BlackBerry Eyes Nigerian Mobile Market Top Table, Unboxes Z3

BlackBerry Limited, a global leader in mobile communications, gladly announced that its trial moments are over, as it plans to again regain Nigerian mobile market leading position.

Speaking at the introduced of it new BlackBerry® Z3 smartphone in Nigeria, Mr. Charles Asinugo, country director, BlackBerry West Africa, said that the Company globally recognised as leading in enterprise (security) solutions remains committed to it mobile product customers in Africa.

He described BlackBerry Z3 as part of plans by BlackBerry to penetrate the market as the device is expected to retail through authorized partners at the recommended price of about N40,000.

According to him, “Consumers who purchase a BlackBerry Z3 smartphone in July can also benefit from an exclusive app offer.

“They simply have to login into the BlackBerry® World™ storefront from their BlackBerry Z3 smartphone and download a selection of paid apps – worth is N8,000 – for free.

“The BlackBerry Z3 extends the BlackBerry® 10 platform to a new generation of customers in Nigeria at an attractive price point and offers them more ways to securely communicate, collaborate and be productive with an experience built on reliable, secure communications”.

Asinugo said that the BlackBerry Z3 features a stylish design with a 5” touch display, an unrivalled messaging and typing experience, exceptional battery life, is equipped with BlackBerry 10 OS version 10.2.1 and is Android app compatible. 

He explained that the key features include; BlackBerry® Hub; “The ever present BlackBerry Hub lets you access all your work and personal email, BBM™, text messages, social media updates and notifications in one place, with the ability to “peek” into the BlackBerry Hub from anywhere, so you’re always only one swipe away from what matters to you.

“The Hub can be customized to identify priority messages and to filter the message list by various criteria that you can then activate with a simple pinch gesture”.

He said that the Company is making frantic efforts to redefine BBM usage.

He said, “BBM on the BlackBerry Z3 includes all the latest features of the popular mobile social network. You get BBM voice and video chatting with Screen Share and support for BlackBerry Natural Sound, letting you hear nuances and variations in tone in a BBM Voice chat, and making the conversation sound like you’re in the same room.

Also commenting on the key features, Ugonna Akhigbe, channel marketing manager, West Africa, said that BlackBerry Keyboard is a feature that learns what words customers use and how they are used, “then offers them up to you so you can type faster and more accurately. It gives you the best typing experience on a touchscreen, complete with multi-language support that lets you type in up to 3 different languages at the same time.

“How about the “Time Shift & Story Maker’? The BlackBerry Z3’s astonishing Time Shift camera feature lets you capture a group shot where everyone is smiling with their eyes wide open.

“You can also use Story Maker to bring a collection of photos and videos together, along with music and effects, to produce an HD movie that you can instantly share on YouTube.

“BlackBerry 10 Browser – The BlackBerry 10 browser sets the industry benchmark for HTML5 performance on smartphones, and is incredibly fast, with fluid and responsive scrolling and zooming.

“The browser includes many advanced features, supports multiple tabs, lets you browse sites privately, includes a reader mode, and integrates with the platform for easily sharing content. You can even save web pages for later viewing.

“Instant Previews & Reply Now – Be more timely and responsive with Instant Previews that bring BBM, SMS and email message to you no matter what you are doing on your BlackBerry Z3.

“You can even reply to your BBM or SMS messages in any app, or swipe to the BlackBerry Hub to respond. If you get a phone call that you can’t answer right way, you can instantly silence the call and send a Reply Now response through BBM, SMS or email to let the caller know you’re busy”.

The device also contains Fast, Easy Sharing.

By learning how you share and who you share with, helping you reduce the number of steps and amount of time it takes to get your files, photos, or documents to where they need to go.

“Touching “share” in any app provides suggestions on who and how to share your files based on who you’ve shared with in the past, and the feature only gets smarter the more you use it.

“FM Radio – The new BlackBerry Z3 includes a built-in FM radio. You can listen to local FM stations, which does not require any network connection.

“Apps – Through BlackBerry World™ customers can access applications that leverage the powerful features of the BlackBerry 10 operating system. The BlackBerry Z3 is also Android™ App Compatible*, which means that customers can enjoy some of their favourite Android apps on the BlackBerry Z3,” she explained.

Interestingly, Android apps can be downloaded directly from the Internet through the BlackBerry Browser.

However, not all Android apps are supported and compatibility may vary by smartphone and/or source.

BlackBerry revolutionized the mobile industry when it was introduced in 1999.

Today, BlackBerry aims to inspire the success of our millions of customers around the world by continuously pushing the boundaries of mobile experiences.