BlackBerry Z10 price drops to Rs 51,000, Nexus 4 dips to Rs 32,000

While these phones have not been officially launched in India, BlackBerry Z10 and the LG Nexus 4 have been selling like hot cakes in the grey market. And the prices for both the phones have seen a dip this week.

The newest hot phone in the market, the BlackBerry Z10 has seen prices that soared sky high and are now deflating gradually. The BlackBerry Z10 is available in the grey market currently for Rs. 51,000. The shop owners have told us that the price of the handset will keep seeing a gradual fall, almost on a day-to-day basis.

Now available for Rs. 51,000

On February 13, we were informed that the price of the handset was Rs. 53,000. Within merely three days, the price has seen a drop of Rs. 2,000. When the handset first hit the grey market, we learnt from our sources that the Z10 was available in the grey market with a rather stratospheric price tag. We spoke with three grey market retailers and at least two of them confirmed selling units of the Z10. They informed us that the handset will cost Rs 80,000, excluding bill and warranty. In fact, the prices only increased since the handset first became available. A day prior, retailers claimed to have sold phones for Rs 75,000.

The LG Nexus 4, on the other hand, is available in the grey market for Rs. 32,000, at a cool drop of Rs. 3,000. The phone, which had been facing a rather weird shortage issue worldwide, has never been officially launched in India,  and with LG India representatives non-committal over the issue, chances of it being launched ever seems to be diminishing. 

Grey market punters are suggesting that this is a standard ploy that vendors use to keep users guessing and waiting, because such tactics directly affect grey market sales and vendors would much prefer the sales to happen through official channels or not happen at all. Grey market veterans also insinuate that vendors keep leaking information without backing it with any real action to often upset the launch plans of their competitors. And chances are very high that the Nexus 4 may never officially get launched in India.

One reason for the no-show could be the release of the LG Optimus G, which spec-for-spec is a replica of the Nexus 4. Of course, the design for the Optimus G, like many other LG phones, is nothing to rave about and can be termed functional at best. LG representatives say that the release of the phone is in the pipeline but don't have a date or price yet.

The BlackBerry Z10, on the other hand, was launched a fortnight ago in a worldwide event that signalled the reinvention of the BlackBerry brand name.

Here is a quick look at some of the highlights of the Z10:

• 4.2-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 768
• LTE, 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi, NFC
• GPS with A-GPS support
• Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP
• 8-megapixel AF camera with 1080p recording; 2-megapixel front facing camera with 720p recording
• 16GB internal memory, expandable up to 64GB via microSD
• MicroHDMI for AV out

The phone is powered by a dual-core 1.5GHz TI OMAP 4470 processor and comes with 2GB of RAM. The BlackBerry Z10 will be kept powered on by a 1800mAh battery.