif, has a dedicated key for accessing BlackBerry Messenger and FM radio and has a long battery life. Reuters

Krishnadeep Baruah, director-marketing for RIM, said that the launch of the new smartphone was the most important day in the history of BlackBerry in India. Carlo Chiarello, executive vice president, Smartphone Division said that India was the first market to get access to the product globally. “India is a very important market for RIM and we are extremely proud and excited to officially unveil and launch the new BlackBerry Curve 9220 for the first time here in India,” he said.

The BlackBerry 9220 is 1.2 mm thinner than the 8520, but retains its screen resolution of 320 x 240 pixels, has four times the memory of the 8520 at 512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM and comes pre-loaded with the premium version of Documents To Go. The phone camera stays the same at 2 megapixel, but it has a 1450 mAh battery for a 2.44 inch screen, which will give an output of 7 hours of talk time — meaning that it may trump your average Android smartphone battery. RIM claims the 9220 has the capability for 28 hours of music playback.

Slated to be available at stores from 19 April, the BlackBerry 9220 has been priced at Rs 10,990 , but, with no 3G, GPS or Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities, it may just fall short of competition. However, there are also a few bright sides. The phone will be available in happy teal blue and fuschia pink colours, apart from the standard black and pure white; and as part of the launch the company will allow customers to downloads apps worth Rs 2,500 from the BB App World onto their new Curve 9220 till June 30, for free.

RIM has seen fast growth in India as it expanded aggressively into the consumer segment with low-cost offerings and by positioning the device as a gadget for aspiring young professionals and even college students.