Although it feels like only last week I was writing a post announcing the device, in reality it wasn’t. It was well over a month ago now at Mobile World Congress but, thanks to a quick turnaround time from announcement to delivery, here we are taking a look at the latest all-touchBlackBerry 10 smartphone introduced to the world as the BlackBerry Leap, which startsrolling out globally today.
While the past two devices, the BlackBerry Passport and the BlackBerry Classic, were meant for QWERTY keyboard fans, the BlackBerry Leap takes aim at those who want ‘an affordable all-touch smartphone in a modern and powerful design’. As BlackBerry puts it, the ‘BlackBerry Leap was built specifically for mobile professionals who see their smartphone device as a powerful and durable productivity tool that also safeguards sensitive communications at all times.’
I get the sales pitch for the BlackBerry Leap and it fits right in to BlackBerry’s current focus, but really I think the BlackBerry Leap is aimed at anyone who wants a new all-touch BlackBerry 10 smartphone period. The last all-touch device to be released by BlackBerry was the regionally limited BlackBerry Z3 in May of 2014. Prior to that we had the BlackBerry Z30, which was released way back in October of 2013. It’s still going strong today thanks to recent price drops and sales wherein you can pick one up for $250. That’s it. No other new all-touch devices have been released, unless you include the Z10 inspired P’9982, which wasreleased November 21st, 2013, but I don’t consider that a mass audience device.
In the smartphone world, that’s a long time for all-touch fans to be waiting. I have no doubt that some likely picked up a Passport or a Classic just to try something new or even replace aBlackBerry Z10 that maybe died a bit too early while waiting for a new all-touch device to arrive. All this is to say, if you look at everything on the whole, the BlackBerry Leap is arriving at a perfect time. Whether or not that will translate into sales of the device for BlackBerry remains to be seen but the potential is certainly there.
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