BlackBerry’s long-awaited Q10 smartphone, the first BlackBerry 10 device with the company’s renowned physical keyboard, will finally be available for Canadians to purchase at the end of the month.
Telus and Rogers customers can pre-order the device starting Tuesday for $199 on a three-year contract.
The phone was announced alongside the Waterloo, Ont.-based manufacturer’s Z10 touchscreen device in January, and is regarded as the crucial second chapter in BlackBerry’s comeback efforts.
BlackBerry revealed in its fourth-quarter 2013 earnings report that it had shipped more than one million units of its Z10 smartphone, though some analysts believe that BlackBerry diehards have been holding out for the physical keyboard on the Q10.
“The BlackBerry Q10 will be available in the Canada in the coming weeks,” said a BlackBerry spokesperson. “Details on availability in other markets will follow soon.”
A message on Telus’s website says that devices will begin shipping on April 29, with 2-3 business days for delivery.According to MobileSyrup, an internal Rogers document pegs the Q10′s retail launch for Tuesday, April 30.
Telus customers can also buy the Q10, which will be available in black, outright without a contract for $700. Rogers, meanwhile, is exclusively offering the Q10 in white – as well as black – and selling the phone outright for a slightly lower price of $650.
Electronics retailers Future Shop and Best Buy also announced they would both be selling BlackBerry’s new phone to Bell, Rogers, TELUS and Virgin Mobile subscribers in the “coming weeks.” Customers can pre-order the devices starting today in-store.
The announcement puts Canadian customers on equal footing to those in the U.K., where the Q10 will also be sold on carriers O2, Orange, T- Mobile, Three, EE and TalkMobile from the end of April.
BlackBerry’s Z10 smartphone first debuted in the U.K. on January 31, before its eventual release in Canada, the U.S. and other countries worldwide.