BlackBerry invites confirm Feb 25 India launch for Z10

We already knew that the BlackBerry Z10 will be launched in India on February 25, but now BlackBerry, the company, has confirmed it through an official invitation for members of the press.

The launch will take place in Mumbai and BlackBerry sent us a unique invitation on a thermochromic mug, which changed colours when hot liquid was poured in. The mug revealed a screenshot from the Z10’s Calendar app and it had the date of the India launch marked along with the red BlackBerry "Action" asterisk.

A thermochromic mug carried BlackBerry's invite

The BlackBerry Z10 was unveiled to the world along with the new BlackBerry 10 OS at a launch event on January 30. The device has been selling in the grey market since then and the handset's price, at the peak of its popularity, shot up to Rs 80,000. It has since fallen thanks, in no small measure, to the official launch date coming closer.

The Z10 should be available in black as well as the white version, but more information about pricing, including exchange or upgrade offers and carrier-specific deals, should also be available next week.

The more traditional e-mail invitation

Aircel has already confirmed that it would be offering the Z10, but Vodafone, a key partner for BlackBerry in India, is also rumoured to be offering the handset. Also, since the Z10 only requires a standard data plan and not the BlackBerry Data Plan as was the case with previous handsets, it’s possible to use the device on any Indian GSM operator’s network.

The BlackBerry Z10 offers exclusive access to BlackBerry World, which includes movies, music and TV shows for outright purchase and rentals. However, whether the company will announce any India-specific content partners remains to be seen. BlackBerry did announce tie-ups with major global media houses during the launch on January 30.

On the apps front, a whole lot of India-specific applications are expected since BlackBerry has been conducting app development marathons in India and as well as abroad. The device also runs some Android applications, but these will run in Android 2.3 Gingerbread runtime, which is also expected to be upgraded to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean for better compatibility with new apps.

The BlackBerry Z10, which will be launched on February 25

The phone is powered by a dual-core 1.5GHz processor and comes with 2GB of RAM. The BlackBerry Z10 will be kept powered on by an 1800mAh battery.