BlackBerry special pricing comparison
BlackBerry is considered South Africa’s most popular smartphone platform (and brand) – a position that is largely driven by the flat-rated Internet package available on BlackBerry smartphones known as BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service).
Google backed up this intuition with survey results earlier this month (November 2011) when it revealed that BlackBerry has 44% of the South African smartphone market share.
This followed the findings of surveys from earlier in the year, one by World Wide Worx and Dashboard, the other by Nielsens. Results from both surveys showed that BlackBerry had a low share in the greater cellphone market, but that a large number of individuals wanted a BlackBerry as their next device.
With mobile operators beginning to launch their summer specials, prospective BlackBerry owners may be interested in seeing which operator has the cheapest deals around.
| Cheapest BlackBerry deals: November 2011 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| BlackBerry model | Contract | Price | Extras |
| BlackBerry Curve 8520 | 8ta Contract 1 | R90 x 3 months, R139 x 21 months | 500MB YouTube streaming |
| BlackBerry Curve 8520 | Vodacom Top Up 135 – Vodacom World only | R149 x 24 months | KNR soft shell pouch |
| BlackBerry Curve 8520 | Cell C BlackBerry Casual Chat 100 | R129 x 24 months excluding BIS (R57 p/m) | |
| BlackBerry Curve 8520 | MTN AnyTime TopUp 100 | R159 x 24 months | 25 SMSes (once off) |
| BlackBerry Curve 9300 | Cell C BlackBerry Casual Chat 100 | R169 x 24 months | |
| BlackBerry Curve 8520 | Vodacom Top Up 135 | R169 x 24 months | |
8ta’s deal on the BlackBerry Curve 8520 is quite attractive, but buyers should consider what they want from a BlackBerry contract (minutes, SMSes, etc.) when evaluating the various offers.
Cell C’s Curve 8520 contract was thoroughly disappointing, but they make up for it with a solid deal on the BlackBerry Curve 9300, which has support for 3G.
BlackBerry Curve hot summer deals: November 2011
What is most disappointing about these specials, however, is that Vodacom had the BlackBerry Curve 8520 available on contracts for R99 and R129 per month earlier this year.
While the 8ta deal comes close, none of the current summer deals (including Vodacom’s) quite measure up to the bar that had previously been set by the red operator.
Related articles
Top mobile phones in SA: Nielsen Mobile Insights 2011
Best BlackBerry bang for your buck
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