BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition not coming to the U.S.

Bad news for U.S. consumers who were hoping to get their mitts on the Black Edition of the BlackBerry KEYone. The enhanced version of the handset will not be sold in the states. With a fabulous QWERTY keyboard and spectacular battery life, the KEYone has been a surprise hit for BlackBerry Mobile. The Black Edition, which launched last month as an exclusive in India, not only gives the phone a sleek black look, it also increases the amount of RAM on the handset from 3GB to 4GB, a 33% increase. Native storage doubles from 32GB on the standard model to 64GB on the Black Edition.

At the end of last month, BlackBerry Mobile announced that it was going to expand distribution in September to North America (not including the States), the U.K., Germany, France, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Japan. Later this year, countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America will also start selling the Black Edition. The price of the BlackBerry KEYone Black Edition will be the local currency equivalent of $650 USD.

Keep in mind that Black Edition is not the same model as the Space Black version of the KEYone that AT&T is currently selling. Priced at $16.67 a month over 30 months, the AT&T branded KEYone keeps the specs of the standard model including 3GB of RAM and 32GB of native storage.

source: AnandTech