WHILE THE CANADIAN launch date of Blackberry’s new Q10 smartphone is rumoured to be April 30, that hasn’t stopped several wireless carriers from announcing they are already taking pre-orders.
Rogers’ announcement was the first in Cartt.ca’s inbox this morning, in which the company says it is the first Canadian carrier to offer the new Q10 smartphone. The Q10 follows the release of Blackberry’s Z10 model on Feb. 5 and is their second smartphone to run on the company’s Blackberry 10 operating system.
While both the Z10 and Q10 smartphones run on the Blackberry 10 operating system, the Q10 features a physical QWERTY keyboard for typing.
Rogers announced today that pre-orders are available for new customers, and it’s also the only Canadian company to offer the Q10 model in white. Its retail and dealer locations will carry the smartphone in the coming weeks (starting at $199.99 with select three-year plans). Current customers were able to reserve the BlackBerry Q10 on the Rogers Reservation System earlier this year.
We heard next from Telus, which announced it is also accepting pre-orders and offering free home delivery of the new smartphone ($199 on a three-year term or $700 outright with a month-to-month plan). Bell says it will be accepting Blackberry Q10 orders on April 19 in stores and online, starting at $199.95 on a three-year term or for $699.95 with no term.
Coming late to the Tuesday release race was Videotron, which said it will make the Blackberry Z10 model available to its customers on Wednesday, and will be adding the Q10 model “soon.”
