Carphone Warehouse has opened up pre-orders for the BlackBerry Q10, pricing the device sim-free at a hefty £579.95.
Carphone Warehouse confirmed the device will also be available on O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Three, EE and TalkMobile for free from £36 per month.
The high price tag puts the Q10 head to head with the Samsung Galaxy S4, which is set to ship around the same time as the BlackBerry 10 device, and retail for just £10 more at £590.
The phone seller moved to increase interest in the Q10, offering the first 2,000 pay-monthly customers a free wireless Bluetooth speaker worth £79.95.
The Q10 is the second smartphone running the BlackBerry 10 operating system, following on from the Z10 that was released at the start of the year.
Unlike the Z10, which is a purely touch device, the Q10 will feature BlackBerry's iconic Qwerty keyboard.
Chief operating officer at Carphone Warehouse, Graham Stapleton, said the inclusion of the keyboard will be a key selling point for traditional BlackBerry users.
"The new BlackBerry Q10 takes everything that's great about the recently launched BlackBerry Z10 and adds a physical Qwerty keyboard - perfect for users who still prefer the physical push of a button when using their devices," said Stapleton.
source: http://bit.ly/ZwmSud
