P'9981 Released In Canada

Another reason to say "Oh, Canada!!" because you guys in the Great White North just got the elite of BlackBerry 7.1 smartphones. The Porsche designed P'9981 has been introduced to Canada, although in the limited distribution site of the Porsche Design Store in Yorkville Toronto. The price of the P'9981 will retail at $1890 Canadian.

I don't expect Bob and Doug McKenzie to be flashing this baby around.

Press Release

Stuttgart/Waterloo - Porsche Design and Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today launched the elite new Porsche Design P’9981 smartphone from BlackBerry® in Canada. The Porsche Design P’9981 smartphone from BlackBerry is now available at the new Porsche Design store in Yorkville Toronto at a retail price of $1890.

Instantly identifiable as a Porsche Design product, the exclusive material choices for this unique smartphone include a forged stainless steel frame, hand-wrapped leather back cover, sculpted QWERTY keyboard, and crystal clear touch display. The customized Porsche Design P’9981 comes with an exclusive Porsche Design UI and a bespoke Wikitude World Browser augmented reality app experience. The handset also includes a premium, exclusive PIN that easily identifies the customer as a holder of a Porsche Design P’9981 smartphone from BlackBerry.

“Porsche Design has been a symbol for Iconic Style since 1972. And the brand new P’9981 smartphone is a milestone product for Porsche Design,” said Dr. Juergen Gessler, CEO of the Porsche Design Group. “It is a representation of the iconic Porsche Design styling philosophy and RIM’s technology-driven focus, which combine to deliver engineered luxury and powered performance in a smartphone for the discerning consumer.”

“This collaboration stems from a shared belief that form equals function,” said Todd Wood, SVP for Industrial Design, Research In Motion. “The Porsche Design P’9981 is a truly modern luxury smartphone, where the timeless style of Porsche Design meets the unmatched mobile experience provided by BlackBerry.”

Powerful hardware and software
The Porsche Design P’9981 is built on a performance driven platform that features a 1.2 GHz processor and Liquid Graphics™ technology, which enables a highly responsive touch experience with incredibly fast and smooth graphics. It also features HD video recording, 24-bit high resolution graphics, advanced sensors enabling new augmented reality applications, and built-in support for NFC (Near Field Communications). It comes with 8 GB of on-board memory, expandable to up to 40 GB with a microSD card.

BlackBerry® 7, the operating system for the new Porsche Design P’9981, delivers a highly refined and integrated suite of phone, email, messaging and social apps. It includes a next generation BlackBerry® browser, which provides a fast, fluid web browsing experience that is among the best in the industry, and comes with a number of pre-loaded applications that keep customers connected and productive throughout the day.