BlackBerry 10 launches its first device in India at Rs 43,490

New Delhi: Blackberry has finally launched the Blackberry Z10 smartphone in the Indian market, pricing it at Rs 43,490.

The launch in India follows the global launch of the new operating system BlackBerry 10.

The Z10 is competitively priced, keeping in mind the likes of Apple iPhone 5 (Rs 45,000). However, it will face stiff competition from smartphones which are more strategically priced — Samsung Galaxy SIII (Rs 30,000) and Nokia Lumia 920 (Rs 38,200)

The struggling smartphone maker has also re-christened itself as 'BlackBerry' from Research in Motion earlier as it looks to turn around its fortunes with the new launch.

The company, which pioneered email on the go, is now undertaking a "journey of transformation of business and brand".

The two devices -- Z10 and Q10 – is meant to compete with Apple's iPhone and those based on Google's Android operating system, which have gained popularity across the world.

BlackBerry's stocks also took a beating, declining close to 72 percent from over USD 61 apiece in January 2010 to USD 17.54 on January 25, 2012. It had fallen to as low as USD 6.30 in September 2012.

In July-September period of 2012, Android smartphones had a market share of 72.4 percent, while Apple's iOS market share stood at 13.9 percent compared to BlackBerry's share of 5.3 percent.

However, BlackBerry has a strong fan following in India, especially among youth. As per CyberMedia Research, the company's market share in Indian smartphone market stood at 12.1 percent during January-June 2012 period.

BlackBerry is betting big on touchscreen with its new User Interface (UI) on Z10 and other features like BlackBerry Balance.

BlackBerry, which faced strong criticism for lack of content on its application store, has also revamped it to take on Android's Play Store and Apple's App Store.

BlackBerry, which for long been touted as an enterprise device, has introduced 'BlackBerry Balance' that will allow users separate professional data and applications from music, photographs and other personal items. The new devices also feature enhanced camera features.

BlackBerry Z10 was first unveiled in UK, last month, followed by Canada, UAE and USA earlier this month.