Following the footsteps of Apple and Samsung, BlackBerry has announced EMI schemes for its latest flagship smartphone BlackBerry Z10 and the Curve 9220. The company has partnered with credit card providers such as Axis Bank, Citibank, HDFC, HSBC, ICICI Bank Kotak, SBI Card and Standard Chartered to provide its smartphones at affordable installments.
BlackBerry is offering an EMI of Rs. 4,799 per month for nine months on the purchase of the Z10. For the Curve 9220, the company is offering an EMI of Rs. Rs 799 per month for 12 months. The schemes include zero down payment, no processing fee and 0% interest.
BlackBerry has also teamed up with Idea Cellular to offer a bundled one-year unlimited data plan at Rs. 999 in eight circles of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
The plan will be available for customers by this weekend in 2500 BlackBerry outlets across the country and in additional 400 outlets by next week.
The EMI and cashback schemes have emerged as a new and effective tool for the mobile companies such as Nokia, Apple, Samsung and Sony to increase sale of their high-end smartphones in India.
Apple earlier this year saw a 400 percent sales growth, which was driven by the EMI schemes. The company recently introduced a discount scheme for students as well as regular users.
Student who trade in their old smartphone for an iPhone get a concession of Rs. 7,777. Regular users get a discount of Rs. 7,000 for trading in their old smartphone.
If you purchase an iPhone through your American express card, you get a 10 percent cash back. If you are an American Express card user, you get cash back of Rs. 6,000 on the purchase of an iPhone 4, 4S or 5 before June 10.
From customers’ point of view, the cashback and EMI schemes have helped own high-end smartphones. Moreover, the growing competition in this segment is going to be beneficial for them, as they are being served with attractive offers and schemes all round the year. Read Mobile cashback, EMI schemes new manoeuvres to woo Indian customers?
Source: Times of India