Jakarta/Toronto: BlackBerry Ltd launched a low-cost touchscreen device in Jakarta, the Z3.
The handset is the first in a line of devices being made with FIH Mobile Ltd, a unit of the giant Taiwanese Foxconn Technology Group best known for assembling gadgets like iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc.
The success of the handset retailing for less than USD 200 could well decide the outcome of both BlackBerry`s tie-up with the contract manufacturing giant and its own future in smartphones. The Z3 Jakarta Edition will hit store shelves on May 15.
It is initially being launched in Indonesia, but will be gradually introduced in other markets as well.
BlackBerry hopes that the device and others to follow will help it claw back some of the collapse in its market share, ceded to Apple's iPhone and Samsung's line of Galaxy devices powered by Google's Android operating system.
