BlackBerry KEYone sets new record for pre-orders of a BlackBerry device at Rogers

Tweets sent out Friday by Steve Cistulli, President and GM of TCL Communication, revealed just how eagerly anticipated the BlackBerry KEYone is, at least in Canada. The executive said that the KEYone set a new record for the number of pre-orders received by Canadian carrier Rogers for any BlackBerry device. Cistulli also had a message for U.S. consumers interested in the BlackBerry KEYone. He said that on May 31st, when the KEYone launches in the U.S., it will be in stock and available through "different retail channels."

There are two features of the BlackBerry KEYone that consumers have fixated on. One is the physical QWERTY keyboard, which is a major improvement over the one on the BlackBerry Priv slider. The other is the long battery life, which is due to the energy sipping Snapdragon 625 chipset in combination with the 3505mAh battery on board.

Rogers was among the first carriers to offer BlackBerry service in Canada back in 1999. With that in mind, the record number of  pre-orders garnered by the carrier for the BlackBerry KEYone bodes well for sales of the device in the country. In the states, unlocked GSM and CDMA versions of the handset will be available this coming Tuesday,  priced at $549. Later this summer, the KEYone will be offered through U.S. carriers including Sprint. As more information is released about U.S. availability, we will pass it along to you.


source: @SteveCistulli via CrackBerry